by T. M. Cromer
“What did I tell you?” Summer ranted. “NASA is going to be all over our shit for this. Mark my words.”
“She’s going to love swearing without the resulting mice,” Holly murmured to Quentin.
Nash stepped forward. “Okay, new plan. Our original idea was to have the sisters surrounding Aurora at the altar. Now, in addition to that, I’d like everyone else to position themselves in an outer ring. We’ll create a circle within a circle within a circle.”
Alastair frowned and moved to the nearest standing stone. He remained quiet as he studied the carvings. “Nash, do you remember anything from the Book of Thoth you traded to Isis?”
“Are you referring to the reference to the sacred etchings?”
“Yes.”
“Of course!” Nash laughed and clapped his father on the back. “This is similar to the Egyptian’s Devine Ceremony in the book.”
“Exactly. I believe Isis wanted that book to thwart us from doing this very thing. But why?”
“That’s not good,” Holly muttered. She glanced up at Quentin and saw the unease on his face. Indeed, everyone suddenly appeared concerned. Or everyone but Spring, who sauntered to where Nash and Alastair conferred over the possible cataclysmic problems they could cause.
“The Book of Thoth? I know that book.”
She held everyone’s rapt attention as she slowly spun and studied the stones. The curious frown cleared from her brow as she smiled her triumph. “We won’t cause the end of the world. But what it can do is open a portal to the Otherworld and the realms of the gods and goddesses. It had to be why Isis wanted the book—to prevent that from happening.” She faced Alastair. “She wouldn’t want any one mortal to have that power.”
Knox ran a hand through his long, blond hair. “Why not remove the book at any time? She has the ability.”
“I don’t know. Maybe it had to be freely given? The answer lies with her. But what I do know is that we have the ability to bring Mother back with very little effort.”
“You brilliant, brilliant child,” Alastair breathed. “Tell us what to do.”
“If I remember correctly, there is a particular spell from the book that must be used after the lighting of the stones. Nash, do you know the Archaic Egyptian language?”
“I do.”
“Good. We’ll need it to open the gate between worlds. Is this West?” she asked as she walked in the opposite direction. “We are looking for the stone that represents the ‘False Door’ or ‘Gate of the Gods.’ It was believed that false doors were built into pyramids and tombs to allow people to call their loved ones back from the other side to interact with them. Typically they were represented by a smaller door than what was standard at the time. There would be red and black markings on or around it.”
“Here!” Autumn exclaimed. “There’s a red mark on the edge of this stone.”
Autumn, Keaton, and Spring searched for a black mark but found nothing.
“What if the opening isn’t the stone itself, but between the stones?” Zane asked. “The black mark could be on the adjoining stone.”
“That would make sense,” Spring agreed. “Sometimes they weren’t doors at all but a space between walls.”
A thoughtful frown tugged at GiGi’s brow as she joined her nieces by the westernmost standing stone. With a wave of her hand, the moss dissolved from the face of the rock, revealing the black slash they were looking for.
“Well done, sister,” Preston applauded. “What’s next, Spring?”
“Now we all line up on either side of the opening, creating a path directly to Mother.”
“Like cheerleaders at a football game, welcoming players to the field,” Ryker joked.
Spring laughed and nodded. “Exactly like that, Uncle.”
Summer crossed her arms over her chest, and Holly recognized the stubborn pose. Spring’s plan was about to be met with resistance.
“I don’t like it,” Summer told them all. “I’m not sure when I became the voice of reason, but who’s to say what we might be letting through that opening? Isis took the book with the spell for a purpose.”
Coop wrapped his arms around Summer from behind and pulled her to his chest. “Yeah, if I get a vote, I’m going with let’s not do this.”
“Anyone not on board may leave at any time,” Alastair informed them all. His tone bordered on icy.
However, Holly could see through the arrogance to the hurt beneath. Her father might never mention what he’d done for this family, but they all knew they owed him. She dropped Quentin’s hand and moved forward. With a glare at Summer and Coop, she said, “We are all on board.”
Although Summer’s mouth tightened, she nodded her assent.
“Thank you, sister,” Holly whispered as she hugged her.
“Yeah, well, if a fucking three-headed beast comes through that gate, it’s on your head. And don’t think I won’t be pissed if it kills one of us.”
Holly patted her twin’s cheek because she knew it would annoy. “If a three-headed beast comes through that door, I have no doubt you could charm it into submission, Doctor Thorne, animal whisperer extraordinaire.”
“Bite me.”
“Enough clowning around. We are losing our window of opportunity here,” Alastair said from Aurora’s side. His focus was on her gray, still face. “We only have one chance at this, or she will be lost to us.”
Preston joined him at the altar. “Then we’d better get started and bring Rorie home.”
The brothers shared a look of understanding.
“We’ll stand here on either side of Aurora,” Preston said. “The rest of you, line up.”
They each did as ordered and stood in a row—seven on one side and six on the other. Alastair and Preston positioned themselves in the rear next to Aurora’s body. Nash took up a spot by the front in order to start the spell.
“Are we really doing this?” Winnie whispered to Holly. “Because to be honest, I’m a little nervous.”
Holly clasped hands with her sister and squeezed. “Me too.”
In reality, nervous didn’t begin to describe the riot of emotions ricocheting around her insides. They could either be in deep shit with Isis and the rest of the Gods and Goddesses, or they might pull this off only to bring forth unsavory characters without reviving their mother at all. It was enough for a girl to develop an ulcer.
As Nash spoke the foreign words to open the gate to the Otherworld, an eerie silence fell over the group. Each person was secretly anticipating trouble and gearing up for what would happen next—or at least it seemed that way to Holly’s active imagination. She was glad Knox and Quentin took the lead in their line. Both men had the favor of goddesses. It didn’t hurt that they were the perfect eye candy. Who could be mad at a man who looked like either of them?
Nash abruptly stopped speaking, and a loud sizzling pop, like that from a fireworks display, echoed around the clearing. Holly’s ears started to ring. The light from the standing stones blazed to blinding, and she was forced to close her eyes or risk burning her corneas. A high-pitched whining began, and the ground rumbled beneath their feet.
Quentin’s grip tightened on hers.
“Whatever you do, don’t break the chain!” Spring shouted over the noise. “Not until Mother is on this side and Nash closes the gate!”
Easier said than done when all Holly wanted to do was put her hands over her ears to drown out the deafening sound.
“Conjure earplugs if you need to,” Quentin yelled to her, sensing her pain.
Right when she thought her eardrums would explode, all noise ceased, and the mystical light faded to a pulsing glow. Aurora Fennell-Thorne stood in the opening between the stones.
Holly gasped to see her mother looking so hale and hearty, but a part of her recognized this was only the spirit of her mother. Aurora’s physical form lay on a stone slab fifteen feet away.
Aurora looked confused as she swayed in the gateway between worlds. It was as if she didn’t
recognize the faces around her. Alastair must have understood her dilemma because he called out to her.
The beatific smile on her mother’s face when she saw him was breathtaking to behold. Reaching out, she opened her mouth to speak. Suddenly, she arched her back and her head fell back with her mouth open in a silent scream. Her lovely face contorted in pain as she dropped to her knees.
Holly tried to rush forward, but Quentin and Winnie held her tight.
“No!” Spring shouted. “Hold the line until Nash closes the gate.” She nodded to Nash. “Now!”
Once more he spoke a foreign spell, and like a zipper, the opening sealed shut with the spirit of Aurora on the earthly plane.
“Circle behind her and guide her to her body,” GiGi ordered.
They all closed ranks behind Aurora, mentally willing her to return to her body.
As Holly watched, Autumn took Keaton’s hand and guided it to Summer’s. “Hold tight, I have an idea.” She ducked into the circle and knelt in front of their mother. “You know me, Mama. I know you do. We spoke in the Otherworld, remember?” Aurora held out a shaky hand as if to touch Autumn’s face. “That’s right, Mama. It’s me. It’s Autumn. Come home now.”
Aurora looked to her body and back to Autumn.
Holly’s heart sped up and her stomach flipped. Hope blossomed in her chest. Autumn was getting through.
“Rorie,” Alastair rasped. “It’s time to come home to me. To us.”
Chapter 24
As the dawn glimmered through the trees, Quentin cuddled Holly closer and drew the blanket more snugly around them. They could easily have used magic to warm themselves, but there were times it was nice to experience the early morning chill of fall.
“Can you believe we pulled that off?” she asked him.
There was a sleepy quality to her voice, and he felt misgivings at not insisting she get to bed. In her condition, she was pushing the limits of her health.
“I can feel your worry, Quentin. I’m fine. Witches are hardier than most.”
“But not immortal.”
“True, but I’m fine. Promise.”
He kissed the cherry-red lips she turned up to him. “Okay. And to answer your question, no. That was insane.”
“It’s odd to sit here and see the clearing this still and calm as if nothing ever happened and giant standing stones weren’t there only two hours ago.”
“I know.” He’d scarcely had a moment to process the events that went down in Athens before last night’s chaos.
“You know what I want?”
“What?”
“Pie from that diner in town.”
Quentin almost laughed. In the current timeline since the Beau and Michelle incident had never happened, Holly had never waitressed in that dump downtown. Although, he had to admit it was weird that the place was hopping this go around. Perhaps it was because Pete was never in charge of the kitchens and food was served in a timely manner.
“Pie, huh?”
“Mmm. Cherry with a ton of homemade whipped cream.”
“I could conjure it for you.”
“I could conjure it too, but where’s the fun in that?” She lifted her head and grinned. “I thought we were being average mortals today. No magic, no drama.”
“I need a little magic to boost my energy. I’m working on empty, love.”
“We can go home if you’d like.”
“No. If my prickly pear wants pie, she’ll have pie.” He shifted her to stand, then pulled her to her feet. “Come on. Let’s head to town.”
They were heading down the path toward Alastair’s mansion when a shiver of unease danced across Quentin’s mind. “Hol—”
“I feel it, too,” she whispered and tightened her fingers over his. “Teleport us home.”
As his cells warmed, he caught movement in the trees. “Stay here.”
“No, Quentin. Don’t go in there alone. It’s not safe.”
“I’ll be fine, love. But stay here.”
He jogged through the trees. A short distance away, he jerked to a halt when he saw who stood there.
Holly hollered his name from the path.
“I’m okay, Hol. I’m fine.” The image of a woman and teenaged girl shimmered and disappeared, leaving him shaken. He was certain it had been Holly standing there in the woods. Did his gift as a Traveler allow him to see future timelines without trying? What did it all mean? Why had she looked thin and distraught?
Quentin only wished he’d had a chance to talk to her. To find out what was going on and help in some small way. He was slow to return to where he’d left a pregnant Holly, fuming on the path.
“That was reckless, Quentin. Please, take me home.”
They were in their living room when Holly commented, “I think someone was in the woods. Someone saw us teleport.”
“I saw them, too, love. I want to go back and check it out, but I need you to stay here.”
She latched onto his arm. “No way! You aren’t going back alone.”
“Holly—”
“No! We’ll call my father, and he can check the monitors of his security system.”
Because her words were coated with an edge of hysteria, Quentin agreed. “Go lie down, and I’ll ring your dad.”
“Don’t you dare go back, Quentin. I swear, if you do, I’m going to cut you.”
He laughed and squeezed her tight. “I promise I won’t go back. Now get in bed.”
As she walked away, he rubbed the space over his heart. He loved her so much it hurt sometimes. Or maybe he was still itchy from all they’d been through that night.
In the doorway of their bedroom, she turned around and opened her mouth to speak. A sharp bowie knife came from behind her and sliced down through the top of her chest and into her stomach.
“No! No!” Quentin ate up the short distance between them and grabbed the arm of the man wielding the knife as he made a second downward slash.
Beau Hill!
But Alastair said he’d removed the problem. How was it that Beau was in their home? Their warded home! And as the thought occurred to him, Quentin realized from whence his unease bubbled. The wards on the house were down. A powerful being had removed the protection they had in place.
In one smooth move, almost an exact repeat from seven years before in their alternate timeline, he used his strength and Beau’s own body’s momentum to fling him across the room. As Beau sailed into the wall, Quentin waved a hand and sent the wicked blade deep into Beau’s heart.
He didn’t spare the dead man another glance but dropped to his knees beside Holly. History repeated itself, and the words he spoke were identical to the time before. “Don’t leave me, love. You hang on! You understand? You’d better hang on, Holly!”
He was reaching down to put pressure on the wound when the air around him rippled.
Athena’s voice came to him. “Don’t touch her, child. The blade was poisoned.”
“I have to save her! I have to—”
“You have the power within you now. Remember the gift I gave you in the vault.”
“The gift…” The scroll she embedded under his skin! “Thank you, Exalted One. I shall be forever in your debt.”
“Hurry. You must reverse time before the last breath leaves her body.” Her voice faded away.
Quentin ran for the grimoire she’d given him. He found the bookmarked page and started to recite the Traveler’s spell. An excruciating burning started in his chest. With each word he uttered, the image of the owl branded into his skin became brighter, until it seared a hole in the fabric of his shirt.
Just when he thought he would pass out from such savage pain, the owl mark cooled, and he opened his eyes to find himself in the living room of his home. He heard a noise in the bedroom, but didn’t have time to react as Past Quentin showed up with Holly.
“What the fuck?”
“Quentin? What?”
He held up a hand to urge caution to his shell-shocked twin self a
nd his wife where they stood in the middle of the room. With a hand signal, he got the message across that there was an intruder in the bedroom. When he turned to take care of the problem, both timelines snapped together and he merged with his other self.
Holly’s face registered her shock as she clung to him.
“Stay here,” he whispered. “There’s an intruder in the house.”
“But the wards—”
“Are down,” he told her in a hushed voice. “I mean it Hol, stay right here and don’t move. Stay alert. Be ready to kill him if need be.”
She remained behind as he kicked off his shoes and padded, silent as a ninja, toward the bedroom. Because he was prepared for the attack, he easily caught Beau’s knife-wielding arm. Using Beau’s momentum as he had the time before, he threw him across the room, denting the drywall.
Quentin charged. All the rage that had accumulated from the fear and pain of seeing Holly hurt were packed into his punches as he pummeled Beau’s face.
“Quentin, you’ll kill him!” Holly cried.
“Good!” He opened his mouth to say more, but dizziness assailed him. The room spun, the past and future became a kaleidoscope of images swirling about in his brain. Grabbing his head, he crashed to his knees. From the corner of his eye, he saw Beau reach for the blade.
“Holly, look out!”
But Beau didn’t plunge the knife into Holly this time. No, the blade found a home in Quentin’s chest. It was like a hard punch to the chest, and the excruciating pain that followed stole his breath.
“No! Quentin, no!”
Beau pulled the bowie knife free and turned his feral gaze on Holly.
“Teleport, Hol,” Quentin croaked. “Get out now.”
Her horrified gaze was locked on him, and she paid no heed to the psycho that was about to end both their lives.
“The baby,” he gasped. “Save the baby.”
Even as he held his hand to his chest in an attempt to stem the flow of blood, Quentin knew his time was up. He could feel the poison slithering through his bloodstream, destroying cells, killing him. A deep breath was impossible. He suspected a collapsed lung.
When Beau was almost within reach of Holly, she disappeared.
