by Ponce, Jen
“What’s going on? And I don’t want any bullshit lies, either. If it has something to do with this mysterious story I don’t remember and my book, I want to know.”
I chewed on my lip then sighed. “Dad. You’ve been writing about a place that really exists.” I opened up the book to one of the many pages I’d dog-eared. “‘The tornado dominated the landscape, sitting like a mote in the eye of the crater. Beyond, we saw a beach and further still the choppy waves of the cerulean sea. Had I not had her hand in mine, I would have turned away from the storm and the danger it held.’”
He shrugged. “What about it?”
“It’s real. I’ve been there.”
“No honey. This has a cyclone that never ends. It guards the entrance to the Goddess’ temple. No place like it on Earth.”
“You’re right. There isn’t a place like it here. I wasn’t talking about here. I was talking about Midia.”
He winced as if the word hurt him. I wondered if that had anything to do with the curse someone had put on him to make him forget that he’d been there too. “Stop pulling my leg, young lady.”
“I’m not, Dad.” I glanced at Arsinua. “Should I take him there?”
“No. He’s Forsworn. There might be a death warrant on his head.”
I sighed. “He’s not Bran the Forsworn. That would mean he was a witch and my mother ...” I swallowed so hard my throat clicked. “A Wydling.”
Her eyes gleamed. “And you an abomination and miracle.”
“Gee thanks. For the record, Wydlings aren’t abominations.” Her bigotry was ridiculous. “And why a miracle?”
“Crossbreeding is impossible. Unless there’s some sort of interference.” Her eyes narrowed and she studied me.
“What?”
Dad broke in. “Witch? So now I’m a witch with a cool name. Hey! I could be Gandalf. Or Dumbledore.” He chuckled then leaned forward to squeeze my leg. “Honey, I know I said I had more imagination than most old guys my age, but that doesn’t mean I’m credulous.”
I pulled from the heart and formed a puddle of magic in my palm. Still nothing like the dainty beauty of my daughter’s ball, but it would do. My dad’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open, which was kind of funny. I didn’t think people actually did that when they were genuinely surprised, only when they were aping it. I tossed the energy at one of my currant bushes and the thing froze over in an eye-blink.
“Holy shit!”
“Dad,” I said, holding up a shush finger to him. It was almost funny, the look on his face.
“How the hell did you do that? And can you teach me how?”
“No. And it’s a long story.” I tapped the book on my knee. “How do I find out more about this Bran guy?”
Arsinua snorted. “He was Forsworn. All official records were purged of his name.”
“Official records. So, where are the unofficial ones?”
She looked a bit constipated, or maybe she was thinking back to walking in on that kiss. “I can’t say.” I started to complain and she held up her hand. “I can’t say but I will try to contact someone who may be able to help.”
“Thanks.” I watched my dad examine the bush, stooping to pluck an ice-covered twig from it. “I need to know what’s going on and fast, before I make all kinds of stupid decisions without the right information.”
TEN
Liam woke me that night, shaking, his skinny adolescent body cold as he slid into bed with me—something he hadn’t done in years. “She’s in trouble,” he said, his voice hoarse.
“Oh baby. What happened? What did you see?” I held him close, wishing I could take back the things he’d surely witnessed.
He shook his head. “I can’t say.”
I felt sick. “Any idea where she is? Landmarks? Signs, people, city buildings. Anything?” If they were in the Wilds, there was no way I’d be able to find her, but there was a slim chance they were near a witch town.
“I don’t know,” he said..
I shut my eyes and tried not to cry. “Just think back. I can’t find her if I don’t know where to look.”
He took a deep breath and then another. The tightness in his shoulders eased a tiny bit. “Uh. There’s ... domes. Around houses. In the distance. One is busted bad.”
Excitement zinged through me. “I think I know where that is. Liam? Do you want me to see if I can find her?”
His eyes opened and he stared at me. “I don’t know if she’ll come with you or not. She thinks she deserves it. Because she’s been hanging around with a guy named Lee and they kinda. You know.” He blushed, his pale cheeks stained with red. “Mess around, I guess.”
“Okay. It might take me awhile. Will you be okay by yourself? Or do you want to go to Granddad’s room?”
He shook his head. “I’m not a baby, Mom. I’ll stay here. Wait for you.”
‘You are a baby,’ I thought, but didn’t say it. “You have school tomorrow.”
“I won’t be able to sleep until I know she’s safe.”
I nodded and kissed him on the forehead. “I’ll be back. No promises, but I’ll try.” I crawled out of bed and slipped into my jeans, disappearing into the bathroom to pull off my nightgown and put on a bra and shirt. I hooked from the doorway so he could see.
Holding the sight in my head, I stepped out into the border town where so much had happened only a few months ago. Where I had first met Kroshtuka, as a matter of fact. How could I ever forget?
I made my way outside of town where I’d first seen the Carnicus and sure enough, the wagons were drawn up in a circle in the exact spot. I wanted to talk to Nex but didn’t want to cross over the wards surrounding the caravan and alert the crazy man to my presence.
I walked around the outer edge until I saw the mermaid-green wagon that was Quorra’s. Nex could read my mind—sort of—in the Slip. I’d never really tried to project my thoughts at him, though, but tried now, thinking hard at the wagon and feeling foolish as I did.
Nothing happened.
Nothing happened.
The door opened and the busty mermaid looked around, her seaweed hair slithering about her shoulders, leaving damp marks on her scaled skin. “Tavern,” she said, then slammed the door.
Sweet.
I walked back the way I came and headed down the path to the bar, finding a cozy table in a dark corner. It wasn’t long before the mermaid slinked in, her face covered by a veil, her body covered by a large, brown coat. She made her way to me in mincing steps and I wondered, not for the first time, how she could be away from the water. This mermaid and the ones of my imagination were completely different. For one, my fairy tale mermaids didn’t have shark teeth, a feature she flashed at me as she sat down and eased the coat open a couple inches.
“Nex!”
His black eyes caught and held what little light there was in the room. “It is good to see you again.”
“I missed you.”
Quorra hissed at me, as if my missing Nex meant I was planning on stealing him from her.
“Chill, fish girl. We’re friends.” To Nex, I said, “How’s Sharps? What’s going on?”
His look was reminiscent of one of my old professor’s looks when I or my classmates had managed to come up with something halfway intelligent. “The Ringmaster’s delusions grow stronger every day. His madness is wilder, more unpredictable. I fear he takes it out on his sister more than any other.”
I hadn’t wanted my suspicions confirmed. It meant feeling guilty for not saving her from him last time I saw her. “Is she okay? And you know what I mean,” I said, knowing Sharps couldn’t possibly be okay by any normal standards considering what her brother was doing to her.
“She lives. In and out of consciousness at times. I do not believe that is all caused by trauma. She is trying to escape but going about it the wrong way.”
“Sharps is our sweet girl,” Quorra said, her consonants sibilant as they slid sinuously around her teeth. “We do not want her to piece hersel
f so thin that she fades.”
I stared at her as if by looking longer I would know what the hell she was saying. “Can I go in now and snatch her away?”
“She would not survive it,” Nex said. “She holds the Carnicus together but it has cost her. There is magic in it that I do not understand. It is closely guarded and I am not privy the secrets of the caravan.” I raised an eyebrow at Quorra but it was Nex who answered me. “She cannot talk about it. She is much a part of the Carnicus as Sharps is.”
I stuck my fingers in my hair and pulled. The pressure felt good and tricked me into believing I knew what the hell I was doing. “So I can’t pull her out without destroying her. What if I killed Leon?”
Nex’s hairless eyebrows rose. He knew of my aversion toward killing. It had been integral to having him here, cuddled up against a mermaid’s breasts, rather than staked in the sun and left to shrivel and rot.
Quorra said, “His death magic would kill us all.”
“Like the world-all or the Carnicus-all?” I couldn’t imagine killing one dude would be enough to destroy a world, but then again, a few months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine ninety percent of the shit I took in stride now, so what did I know?
“Our Carnicus and any close enough to get caught up in the storm.”
Which wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want anyone to die but Leon. Leon and the damned parasite in his head. “So, if I dragged Leon out into the Wilds and then killed him, no one would be harmed?” Except for Leon, but he didn’t count.
“You would most certainly die,” Quorra said, looking pleased at the prospect.
I was starting to not like the damned mermaid. “What if I hooked with him and dropped him into space and shut the way?”
She shrugged, clearly not digging my brainstorming.
To Nex, I said, “Have you gotten any visions lately?”
He said, “I may need to visit old haunts.”
“Uh. What?” Then I saw his cheek jerking and his eyes rolled over and upward then back. Oh. “Well, sure. I can take you if you want.”
“What? Nexy, you can’t leave me,” Quorra screeched. I winced.
“I must. If I am to survive, I have to revisit the Slip. To recharge. My ... “ Nex was floundering. What a weird sight to see.
I jumped in. “Mysticular Avengitus.”
Nex’s eyebrows dropped and I swear he gave me a, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ look.
“That sounds dangerous.” Her breath hitched, her boobs jiggling wildly. “Oh! I’ll miss you. Promise me you’ll come back, shoogie woogie.” Her clawed hand cupped his cheek and she planted kisses all over his pale forehead.
“Of course. I will count the seconds I’m parted from you.”
It was pure cheese. Nex was ditching Quorra and using me as an excuse. What an ass. Well, had he had an ass ... could someone be an ass without an ass of their own?
“Devany.”
My attention snapped back to the present. “Yeah?”
“We must go now. The moon grows ever closer to full.”
The words chilled me and my amusement fled. How had he known? Of course he’d known. He was a freaking magical eight ball with eyeballs and a brain.
***
“The luster of romance worn off so soon?” I asked my companion as we walked out into the night.
Nex bobbed beside me. I realized someone—okay, Quorra, who else?—had doubled his dangly bits and tied them off with pink bows. His expression dared me to comment.
My eyes got really wide trying to hold back my laughter.
“She found them unmanageable and was attempting to help me out.”
I nodded, unable to speak for fear I would be overcome by my amusement.
“You interrupted our nightly ritual.”
All I could picture was Nex in a lacy white nightcap.
He sighed.
“I’m sorry.” My words were strangled but I managed not to embarrass myself or him. “Would you like me to take out the ribbons?”
“Please.”
Once I’d restored him to his former, gory glory, I said, “So, what can we do to help this girl? Can you do the inky-pools in the eyes thing?”
“I can. I do not know if it will be much help. Divining one whose magic is so unique might be a difficult task.” He turned toward me, the liquid shadows spilling across his corneas. “Ask your question.”
“How do I save Sharps from Leon without killing them both?”
Far in the distance, I heard the howl of a wolf and wondered if the Meat Clan was hunting nearby. Nex bobbed without answering me. “Nex?”
A sly look crept over his features. Coupled with his shark teeth and dangling guts, this was terrifying. “I have the perfect host,” the voice said, the same one that had haunted Krosh’s and my Dream. Inside Nex. Fuck
“Nex, come back to me.” Could the parasite find a disembodied head a good home? God, I hoped not. “Nex!”
“Always the drama with you. Though, hmm.” He-who-was-not-Nex circled me, his movements less graceful than Nex’s were. “You no longer have my potential inside you.” He stopped in front of me and hissed. “What did you do, bitch?”
I slammed a protection bubble between us and his teeth snapped on energy, making my entire bubble ripple and buzz. “Get out of his head.”
“No, I don’t think I will. Not quite yet. I have to ask a question, you see.” That sly look again.
Oh crap. Could it ask Nex a question? No. No it couldn’t. When Ty had tried it, Nex had said he was bound to me . Still, I fisted my hands and hoped that he wouldn’t be able to manipulate the system from inside Nex’s head.
“What question should I ask?” Its voice, through Nex’s many teeth, became sharper and more sibilant. “How to kill you? What makes you tick? Your weakness?” It laughed at whatever it saw on my face. “I already know your weaknesses. Two children, one whose head I already own. One whose head won’t open for me. But one is enough, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t hit it because it was Nex, but I almost dropped my protective bubble anyway to blast the fucker. “You’re getting boring. Anything besides silly threats? Why don’t you come out and face me like a—a what? Bodiless parasite?”
It hissed at me, and I felt a sharp throb of triumph that I’d touched a nerve.
“You don’t like being called silly? Or is it that you’re relegated to being a Rider in someone else’s head?” I watched Nex’s face carefully, and when his features twisted, I knew I had it. “That’s it, isn’t it? You are an inconsequential piece of crap in the back of someone’s head and I’m guessing there are a lot of moments when you have no control at all.”
It attacked my bubble, sending up sparks, the gnashing teeth smearing across the energy but not cutting through it. When it realized it couldn’t get at me, it began circling. The effect was creepy and I was glad once again that Nex and I were friends. I wouldn’t want him haunting me. “You’re so weak, I got rid of your influence like that.” I snapped my fingers and bet on my assumption that it wouldn’t know that I’d visited the goddess.
It screamed and then Nex was back. I saw the subtle change come over his face and he was just there.
“You okay?” I didn’t lower my barrier, not yet. Too many freaky things had happened to me to be that trusting.
“I do believe my mind was invaded.”
I dropped the bubble. “Yeah. It was freaking weird.”
He shook his head, somewhat like a dog—an evil, bodiless dog. “I’ve never experienced the like. Nor do I wish to have it happen again. Can you help keep it out?”
I blinked. “I don’t know. How do you mean?”
“Make me your Archaeon Tezryo. Then you can extend automatic protections to me.”
“The same thing Ty did to me?”
“It protected you.”
“Not very well,” I muttered. “If that was me being protected, what would have happened without it?”
“You would have be
en murdered by the Theleoni. I’m sure they curse the Skriven’s foresight.”
Something in his words made me ask, “What do you mean?” The Theleoni had sent one guy after me, a shitty little creature named Adamante. But there was more to it. “Nex?”
“Perhaps it is something for Tytan to talk with you about.”
I put my hands on my hips and in my mother’s voice, said, “Nex.” I wondered if he had a middle name. If there was ever a situation that warranted calling him by multiple names, this was it.
“Several assassins attempted to end your life. They were not successful.”
“Tytan?”
Nex nodded. “Tytan and the protections he gave you with the title Archaeon Tezyria. It wasn’t all to his benefit. In fact, making a seemingly mere human as his Archaeon Tezrya might have put him on Ravana’s radar.”
Oh. Damn it. I certainly didn’t need any reason to think kindly toward Ty. I was already in hot water with Arsinua. If I tried to tell her he had protected me, she’d probably drop kick me into a new century. Still, it kind of made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, knowing he’d done it for me. It certainly hadn’t felt like a good thing at the time.
“Okay. So. How do I go about it?” I didn’t have a knife I could materialize out of thin air. At least, I didn’t think so. If I worked on it in the control room, maybe I could make one.
“Call your spawn and have him teach you the procedure.”
Speak of the devil. “Right now?” Time was ticking and I still had to find Sharps for Liam. He was waiting. “We should go to the Slip so the time thing, at least, will be mitigated.”
“Call your spawn and we will go.”
Had he always been so imperious? I refrained from rolling my eyes—just—and called Tytan to me. He arrived with an entirely too satisfied smile. “You rang?”
“I need you.”
“Even better.”
“To help me make Nex my Archaeon Tezryo.”
Tytan arched an eyebrow. “Him?”
I shrugged. “Why not? I mean, he at least has big teeth. What did I have when you made me yours?” Okay, there was the heart and its power. Got it. Still, I kind of wanted to know what he would say.
