Kissed by Eternity (8 page)

"Clearly." Haakon's tone was dry as dust.

I started to retort, but Inigo slid his hand in mine and gave it a squeeze. Okay, so I didn't need to argue. Maybe Haakon was being a bit of a jerk, but I supposed I would be too if I found myself stuck in another dimension with no way home after someone had promised they could get me back. So, all in all, it was really sort of my fault. We tromped across the bridge. As we stepped onto the other side, there was no sign of our winged friend from earlier, which was probably a good thing. Haakon would probably smash it like a bug.

"Guess your little fairy friend didn't feel like hanging around," Inigo murmured.

"It accomplished what it came for. Why would it?" I had half a mind to call that little brat and give it a smackdown myself. But it wasn't the bug's fault. Morgana wasn't the kind of person you said no to if you wanted to live a long and healthy life. Then again, the tiny fae had taken a great deal of glee out of the whole thing, so maybe it did deserve a little smack.

We were almost to the tree line when the sound of a trumpet rang across the hillside. "What the hell was that?" I spun around looking for the source but saw nothing. I couldn't even pinpoint where it had come from.

"Hunting horn," Haakon said grimly.

"Somebody's after somebody," Inigo mused.

"Yeah. Us, no doubt. We better move our asses." I took off for the trees, the boys jogging along behind me.

I dodged under the nearest branch and glanced behind us. Still nothing, although I heard thunder in the distance. Must be a storm coming. I glanced at the sky, then frowned. Nope. Not a storm. Another look behind us, and I realized where the sound was coming from: the Queen's Guard in full armor mounted on freaking unicorns and charging us. I was pretty sure it wasn't a welcoming party.

"Move it," I shouted. "Lose them in the trees."

We raced into the forest, branches swatting us, vines curling around arms and legs trying their best to slow us down. I slid my fairy blade out and hacked at a particularly vicious vine. This was going to take forever, but at least it meant the unicorns wouldn't be able to follow us. Their riders would have to hang back or dismount, which was a good thing. I so did not want to deal with unicorn horns. Those things were sharp.

"Behind me," I ordered. Points to them; they didn't even question me, just fell into line.

With the blade connecting me to the magic of the Otherworld, I beckoned my Earth power, yanking it out of my center with absolutely zero ceremony. It roared through me like the Fire would. It was just one minute things were normal and the next I was glowing. Green no less. At least I matched the rest of the bloody world.

Immediately the vines and branches snapped back, parting the way for us to shove through. Mentally I ordered them to close behind us. Amazingly, they did, barring the way of the guard.

I heard curses in Sidhe as the Queen's Guard was forced to dismount in order to pursue us into the forest. In front of us was a wide path, behind a twisted bramble. I heard the sound of our pursuers hacking away at the undergrowth. Good luck to 'em.

I was starting to sweat. Quickly tiring of the dual effort of maintaining control over fairy flora while running for my life, I tripped over a root — no doubt it had done it deliberately—and nearly fell flat on my face. Inigo grabbed me and hauled me up, keeping hold on me to tow me along behind him.

"I can shift," he said, barely winded. "Fight them off a bit longer."

"No. I'm fine. The forest will keep them back." At least I hoped it would. "We have to get to the right spot."

Haakon said nothing, just barged ahead of us with grim determination. The man clearly wanted the hell out of Dodge. Can't say I blamed him.

We finally burst from the forest to where I was pretty sure Emory had opened the original portal. Sure enough, the magic I was channeling picked up residual energy from it. The glow of my amulet intensified.

"This is it," I panted.

"Can you open it?" Haakon demanded.

"I don't know yet. Geez, in a hurry much?"

"Yes," he snapped. "I really do think we should hurry."

I followed the direction of his gaze and sure enough, I saw the glint of armor through the trees. Damn, they'd gotten through faster than I thought.

Exhausted but determined, I concentrated on the residual energy of the portal. Focusing as hard as I could, I drew the dissipated energy back together, binding it with both my Earth magic and the magic of the Otherworld. Slowly, painfully slowly, it formed a ball of energy and then spun itself into a shimmering disc. The portal was open.

"Go," I shouted at Inigo and Haakon.

"You first," Inigo insisted.

"I go through and the portal closes. Get your asses moving."

Haakon didn't need a second urging. He jumped headlong into the portal, disappearing. Inigo paused long enough to press a hard kiss on my lips before jumping in himself.

The Queen's Guard crashed through the forest, the beat of booted feet on solid ground as they hurried toward me. I spun around. At the front of the charge was the captain of the Queen's Guard, Kalen. His shoulder-length blond hair shone greenish-gold in the sunlight, though I knew it to be true gold, and his eyes flashed an angry violet. His knuckles turned white around the hilt of his sword. He and I had had a run-in once before. I'd gotten away that time, too. I paused long enough to give him a wide smile and a little finger wave before I stepped backward into the portal.

# # #

I tumbled, almost falling over someone. In front of me, the portal blinked out, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I glanced around to see who I'd tripped over. Haakon was sprawled on the floor, shaking his head.

I snorted. "That's what you get for jumping in headfirst."

Inigo struggled to hold back a laugh. "You all right?"

"Fine. They'd just broken through when I stepped in. You should have seen the look on Kalen's face."

"Kalen?" He lifted an eyebrow but otherwise seemed unperturbed.

"Captain of the Queen's Guard. He and I have a bit of a rivalry going. He took me prisoner. I stole Darroch from under his nose." I shrugged. "You know how it is."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah." He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to mine, cupping my cheeks in his hands. "Glad you're okay."

"Would you two get a room?" Haakon staggered to his feet. "We need to figure out what to do next."

Oh, yeah. Alister. I looked around. We were back in Emory's Wiccan chamber, or whatever she called it. She was nowhere to be seen. Probably out front with customers or whatnot. "Let's find Emory. Maybe she can help."

The three of us tromped through the storeroom into the main shop. Several pairs of wide eyes stared at us. What? Hadn't they ever seen a woman with a couple of hotties bristling with swords? Okay, probably not. One of the women, probably in her early seventies and sporting a hot pink perm, clutched at her pearls as she stared at Haakon. I seriously thought she was going to pass out. Or jump him. It could have gone either way.

"Ladies," Haakon nodded gallantly to each in turn. I swear I heard someone let out a tiny squee. Guess they'd have quite a tale for their next Bunco night.

Emory finished ringing up a sale and then marched over to us, her skirts swishing angrily. "Do you mind?" she hissed. "You're disturbing my customers."

"Yeah, sorry about that," I whispered, "but I don't think it's in a bad way."

Inigo was flirting outrageously with a woman about my mother's age, gushing over some kind of soap or other. The woman already had at least half a dozen bars in her basket and was adding more. Haakon stood stoically while most of the rest of the women gawked at him or busied themselves pretending not to gawk. Wow, those shopping baskets were filling with goodies.

She glanced around. "Fine. Whatever. But you've got to get them out of here before people ask too many questions."

"I will, but first I need your help. We couldn't find Alister. He wasn't there. It was all a trick."

"Figures. Queen Bitch is brilliant at that."

"Yeah, so I need to find out where he might go next. Could you scry for him?"

"That didn't turn out so well the last time."

She had a point. "I don't know what else to try."

"Okay, okay. But later. Meet me at the house at nine-thirty tonight. Now get them out of here before I have a riot on my hands."

Chapter 10

Emory's house looked even creepier at night than it did in broad daylight. Talk about a clichéd place for a witch to live. It was straight out of some '50s
B
movie.

It was an old Victorian complete with curlicues along the porch railing and an actual turret. Unfortunately, it had seen better days. Even in the dark I could see the paint was peeling clean off the wood siding, and there were gaps where the porch boards had rotted. A couple of the windows had been boarded up, no doubt thanks to vandals mistaking the place as abandoned. The small front garden had probably once been quite beautiful, but the roses had turned to brambles and nearly overgrown the rusted wrought iron fence.

Inside was little better. There were wide swaths of random colors painted on the walls of the foyer, and the stairs were missing the bannister. A bare bulb dangled from the ceiling, casting eerie shadows.

"Sorry about the mess," Emory said, waving her hand airily around the entry. "I'm remodeling. Do you know how hard it is to pick out a paint color?"

"Pretty hard I guess." If the rainbow of reds, blues, and taupe was anything to go by. The guys didn't say anything. Smart guys.

"Some idiot replaced the chandelier in the '70s. Ghastly thing. I had to take it down. Haven't found the perfect replacement yet, but not to worry. I will."

I'm not sure why she thought I would be worried about her chandelier, but whatever. "So, this scrying thing," I urged as I followed her into what I could only assume had once been a living room. Newspapers covered every inch of floor space, and random bulky shapes loomed beneath drop cloths. More wild paint test colors smeared the walls. Haakon leaned against the doorframe while Inigo prowled the room. Looking for what, I had no idea.

"Yeah, the scrying thing. Look…." She turned and faced me. "I'm not terribly comfortable with this. That Alister Jones person gives me the heebie jeebies."

"You think he gives you the heebie jeebies? Imagine what he does to me. I've got to find that bastard before he does something bad. I mean, worse."

She nodded grimly. "This may not work, you know. I've got lots of skills, but scrying isn't my best one. Plus you know how it went the last time."

"Just try, okay?"

"I've been doing a little research. I think I might be able to boost the energy and get a better pinpoint. Weave through some of the muck he's putting into the universe. But I'm going to need help."

"Whatever you need."

She smiled. "I need the three of you to help me form a circle."

"No problem," I said. Inigo quickly joined us, but Haakon hesitated. He didn't look pleased. "Get your Viking butt over here," I ordered. "We've got stuff to do. No time to coddle your delicate sensibilities."

He snorted in derision but joined us in the center of the room. Emory disappeared through the wide doorway and return with a crystal and her computer pad.

"Aren't you worried about the neighbors?" Inigo asked, glancing toward the large window. It opened to the street, no curtains or blinds to block the view of curious onlookers.

She laughed. "Wards. All they'll see is a bunch of people sitting around chatting and drinking tea."

She must have some serious juju to create wards that strong. Kabita couldn't do it, and she was one of the most powerful witches I knew. Okay, so other than Emory, she was the only witch I knew, but that was beside the point.

Emory had us sit around in a circle with our knees nearly touching. I had no problem with it, and neither did Inigo, but Haakon looked distinctly uncomfortable. I wasn't sure if it was because he wasn't into witchy things or that his six foot, five inch frame didn't fold up as easily as the rest of us did. Maybe he had the hots for Emory, although the vibes I was getting weren't quite the these-people-are-going-to-rip-each-other's-clothes-off type. Possibly it was because Emory made him leave his sword by the door. He probably felt naked.

I blinked. Yeah. I should stop right there.

After casting the circle, Emory placed the pad in the center with the map program up. "All right, everyone hold hands. Inigo and Haakon, place yours on my knees. I need mine free."

Inigo looked a little awkward putting his hand on a virtual stranger's knee, but all for the greater good, right? Haakon looked even more uncomfortable. Seriously, were all Sunwalkers this uptight?

"Do not break the circle until I tell you. And don't talk to me while I'm casting."

We nodded obediently.

"Let us begin."

She began to hum and then to mumble. Sort of an English/Atlantean hybrid, if I wasn't mistaken. Her eyes took on a faraway look, and one hand drifted into the air as if she saw something there and was trying to grasp it. Her second hand rose as if of its own volition. It looked like she was moving things around in midair except there was nothing there.

"What is she doing?" I hissed.

"Weaving a spell," Haakon whispered back.

"What?"

"She's a spellwalker."

Inigo and I stared at him. Inigo looked as confused as I felt. "Spellwalker?" we said at the same time.

Emory made an annoyed sound, and we lowered our voices.

"Surely you've heard of them?"

Inigo and I shook our heads.

Haakon sighed. "It's a kind of witch."

I frowned. "There are different kinds of witches?"

He nodded. "As there are different kinds of Hunters."

Touché.

"So, what does that have to do with whatever she's doing?" I asked, nodding at Emory, whose movements had increased in speed as if she was creating some kind of pattern and had to do it fast. Her eyes had that glazed look people get when they're daydreaming.