Kissed by Eternity (5 page)

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Emory Chastain's shop was in a cute little vintage storefront wedged between an antique store whose owners had a fondness for teacups and an empty building with Coming Soon plastered across the plate glass window. The shop had been left to her by her aunt, along with the old crumbling Victorian she lived in, which was why Emory had moved to Portland in the first place. She was a friend of Eddie's, and she'd helped us with our little problem aboard the steampunk cruise. Although she'd been hesitant when I called, she'd agreed to try and open a portal to the Otherworld.

I pushed the door open. Instead of the usual bell or annoying electronic chime, there was a small wind chime which tinkled as I walked beneath it. I found it charming.

The air was redolent with the scent of dried herbs and essential oils. One wall was lined with glass shelves, each stocked with bars of soap and interestingly shaped bottles of who knew what. An antique apothecary chest sat against another wall, the top crammed with clear glass jars filled with dried herbs. Each little drawer was clearly labeled, although unreadable from my vantage point across the room. Wobbly vintage tables with shabby chic paint jobs dotted the room and were stacked with books on herbs, beeswax candles in various colors, and brightly colored tins.

A large crystal chandelier, suspended from the ceiling in the center of the room, cast rainbows across the wide plank floors. The long, marble-topped cashier desk looked like something out of the 1800s, its mahogany base dented and scratched by a thousand booted feet and wayward umbrellas. More dried herbs hung from the exposed beams and little brown tincture bottles filled shelves behind the register.

Emory turned from where she'd been reorganizing one of the tables. She was wearing a scarlet broomstick skirt—hadn't those gone out of fashion in the 90s?—paired with a loose, white peasant shirt trimmed in colorful embroidery. Her feet were bare, as usual, her toes painted an eye-popping stripper pink. Her strawberry blonde hair tumbled down her back in curls and waves finishing off the wild, bohemian look. I was never sure if it was a put-on or just who she was.

"Morgan." She gave me a tight smile but otherwise appeared as tranquil as ever.

"Thanks for agreeing to help," I said, walking toward her.

"Don't thank me yet. I'm not even sure this will work." She glanced behind me. "Mr. Magnussen. Nice to see you again." She sounded like she meant it, but it was hard to tell.

Haakon gave her a gracious nod. "Ms. Chastain."

"And who is your friend?" Emory turned toward Inigo, who thrust out his hand.

"Inigo Jones." He glanced at me. "Morgan's boyfriend."

My heart gave a little flutter. So he still wanted to be claimed as belonging to me. Or maybe it was me belonging to him. Part of me was relieved but another part was still irked he seemed to think it would be so easy to go back to the way things were.

Things could never be the way they were.

I shook off my maudlin thoughts. I needed to focus. We needed to find Alister and stop him before it was too late to deal with whatever nastiness he had up his sleeve.

"What do we do?" I asked Emory.

"Give me a moment." She strode to the front of the store, flipped the sign to Closed, and turned the deadbolt. Then she returned to us, her long skirt swishing around her ankles. "Follow me."

She led us into a back room and turned on the overhead lights. In the glare of the fluorescents, I saw it was not unlike Eddie's storage room at Majicks and Potions, except it was a lot neater. Two rows of shelving units, three units deep, lined either side of a center aisle. Emory walked to the back of the room before slipping out of sight behind the final row of shelving. I hurried after her to find she'd vanished. The only hint to her location was the flutter of a midnight blue velvet curtain blocking a narrow doorway cut into the sheetrock. I followed her.

Beyond the curtain was a much smaller room. The walls were painted deep purple, the ceiling and floor black. A simple Wiccan shrine was tucked into a small alcove on the wall opposite the doorway. A metal and glass curio cabinet stood next to it. The middle of the floor was completely bare.

"Stand against the wall until I'm finished," Emory ordered. I moved, waving the guys over as they entered. She opened the curio cabinet and took out something. I couldn't tell what it was until she turned, knelt down on the floor, and began drawing an intricate design. Chalk.

Emory drew several symbols in a wide circle. The symbols looked familiar, not unlike Atlantean. I opened my mouth to question her but thought better of it. I didn't need to distract the woman who was about to open a portal to the Otherworld. Good way to end up on the hell planes. Not my idea of fun.

Within the circle of symbols, Emory sketched another, this one larger and far more intricate. It looked somewhat like a labyrinth but with a lot more swirls. I'd never seen anything like it. She returned the chalk to the curio cabinet and returned carrying several white candles. She placed one on each of the outer symbols, plus a single one in the very center of the circle. Another trip to the cabinet produced a clay jar, which she opened, pouring the contents on the floor in a wide circle around the symbols. Salt.

Placing the jar on the floor next to the circle, she eyed us sternly. "Whatever happens, do not cross the salt line until I tell you. Got it?"

We nodded obediently. I guessed she was fine with our answer because she moved toward the center candle. Closing her eyes and holding her hands above it, she began to chant. The candle sparked, and then the wick flamed. Emory faced each of the four corners in turn, and while I couldn't understand her words, I knew she was invoking the elements. The powers inside me stirred restlessly. I tamped down harder on the metaphorical lid between them and the outside world.

Once the elements were called, Emory slowly walked the circle, her athame tracing each symbol. As she passed each candle, its wick burst into flame. I swayed to the rhythm of her chant, the powers inside me straining to get out, wanting the warmth of the circle and the energy that lived there. Inigo grabbed my arm, and I realized I'd taken a step forward. I nodded in thanks, and he removed his hand. Haakon never took his eyes off Emory.

I felt the moment the circle slammed shut. The final candle lit, and there was an invisible rush of…something. I couldn't see it, but the powers in me stilled, no longer called by whatever the hell was inside with Emory.

Returning to the center flame, Emory once again held her hands above it, chanting. The flames leapt higher as her chanting intensified. Then she pulled a small vial from between her breasts. I hadn't even seen her put it there. Still chanting she uncorked the tiny bottle, waving her palm above it in a circle. Then she swallowed the contents in one gulp. Tucking the empty vial away, she continued chanting.

The air around the circle began to spark and sizzle like a downed electrical cable in a storm. Except there was no cable, and there was no storm. Colors rolled across the barrier in shimmers like the Aurora Borealis. Pinks, blues, and finally greens. Every green you could imagine from the palest celery to the deepest forest and everything in between. Golden sparkles drifted across the colors and away from the edge into the center of the circle, coalescing into a shimmering orb above Emory's outstretched hands.

Golden light from the orb bathed her face, highlighting her high cheekbones and casting her eyes into dark shadows. The sparkles flew faster, turning into streaks of light slamming into the orb as it grew larger and larger.

Something shifted in the room. Like pressure before a thunderstorm. Or your ears after takeoff when all they needed to do was pop.

Everything went still, and I realized Emory had finally stopped chanting. She was staring at the orb swirling above her hands. It was now the size of a basketball, pulsing like a heart.

"Oh, crap…" I whispered.

The orb exploded.

Chapter 6

I ducked instinctively, convinced the entire room was about to disintegrate around us. Inigo threw himself over me as if he could protect me from the blast. His skin shimmered into blue scales as he half morphed into his dragon form. Maybe he could protect me at that.

As we crouched there, I realized the explosion had had no sound. The room was quiet. Nothing was out of place. The walls were intact, the floor still under our feet. Well, knees in this case. I peeked out from underneath Inigo's protective arms and saw the circle was untouched, the colors calmly swirling across its surface like wind over lake water on a summer's day.

"Off me," I grunted, pushing at Inigo. He didn't budge

"The explosion…"

"We're fine. Nothing happened out here." I pushed at him again. This time he let me up.

"What the Hades?"

"That's what I want to know," I said grimly, walking toward the circle. Haakon was already there, trying to peer through the opaque colors blocking our view.

"We should go in," Haakon said grimly. He was braced as if ready to throw himself bodily through the barrier.

"No we shouldn't. She told us not to cross the circle until she told us to. Believe me, magic is not something you want to mess with."

"You know very well there is no such thing as magic." His tone was haughty, which was pretty funny seeing as how he'd probably believed very firmly in magic a thousand years ago.

"Yeah, yeah. Quantum physics yada yada. It's easier to just call it magic. All right?" Trying to wrap my head around science as wild as what Emory had dipped into was enough to give me a migraine. Humans had been calling this stuff "magic" for millennia. Who was I to change things? "We stay out of the circle."

The colors slowly began to turn translucent, fading and drifting away into whatever ether from which they'd come. I could see glimpses inside the circle. The explosion had knocked over the candles and, thank goodness, extinguished the flames. It had even scorched the floor, smudging the chalk figures. But the circle held, which meant Emory was alive.

And then I saw it. Shimmering in the center about two feet off the ground was a portal. Like an oval mirror suspended in the air, its surface shimmering slightly. Below the mirror huddled a figure, still as death.

"Emory. Emory, are you okay?"

Without a word, Haakon stormed toward the circle. I grabbed him by the arm, but he was too strong for even my Hunter strength. "Inigo!"

But I needn't have shouted. Inigo was there, physically blocking Haakon from entering the circle. Dragon versus Sunwalker was a little more of an even match.

"Chill, buddy," Inigo said in that old, charming tone he used to use so often. My heart shuddered. It felt like ages since I'd heard it. "Emory told us what to do. We do it. If she wanted us to rescue her, she would have told us beforehand."

"She could not have known this would happen." Haakon's voice was a snarl. He shoved at Inigo.

"Maybe she did. Maybe she didn't." Inigo didn't move an inch. "But she's Witch Blood. She told us what to do, and we need to do it. No telling what will happen if we breach that circle."

"She could be injured."

I glanced at Emory's inert body. "She could be," I admitted. "But it doesn't matter. We stay on this side of the circle until she calls us. Believe me. You do not want to mess with Witch magic. If it doesn't kill you, she will."

"I told you it isn't magic."

"All the more reason not to mess with it. Do you make a habit of arguing with gravity?"

He clenched his jaw.

"Didn't think so. Now do what Inigo said and chill. You're no good to us going off halfcocked."

Haakon raised his brow but backed down. "I am a Viking. Sitting still is not in our nature."

"I'm a Hunter. It's not in mine, either. Guess what? We both get to put on our Big Girl Panties."

Inigo smirked. Haakon stared at me.

Emory chose that moment to roll over and glare at us. "Would you all stop yammering and get in here and help me?"

Haakon practically shoved me out of the way in his hurry to get to Emory. He knelt and gently helped her to her feet. Did Haakon have a crush on Emory? I watched them closely. Haakon was definitely hovering in an overly concerned way but not really in an "I want to see you naked way." More like an "I've sworn an oath of protection" way. Shit. Not another Jack.

I stepped into the circle, feeling a slight zing along my skin as I passed through. Inside, I heard the hum of the portal and smelled the ozone burn mixed with lush, green things. The portal definitely led to the Otherworld. Inigo joined us, and the space in front of the portal seemed to shrink.

"How long do you plan to be gone?" Emory asked.

I shrugged. "Long as it takes. I have no idea where Alister is, but we have to find him."

"I can't maintain the circle indefinitely."

"Aren't you coming with us?" Haakon asked.

She gave him a look. "I'm a Witch. No way I'm getting caught in the Otherworld."

I had no idea what terrible things would befall Witches who wandered into Morgana's territory, but clearly Emory did. By the look on her face, it wasn't anything good. "How do we get back?"

"I'll keep the portal open as long as I can."

"Can't you just open it again?" Inigo asked.

"I can," Emory admitted. "But who knows where it will lead. Or when. And every time I use my magic to open a portal, I leave a sign for the Queen to follow. I will not have her follow me here, understand?"

"We understand," I assured her. "Just keep it open as long as possible." I didn't mention I might be able to open a portal from the Otherworld. I'd never actually done it before, though I had controlled one, and no telling if I could do it or not. The last thing I wanted was to get stuck in Morgana's territory.

Emory checked her watch, humming slightly to herself. "Make it fast. I can hold this thing open only so long. If you're not back when it closes, you're on your own."

Chapter 7

I tumbled out of the portal and hit the ground rolling. I lay panting on the grass, ignoring the sword sheath poking into my spine, until Inigo tumbled out after me. I rolled out of the way so he wouldn't crush me and staggered to my feet. The land of the Sidhe looked exactly as it had every other time I'd been here. Green, green everywhere. Even the air smelled green.