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As we headed inland, toward the mushroom ring, my only regret was that Smoky hadn’t managed to kill Yannie Fin Diver. Right now, I wasn’t feeling very merciful toward my enemies.
We came to the mushroom ring before long, and once again a surge of trickster energy blasted out from it. Trillian blinked, shaking his head.
“Damn, whatever sort of gateway it is, it’s strong. And cunning.”
“Cunning is right. Remember—Chase was captured by what sounds like a spider-related Fae. Cunning and webweavers go hand in hand. Spider creatures are smart.” I pointed toward the edge of the ring. “I put my arm through there and it was kind of freaky. Okay, we ready for this?”
Smoky grunted and started to take the lead, but Trillian motioned him back. “This is Fae territory, dude. This is more my speed than yours. You stick close to Camille and Delilah.” He stepped forward, and, reluctantly, Smoky moved back, a skeptical look on his face.
We tied up—portals like this weren’t safe to travel through without having some connection to one another. Otherwise, who knew if we’d end up in the same place? Then, without another word, Trillian stepped through, me following, then Smoky and Delilah.
Most portals are disorienting; this was a freak show. The moment I passed through, a spiral of colors began to run around me as reality melted into a swirl of color and sound. I was still tied to Trillian, but the only thing I could see were brilliant blues and greens, rotating in on themselves, like the spiral on the old Outer Limits program.
My body felt like it was melting, it was so hot. Sweat trickled down my forehead, slowly forming rivulets along my cheeks. Droplets trickled down my nose, onto my tongue as I reached out to catch one. Salty. Sweet. I wanted to rip my clothes off—the heat was stifling. As I considered undoing my capelet, something in the back of my mind whispered, Don’t—it’s the portal. It will pass. Don’t fall for it.
Keeping my wrap on, I shifted beneath it, the pain fading from my thighs, from my heart, from my back and bones. All I could feel was the heat—the mind-numbing heat, the heat rising in my body, spreading through my stomach, making me ache for someone strong to come along, to push me down on the ground and fill me full. I struggled not to strip bare at the thought that Trillian might be close enough to touch.
Music swept up—panpipes and drums, a tambourine, a lute—the dance called me in. To dance, to spin, to whirl under the stars, to leap into the great cosmic orgasm of the universe and never stop dancing . . . the swell of desire rose within my heart and I began to wander away from the path, but the rope around my waist stopped me.
Confused, I stared at the nylon coil wrapped around me, wondering how to get rid of it, when someone on the other end tugged—hard. Unprepared, I went sailing forward, stumbling through the swirls of color until the heat suddenly lessened and I tripped, finding myself lying prone in a snow-covered meadow, with Trillian waiting anxiously. Oddly, the snow didn’t feel all that cold.
He knelt by me and took me by the shoulders. “Camille, are you all right?”
I looked around, perplexed. Smoky and Delilah were there already, but I’d been second. “How . . . what happened?”
“You got lost in there. The energy is magnetic and glom-med onto you. We were trying our best to pull you out, but you were resisting. What was it?” My love searched my face, the dark gleaming skin of his hands stark against my skin. I kissed his fingers, reveling in the feel of them against my face. The seducing energy still held me in its grasp.
“I . . . I wanted to strip naked and run . . . to screw my brains out with somebody.” I inhaled deeply and slowly let it out. After a moment, my head began to clear. “Whoever opened that portal is powerful and has a yen for magical energy. It’s not quite the same as the portal through which we initially came, but there was the same seductive pull—the same sort of siren song.”
“Hmm . . . perhaps a creature who feeds on magical energy?” Smoky extended his hand and I placed my left in it, my right in Trillian’s, and allowed them to lift me to my feet.
“It wouldn’t be the first we’ve met like that. Come on, let’s see where we’re at.” As we began to look around, I realized that although we were in a frosty meadow, everything had an artificial look to it—as if it were two-dimensional. It was almost as though we were on a movie set.
“This feels . . . like somebody created this space. Tried to make it appear real but couldn’t quite get the pattern down. The snow—it’s not very cold. I noticed that when I was on the ground. Anybody else have any thoughts?”
Delilah leaned over a low-growing bush and inhaled deeply. “You’re right—there aren’t any smells to these bushes. Did you notice?”
I frowned, looking around. Closing my eyes, I lifted my nose and breathed slowly. She was right—there was no tang to the soil, no woodsy scent to the trees, no scent of ozone to signal that it had been snowing. It wasn’t that the currents were free of fragrance, but I couldn’t identify what it was.
“That’s weird. I’m getting a little nervous now. What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know.” She glanced nervously around. “I’m beginning to wonder if this is a natural realm or not. It’s not the astral, is it?”
Slowly, I shook my head. “Smoky, Trillian, what do you think?”
Smoky took a few steps forward, then stopped. He pointed past a small stand of small evergreens. “There’s a cottage there.”
“Cottage? Chase said something about being dragged to a cottage.” I took a step toward it, cocking my head. “There’s something odd about it. Do you notice anything weird?”
Delilah shaded her eyes with her hands and peered at it. “It looks almost as though the walls are moving.”
As we started toward it, Smoky in the lead, I saw that Delilah was right. The walls and roof of the cottage looked like they were in motion, like the very atoms of the house were dancing. Wondering what the hell it could be, we quietly descended the sloping path leading to it.
“I don’t like the feel of this.” Trillian shook his head as he drew his dagger. “There is danger here. All around. We are surrounded by it, as though we . . .”
His voice drifted off as I grabbed his arm. “Stop. Stop right here. Look closely—I see what’s making the house move.” I skidded to a halt, looking closely. “Oh, fuck.”
“What?” Delilah squinted again, trying to see what it is. “I can’t tell.”
