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She closed her eyes and sent up a quick prayer to the heavens. She couldn’t be part wolf.
Renee’s voice was suddenly in her mind. Ooooh, I really like this table.
Natalie popped her eyes open. Renee stood on top of the large, round wrought-iron table with her bare toes curled over the edge and her arms spread out as though she was riding a wave.
Her balancing movements sent her ghost-mist shifting about. But enough held together that she really did look like she was surfing.
Had her prayer just been answered?
“You’re back.”
Renee turned to
her and smiled. She then jumped from the table to the tile patio floor, a movement that sent her mist flattening into a pool then materializing back into her colorful ghost form. She wore red shorts this time and a white tank top.
I am. I’ve got an archangel up my ass about you. I have only one message tonight, though, then I’m outta here.
“Okay.”
Renee appeared to be thinking hard. Right. I’ve got it. You’re to go see the tall fae. No that’s not right, though she is tall. She snapped her fingers sending quick drifts sideways off her hand. Go see Talya, the fae. That’s it. Gotta run.
She disappeared but came right back. Listen up. This isn’t from Gabriel, it’s from me. If you’re gonna survive the not-too-distant future, you’ve gotta jump in with both feet. Oh, and Aaron said to say, ‘Don’t hold back.’
Renee said nothing more, she simply vanished.
Natalie was left feeling like she’d taken another hard hit to her skull.
And Aaron had sent her a message.
She had a strange, wolfish iridescence on the backs of her.
Renee surfing on her table.
Grant and penguins and dreamglide-building.
And now, on Gabriel’s orders, she needed to go see Talya.
She couldn’t imagine what was going to happen next. At least, she’d be able to see for herself how Talya was doing.
~ ~ ~
Grant flew to Elegance Territory with clenched fists. His nails dug into the palms of his hands. The night was still warm in September as his gaze flitted across the sky in front of him. He checked to make sure his route over Savage was clear.
Most alter creatures couldn’t levitate. But Grant had been able to since his first year in Five Bridges, a sure sign even then he’d been alpha material.
As far as he could tell, he was alone in the skies.
Crossing the border between Savage and Elegance, he wasn’t far from Defiance Bridge, which formed a ‘T’ with Phoenix and was the sole connection between the two territories. The Border Patrols of both worked this bridge heavily though at opposite ends. There were five such bridges separating the territories. At this hour, not far from dawn, there was just a trickle of humans driving out of their world and back to their safe homes in the U.S.
Below him, was a deep ditch full of broken concrete and topped with a thick barrier of barbed wire. The ditch was twenty feet wide and extended from the Graveyard all the way to the Five Bridges heavily-patrolled border with the U.S. proper.
In the early days, thirty years ago, the animosity between species had ended in a series of bloody massacres. Kryder had been part of that era which explained to some degree his persistent brutality. It was decided during the first year of their world that each species would have a territory and each territory would be separated from the others with ditches and barbed wire. It had helped diminish a good portion of the violence, but the mutual dislike among species remained to this day.
Humans visited Five Bridges by the thousands every night, using one of the five access points around the perimeter. They did so at their own risk. The FBI was rarely allowed into their world and dead humans were usually cremated before the evidence of their bodies could alert the U.S. authorities.
Each species entered other territories under the same conditions. He was putting himself in danger by flying into Elegance. He wasn’t too concerned, though. He’d been battling a long time and if he had to fight some unknown enemy in the skies over Elegance, so be it.
Heading east to Neil’s gated island community, he recalled the situation that had put him at odds with Neil.
