The Egg (Return of the Ancients Book 4) (16 page)

“Maybe Al is right,” I said then, officially throwing my lot in with Al.

“He’s brilliant,” Rafael agreed. I have to admit he looked a little disappointed at my choice, but he took it well. “An inter-dimensional portal detector is not something he’s likely going to be able to just build in his garage.”

Even Jareth agreed. “It’s far more complicated than Faraday caps.” Apparently, he was content with just being Mr. Gloom-and-Doom and not being on anyone’s side.

“Well, one of them will work,” I said, ending the conversation.

Feeling suddenly grumpy, I stuffed Jerry into his paper-towel home and tucked him into my sweatshirt.

It had been a stressful day and I wanted to be alone. Rafael clearly sensed it—or maybe I was just extremely obvious—but in either case, he just watched me leave.

Betty and Grace had retired to their rooms, leaving the family room empty, so I headed there to sit on the couch. After a minute, Ajax jumped up beside me, and we just sat there together, listening to the ticking clock on the wall.

After a few minutes, my grumpiness began to subside and I wondered if life would ever return to normal. I’d only been lost in thought a minute or two before a chill crept down my back.

Ajax responded at once.

Leaping to his feet, he stood there on full alert, his gaze sweeping over the room in a full circuit.

But then the feeling passed.

I almost returned to the kitchen anyway, but after a few seconds, I managed to convince myself that I was just overly jittery. Ajax only confirmed it by jumping back onto the couch, and after turning in a few circles, plopped down with a loud sigh.

I expelled a long breath through my nose.

But then, from the corner of my eyes, I saw two shadows move, and I’d just opened my mouth to scream when I recognized who they were.

The Queens of Avalon.

They stood there before me, dressed in long, flowing black-and-white checkered robes, and I almost screamed anyway. I mean, they were most likely there to kill me. I wasn’t going let them without a fight.

But then the Queen of the Light pointed at my hand.

I glanced down and jerked as I saw her golden feather once again floating above my fingers like it had the day she’d given it to me in the coffee shop.

“I have faith in you, Sydney,” she said then, her soft voice echoing unnaturally loud in the room. “I know that you’ll make the right decision for the benefit of all.”

I scowled, filling with anger then.

“You expect me to kill them?” I asked, my voice turning high-pitched. “I won’t do it, you know. I don’t care what happens. I’m not going to kill Rafael or Jareth. I couldn’t. You might as well just take this thing back now.”

I held my hand out and tried to shake the feather away. It looked bigger and brighter than when the Queen of the Light had first bestowed it upon me. She’d said it was a show of faith, telling me that I should trust myself, be true to my heart, and to remember that love was the ultimate power. It all sounded like a bunch of fluff now. Especially after they’d wanted to imprison me in Avalon, and maybe just kill me as well.

I frowned at them both. “I don’t know what kind of games you’re playing,” I said a bit fiercely. “But I’m not going to hurt or kill anyone, if that’s what you’re expecting. And I’m not going to let you hurt anyone, either. So, I don’t really know what this feather thing is about.”

The Queen of the Light reached over and touched my forehead with a finger. “I have given two such feathers, Sydney,” she whispered in my mind. “One to Rafael. And one to you.”

I swallowed, recalling that Rafael’s feather had been kept in a crystal, but that it had lost its brilliance to shrivel away.

“Yes.” The Queen of the Light bowed her head. “I lost faith in him. I was weak. I became certain that he lusted for power. But through all of my fears, I still retained faith in you, child. I have witnessed the power of love. Humans have accomplished remarkable feats in the name of love, and I believe that your love will help you choose the right path.”

I lifted my chin stubbornly. “Well, love isn’t going to have me kill them. Love is going to protect them all.”

“Absolutely,” they said at the same time.

I felt the hair on my neck stand. They knew something. Why did I feel like I’d just fallen into some kind of trap?

Both Queens opened their mouths to speak as one. “We have looked in the mirrors. Jareth is right. Neither of them are on the right path to find the portal.”

I held my breath. That was the last thing that I expected or wanted to hear. “Do you know where it is?” I asked them, beginning to shake.

They nodded.

I waited, the suspense growing by the moment. When they didn’t speak, I finally gasped, “Tell me!”

“You know in your heart,” was all they said.

I glared at them angrily. What kind of answer was that? I was about to snap a snotty response right back at them, Queens or no, when Blondie’s words began to play in my head.
Soon, we will enter Earth. The portal is here.

The portal
had
been in the kitchen. I’d run right into it.

I paused.

Or
had
I?

Had the invisible wall been the portal?

Blondie had been looking at
me
.

I barely finished the thought before I froze.

I knew then that the Queens were right, and I knew exactly where the portal was.

The portal was
me
.

Chapter Nine – A Long Goodbye

I was really too stunned to think. Falling back onto the couch, I just stared at my hand in complete shock. I don’t know how long I stayed that way. When I looked up again, the Queens had gone, but Ajax still sat loyally by my side.

I drew a long, wavering breath.

I had to face it, and it was my worst nightmare.
I, Sydney,
was the portal the Mesmers wanted to use to enter the Earth from the Second Dimension.

Fear welled inside me. Utter terror. Horror beyond comparison.

And as complete despair threatened to overwhelm me, I heard Ajax’s low growl. As if in a dream, I followed his unblinking eyes to a spot in the corner of the room near the ceiling.

It was getting dark and I hadn’t turned the light on yet. But as I continued to squint, I could see shadows in the corner. They were swirling, creating some kind of vortex, and out of it, something black seemed to be wriggling my way. As I watched, a curling tentacle reached out of the dark hole to stretch forward.

It was the Mutant Tulpa, and it was coming for me.

And then I just knew. Deep inside, things just clicked into place. The Lizard People were using the Tulpa to create a bridge between the Second Dimension and Earth, a bridge anchored by fear. The Tulpa was one end. I was the other.

I panicked. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t. It was almost like I was mesmerized, but I did manage to move my lips. “No!” I gasped defiantly. “I’m not going to let you win!” My voice sounded small in the darkness gathering around me.

Ajax continued to growl, his fur standing on end.

The shadows next to the Tulpa took shape, sliding down the wall to drop into the long form of the Man in the Top Hat. And as he solidified, the Mutant Tulpa jerked, scurried back, and then burrowed away.

Jumping to my feet, I faced my benefactor. “Who are you?” I rasped.

But as I watched, he melted into the shadows, taking the oppressiveness of the room with him. I covered my mouth with my hands and fought the temptation to dissolve into tears. Too much was happening. And too quickly. I was getting overwhelmed.

“What’s going on?” Rafael’s deep voice shattered my thoughts.

I twisted back to see Rafael framed in the darkened doorway with Jareth behind him, the silhouette of a pigeon perched upon his shoulder. And as Rafael entered to flip the lights on, Galahad launched himself at the ceiling where the Mutant Tulpa and the Man in the Top Hat had been. It sent chills down my spine. How had the bird known?

Ajax tilted his head sideways and stared directly into Rafael’s eyes. I knew they were communicating. It was a relief, actually. I didn’t have the energy to repeat what had happened.

Rafael was by my side in a flash after that. “Are you well?” he asked, concern flooding his gray eyes. “We shouldn’t have left you alone.”

I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but I know it came out weird.

“Ha, so I
am
right,” Jareth said as Galahad swooped back to land on his shoulder. Waving his hand over the coffee table, a bowl of fruit appeared, and he grabbed a handful of grapes and began popping them into his mouth. “So, where’s the portal, Sydney? Did they tell you?”

I just stared at him numbly. I didn’t want to think about that.

As Jareth sprawled into Al’s battered recliner, Rafael pulled me down onto the couch and drawing me close, let his arm fall naturally around my shoulders. I just leaned against him, resting my head against his hard chest.

“Say something, Sydney,” Jareth said with a frown. “It’s scary when you’re quiet.”

I looked over at him and then noticed that he was staring over my head. That realization immediately propelled me to my feet.

Jareth was dangerous. He could read my thoughtforms. And right now, I didn’t want him reading anything. Not before I’d decided what to do. I had to keep my thoughts to myself.

I don’t know what I mumbled. I just bolted out of there as fast as I could and ran to the kitchen.

The Fae and their crystal had gone, but Al—with his Faraday cap safely upon his bald head—sat at the table, poring over the notes he’d taken during his phone call to Jack.

“Got an extra Faraday cap?” I asked so quickly that I slurred my words together.

He raised a curious brow but nodded his chin at his supply cupboard. “I can’t get Betty and Grace to wear theirs. Help yourself, kiddo!”

I grabbed the first cap I saw and jammed it onto my head in relief. “Well, maybe we won’t need it now with Blondie and so many others gone,” I said hopefully. “Maybe we’ve scared them off for now.”

“You’re probably right,” he agreed, a little misty-eyed. “Tigger bought us some time.”

I got a little misty-eyed myself at that and nodded, having no doubt he was right.

Al stood up and patted me warmly on the head. “Well, I’ve got some work to do before I go to bed, kiddo. Why don’t you check in early and get some sleep. You’re looking exhausted there.”

“I will in a bit,” I agreed. Even though it was already dark outside, it wasn’t really that late yet.

Whistling a little, he disappeared into the garage, and I took his place at the table to bury my head in my arms.

What was I going to do? How could I tell them that I was the portal? There wasn’t anything they could do about it. It wasn’t like they could cut the connection I had with the Tulpa to prevent the bridge from forming.

That made me pause a little. Now that I knew I was Earth’s anchor, could I somehow uproot my end of the bridge? Was it possible to destroy the portal? The Queens had kind of implied it was. They’d basically agreed with me that love could protect everyone that I loved.

But how?

The Tulpa was trying to reach me to control the connection. Could I head it off? Reach it first? Fight fire with fire? If I jumped into its vortex, like the one I’d seen in the coffee shop, would I be sucked into the Second Dimension?

I knew it sounded harebrained, but my whole being told me I was on the right path.

If I wasn’t on Earth, there would be nothing for them to open the portal
with
. And if I went to Avalon, I would still be creating a bridge. I could actually make it worse. They might even be able to physically reach both Earth
and
Avalon that way. The only way I could figure to stop them from expanding their reach to the other dimensions was to short-circuit the whole thing.

I was going to have to go to the Second Dimension.

The Queens were right.

My heart—human intuition—
did
know the answer. And it was actually a horrible, horrible answer.

It had to be my Blue Thread. What could be worse than calling the Mutant Tulpa and jumping back with it into the Second Dimension?

Could I actually
do
it?

I knew I had to hurry before I lost my resolve or before someone figured out what I was going to do and tried to stop me.

Feeling strangely disconnected from reality, I raised my head and stood up.

But when I turned on my heel, I ran straight into Jareth and Rafael standing only a few feet behind me, their arms folded and their sharp eyes suspiciously locked on mine.

Jareth took one look at my Faraday cap and then asked with a hint of sarcastic amusement, “And what are you trying to hide, Sydney?”

Rafael merely cocked a brow in my direction.

For the briefest of moments, my determination fractured and I wanted to just run into his arms and ask him to help me. But only for a moment. I loved him too much to endanger him. I loved them
both
too much, each in their own way.

I took a deep breath. I was really going to miss them.

“I’m not hiding anything. It’s just been a hard day,” I lied, forcing a smile as I pointed to the Faraday cap half sliding off my head. “I just want to be safe.” Stealing a page out of Rafael’s book, I switched subjects. “So, Jareth, where do
you
think the portal is? The Queens didn’t tell me. They just said you were right.”

This time, switching subjects actually worked.

Jareth smirked a little and then gave a belligerent yawn. “Of course I’m right. The only Fae that has a prayer of finding it will be myself,” he said. “The ability to dream and travel dimensions are closed to all others.”

“Rafael can dream,” I said, seeking a distraction,
any
kind of distraction from what I knew I had to do.

Jareth cast a cynical eye at Rafael. “While he’s beginning to generate thoughtforms like a human, they’re not strong enough to be of use. They’re about the strength of a newborn babe’s.”

Rafael arched a challenging brow, and as they began to exchange barbs, I escaped from the kitchen and ran to my room.