Kissed by Eternity (19 page)

"She's lost what's left of her mind," I pointed out. "Just like Alister. We can get Kalen to help us. Maybe he can think of a way to trick her. He's crafty like that." After all, the man had hid in plain sight for hundreds of years.

Jack nodded. "That works."

"One problem," Eddie interrupted. "If you'll recall, the Marid can't leave djinn lands."

"Why is this a problem?" I asked.

Alister started laughing, a grating cackle that belonged in a cheesy movie with a cardboard villain. "Surely you're not that stupid."

I whirled on him. "Watch it, buster. What do you mean?"

He howled, nearly doubled over from it like I had said the funniest thing ever. "Oh, this is rich. You really don't know, do you? You think I was in Michigan for my health?" Tears were streaming down his face.

"I'm glad you find this so funny," I snapped.

And then it all fell into place. The grimoire. The deed to my father's land. Alister's obsession with Michigan. My dreams of the Amazons, the last colony of Atlantis, and the lake.

"We have to do this spell in Michigan, don't we?"

Alister just laughed.

# # #

"Hunter, I would like to help you, but I am currently in the middle of a war." The Marid was pacing back and forth in his underground office. If he wasn't careful, he was going to wear a hole in his fancy Persian rug.

"Not at the moment you aren't," I reminded him. "The Queen of the Sidhe is back in the Otherworld, and SRA agents are patrolling the borders. For now, everything's quiet."

"But for how long?" He shook his head. His skin gleamed red under the large candelabra hanging from the roof of the cave. He let out a deep sigh which expanded his massive chest. "Even so, I cannot leave djinn lands. I am bound or have you forgotten?"

I hadn't. I'd seen it all happen in my dreams, or visions, or whatever they were. "I get it. The last High Priest of Atlantis tricked you and bound you to this land where you've been stuck for ten thousand years. But I remember something else." I eyed him carefully. "He told you it was necessary. That one day you would perform the task he had set for you, and you would be free."

He snorted. "Well, then, bring the party on down here, and let's get to it."

I shook my head. "It has to be done in Michigan where the last colony stood." I still had no idea why, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that was important. "There is no other option."

"Then you are out of luck."

"I don't think so."

He stared at me for a long moment. "Explain."

"The priest had to have known what was going to happen. He had to have planned this with the Priestess of the Moon Temple. That's why he sent his son—Sunwalker Sentinel by the way—there with the half-blood princess. The last living member of the royal bloodline."

"I am listening."

"When humans attacked the Temple, trying to destroy the Atlanteans and the virus that was turning them into ravening vampire-like creatures, the priestess, Amaza, already had an escape plan in place. A very elaborate one at that. In fact, she started the entire Amazon nation to protect the princess and the last of Atlantean knowledge. She even brought the princess to the New World and the spot of the last Atlantean colony. She could not have done that on her own. She had to have had help putting the plans in place before it all went down."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"She must have made those plans with the priest. They worked on this together." I had no proof, of course. It had never been part of my dreams, but I was sure of it. "He would have known you would need to be in the New World to perform whatever task he had set for you. He wouldn't have put you too close, though, or it would have given the location away to his enemies. He bound you to the land both to keep you safe and make sure you didn't go near the place until it was time."

"I still do not—"

"But he would have known you'd have to be released eventually so you could do what he wanted you to do. Pay back your debt to him."

He crossed massive arms over an even more massive chest. "Is that so?"

"Yes." I nodded, sure of myself now. "He would have given you a key."

The Marid snorted. "He gave me no key."

"Yes, he did," I said with a grin. "Me."

# # #

With the Marid agreeing to help us, there was only Morgana left. And she was going to be tricky.

"This is insane," Inigo said. He stood next to me in Emory's back room, a portal shimmering in front of us. I could smell the faint scent of green from the Otherworld.

"This is the only way to get to the queen. I have to talk to her. There isn't another way."

"Shit," he snarled. "I'm going with you."

"No, you're not." I laid a hand on his arm, giving it a squeeze. "I will not put you in danger."

"Oh, but you'll stick your head in the lion's mouth."

"The Sidhe can't hurt me." At least I hoped they couldn't. I was betting my Earth power combined with Kalen's help would keep me from getting my head chopped off. Or something else equally uncomfortable.

The portal pulsed. "It's now or never," Emory said from where she stood at the edge of the circle. "I can't hold it open much longer.

I nodded. I pressed a kiss to Inigo's lips, then stepped through and into the Otherworld. The portal snapped into place behind me. I was truly on my own.

Channeling a light touch of Earth power, I let it shimmer along my skin. The light green sparkle barely stood out against the weak, greenish sun and the lusher greens of the forest. Here and there I made out dead trees, dried up vines, and moldering grasses. I could only imagine what the queen would do to my world if she got her paws on it. We had enough problems of our own without her mucking with things.

I began walking slowly through the forest. It was like moving through a dark hallway. Only the tiniest bit of light found its way through the canopy of leaves, leaves that were starting to turn brown. Something that should never happen in the Otherworld where spring was perpetual. Morgana's poison was spreading.

I ducked as a sentient vine made a half-hearted lunge for my head. When it missed, it dangled there, limp and dejected. I made out dark spots along its surface. Some kind of plant disease.

I continued, picking my way around fallen dead trees, patches of scrubby undergrowth, and the occasional carnivorous flower that still struggled to survive in the dying forest. There was no avoiding the scrape of thorns from the brambles that were encroaching on the queen's land.

I pressed on, finally exiting the jungle. The plain leading to the castle, once lush with grasses, was now barren, the ground dry and cracked as if it there hadn't been rain in a hundred years. The faint wind stirred up little dust devils here and there. It was a thousand times worse than my last visit. The castle was a crumbled ruin in the distance. Gods, this was bad.

"Well, who have we here?"

I whirled to find Morgana standing behind me. The Queen's Guard ranged out behind her. I didn't recognize the new captain, who she'd clearly appointed after discovering Kalen's true identity. If she'd have been smart, she'd have kept him close. Easier to kill him that way.

I winced. That was the Darkness talking, or so I told myself.

"Hello, Morgana. Nice to see you." Liar, liar, pants on fire.

"Don't be coy, Hunter," she sneered. "It doesn't suit you."

"Really? I thought it fit rather well." She looked astonishingly bad, a grotesque parody of her former haunting beauty. Her hair had gone from a beautiful golden red to dull dishwater blond. Her eyes were even muddier than before, sort of swamp water meets mud pie. Even the whites had gone a sort of yellowish-brown. Her skin looked like old paper, thin and cracked. Her dress hung from her thin frame like a gunny sack.

Twin spots of rage blossomed on her pale cheeks. "Come to join me at last?"

"I'd rather die."

"That can be arranged."

"I'm sure it can. After all, your alliance has done wonders for Alister Jones."

She waved a hand airily. "That weakling. So wrapped up in his own agenda he could not see his nose in front of his face. So easily manipulated." She giggled.

"You put a spell on him, didn't you? That's what's messing with his mind."

Her grin was pure evil and half crazy. "I was surprised he agreed to it, but it was necessary. He is tied to me now. Until death."

Wonderful. The queen had put her mojo on Alister, and he'd gone crazy town when she had. "I have a proposal for you. Something you might find of interest."

I could tell she wanted to ignore me, have her guards chop off my head, but curiosity got the better of her. She couldn't help herself. "Oh, really?"

"Yep. See, your buddy Alister and I have decided to team up."

She stared at me for a moment. Then she blinked slowly. "Team up?"

"Mmhmm. See, he's got this interesting little book with a spell in it. He says we can all get what we want if we just agree to cooperate and do the spell."

A sly look crossed her face, and she crossed her arms. Her fingernails were ragged and dirty. "Really."

"Well, between you and me, Alister is crazy pants, but I'm thinking you and I can get what we want, at least."

"I doubt that."

"Think about it, Morgana. You want the Sidhe to attain their rightful place, correct? Equality with humans in our world. Not stuck off here in fairy land."

Her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. "Is that so?"

"I have no problem with that, Morgana. I believe in equality and all that. I just want peace."

She snorted. "You're a Hunter. Peace is not in your nature."

"True," I nodded, caressing the hilt of my knife to remind everyone who they were dealing with. "But I would give almost anything to destroy the vampires and keep the people I love safe. This spell can do that, but I need your help."

"Anything?"

"Yes. Anything. That's what a Hunter does. Or haven't you figured that out yet?"

Her smirk grew wider. "Very well. Let us talk about how we can help each other."

"Stop the war. Swear to peace with the Marid. No more threats. No more attacks. Then we'll talk."

She sniffed. "Why should I do that?"

"Because once this is done, the war will be over. Permanently. Isn't that what you want?"

Her smile chilled me to the bone. "Done."

Chapter 24

The lake lapped against the shore in its eternal bid to take over the land. Maybe one day it would but not today.

At the edge of the lake stood all the factions necessary for the spell. Morgana and her guard were at one side, looking like they'd like to slit everyone's throats. I'd tried to convince her to come alone, but it had been futile.

The minute she'd arrived, Alister had gone into a frenzy. He'd cried and begged, screaming "You promised!" over and over. Morgana had sneered and turned her back, leaving Alister sobbing on the ground.

Opposite the Sidhe contingent was the Marid with his own guard. He seemed redder than usual, probably because he looked like he wanted to rip Morgana from stem to stern. I'd been right about him leaving djinn lands with me. Holding my hand, he'd been able to pass through whatever invisible barrier had stopped him before.

In the middle, my friends huddled together, including Eddie and Drago. Alister, still in handcuffs but with added leg irons, sat on a rock not far away. He wasn't looking good. Emory was there, her skin unusually pale. She tried to hide her shaking hands in the folds of her broomstick skirt. She'd probably never worked with a spell like this before, and she definitely hadn't been caught between two races who wanted to tear each other apart.

The only person missing was Kabita. She'd promised to deliver a Soulshifter, and until she arrived with one, we were at loose ends. How long could I keep things from exploding?

A faint crackling, sizzling sound heralded the appearance of the portal and another traveler. Jack had said it was the same sound the aurora borealis made. Having never seen, let alone heard, the aurora borealis, I'd have to take his word for it.

Kabita stepped from the portal, two people hot on her heels. I recognized one of them, although it took a moment. He'd changed drastically.

"Mikey?" I called, stepping toward him.

He grinned. "It's Mick now. New name for a new life."

I grabbed him by the shoulders and scanned him up and down. Last I'd seen him, he'd been a seventeen-year-old junkie living a mere slice above homelessness. He looked healthy, happy, filled out.

"My gods, you look amazing."

"Been clean almost a year now, thanks to you." He wrapped me in a hug, squeezing hard. "Thank you," he whispered.

I fought back tears. It wasn't like I'd done anything major. But seeing him like this, so different, made me unbelievably happy. "I'm glad."

"He's not the Soulshifter," I said, turning to Kabita.

"Nope. She is." Kabita nodded at the girl standing beside Mick. She was a little shorter than me, a little thinner, with hair that had obviously been bleached blonde from a much darker color and eyes that were too big for her face. She looked about the same age as Mick.

"Morgan, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Abbie." Mick wrapped his arm around the girl's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. Abbie beamed at me.

"Hi," she said, sticking out her hand and giving mine a shake. "Nice to meet you again."

I blinked. I'd never seen this girl before in my life. "Again?"

"We've met before, but of course you don't remember. I looked a bit different then."

"Sorry, I don't…" I stared at Kabita helplessly, but she just shrugged.

The girl's smile widened even more, if that were possible, and she let out a laugh. "You wouldn't know me as Abbie."

"Then what would I know you as?"

"Call me Zip."

# # #

Those of us who knew Zip — myself, Jack, Inigo, the Marid and his people— stared at her. She laughed merrily as if this were the biggest joke in the universe.

I cleared my throat. "Zip is dead. I watched her soul leave her body."

"Uh-huh." She pointed at her chest. "Soulshifter."