by Sam Cheever
“Wraith,” Mitch said, grimacing. “Nasty creature.”
“Any idea what it wanted?”
“No.”
I blinked, my gaze widening. “No?”
The seer fidgeted uncomfortably. He fixed me with an angry gaze. “What do you want me to say, Glynn? I don’t know everything!”
A small hand touched my shoulder, and I looked at Boyle. He still had a cookie in his hand, but he was watching Mitch, clearly as surprised as I was that the seer was yelling at me. I couldn’t remember a time when Mitch had been short or angry.
“Mitch?”
His face was tense, his shoulders rigid. He finally scrubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just frustrated.”
Boyle slid into my lap, his warm little hands wrapping around my wrists as he chewed the last of the cookie, his cheeks bulging.
Crumbs filtered down to my legs, dotting my jeans.
“Why are you frustrated,” I asked, feeling worry scrape up my spine. I’d never seen Mitch discombobulated. Never.
“Something’s happening, Glynn. Something’s coming. And for the first time in my life, I can’t see it.”
A chill swept over me. I didn’t know what to say to that. Anything I asked would only frustrate him more.
“It okay, Mitch,” Boyle said, spitting crumbs as he said the man’s name.
Mitch nodded, smiling indulgently. “It will be, Boyle. Don’t worry.”
“Will it?” I asked softly.
Mitch lifted his bright gaze to mine, his jaw tight.
The fear in his eyes was all the answer I needed.
“Glynn, Glynn, Glynn, Glynn!” a happy, excited voice sang out through the night. I was smiling even before I turned to find the petite, blonde woman running toward us across the broken sidewalk.
I caught her as she flung herself at me. “Hey, girlfriend.” I hugged her, laughing at her exuberance.
In the distance, the big dog gave a deep-throated bark of alarm.
My assailant rolled back on the heels of her pink sneakers. “Whoa! Why do you have a wolf?”
I laughed. “He’s not a wolf.” Then I frowned, not sure at all that he wasn’t. “I don’t think.”
“Sissy!” Boyle squealed, running toward us with the dog protectively at his side. “I miss you!” He didn’t even slow before he threw himself at my best friend, and despite the fact that he was a third her size and weight, she caught him easily, laughing with delight. “I miss you too, munchkin!” She sprinkled his small face with kisses as Boyle cringed and giggled. “Ach!” he said, mimicking Sissy’s usual response when he did that. “Witch kisses.”
In response, she kissed him right on the nose. “Witch kisses are the best, munchkin.”
Sissy let him slide to the ground and offered the wolf-dog her fingers to sniff. He didn’t hesitate to extend his nose, sneezing heartily as he got a whiff.
Sissy rolled her eyes. “Pepper. I just made myself a bacon, lettuce, and pepper sandwich.”
“Ugh!” I said, knowing it would earn me a belt on the arm from her tiny fist. Her eating habits were a constant source of amusement for me. Though, I’d noticed lately that she was infecting Boyle with them. Gargoyles are nothing if not gastronomically adventurous, making my best friend the perfect role model for him where food was concerned.
“How was your trip?” I asked as she fell in beside me. As usual, I felt like a giant next to Sissy. She was five feet two inches tall and, though shapely, probably weighed about as much as my left leg. By contrast, I was tall for a woman at five feet ten and big-boned. Or, at least, that’s what I told myself each and every time I broke down and let myself have dessert with Boyle.
“Exhausting,” Sissie admitted. “I had to hold my cloaking spell for eight full hours today.”
“Eight hours? How is that even possible?”
She sighed. “Two brownies, almost an entire cherry pie, and a large bag of chips made it possible.”
I envied my friend, who burned a massive number of calories when she did magic and needed to replenish them in whatever way possible. Just standing next to her while she ate that stuff made my butt an inch wider. I would have hated Sissy for the ability to eat whatever she wanted if I didn’t love her so much. “I don’t know why you risk it,” I scolded gently. “If anybody realized…”
She touched my arm with a soft hand, the nails of which were painted a cotton candy pink. “Nobody knew I was a witch,” she told me, smiling. “And, I risk it because somebody needs to, and I’m the only one who can.”
Sissy came from a wealthy and powerful family who lived in New Indianapolis. Her mother was on track to be the next Mayor of the city, and her father was a Statesman for the Magical Body, similar to a Senator in the human government. The Body was the governing force for Indy and the surrounding area, even usurping the Mayor’s power in many areas. Though it was generally thought that their power ended at the city limits. Those who knew the Body more intimately, like Sissy’s parents, understood they would extend their power until they came up against resistance.
Even then, they’d been known to use unreasonable force to overwhelm any but the staunchest opposition.
The Valkyr family was high-magic, but their positions made them the perfect advocates for Render. And Sissy’s assurances that the town was magic-free was all that kept the Marshals from descending on us and dragging us all into the city.
Sissy pretended she was low magic to distance herself from her family. According to Sis, her parents hated that she lived in Render. But she insisted she couldn’t stand living in a city with, “All. That. Magic,” as she put it with much drama. Though I found it hard to believe her parents didn’t know she was a witch, I never underestimated their ambitions. Or their full awareness of what would happen to those ambitions if it became widely known their beautiful daughter was a witch who preferred living in the countryside to taking her place with her family in Magical Indy.
6
Sissy blew bubbles at Boyle and he poked them with a claw, giggling hysterically as they continued to rain down on his head. A particularly large one floated to his pert little nose and hung there, glistening in a rainbow of refractive light.
“Pretty!” the little gargoyle breathed, his eyes crossing with delight.
“Okay, you,” I told him. “Time for bed.”
“Aw, Glynnie,” he whined.
I shook my head. “Nope, no arguments now. It’s an hour past your bedtime. The sun will be up soon.”
He harrumphed, but couldn’t hold back a jaw-cracking yawn. “Can I sleep with you?” he asked softly. And I realized he was still spooked from the night’s events. Though I would normally insist he climbed the stairs to his attic bedroom, provided with a gargoyle’s love of heights in mind, I gave in because, to tell the goddess’s honest truth, I was a little spooked myself. “Okay. But just this once.”
His grin was wide as he flung himself at my legs, giving me a bone-creaking hug. Then he climbed agilely onto Sissy’s lap and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Night, Sis.”
She hugged him, kissing him on the nose. “Night, sweet Boyle. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
He nodded happily and scurried up the stairs to the second level.
Sissy and I sat in silence for a minute, enjoying the quiet and our steaming cups of coffee. She sighed. “It’s so nice here.”
There was a familiar tang of longing in her voice—one which she only got after she’d spent time with her family. Sissy didn’t like living a false life in Indianapolis. She didn’t, in fact, much like the big, busy city itself. But most of all, she didn’t like the cool, shallow affection that was all she got from her parents. I knew she’d always longed for a sister. Or even a brother. Even the nickname she’d insisted on since she’d been a moody pre-teen spoke to that desire. Sissy wasn’t her real name. She wouldn’t tell me what that was. But I suspected it was something refined and stuffy. Like Persephone or Charlemagne.
Unfortuna
tely for Sissy’s sibling aspirations, having one child had been the extent of the Valkyr’s parental capabilities. An argument could be made that even having one child had stretched them beyond those capabilities.
I reached over and squeezed her hand. “It’s late. Why don’t you stay over?”
She considered it long enough that I gave her a nudge. “There’s plenty of room on the bed for three. As long as you don’t mind Boyle’s snoring, or having his cold little feet kicking you all night long.”
She laughed. “As tempting as that sounds…”
“Come on,” I nudged her with my foot under the table. “We can make popcorn and watch old vampire flicks.” I waggled my brows and the sad look finally left her eyes.
Sissy was a sucker for cheesy horror movies.
“Okay, you talked me into it. But I’m sleeping on the couch. I love that little munchkin like a rabbit loves carrots, but I’m not up to being pummeled by those icy little feet all night. That little sucker packs some power.”
“Tell me about it.” I climbed to my feet, biting back a groan from my treatment at the hands of the wraith. But Sissy noticed.
“Let me heal those bruises,” she offered.
I shook my head. “I’ll be fine by morning. You don’t need to waste your energy.”
The magic of the house would heal me. If Sissy did it, she’d pay a higher price. Recently, Sissy had begun to suffer debilitating headaches whenever she used too much of her magic.
I suspected the issue was an emotional one, the result of over twenty years trying to pretend she was “normal” and denying her gifts. But Sissy’s hackles rose whenever I suggested something along those lines. So, I’d stopped suggesting it and had just tried to minimize her magic use whenever possible.
Sissy shrugged. “I’ll go pick out a movie?”
“Good. I’ll pop the corn.”
We’d just settled in a few minutes later, Grams’ hand-knitted throw over our legs and a truly cheesy werewolf movie flickering into life on the television mounted over the fireplace, when the first rumble shook the house.
Sissy and I shared a look.
We waited for a beat and, when nothing else happened, I shrugged. “Probably just Victoria settling. She’s old and creaky.”
Sissy stuffed popcorn into her mouth and sighed happily.
The movie was twenty minutes gone when the second rumble hit, and something in the kitchen crashed to the ground.
I jumped up, heading into the kitchen to find the coffee cups I’d washed out and set to dry on a towel on the counter shattered into splinters on the floor.
Goddess’s galoshes! I thought with irritation. Those cups had sentimental value. They’d belonged to Grams.
“Earthquakes?” Sissy asked, still munching popcorn.
We were used to the occasional earthquake in the countryside around the magical city. The general consensus was that it was caused by an abundance of magic being used in a relatively compact area. Mostly the quakes were just annoying and we ignored them.
I didn’t think Victoria was succumbing to earthquakes. But I wasn’t sure, so I nodded. Hiding my expression from my friend, I picked my way gingerly around the mess and plucked a broom and dustpan from the corner where I’d tucked them. Electricity came at a premium in Render and worse, with strings. People monitored its use, using it to keep track of Renderites and, when necessary, to control us. The result was that, like most of us in the small town, I used as little of it as I could. Sissy held the pan for me while I swept the broken glass into it, and then dumped it into the trash.
Another rumble hit the house, strong enough to shake a glass jar filled with teabags toward the edge of the counter. I caught it just before it went over the edge. “Okay, that’s it!” I yelled to the air.
The reverberations cut off, mid-growl and the house fell to silence.
Sissy eyed me with surprise. “You control earthquakes, now?”
I sighed. “It’s not earthquakes.”
Her smile slipped off her face. “What is it, then?”
I chewed the inside of my lip. No way was I going to tell her. If I did, she’d want to help. And I couldn’t let her do it. It wasn’t her responsibility. “It’s nothing. But I need to take care of it. Maybe we could take a raincheck on the sleepover?”
Confusion morphed to hurt and then to anger in her gray eyes. “Glynn, I’m going to help you with whatever this is, so you might as well stop trying to get rid of me. Now tell me what we’re dealing with, so I can prepare.”
“Siss…”
“Uh!”
“But…”
“Eh!”
“I don’t want…”
“Inh!”
I gave up. “Okay. But I don’t think you can actually prepare for this. I would appreciate the backup, though. Just in case…”
Sissy’s expression, always clear enough to see straight through, showed her concern.
I didn’t really blame her. I’d passed through concern weeks ago and was currently teetering on the sharp edge of terrorized.
It would be a relief to finally share some of that terror with a friend.
The door opened with a soft whoosh, sucked back on its hinges on a gust of grave-scented air from the ward. Magical energy sifted over me, a stinging wash of icy air that left me feeling like I needed a shower.
The stairwell was pitch dark, the magic of the portal having made electric lighting a luxury we couldn’t afford. Every time the magic flared in the portal, it blew out the fixtures we’d installed in the ceiling above the stairs and the main room.
Standing at my back, Sissy gave a soft gasp of alarm and her hands found my shoulders, squeezing hard enough to leave bruises. “Glynn?”
I shook my head. “I need to move fast. You can stay up here if you want.” I started down the steps, stopping on the third one and turning to look back at her. She hadn’t moved. “Keep an eye on Boyle for me,” I said, trying to keep the fear-infused wobble out of my voice.
A moment later, I heard a soft exclamation and the steps vibrated under Sissy’s weight as she hurried after me. “I said I’d help.”
I’d have felt better if she hadn’t sounded so terrified. And if her usually pink cheeks weren’t an unhealthy chalk-white hue.
Sissy reached over and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly enough to make my finger bones creak. I appreciated the anchor. Even if I was pretty sure it was to make her feel better.
We descended the last few steps, moving past the unfinished drywall of the stairwell. As I stepped down onto the dirt floor, the basement opened up around me in all its horrible glory.
Sissy yanked my hand, her feet refusing to leave the last step. “Um, Glynn…”
I gave her hand a squeeze and forced myself to pull free. “Stay right here.”
She nodded, her gaze locked on the nightmare across the space.
I didn’t blame her. The fiery tunnel that led from the ragged hole in the rocky wall was definitely an attention-getter.
I stepped forward, my hand reluctantly releasing the wood railing. My fingers had probably dented the soft wood from the pressure of my grip. I sucked air at the feeling of magical energy rolling through the basement.
Behind me, Sissy drew a long, ragged breath, her eyes bright.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
Her gaze shot to me and widened, her mouth opening but no words finding their way past her lips. She nodded, clutching the same railing I had been abusing.
The fire that roiled inside the tunnel spun with unusual vigor, the force of its energy telling me something bad was coming.
“Goddess’s galoshes!” I muttered. I’d known the energy was building, but I’d had no idea it had gotten so bad.
“What is that thing?” Sissy whispered in a hoarse voice.
I forced my fingers to release the railing. “Portal.” She’d known my job was to protect Victoria from discovery. A magical house would be a rare and coveted find for the power-hungry
Body. But I’d never told her about the portal in the basement. The fewer people who knew the better. Sissy was my best friend. She’d proven her loyalty to me many times over the years. I trusted her. I just didn’t want her having to carry around knowledge she might be forced to lie about later. “It’s not too late to leave,” I half-joked.
She ignored me. “Where does it go?” the question was breathless. When I glanced her way, I saw that her chest was heaving.
“Sis, are you sure…”
“I’m fine,” she said, her voice sounding more normal. “It’s just…amazing.”
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s a word for it.” I could think of many others. But maybe that was because I’d seen the worst the thing could spit out. And it was bad.
I thought of the wraith in the yard and couldn’t help wondering…
The house rumbled again, dust from the ceiling sifting down on my head. High above me, I heard the ominous sound of something crashing to the floor. Dread filled me as I wondered what fresh heartache I’d find when I went back upstairs.
“It leads someplace we don’t want to go,” I answered vaguely. The truth was, I wasn’t sure where the portal led. Grams had told me the house rested atop a lei line, and that the energy from the line bubbled up and infused the old house with magic. I only felt a small fraction of that energy because my power isn’t of the earth, my energy is centered in the animal world. Human animals included. But even I gained a soft bump of power from the thing in the basement. And I knew how seductive it could be.
“What are you going to do?” Sissy asked, her voice sounding closer.
I turned to find her standing just behind me, her gaze locked on the fiery portal. “You should get back,” I said, frowning.
She didn’t acknowledge my warning. Her gaze stayed riveted on the roiling magic.
“Sis?” I waved a hand in front of her face.
She blinked and grinned. “No wonder you don’t like to come down here. That’s seriously cool and vastly terrifying.”
“Yeah.” I frowned toward the stairs. I knew my friend. I wasn’t going to be able to talk her into staying back. So I’d just have to finish what I’d come down there to do and get us both back upstairs. “Don’t get any closer, okay?”
