“Why doesn’t this work?” she said, louder than she’d intended.
On the outside of her calf, a little orange tabby rubbed the entire length of his body, then quickly swiveled and rubbed the other side.
She had been so focused on the artifacts that she hadn’t seen him. She nearly jumped but caught herself in time and exhaled.
“Nacho,” she said, letting some tension go. She placed the skull in the pouch before reaching down to scratch him behind the ears. It sent him into a fit of purring.
Nacho had been the building cat at her old apartment downtown. When he showed up every night at her place, she’d started to think of him as hers. Although she’d been nervous about making him an indoor cat after the move, he seemed content so far. His favorite place was the perch next to the sliding doors that led to the rooftop garden. He watched the outside world with interest, particularly the frequent bird visitors.
Although it was too dark to see, Livvy heard the muted ringing tones of the wind chime in the garden. It had belonged to her parents, but she’d never had a place where she could hang it without disturbing neighbors. So she had saved it and waited. On moving day, she had put it up before the movers had even finished. It was the last time she’d been in the garden. The lush greenery and box flowers had really sold her on the penthouse condo, and she did enjoy looking at them, but she never made the time to venture out. Work always came first.
Nacho had seemed ‘wind chime deprived’ as well. Livvy often saw him staring at the tubes of metal as they swayed in the breeze. At the moment, however, he seemed much more interested in scratches. She gave him a last gentle tousle of the head and turned her attention back to the leather pouch.
She felt the soft suede exterior, aware of the different shapes inside. There was only one way to find out if she could get them to work. She cinched it closed and kept it in her hand while she reached for her goggles. A gentle click turned on the power and they began to quietly hum.
She glanced around the living room. This one room was larger than her entire previous apartment. She’d had an interior designer recommended by the building’s homeowners association do the decorating. Although she’d chosen the color scheme, approved all the purchases, and knew that the place was modern, sleek, and comfortable, it never really felt like home to her. Tonight, there was an extra feeling of unease.
It made her nervous to make a journey to the Multiverse without someone standing by–without SK standing by–but she couldn’t keep using the time with clients. The only other time she’d gone solo was at the beckoning of Tawa, the Hopi kachina.
She paused. It’d been months since she’d thought of him–the giant feather-fringed face, the rattle and flute. She couldn’t help but smile. He’d saved her life more than once. She glanced down at the leather pouch in her hand and the smile faded.
He wouldn’t approve of what she was doing. Even so, it had to be done.
She tightened her grip on the pouch and looked down at Nacho. “Wait here?” she said.
He signaled his interest by heading to the kitchen.
“Right,” she said quietly.
Livvy brought her legs up onto the couch, took in a deep breath, and lay back on the small pillow stuffed with wheat kernels and sage. Then, she put on the goggles.
The symbols of the entrance to the spiritual realm were already playing in vivid 3-D: spirals, handprints, crisscrossing lines, dots, and sunbursts. They swam in and out of view, cycling in hues of yellow and red.
As Livvy put her hands down to her sides, still holding the leather pouch, she slowly and deliberately inhaled and then exhaled. The smell of the fragrant sage had its usual soothing effect. The cycling of the symbols increased until they were a glowing blur that grew transparent. Beyond them, the familiar landscape of the Middleworld began to take shape. She stepped through.
• • • • •
The clouds were so dark they were almost a solid black, covering the sky from horizon to horizon. Although Livvy knew it was always high noon in the Middleworld, she hadn’t seen the sun here for months. She sensed that something was changing, something fundamental about the Multiverse. She had felt it for some time but, remembering how sunlight used to suffuse the Middleworld, the current scene was a stark contrast.
She walked up the dirt path that led from the edge of the thick pine forest to the shore of the black lake. Without hesitation, she strode directly into the water. Overhead, thunder pealed and echoed from the mountains that circled the lake. Anxious to get to the Underworld, Livvy ducked under the water as it began to swirl around her.
In moments, she was expelled from the fountain and jumped lightly to the pavement next to it. She turned to see the bright blue inverted funnel of water splashing back down. Up above, the clouds were already boiling, as though her spirit helper had somehow sensed her anxiety.
“This won’t take long,” she said, as if in reply. It better not.
With no client to find, the clouds had no direction to take. A crack of thunder and flash of lightning within the dark mass lit the plaza in a stark white light for a few seconds. The shadows between the buildings were thrown into deep blackness, where no light could penetrate. She’d never noticed that before. A shudder ran down her spine.
Get in, get done, get out, went the shaman’s maxim. Especially if you’re working solo.
Livvy quickly knelt down and opened the leather pouch. She drove the kila dagger into the pavement and then placed each of the items around it. She finished with her mother’s engagement ring, slipping it over the apex of the crystal pyramid.
It had taken months to figure out this much and she knew she had to be close now. With the last bit of information clicking into place, it almost seemed obvious.
Livvy stood, raised her hand to the sky–and hesitated.
She stared down at the artifacts, letting her hand drop while her stomach did a flip-flop. She ran a hand through her hair and then both hands.
The whole thing felt wrong.
Probably because she knew it was wrong. It was exactly the opposite of what shamans were supposed to do. She had already learned that flouting shaman prohibitions could have a terrible cost. Min had almost died as a result. Would there be unforeseen consequences to this?
Her eyes landed on the ring.
“Mom,” she quietly moaned as the familiar tightening in her chest began.
That’s what this was about. That’s what everything had been about from the time she had become a shaman. It had all led to this moment but, now that it was here, she was unsure. She bit her lower lip.
I have to do this. I have to at least try.
Before she could change her mind, she thrust her hand to the sky. “Lightning,” she said.
An incandescent bolt shot from the center of the whirling clouds directly on to her hand with a buzzing crackle. The energy surged through her making her skin tingle and the soles of her feet vibrate. She looked down at her mother’s ring and slowly raised her other hand to point at it.
“Elizabeth Lawson,” she yelled over the crackling and the wind that had begun to rise. Electricity leapt from her finger, through the engagement ring, and onto the tip of the pyramid. “I summon you!”
Overhead, thunder pealed furiously as the lightning strike grew brighter. A dazzling beam emerged from the pyramid, pointing upward like a searchlight. It too grew brighter.
“There she is!” Livvy heard someone yell behind her.
She immediately dropped her hand and spun around.
CHAPTER NINE
THE LIGHTNING STRIKE receded into the sky, and the wind died abruptly as Livvy stared at the new arrivals. The fountain lay between them, calm and shining blue. There was no inverted funnel or splashing of water because they hadn’t come through it.
Livvy knew she was lying alone in her living room in the real world. But if that was true, how had these shamans gotten here?
The one from before, the tall girl with the long black hair, ony
x pendant, and leather duster stood in the back. In front of her stood two new shamans.
A young freckled girl, just a slip of a thing, was on Livvy’s left. Her short, red hair was done in lethal looking spikes. She had a keen look, something quick and furtive. The other woman was black and heavyset, her hair cropped close, with a big round face. Both wore the robes and pendants of shamans. Something in their stance told Livvy they weren’t paying a friendly visit.
“Who are you and what do you want?” said Livvy.
“I’m in charge from now on,” said the one in back. “That’s all you need to know.”
The two women in front didn’t turn to look at her. They kept their eyes on Livvy.
“In charge?” asked Livvy. That didn’t even make any sense.
“Now!” ordered the one in back.
The two shamans in front separated to come around each side of the fountain. Livvy backed up and raised her hand to the sky. Their spirit helpers hadn’t appeared, and she had no clue as to what their shamanic powers might be.
“Stop where you are,” Livvy cautioned them both. “Don’t make me do something you’ll regret.”
It wasn’t a threat; it was a simple fact. Because it had the clear ring of truth, Livvy’s warning stopped the two in front. They looked at each other.
“Don’t listen to her,” yelled the third. “I said now!”
As though pushed from behind, they resumed their advance.
Livvy looked up to the sky. “Whirlwind,” she said.
The three other shamans looked up too. A spinning funnel of clouds started to descend over them.
“Do it!” yelled the one in back.
The small redhead reached up both hands toward the lowering funnel. “Wind,” she screamed.
A giant rush of air flowed from every direction toward the redhead. Livvy felt it surge from behind her, sweeping her hair forward. The wind seemed to grow from the ground around them and when it reached the redhead, it rushed upward. Her robes seemed to levitate in the invisible stream. The wind met the descending funnel of clouds midway and flattened the tip.
Livvy concentrated, gathering power, seeing the whirlwind in her mind and the tip descended again.
By all the gods, why are they doing this?
Meanwhile, the heavyset woman reached both her hands toward the ground.
“Quake,” she yelled. The ground bucked violently beneath them all. The tip of the funnel had flattened again.
“Quake,” she yelled again. The ground rumbled and a groaning sound could be heard over the growing gale. The pavement suddenly mounded and cracked open. A long, gaping black scar appeared in the asphalt and ran past the fountain, directly at Livvy. With one arm still raised for the whirlwind, Livvy leaped sideways to avoid the opening seam.
The funnel of the whirlwind stopped descending again. Livvy looked over at the redhead, who had begun to pant. She had probably never had to sustain her power so long and wouldn’t be able to manage it much longer. The heavyset one, however, was preparing another attack. The one in back only watched but seemed poised to unleash her own power. Livvy wasn’t going to wait to find out what that was.
She thrust her other hand to the sky. “Lightning,” she yelled.
The bolt sliced through the funnel cloud, obliterated the redhead’s column of wind, and crashed onto Livvy’s hand. The two shamans in front froze; Livvy didn’t know if there were frightened or mesmerized. They had heard of the lightning shaman, but they had never seen her in action.
Livvy slowly lowered the arm that had called down the whirlwind and aimed it at them.
The two in front flinched but stood their ground.
“Separate,” yelled the one in back. “Get some distance between us!”
Yes! Distance was exactly what she needed!
She pointed at the growing space between the three of them, just on the other side of the fountain, and let loose. A booming blast ripped through the air as lightning leaped from her hand. A deafening peal of thunder sounded overhead as the ground between the three other shamans exploded in a bright flash of white-hot energy. All three of them were thrown several yards back.
“Please,” Livvy yelled. “I don’t want to hurt anybody!” She kept her hand raised, though, and readied herself to point again.
The heavyset woman and the one in back were already on their feet, but the redhead was having trouble getting up. The heavyset one ran over and helped her to her feet.
“Retreat,” yelled the one in back and, in moments, all three blinked out in flashes of light.
Livvy immediately dropped her hands. The lightning retreated and the wind died down. She stared at the smoking crater she had created and then at the jagged crevasse that ran by her.
Those shamans had come to the Underworld to attack her.
But why?
• • • • •
In the real world, Livvy sat up quickly, swung her legs off the couch, and pulled the goggles off. She knew she wasn’t networked but she couldn’t help but check. Her heart beat furiously and she wiped perspiration from her forehead. She dropped the small leather pouch, now soaked with sweat, onto the coffee table.
Abruptly, a searing pain lanced through her head, from left temple to right, as though an ice pick were being driven through. She closed her eyes and groaned, slumping forward.
Gods, another killer headache.
She opened her eyes slowly and found that she was hovering over the open book. A bright red spot appeared on the page and then another, landing with small plops. Livvy reached a hand to her nose. Her fingers were quickly covered in blood. She pinched her nose closed, teetered into the hallway bathroom and hung her head over the pedestal sink.
After several minutes, the pain began to subside. She turned on the water and watched as streaks of blood rushed toward the drain, swirling at the last second before disappearing.
It reminded her of the whirlwind in the Underworld–and those three shamans. She grimaced at the thought.
‘I’m in charge,’ the dark one had said.
In charge of what?
CHAPTER TEN
“YOU SOUND LIKE you’ve got a cold,” said SK.
He gazed down at the fog-enshrouded coastline below his condo balcony. A few runners went by along the curved jogging path. A bicyclist, who was being pulled by his Great Dane, passed them. SK had been about to go out for a walk himself when Livvy called.
“No, I’m fine. Just a little stuffed up this morning.”
He heard a pause, a slight hesitation that no one else would have noticed. There was something she wanted to say.
“I saw another shaman in the Underworld,” she said.
It took him a second to process it. “Wait,” he said, turning away from the window. “What?”
“I saw another shaman–”
“In the Underworld,” he said, his voice rising.
“Right,” she said quietly.
He stared intently at the floor, not seeing it. Another shaman? In the Underworld? “When?” he demanded.
“During the healing with Fletcher Mosely.”
“With Fletcher? By all the gods, Liv, why didn’t you say anything?”
“Well, I didn’t really know what to think.”
Didn’t really know what to think? He scowled. How about thinking of mentioning it. Is that why the healing had taken so long?
“SK?”
“Look,” he said. “The only time you can see another shaman in the Multiverse is by networking goggles, and you weren’t networked.” He thought back on the healing. “Are you sure it wasn’t an ancestor spirit?”
“No,” said Livvy. “I don’t think so. She dressed like a shaman. Contemporary too. No, she was a shaman.”
“Did you recognize her?”
“No. I’ve never seen her before. I think I’d remember.”
SK considered that for a moment. “Did Fletcher recognize her?”
There was a pause.
“No, I
’m pretty sure he didn’t know her.”
There’d be no point in asking him, either. Clients never remembered the Multiverse.
Why had it taken her so long to say something about this?
SK went over to one of the overstuffed and lowered chairs and sat down.
“What did she look like?”
There was another pause–a long one. He could almost picture her hesitating.
“Rather than go through this on the phone, can we have dinner?”
He blinked at the sudden turn in conversation. “Dinner?”
“Yeah, tonight,” she said. “How about I pick you up at six?”
“Um, sure, sure,” he managed to get out. “That’d be fine.”
“Great,” she said. “Dress fancy.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CLEARLY, SHE WAS going to need a bigger squad.
“Pipsqueak,” Dominique barked. “When is this going to be done?”
Startled, Pip jumped and nearly dropped the soldering iron. Her spiked, red hair jutted up from behind the enormous magnifying goggles, and her eyes looked as big as baseballs.
“I…I don’t know, ma’am,” she stammered.
Dominique glared at the three pairs of networked goggles.
Livvy–no Liver, as in chopped–Liver had easily handled Pipsqueak and Tambourine. If she hadn’t been holding back, who knows what might have happened? Dominique had underestimated the enemy–a mistake she wouldn’t make twice.
“Tonight,” Dominique said.
“Tonight?” Pipsqueak involuntarily glanced down at the spool of solder she held over the green circuit board.
Dominique slowly circled behind Pipsqueak, her boots quietly squeaking on the polished concrete. She placed a hand around the back of Pipsqueak’s neck and she flinched.
“I have,” Dominique said, squeezing, “every confidence in you.” She let go with a push. In fact, Dominique already knew it’d be impossible to have it done tonight, but it never hurt to press for more.
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