by SA Magnusson
“Fine.” Aron pulled a knife from a hidden sheath on his belt and handed it to John. “This will allow you out of the apartment.”
“Hey,” I said. “It’s a condo, not an apartment. I bought this.” I looked down at the knife. Was there something within the knife that would allow him to break free from the protections he’d placed on my condo?
It didn’t look anything like the demon blade, but there weren’t all that many things that would. And I didn’t expect Aron to willingly carry something like that. He hated the fact that I had the sword.
The sword.
“Do you still have my sword?” I wouldn’t put it past Aron to have disposed of it. He didn’t like me having it, but there was safety in my use of it, and without it, with what we intended to do, I wasn’t sure that I would be able to easily get away. We needed the help from it.
“I didn’t get rid of it, if that’s what you fear.”
“That is what I fear. You know that we need it.”
“I know that you believe that you need it, but everything I’ve seen from you tells me you don’t.”
I grunted. “I’m not so sure about that, but seeing as how you have been so complimentary lately, I’ll let it slide. When are we going to go?”
“Now,” Aron said.
“And him?”
“He’ll be fine here. I doubt he will go anywhere, and regardless of what he might believe, Solera won’t take that much of our time.”
“What does he mean that you might not return?”
“He means nothing.”
The shifter growled, and it sounded something like laughter. “Don’t let the archer lie to you about this. Where he’s taking you is dangerous. It’s a place even the shifters won’t go.”
“Because you fear her?”
“And you should, too.”
“What will she do?” I had a hard time imagining that some fairy woman would harm us, but then, why should I? I’d seen the kind of things that existed on the other side of the Veil and had more than enough experience with the danger that existed there. Maybe I should be more scared of Solera than I was, but the possibility of getting answers—finally getting real answers—overwhelmed any fear I felt.
“We’ll talk about it on the way,” he said.
“She’ll force a promise out of you,” the shifter said as I started toward the door.
I paused and turned back to look at him. “What was that?”
“You have to be careful with the fae. She’ll force her promise out of you, and a promise to the fae is binding in a way that a promise in this world is not. Be careful what you say to her.”
I looked over at Aron. “Is that true?”
“Like I said, we can talk about it on the way over.”
“Is it true?”
“Many things are true when it comes to the fae. You have to know what to be cautious of, much as he says. Speak nothing that could be construed as a promise.”
“And how are we going to get answers, then?”
“We provide information that she wants. A trade.”
“A trade?”
Aron nodded.
“What kind of trade?” I had a bad feeling about what he was getting us into. The threat of the demon king had been real, as had the overwhelming sense of danger from the gorgon, but dealing with some fairy woman who somehow managed to live on the side of the Veil was a different thing altogether and shouldn’t be terrifying.
“Like I said, you don’t need to worry about it. You’re smart enough to know to be careful with what you say, so I don’t have to worry about you making a promise that you can’t keep.”
Right. Aron simply trusted me to know what I needed to say to one of the fae. Since I had so much experience with them.
“Well, let’s get it over with. If Ariel doesn’t have much time before they attempt to push her across the Veil, we need to finish this so that we can go after her.”
The shifter growled and it unsettled something within me, though it shouldn’t. I felt the same fear and anxiety he expressed in his growl.
7
Minnesota might be the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but most of them are pretty small and require a bit of driving outside of the city to reach. It’s the reason so many people in the metro have cabins up north, their way of escaping the grind of the city—such as it is—and getting away to nature. When I was a kid, my grandparents would take us every year to a cabin on Lake Amelia, a place near enough that we could get there in a short drive, and quiet enough that we didn’t have to deal with people harassing us. They were some of my favorite memories from when I was a kid.
Lake Minnetonka is different.
It’s close to the cities, situated on the western edge of the metro, but houses ringed the entirety of it. Most are enormous, sprawling mansions that cost too much for any normal person to own. Even when I made attending money, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to afford anything like the homes along the shores in Wayzata.
But the lake is beautiful and sprawling, bays all connected by channels, making it one of the largest lakes in the state. At this time of year, there weren’t nearly as many boats out on the water as there would be later in the summer, mostly the die-hard fishermen who didn’t mind the chill.
Aron pulled the car to a stop on the northern side of the lake, parking along the street and getting out of the car to wait for me.
I’d only been out here a few times before. Jen had dated a guy who’d lived on the lake for a while and he’d taken us out on his massive boat, but that was the extent of my experience here. That had been mostly a party weekend. While fun, that didn’t seem to be what Aron was after.
He crossed the street and stood along the shore, looking out at the vast expanse of water. “It’s not quite like the Great Lakes,” he said, “but with the proximity to the ley lines, it has something Lake Superior doesn’t.”
“What’s that?”
Aron leaned down and swirled his hand in the water. A spell built from him, sending a cold chill along my spine. “A certain kind of magic.”
The water rippled where he touched it, radiating away from him in gentle waves. The waves built as they went, rolling toward the center of the lake, until they were enough to cause the small fishing boats to rock violently.
“Now what?”
“Now we wait,” Aron said.
“What makes you think she’ll answer this time?”
“The nature of the request,” he said.
I stood with my arms crossed over my chest, staring out at the water. We had come for answers—for me and to understand what happened with Ariel. Would Solera answer or would she refuse, the way she’d refused to even answer Aron’s summons over the last few months?
When—and if—I learned what I was, would it even matter? Maybe I really was part demon. If I were, then I would have to learn all of what that meant for me. And if I wasn’t… that was even more reason to have come here. Aron claimed that Solera would be able to provide answers, but a part me remained concerned that even this fae contact wouldn’t be able to tell me what I was. And if she didn’t know, there might not be any way for me to learn.
“How long do we have to wait?”
Aron pointed. “Not long.”
A sleek-looking boat cut through the water, coming straight at us and moving quickly. “That’s Solera?”
I couldn’t make out the features of the driver of the boat all that well, but it seemed to be an older man, not a woman, as Aron had led me to believe.
“That’s not, but he will bring us to her home.”
“Why do I get the sense that you’re uncomfortable making this journey?”
“It’s not discomfort so much as it is uncertainty at how she will take my presence.”
“Why? Did you have a relationship with her, too?”
“One does not enter into a relationship with Solera. Not if they’re wise.”
“Why not?”
“You’ll see. Just be careful what yo
u say to her. A promise to one of the fae is different. Dangerous.”
The boat pulled into a dock, coming to a stop almost perfectly. I’d been on boats enough times to know how difficult such a maneuver could be. For him to manage it so well impressed me. The man driving reminded me somewhat of Aron, though older. He had short brown-blond hair and deep blue eyes. A muscular build filled out his jacket.
“Archer. Why am I not surprised?” the man said.
“Bryan. You still serve?”
“Until she releases me.”
Aron’s smile slipped. “You understand why—”
Bryan raised a hand, silencing Aron. “There’s no need for you to explain to me. I’m here for your transportation.”
Aron motioned for me to step onto the dock. I had the demon sword because Aron thought I might need it as we asked Solera what sort of magical person I might be. He kept close behind me, pressing his hand into the small of my back as I climbed onto the boat and took a seat.
Bryan didn’t wait for Aron to sit before backing out of the dock and onto the lake.
As we streamed across the lake, I leaned into Aron. “What does he mean about serving until she releases him?”
“It’s a figure of speech.”
“It didn’t really sound like one.” I watched him, waiting for him to say something more but given what I knew of Aron, it was unlikely for him to share anything more with me.
The boat shot forward, bouncing over waves, circling around a pair of small fishing boats. The fishermen glared at us until we put them into the distance. Bryan apparently went to the Aron school of driving, and he rocketed us faster and faster on the lake.
“Isn’t there a speed limit?” I shouted over the wind whipping around me, sending my dark hair streaming into my face. I held it back with my free hand, using my other to grip the sword so that I didn’t lose it.
Bryan glanced back at me, a broad smile on his face. “They like to tell us we can’t go anything faster than forty—and twenty at night—but there aren’t any sheriffs out today.”
I tried to look around him so that I could see how fast we were going. It certainly felt faster than forty, but out on the water with the wind whipping around me, I wasn’t sure that I would know how fast we were traveling. I’d under-dressed for the chill out on the water. A winter coat would have been better for this.
“Where is he taking us?” I asked Aron.
We sped out into a wide section of water. From here, the lake opened up, and Bryan used it as an opportunity to do the same to the throttle. The force of it threw me back in my seat.
“Big Island,” he said.
“Like in Hawaii?” Was there some way of transporting us from here to Hawaii? I didn’t think that sort of travel was possible. If it were, Gran and Gramps had a lot to answer for. Imagine the kind of vacations we could have had.
Aron shook his head. “That’s what the locals call it. It has a different traditional name, but that’s harder to say.”
As we aimed toward a section of land in the distance, I knew where we were. When Jen had been dating Matt, he’d anchored near here. I didn’t remember what it was called but knew that it was an island. “I’ve been here before.”
We started to slow, and the sound of the wind was more tolerable than it had been. I pulled my hair back, finally getting control over it.
“You have? Did your grandparents bring you to Solera?”
“I’ve been here with a friend of mine. There were tons of boats anchored here.” And a lot of partying had taken place. Beer and wine had flowed freely. It had been fun, even if I had been forced to watch Jen and Matt making out for most of the day.
“Solera is quite fond of the summer,” Bryan said. “She is pleased that so many find her home an appealing place to visit and fornicate near.”
I laughed. “That’s… disgusting. She wants people to come party here?”
“There needs to be some draw; otherwise there would be no appeal to coming here of all places. There are plenty of alternatives around the lake where people could go, but she summons those who want a sense of debauchery.”
Debauchery fit with my experience. The weekend I had been here, there had been hundreds of boats, all anchored several deep, with many of them tied together so people could jump from one boat to the next. Matt had positioned us so that we could tie up with one of his friends, a long-haired guitarist named Don he’d tried to hook me up with. Jon had wanted to ply me with vodka, but it wasn’t really my dink.
“Why?”
Bryan slipped the boat into neutral and we glided forward, heading toward a small sand beach. “Solera draws on them.”
“What do you mean?”
Bryan glanced over before turning his attention to the sand he angled toward. There was no sign of a dock anywhere, and we slid onto the sand, coming to a stop. “What I mean is that Solera draws them, and then she draws on them.” Bryan motioned for us to climb over the bow and jump.
When I hesitated, Aron pressed his hand into my back.
“What does he mean by that?” I asked, standing on the pointed bow. Bryan stood below, waiting for me to jump down onto the hard packed sand. He could at least offer me a hand or something, but he didn’t.
“What he means is that Solera has certain proclivities.”
“Proclivities? It sounds like what he’s saying is that she feeds on those who come here.” And that sounded similar to what we’d just experienced with the gorgon. I’m not sure I could deal with something like that. I’d seen the way the creature had sucked the dark mage dry, leaving him a husk. Tony and the others it had fed on were lucky to be alive.
“It’s not like that. She doesn’t feed on them. The energy created by the people who come here provides an additional power for her. That’s what she’s after,” Aron said, jumping and landing next to Bryan. He looked up at me expectantly, waiting for me to join him.
After jumping and landing, it felt as if the sand tried to suck me in. I pushed away thoughts of what sort of activities Solera might have encouraged on her shores, knowing all too well how the people I’d been around when on the island before had acted.
Bryan led us away from the shore and through a thicket of trees.
“There was a time when this was an amusement park,” Bryan said. “Solera found it easier to draw people in those days, but then, it was a simpler time.”
“An amusement park?” I couldn’t imagine any amusement park on the island like this. And how would people even have gotten out here? They would have needed to come by boat, the same way that we had.
“It didn’t last too long and drew people from all over the region. There was another park across the water in Excelsior that ran longer, but eventually that closed. Without places like that, Solera had to change her tactics. It didn’t take long for her to settle on her current strategy. These trees have seen many things.”
The ground squished as I stepped too close to a puddle of water. At least, I hoped it was water. After what Bryan said, I couldn’t be certain. “Gross,” I muttered.
Aron glanced over at me but didn’t say anything.
As we continued along a path through the trees, I began to notice the steady building of cold magic. It started slowly, barely more than an irritant, and began to increase in intensity the longer we went.
“Aron?” I whispered. When he looked back at me, I scanned everything around us. It was nothing more than a cluster of trees, what would be a forest were we not on a relatively small island. “Can you detect anything?”
He paused and another surge of magic came, this time quickly and more typical of what I usually detected. Aron’s spell burst out from him. “I don’t detect anything.”
“Well, I do. It’s subtle, and I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but the farther we go, the more convinced I am of what I’m picking up on.” It hadn’t gotten any stronger, but the sense still hadn’t gone away. “Are you sure we can trust Solera?”
Aron shook h
is head. “Trust, no. But she won’t harm us.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Because I am.”
I watched him, waiting for more of an explanation, but none came. If he was certain about Solera, I would have to trust him. Aron hadn’t led me astray so far. And this would help us get to the bottom of whatever was happening with Ariel.
As we rounded a curve along the path, movement caught my attention.
It was in the trees.
I stared, trying to understand what I detected, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Maybe it was nothing, but I thought there had been something like fireflies. That couldn’t be. It was the middle of the day and too early for any fireflies to be out.
“Don’t stare,” Aron said.
“At what? I’m just trying to convince myself that I didn’t see any movement there.”
“Don’t bother. If you saw them, it’s not polite to stare.”
“Them?” I turned my attention to Aron, but as I did, there was another flurry of movement. I jerked my head back around, wanting to get a closer look, and managed to see a flicker of light that was probably nothing more than a shimmer of sunlight coming through the trees.
“Them would be the wood nymphs.”
The sudden appearance of the voice startled me and I stumbled forward, barely catching myself before crashing into Aron. He grabbed me and helped me to my feet, propping me up so that I could take in the stunningly beautiful woman standing in front of me, dressed in a gown that would have been more at home at a formal ball than in the forest. Green lace framed her large breasts and a small amulet hanging between them drew even more attention.
She smiled at me, though there was something sinister within it. “What have you brought to me today? Certainly no one for me to ferry across, or am I wrong?”
“Solera, you have ignored me for months.”
“I do not serve at your whim, Archer.”
Aron stared at her. “This is Kate Michaels.”
“Michaels?” All pretense at smiling faded and she turned an icy glare onto Aron. “She’s not welcome.”
