“Precisely. Now we must make haste.” He motions for me to come closer to him. “I am still weak from dealing with the mages and my power is slow to regenerate after being imprisoned, but I think I have enough to transport us now.”
“Power? I think I can help with that,” I tell him and reach for the power that I know I should have. When I do, it’s there. It’s faint but the magic sparks up against my fingers. “I don’t have much either right now but I can give it to you.”
“You would do that for me?”
“Of course, I would,” I answer and bring my hands to his. “I don’t know how to do this but this kind of feels right.” I let go of the power and let it flow out of me and into Jaak’s hands. The silver shines in the moonlight for a second before it’s gone, absorbed right into his skin without so much as a sparkle left behind. “Neat.”
“Verily,” he says and then nods to himself. “That was more than enough. You’re a powerful witch, Meadow.”
Again, his praise makes me blush and I give him a shy smile. “Thank you.”
“Now come close and hold on tight. I cannot risk you being swept away by the arcane. We are about to move through time and space, and the flow of time is strong.”
“Right. Stay close. Don’t get swept away by time.” I come forward and then wrap my arms around Jaak’s waist. My cheek presses against his chest and I try to ignore the way my jacket awkwardly pokes me in the belly. Gods, why is my husband this beautiful? I’m not ready for this kind of thing.
Jaak puts a hand on my shoulder and I jump. “Ready?” he asks.
“Y-yes. I’m ready.”
“Do not look anywhere but at me. No matter what you hear, do not look,” Jaak says and wraps his arms around me and I almost swoon from the perfect feel of it even though he just gave me a cryptic warning about looking at things. “Take a deep breath and clear your mind. We’ll be there in no time.”
“Sure, right, I can follow a few directions. Nothing to be scared of when it comes to teleporting, not even a little bit.”
Jaak doesn’t answer, he does whatever demons do when they teleport and then we’re moving. My body feels like it’s coming apart and melding into his all at once. My bones feel heavy and my muscles feel loose and liquid. I hold on tighter to him and I’m surprised when I feel him firm and solid against me. Jaak’s bodyreminds me that I’m solid and in one piece. I open my eyes to look up at him but the moment my eyes are open I realize what a bad idea it was to do that.
Something flashes behind Jaak’s head. I don’t know what it is because I wasn’t lying when I said I could follow a few rules. I grew up in a cult. I’m a pro at following rules. All kinds of rules. You name them and I’ll follow them, no questions asked. The thing behind Jaak is dark, like a shadow and it blocks out the swirling clouds around us.
Again, I don’t look so I can’t tell if it’s clouds but what looks like a cloud drifts in front of my nose and hides Jaak’s face from me. He’s looking out at whatever is moving around us like he doesn’t have a care in the world. Whatever he doesn’t want me to see out there doesn’t scare him one bit. There’s a scream behind me and I swear I feel something brush against my leg before a wave of fetid air rolls over us.
Oh my gods, is something screaming behind me?
There’s a low rumble that sounds especially like a growl and then a huff of hot air that I know has to be breath. Yup, it’s a mouth. My arms start to hurt from how hard I squeeze Jaak. A flash of red appears and disappears to the left of us, before everything goes dark. Whatever is behind me moves closer, I expect to feel its sharp teeth biting into me but it doesn’t come. Jaak jerks forward, the movement surprises me and I scream. My feet touch solid ground a moment later and the darkness vanishes. All around me I can hear the night sounds of the forest, the cool air hits my hands where they’re still locked in a death grip on Jaak. There’s no weird flashing lights or death breath blowing on me anymore and overhead an owl hoots.
It’s over.
Still, I don’t lift my head. I don’t open my eyes. It’s a well practiced dance I’m used to executing. I’ve done it since I was a kid and the nightmares paralyzed me.
Just don’t look, Meadow, don’t look, just keep your eyes shut for a minute longer and it’ll go away.
I was right, it always did go away. Just like it has now. It’s not so bad now that I think about it. At least I have Jaak. Still,I can’t lift my head.
“I-is it safe? Is it over?” I ask, voice just above a whisper. I sound exhausted, wrung out and weak. My knees shake and I hate it. Why am I always so…so…
“It is safe, witchling. Open your eyes.”
My breath comes out in a rush. I run from my head full of thoughts and open my eyes. I blink a few times to get my bearings and smile when I see Jaak.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I lie.
Jaak doesn’t answer, he looks behind me and frowns. “It was not good. The Augers should not have been able to get so close to you. I failed you, Meadow.”
“What? No, no you didn’t. I’m fine. What’s an Auger?”
Jaak shifts forward and gives something a toss. I hear it hit the ground with a thud. From the sound of it, it rolls too. “Malevolent beings. Scavengers. They flit from world to world in search of their next meal. They feast upon the fears of weaker beings until they’ve claimed their souls.”
“Big yikes,” I say, turning around to see what he tossed.
Jaak reaches for me but it’s too late. “Meadow, no. Don’t look.”
