Jessandra rubbed her forehead as she took in her surroundings. “Where have you brought me?”
“To our world,” I responded, as Kaiden and I fanned Gina’s feverish face.
“What!” Pure terror stole over her. She rushed to the window, knocking into the glass, and looked out with cautious yet adventurous wonder. “How?”
Gina opened her palm to reveal the wishing stone. The dark bauble pulsed, and little glints of color flickered to life in its depths. Goosebumps peppered my skin. I always imagined it had its own sonar. No matter where it was in the room, I could feel it… sensing, watching, searching for me.
In the blink of an eye, Jessandra stood over us. Her long, gray braid trailed over her shoulder. She gave off major Tomb Raider vibes. “That does not belong here.”
I agreed wholeheartedly. Astaroth had no business giving this type of power to a child—or any human for that matter. I took the stone from Gina and went to give it to Jessandra, when the air shifted with a pop.
Jessandra spun around in a defensive stance. Brilliant, blue light radiated around her form. “Hide.” When we didn’t move, she shouted, “Now!”
The three of scurried behind the couch as another giant appeared in the center of my living room.
“Where is the draiocht?”
We looked at each other in shock. That wasn’t Astaroth. I didn’t know who he was. Kaiden peered around one side of the couch, and I peered around the other. The dazzling light was blinding, but in the midst of it stood a god-like man. He stood taller than Jessandra by at least a foot, with a curtain of pale blond hair reflecting the electric blue light dancing in the middle of my living room. His golden skin made Jessandra’s look sicklier.
“I know not what that is,” she said. “Leave.”
The man looked around, and his gaze landed on the center of the couch. I tucked behind to see Gina dropping to the floor.
“He saw me!” she whisper-screamed.
“No shit,” I mouthed.
I shoved the necklace over my head and hid it in my shirt as all out war began a few feet away. Glass shattered around the room, and the couch pushed us across the floor, wedging us between it and the wall. With a screech, we jumped out from behind it, revealing all of us.
The two giants moved so fast that they blurred through the small space. The man would make a move toward us and Jessandra would block and fight him off. We didn’t know which way to go, and I couldn’t leave her there to face him alone. The stone pulsed and warmed against my skin. His presence surrounded me, raising the hairs on arms.
“He’s coming,” I whispered.
Astaroth
Terror, the likes I’d never felt, filtered through the stone. I was preparing to cross over to Earth to collect both Jessandra and Calista when the sensation seized me and stopped me in my tracks. Jessandra would never hurt Calista, so what scared her so?
With the wave of my hand, the mirror appeared, and Calista’s home came into view. I stood from my throne and stared at the radiant portal in her living room. The only reason they would be there was my magic.
I snapped my fingers and donned a mask and my weapon, then stepped through the shadows into the chaos. My gaze wentimmediately to Calista, standing in front of her brother and the person she called Gina. The person she allowed to use the gift I bestowed to her. They were safe for the moment. Jessandra saw to that.
Wind whipped through the small enclosure, sucking objects through the shadows and into the labyrinth. The realm could taste the trickling power from Faery from the open doorway, just as I could, and wanted more, just as I did. It sang to every part of me, plucking the fibers of my tapestry like strings. The vibrations trilled through me and revealed nuances of the realm’s song I’d never heard. I longed to merge with it and feel it in its entirety. I blipped to the portal, but when I tried to go through, energy zipped through my body and rattled my teeth before exploding and knocking me backward. It rejected me even from Earth.
Calista’s scream rent the air and reminded me why I was truly there.
“You can help… at any… point.” Jessandra ground out between attacks.
The man studied me as he fought off Jessandra’s advancements. If I was here to retrieve the power source, so was he. One moment he headed toward Calista, the next toward me. Back and forth he zigzagged, and uncertainty furrowed his brow until he made his decision. I wrapped the shadows around myself and moved when he blurred toward me. Like an intricate game of chess, I maneuvered myself across the room until I stood before her. Squatted on the balls of her feet, she protected her unconscious brother from attack. It was futile. If the fae being wanted to annihilate them, he would. There was nothing she could do to stop him.
“Please don’t hurt us,” Gina whimpered as she cowered behind Calista.
“He won’t,” Calista whispered. The confidence and relief in her voice transformed into resentment. “I owe him.”
My jaw clenched. She owed me much and would pay for it, except for the one thing I wanted most from her. That I had to earn. There was no time to explain or respond. The portal to the realm flickered in warning. Soon it would disappear, and I feared what would happen if I was trapped outside it. I snatched Calista off the floor and blipped to it with Jessandra following on my heels.
