That’s when I had to go out and eat crow. I found Amity waiting with a smug expression.
“Barnaby wants you to join us,” I mumbled.
“I’m sorry,” she said cheerfully. “I didn’t quite hear that.”
“Seriously, you’re going to make me repeat myself?” I groused.
“Just once,” Amity said, smiling sweetly.
Gritting my teeth, I said, “Barnaby would like for you to join us, please.”
“Of course,” Amity said. “I’d be delighted to.”
When we stepped into the alcove, two chairs now faced the mirror, both filled with sleeping cats.
“Guys, come on,” I said. “I was gone for five whole minutes.”
After I relocated the snoozing felines to my makeshift bed, Amity and I sat and Barnaby got right to business. “Amity,” he said, “I think the time has come for you to explain to Jinx what you’ve been working on for the last few months.”
I’m not sure what I expected to hear, but I can promise you it wasn’t what she said. “With the aid of Dílestos, I’ve been interviewing witches to reconstitute the Briar Hollow coven.”
32
The conversation that followed Amity’s surprise announcement broadened my understanding of the interlocking structures that support and disperse the power and influence of the Mother Trees.
Without a full coven in Briar Hollow, the Great Oak had been operating from a weakened position within the Grid for years. Only the impressive strength she embodies made it possible for her to continue to function as part of the greater whole.
The prolonged strain she endured might explain, in part, why Chesterfield’s plan to attack her from the human realm seemed to be working.
“Why are you telling me all this now?” I asked.
Barnaby seemed almost reluctant to answer me.
“While we did not foresee the necessity of your entering the Middle Realm,” he said slowly, “or a possible confrontation with the Dark Druid, we did understand the need to repair this weakness in the Grid.”
That seemed pretty obvious. What the heck was he trying to get at?
“And?” I prodded.
Never one to beat around the bush, Amity blurted out the truth. “Some of the witches I’ve talked to about joining the coven have expressed skepticism about your lack of training,” she said bluntly.
All this time the people around me had been telling me I was special and destined. I guess I’d bought my own press. The idea that some witches I’d never even met were running around dissing me instantly put me on the defensive.
“Really,” I said testily. “Did any of them volunteer to wade into this mess and fix things?”
Amity clicked her tongue. “Don’t get in a snit,” she said. “I’m on your side. I happen to think you’re going to be just fine in the Middle Realm.”
Well, wasn’t she just full of surprises today. “Oh,” I said. “Uh, thank you.”
My grandfather cleared his throat. “We are not seeking to add to the pressure under which you are already working,” he said, feeling carefully for his words, “but when you return from the Middle Realm . . . ”
“Those same witches are going to be lined up out the door trying to get into your coven,” Amity finished for him. “So knock their striped socks off.”
I blinked. “We don’t really ever have to do the striped socks and pointy hats, do we?” I asked.
“Only on formal occasions,” Amity said serenely.
She was kidding . . . I think.
When Amity and I came out of the alcove, Tori, Darby, Chase, and Lucas were working on packing four backpacks while Myrtle offered suggestions. Greer had an elegant leather satchel open beside her chair, which she was filling with various small items I couldn’t make out.
“Barnaby’s good with the plan,” I said. “I’m going to call Aquila back and set up a meeting with him and Brenna. If anyone has anything to say before I do that, now is the time to say it.”
From off to my left, Mom said softly, “May you and I talk, Jinx?”
The fact that she didn’t use my double Southern name was promising.
“Sure,” I said. “You want to come into the alcove?”
“Why don’t we take a walk instead?” she suggested.
Myrtle laid her hand gently on my arm. “Go with your mother,” she said. “I will speak with Aquila.”
I fell in beside Mom as we walked away from the lair. Neither of us spoke until the sound of the voices behind us faded away.
“Honey,” Mom said then, “I owe you an apology. You’re doing the right thing — the brave thing — and I know you’ll be fine.”
Looking at the floor, I said, “Do you? Or do you just not want me to go into the Middle Realm with this hanging between us?”
Mom stopped walking and caught hold of my hands. “Both,” she said. “Of course, I’m scared, Jinx. For you. For us. But this is who you are. This is what you do. I am proud of you and it was very wrong of me not to say so sooner.”
“Thank you,” I said, allowing the tears I’d been holding back to flow freely. “And just so you know? I’m scared half to death.”
Drawing me into her arms, Mom whispered, “I’d be seriously worried about you if you weren’t.”
When Mom and I returned to the lair arm in arm, I think everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Dad bounded up off the sofa and pulled us both into one of his big, wonderful bear hugs. “How are my girls?” he asked.
“We’re fine,” Mom wheezed, “but we can’t breathe.”
He loosened his hold, but he didn’t let go. “That’s more like it,” he said, kissing me on the forehead and Mom on the lips. “I don’t like discord in the family.”
“Nor do any of us,” Myrtle said. “Jinx, I have spoken with Aquila.”
She outlined a simple plan. We would enter the Middle Realm from our side, which directly accesses the Moss Forest. There, we would be met by the Golem who would test me. Assuming I passed, which I intended to, we would then cross a chasm to the adjoining mountain range and descend to the Valley of Quivira.
At that point, Beau interrupted her, “Quivira?” he asked. “Is that not another name for Cibola?”
“It is,” Myrtle replied.
That sounded vaguely familiar. “What’s Cibola?” I said.
“A land much sought after by the Spanish Conquistadores in the 16th and 17th centuries,” Myrtle replied.
Conquistadores? My mind flashed back to seventh grade history class. “The Seven Cities of Gold? That Cibola?” I said. “For real?”
“Very much for real,” she said. “Aquila and Brenna will be waiting for you at the first of the seven cities, which lies at the foot of Mt. Quivira.”
From there, we would journey with the pair to the base of the Mother Oak and deliver the Jar of Prometheus to Gwydion in person. Next stop? Castle of the Dark Druid.
“So what are we going to do once we get there?” Tori asked. “Knock on the door and ask if Brighid can come out and play?”
“Not in so many words,” Greer answered, taking a sip of her Scotch, “but Brenna and I are both acquainted with Fer Dorich. He will speak to us and hopefully we can come to an accord without things getting . . . complicated.”
Complications involving Dark Druids, the baobhan sith, and a questionably reformed Creavit sorceress? Yeah, I was up for avoiding those.
So — that was it. The bags were packed. We had a plan.
“What are we waiting for?” I asked.
“Midnight,” Myrtle replied. “It is the most opportune time to cross into the Middle Realm. There, you will arrive just as the sun is rising, the time of day when the Golem are most inclined to deal favorably with travelers.”
I glanced at my watch. That’s when I realized I didn’t know if it was day or night, or for that matter, the day of the week.
“Being down here has made me completely lose track of time,” I admitted. “What day is it?”
“Tuesday, December 2
9,” Chase said, “and it’s about 6 o’clock in the evening.”
That would explain why I was starving.
“Sounds good,” I said. “What’s for dinner, Darby?”
The brownie laid out a feast fit for royalty, which I tried not to regard as my last meal. Everyone at the table tried to keep the conversation light, which was pretty tough under the circumstances. The muted TV over our heads displayed a constant stream of scrolling headlines. Water pipes frozen solid. Power lines down. Emergency shelters filled to capacity. Impending food shortages. We needed to get this thing done — fast.
When we were all sitting around the fire again, Myrtle explained that like the transition into Shevington, time in the Middle Realm flows along a different stream. “For us,” she said. “You may be gone only a matter of hours, but for you, days could pass. There will be no way to communicate with us until you reach a place with access to a mirror.”
“Can’t they carry a pocket mirror?” Kelly asked.
“They can,” Myrtle said, “but a device that small will most probably lack the power to initiate or receive a signal.”
“And when we’re ready to come home?” Tori asked. “we get back out the same way we got in?”
“Precisely,” Myrtle said. “Once you have passed the test of the Golem, they will not trouble you again.”
I honestly can’t say if time crawled or raced after that. Sometimes I looked at the clock shocked to see only five minutes had passed since the last time I checked, and then a whole hour would fly by in the space of a minute. No matter where I went in the lair, I felt my parents’ eyes following me.
Rodney refused to budge from his place curled around my neck. He understood he couldn’t come with us, but he was getting every second with me that he could.
Around 11:30, I asked Beau to step into my alcove. Drawing the curtain behind us, I said, “I want to ask you to do something for me.”
“Anything, Miss Jinx,” he said. “You have only to say the word.”
“First,” I said, “I need you to take care of Rodney and my cats. I know it’s a weird combination, but they know not to eat him.”
Gently prying the rat away from my neck, I cradled him lovingly in my hands. “You stay with Beau, you hear me?” I said. “And none of your bright ideas. When I get back, I want to hear you were on your best behavior. Got it?”
Rodney’s eyes filled with tears, but he nodded and crossed his heart. When Beau reached for him, the little guy ran up the colonel’s arm and dived under his sweater without looking back.
“Okay,” I said, drawing in a shaky breath. “Second, will you please look after my folks, too? I don’t know what’s going to happen in there. Even if I get past the Golem, there’s no guarantee I’m coming back.”
Beau had started to shake his head before I even finished speaking. “There is no need of this,” he said fiercely. “You are coming back.”
I caught hold of his hand and made him look at me. “You’re a soldier, Beau,” I said. “I may not get through this alive and you know it. Please promise me that you will be there for my parents.”
He didn’t like it, but Beau was not a man to deny the request of a friend.
“On my oath,” he said. “I will care for your parents as if they were my own. But Jinx, you will return. Of this, I have no doubt.”
“Let’s hope you’re right about that,” I said shakily. “Do you happen to have any words of advice for me?”
“‘This above all: to thine own self be true,’” he said. “‘And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.’”
Shakespeare. First time that stuff ever made a lick of sense to me.
33
As soon as Beau and I emerged from the alcove, Myrtle stood up and announced, “We must go to the doorway now.” She held the Jar of Prometheus in her hands.
Mom instantly got to her feet, clearly intending to come with us, but stopped when Myrtle said gently, “Only those taking the journey may approach the entrance to the Middle Realm, Kelly. I am afraid you must remain here.”
I know Mom wanted to argue, but when Dad put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, she accepted that this was the moment she’d been dreading.
Since she seemed rooted in place and my father wasn’t budging either, I went over to join them.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll be back before you know it.”
Mom’s lip quivered, but she didn’t cry. “Stay safe,” she said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I answered, pulling her into a hug. “Please don’t worry. We’re going to be fine.”
She nodded. “I know,” she said in a choked voice, “but I’m going to worry anyway.”
Dad’s arms came around us both. “Knock’em dead, kiddo,” he said. “You’ve got this.”
When we stepped apart, Gemma waved me over to where she and Tori were standing. She had one arm around her daughter and drew me close with the other.
“You two have been getting into trouble together since before you learned to walk,” she said. “What one of you couldn’t think of, the other one did.”
“She’s the troublemaker,” I said, leaning into Gemma. “I’m the innocent party who gets blamed for everything.”
Her laughter vibrated comfortingly against my body. “That’s debatable,” she said before her tone grew more serious. “Keep each other safe, girls. Trust your instincts, and trust each other.”
“Yes, ma’am,” we both said on cue.
Glory pulled up in front of us on her broom, hovering at eye level. “Darby made sandwiches and put them in your packs,” she said, “and I insisted he put chocolate chip cookies in, too. I don’t think anybody should ever do anything scary without chocolate chip cookies on hand.”
“Dang straight,” Tori agreed. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” Glory said. “And please come back okay. You all are my family now.”
I’d managed not to cry with my parents and Gemma, but the mini witch’s earnest sincerity took me to the edge of tears. “We feel the same way about you,” I said. “We’re counting on you to keep an eye on things here until we get back. Can you do that?”
Glory sat up straighter on her broom. “You bet I can,” she said. “Don’t you worry about a thing.”
Across the room, I saw Chase approach his father who was sitting as usual on the hearth.
“You’re a credit to the clan, boy,” Festus said, holding out his paw. “Your mother would be proud. Go mbeannaí Dia duit.”
May God bless you. If I wasn’t choked up already, that would have done it.
Chase accepted the gesture. They shook “hands,” and he said, “Thank you, Dad. That means a lot to me.”
Festus saw me watching them and winked.
When Tori went over to say goodbye to my parents, I caught hold of Gemma’s hand. “Take care of Mom,” I whispered. “She’s not okay with this and if anything . . .”
“Nothing is going to happen,” Gemma said, “but I will take care of Kelly, the same way you’re going to take care of Tori for me. Deal?”
“Deal.”
At the edge of the lair, Darby stood next to Beau with Duke hovering close by. When I stopped in front of them, the brownie regarded me with enormous eyes.
“You and Mistress Tori are doing a great and courageous thing, Mistress,” he said. “It will be a story we will tell many times in years to come.”
“That we will,” I said, bending down and kissing him on the cheek and pausing to scratch Duke’s ghostly ears.
When I straightened up, Rodney was sitting on Beau’s shoulder.
“I know you don’t like this,” I told the rat, “but you need to stay here. You don’t expect these people to think for themselves, now do you?”
Rodney grinned, shook his head, and gave me the thumbs up.
“Good man,” I said. “I’ll be back soon, I promise.”
Careful not to dislodge R
odney, Beau embraced me and whispered, “I will keep my word to you, but please do not give me cause to do so.”
That just left Amity, who wasn’t exactly the hugging type. Thankfully she forestalled any awkward parting by handing Dílestos to me and repeating her stern admonition to, “Knock their socks off.”
With that, I joined Myrtle, Tori, Chase, Lucas, and Greer. We clasped hands and took the flight of the baobhan sith. The last thing I saw in the lair before the swirling winds obscured my vision, were Mom and Gemma watching us go, wishing they could take our place.
Greer brought us to an open space in the fairy mound that faced an ancient stone wall. In the center, bound in iron and secured by chains and locks, a massive oak plank door waited. Cobwebs obscured the hinges, and a thick layer of dust coated the hardware.
“So that’s it?” Lucas asked, dropping his pack on the floor beside his feet. “The doorway to the Middle Realm?” He moved closer to examine the entrance. “Does it work like a portal?”
“After a fashion,” Myrtle said, taking out the rusty ring of keys she’d used earlier to get us into the Special Collection. “If you and Chase will be so kind as to remove the locks and chains, I will explain.”
Chase took the keys from her and stepped next to Lucas. “We’re going to raise a cloud of dust getting those things off,” he said.
Even though she was at least six yards away, Myrtle absently waved her hand, instantly brushing the cobwebs and dirt aside.
“Damn,” Lucas said. “Neat trick. You need to visit my apartment and do the same thing.”
“Hah!” Greer snorted. “It would take more than magic to clean up that pigsty. Have you considered blasting powder?”
“Very funny,” Lucas muttered.
He reached for the first lock, then stopped and looked back at Myrtle. “Any chance you can open these with magic, too?” he asked.
“Those locks were forged with dwarvish iron and enchanted by the Druids of old,” she replied. “They will answer only to the keys to which they are bound.”
Lucas sighed with resignation. “That,” he said, straining to lift the first heavy lock, “is the thing I never get about magic. Just when you need it to make things easier, it chooses the hard way.”
The Amulet of Caorunn (A Jinx Hamilton Mystery Book 7) Page 23
