“I love you too! You guys stay safe, and come home soon. I’m serious, if you don’t find anything in the next twenty-four hours that definitively leads to Clarissa or the hunter, just come back. We have a lot going on here too, and I’d feel better with you closer.”
“Me too, believe me. I promise, we’ll head back if we don’t find a decent trail soon. You stay safe, and keep your head down until I get back. Give Willow a kiss for me, baby. I have to go.”
The phone went dead and I handed it back to Ashley. “I hate when he’s away.”
“I know, hon. My man is out there too. Hell, I was half afraid Asi was going to need to go with Natalia and Evan on whatever quest they ran off to chase.”
“I’m pretty sure Asi came to an agreement with Evan about stuff like that before he took off with Natalia the last time. He can’t just pick up and run off on a whim anymore because he has you to think about, and now you both have a baby of your own on the way.”
“I know.” Ashley put her hand on her belly, and rubbed it. “It’s still unbelievable, except that I think it’s been moving around in there, and I can feel it a little bit now. At first it was like bubbles moving. I think that’s the baby right? Either that or I’m going to blow up with some crazy gas soon.” I laughed as Ashley described the same feeling I remembered questioning only a few months ago.
“What do you think it’s going to be a boy or a girl?”
“I don’t know. I kind of hope it’s a boy. I really liked having big brothers to look out for me, even if they were annoying.”
“Is that your way of saying you want more than one then?”
“Of course I want more than one. I want a whole brood with that man. Hell, just hearing him talk right now sends tingles to all the right places for me. A girl could get used to that.” I tossed a stuffed bear at Ashley as I laughed.
“Not in front of my daughter!”
“Hey, I thought Sierra was supposed to be coming over with little Jack?”
“She is. Let me text and see what’s going on. My dad’s security has been a little overzealous with everyone else who tried to come in here today. I guess I better make sure she hasn’t been standing outside this whole time.”
“Jessica?” My dad’s voice boomed through the house from downstairs. I snatched my robe and ran down there before he managed to wake the babies.
“What the hell is all the yelling about, dad? There are sleeping babies upstairs and the sun’s not even up.” I took one look at his face, and started to worry. “What’s going on? Is Mikael okay? Asi? What’s happened?”
He waved off my concern, and moved out of the way so that I could see he wasn’t alone. “They’re fine. They checked in a little earlier. They won’t be coming back just yet, because they picked up a healthy trail. Serena showed up a little while ago and filled me in on what she’s been doing over at Avery’s. I thought it was something you’d need to know right away.”
“Well, let’s go to the kitchen then. I need some coffee before I can work in any capacity, let alone an official one.”
My father chuckled and Serena shook her head at me, but both of them followed me to the kitchen and waited patiently while I put a pot of coffee on. “Does this have anything to do with you remote viewing the caves?”
“How did you know?”
“Avery mentioned something about it yesterday when he left to warn you about Louis.”
“Louis, yes, we’ll get to him later. I want to talk to you about the gateway to the dead right now though.”
“Coffee?” I offered each of them. My dad nodded and Serena just waved it off.
“If you have tea, I would prefer that.” I didn’t even need to respond, I just set about making some tea.
“Cream, sugar, anything?”
“Honey if you have it,” Serena smiled at me as I sat the cup, a spoon, and some honey in front of her. She raised her eyebrow about the same time as she raised the honey bear container.
“Hey, it’s not honey if it doesn’t come in the little bear thing.” I sat down with my coffee and watched the smirk appear on Serena’s face as she poured the honey straight from the bear into her tea and stirred. “So, what’s going on with this gateway? Did you manage to find it?”
“I think I am confident about its general location.” Serena was studying my face then. “It is a protected portal, Jess, and as far as I can tell it’s not just in the caves, it is underground. I spoke to Layla. She’s on her way here, by the way.”
“Wait, what about the Fiul Sange? Louis?”
“What about him?”
“Won’t he be a danger to you and Layla?”
“He’s already Fiul Sange, he has no need to drain a witch.” She peered at me over her teacup as she took another sip.
“I get that, but he has a horde of dark ones with him. If any of them realize how a Fiul Sange is created, that puts you in danger.”
“Well, if we were young and naïve still, maybe. Do not worry yourself about my sister and I, Jessica. We will be fine. Besides, Layla has a special gift and dominion over the dead. What are the dark ones, but mostly-dead creatures walking?”
“I suppose.” I was kind of thrown by how dismissive Serena was being about the dark ones. She had to know, with a Fiul Sange around, she was quite possibly in a lot of danger, especially since he appeared to pretty desperate to get his hands on me and my blood. “We’re also blood though. What if he has learned that somehow?”
“Then he’d be smart enough to run. If he knew you were family, I doubt he would attempt what he’s trying.”
“What exactly is he attempting to do?”
“He wants to open the portal. I can only assume he means to bring some dead friends back across into our realm. Even if he gets the portal open, it won’t be as easy as all that for him. The other side doesn’t just let go of its dead for nothing, and besides, that particular gateway is guarded by some ferocious beasts.”
“What kind of ferocious beasts?”
Serena eyed me for a few minutes, took another sip of her tea, and then sat back. “Jessica, he needs your blood to open the gateway.”
“I figured that part out. Why my blood, and what ferocious beasts?”
“He needs the blood of the portal’s guardians in order to gain entry to the other side.” After noting my blank stare, she smiled briefly, and then continued. “Your blood and their blood are the same.”
“How the hell can that be? I…” Then it hit me. Clearly, I should have had more coffee before we started this conversation. I was a bit slow on the uptake. “Wait,” I thought it through one more time, and then eyed Serena suspiciously. “You’re saying I’ve seen the portal.”
She didn’t answer, only inclined her head slightly and then continued sipping her tea. I wanted to throw the teacup across the room by that point.
“Every time I’ve had a dream about the white wolves, I’ve actually been standing at the portal? The gateway to the dead? The one my blood is needed to open?”
“Yes and no. You’ve been there in the dream realm, which is a close cousin to the realm of the dead where the white wolves reside. There’s only a thin veil separating the two, which is why you, and all the other white wolves before you, have been able to do it. If you were to go in person though, I imagine it would look much the same as it does in your dreams.”
“Well, that makes things a lot easier. How do you get there in your dreams, Jess?” My dad asked, finally speaking up in the midst of the madness.
“Um, I float through some fog and poof, I am there. It’s a dream dad! It’s not like I pop out my handy dandy GPS to find my way there every time.”
“Sorry, I just thought…”
“It’s fine, I know what you thought. I’m just cranky, and this is just more craziness to cram into my head.”
Serena leaned forward and rubbed her hand across my back gently. “I’m sorry to put more on your already over-filled plate.” Her sympathy for the situation threw me un
til I remembered one essential fact, this all boiled down to her. If she’d never slept with a werewolf, the white wolf line wouldn’t have been created, and while I may or may not have been here in some way, I certainly wouldn’t have all the craziness piling up around me.
“It’s not your fault, Serena. It just is what it is.”
She sighed her response, and my dad’s phone interrupted anything else she might have been about to say. He had to go check out a possible attempted abduction, and as he left I turned back to Serena with an idea in mind. “What if I tried to go see the wolves in my dream now? Maybe they can tell us how to stop what’s happening or how to keep the portal from being opened.”
“You could try, although we already know how to keep the portal from being opened. We don’t get your blood, or Willow’s for that matter, anywhere near it.”
“I know that, but I have a sinking feeling that they will keep taking women until they draw me out. They have to know we’ve figured out what they’re doing by now. Especially since Avery, Tessa, and Nicholi were able to capture a dark one.”
“Is it easy for you to meet with them in a dream? I don’t know what you usually go through.”
“Usually, I go to sleep, and they show up when I least expect it. Once in a while I go to sleep with the intent to talk to them, and I find them. I’m hoping option B works out for me this time.”
Serena seemed skeptical, but smiled as she stood to leave anyway. “I have to go see to Layla’s travel arrangements and ensure she gets here as soon as possible. I’ll leave you to the dream world. If you need any help though, just text me. Maybe I can make you a tonic or something that will help.”
“Thanks, I won’t use any magic potions though. Just the thought leaves a bad taste in my mouth after Sophia.” Serena looked saddened by the mention of her dead sister, but she didn’t say anything. “Besides, I could always call my mom in to help put me to sleep if this doesn’t work trying it on my own.”
“Okay, I was going to see your mother, so I will let her know that you may require her assistance.”
I went upstairs to let Ashley and Sierra know that I’d need help with Willow while I attempted to commune with the white wolves.
“So, we’re supposed to babysit your brat while you get more beauty sleep?” Ashley looked thoughtful for a minute while Sierra was dumbstruck by Ashley’s comment. “Hmm, I need to start having some prophetic dreams so that I can put the nighttime baby stuff off on Asi or a nanny.” Sierra laughed and threw a pillow at her.
“Yeah, well, this beauty sleep of mine is for a good cause!”
“Uh-huh, so we don’t have to look at that cranky mug of yours any longer. Get thee gone to the land of pillow creases, Princess White Wolf.”
Sierra and I both laughed at Ashley’s antics. “What the hell has gotten into you this morning, Ashley?” Sierra asked.
“I don’t know. I just feel really good, more like my old self than I have in a couple months.”
“Ahh, I see. Well, enjoy that while it lasts. It’ll change again when you start blowing up like there’s a watermelon growing in your belly. According to my mom, you don’t go back to normal again until that watermelon moves out.”
“Wow!” Ashley pouted for a minute, “way to rain on my puppy and unicorn parade this morning. I hereby change your name to Princess Doom and Gloom. Now go to bed, and try not to give the other white wolves nightmares while you’re there.” Ashley and I both laughed at that, and Sierra just looked at us like we both had two heads.
“I will never understand the relationship you guys have, and yet I’m oddly jealous of it.”
“No need to be jealous, sis. You can be a part of the madness all day, every day. When my nephew gets older, we’re going to teach him to have a wicked sense of humor too!” Ashley was referencing baby Jack, which made Sierra glow with love instead of envy.
I closed the door to my bedroom before I had to face Sierra she got weepy again. She always got misty-eyed when Ashley referred to her as a sister or baby Jack as her nephew. If only Jack could be here to see the two of them getting along so well. It would have made him the happiest man alive.
I put all of that out of my mind as I hopped into bed, and closed my eyes. Drifting off to sleep was never a problem anymore since I was always so tired. I had been practicing on how to keep my focus while falling asleep though. It was important for those times when I sought someone out with remote viewing, which is what I did the night I saw Jack die, or when I needed to speak to the white wolves.
I focused on the cave where I always saw the wolves, the dais they stood upon, and even the willow tree that had grown since I first conceived my daughter. I wondered if the tree actually stood in the cave, or if it was just a shadow in the realm of the dead. I drifted deeper into sleep as I continued my musings about the wolves and the cave itself, eventually I did find myself there, but it was oddly dark, and the normal scent of lavender was missing. The flickering candlelight that usually imbued the place with a certain amount of ambiance was no longer present. “What’s going on here?”
“Child, you should not be here.” The white wolves answered.
“But I need answers from you in order to protect...”
“No!” The white wolves hissed, but followed that up with a whisper, “He’s here, and he is of the living and the dead, he can hear our conversations.”
The white wolves, who usually flickered through all the spirits of the past white wolves stilled themselves today before blurring around the edges.
“There has to be a way.”
“The only way is to be far from here, now go!” They pushed mentally, but before they managed to knock me out of the dreamscape, I caught an unfamiliar scent on the air. It was almost one of fresh turned earth, pine needles, and underneath it was an almost decay and copper smell. Then I heard the laughter that was definitely all male and nothing to do with finding something humorous. I shut everything else out as I listened trying to hear more. I was trying to hear something that would give me a location, or at least point me in the right direction. When that seemed futile, and only the laughter pervaded my thoughts, I allowed the push the wolves had given me to do its work and wake me up. I came back from the dream world covered in sweat and shaking with fear. I had felt Louis’ essence, and what was worse, he definitely knew exactly who he was looking for now.
“Jess, is everything ok in here?” My mom poked her head in my bedroom door, and smiled as she watched me push my sweaty hair out of my face.
“Hey, mom. When did you get here?”
“I’ve been having coffee with the girls and the babies downstairs for about twenty minutes or so.”
“You do know coffee isn’t good for babies, right?”
“Always the smartass, Jessica. Of course, I know that. The babies were with us while we had coffee.” She smiled in spite of herself. I came over after Serena filled me in on what you were attempting. I didn’t want to disturb you until I knew you were awake again.” She came over and sat beside me on my bed then. “I heard you gasp all the way from downstairs, what happened?”
I explained to her what happened in my dream vision, and that I needed to try again, because I wasn’t sure if the white wolf guardians were in danger.
“How can they be in danger? They’re already dead.”
“I know, but something was off. I can’t put my finger on it, but they were panicked.”
“Maybe because they knew that Louis would be able to see you and focus his search better?”
“Well, he definitely knows where the portal is. I suppose all he needs now is my blood to open it. Either way, I need to make sure they are okay, and that the portal hasn’t somehow magically come open on its own yet.”
“Are you certain you want to attempt this again? What if he has some magical way of latching on in the dreamscape?”
“What else can I do, mom? We don’t know where he is, and last I heard, Serena was still trying to get Layla here, because her si
ster won’t talk about the location or anything else unless it’s done in person.”
“Okay, but let me get a hold of your dad first. I want to make sure we have plenty of security before we start.”
“Fine, just keep them outside.”
“Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but Sierra needs some more diapers and stuff, so I am going to run to town for those and some other things. Is there anything you want to add to my list?”
“Ashley, make sure you take security with you. Louis knows who I am now. It wouldn’t take a leap for them to figure out that they could get to me through you, or someone else I love. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if anything happened to you, because of me.”
“I will, and when I get back you’re going to tell me exactly what the hell went on in that dream of yours.” Concern was written all over her face, and she hesitated before leaving. “You’re not going to try again are you?” I didn’t answer her, which was answer enough. “Please, be careful. You don’t look like it went too well the last time.” She continued to stand there until my mom nodded her assurance.
“I’ve got her covered Ashley. Go get whatever is needed for the house. See Emory Davis at the Old Country Market, and tell her to put it on my tab, and I’ll be in to see her at the end of the week. Ask Sierra to please keep an eye on Willow until I get Jess knocked out, and back in dreamland again too, please.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” Ashley was gone before the words were even out of her mouth.
“Now, do what you need to in order to focus, honey. Let me know when you’re ready.” My mom never hesitated. She knew what was at stake and she wasn’t about to stand in my way of finding out how to make us all safer. I always admired my mom’s ability to be practical, even in the face of danger.
“Thanks mom, I love you!”
“I love you too, now be careful. Try to get the information quickly, and then get out. Do not, under any circumstances, interact with Louis if you see him again.”
“I will do my best to get in and out as quickly as possible.” I went through the same process that I did earlier in the day. I got settled and focused on the white wolves. I pictured every aspect of the cave I could remember, and specifically the dais they always sat upon. I couldn’t fall asleep on my own again though. I was too worried about my previous encounter with Louis. That’s where my mom came in though. Her influence blanketed me with a calming effect that helped me relax and navigate into the dream realm easily. Everything became lighter; my concerns were still there, but only as a reminder, not a crippling worry. My mother’s trick worked to get me back into that other-worldly place, but I had to fight my way back through the foggy dreamscape to try to get to the wolves.
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