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“No!” I hobbled toward them. “What are you doing!?”
Without a glance my way, Kadir lifted his hand in a gesture that could only mean halt. “Interfere, and I will rip out his heart and feed it to you.”
Breath seizing, I stumbled to a stop. I had no doubt he would do just that.
Pellini thrashed, and Kadir immobilized him with bands of potency. I looked on in helpless horror as the maggots spread and began to form a pattern on Pellini’s chest. He wasn’t screaming anymore, but his eyes were wide and locked on Kadir.
The maggots jostled one another as if seeking precise positions until a recognizable pattern emerged—Kadir’s sigil laid out in neon chartreuse potency bugs. Kadir placed his hand upon them, his face a rictus of anticipation.
For a moment nothing happened, then Pellini’s mouth opened in a soundless scream that made the audible one seem subdued. Smoke rose from his chest along with the stench of burned flesh even as the maggots vanished. Kadir leaned in closer. I could feel his sick fascination like a river of toxic sludge in his aura.
Paul placed a hand on Kadir’s shoulder and murmured something I couldn’t hear. Kadir went still for a heartbeat then touched Pellini’s forehead with his fingertips. Pellini sucked in a breath as all indication of pain faded from his face. The potency bindings dissolved, and he lay breathing hard, whole and seemingly uninjured, other than a sigil scar the size of my splayed hand in the center of his chest.
With a flash of potency, Kadir burned away all traces of blood from Pellini, the ground, and himself, then stood smoothly. He was paler than usual, though. The healing—and the hurting—had clearly taken a toll on him.
Paul remained kneeling and rested his head against Kadir’s thigh. The lord stroked Paul’s hair, a gesture that still unsettled me. But I couldn’t deny the look of peace on Paul’s face and the diminished chaos in Kadir’s aura. They were one hell of an odd pair, yet they seemed to complement each other perfectly in some mystifying, mutually beneficial way.
Kadir gestured for Pellini to get up. Pellini clambered to his feet, grinning despite his ordeal. Before I could sort out whether I needed to yell at Kadir or thank him, he and Paul were gone.
I rushed to Pellini and threw my arms around him. “You scared me,” I said, voice only quavering a tiny bit.
He returned the embrace. “Yeah, well, this manly chest is pretty intimidating. Especially now.”
That wrung a weak laugh from me. I gave him a squeeze then pulled back to look him over. “Are you . . . okay?”
He pulled the tatters of his shirt around him. “Yeah,” he said softly.
Worry stole through me, but it was evident he needed some time to process everything. I summoned what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “You’ll be in a nice hot shower before you know it.”
“Yeah.” He looked around at the others then back to me. “We’re done here, aren’t we?”
“We’re done here,” I said. There was no getting the gimkrah back, but at least I hadn’t lost Pellini. “Let’s go home.”
“Home.” A faint smile touched his mouth. “That’s your best idea yet.”
Chapter 30
With Turek supporting me, we gathered up the various members of our party, along with a cask of tunjen juice Jekki brought for us, then got our butts to the grove. Rho’s presence was more tangible than ever, and I let myself sink into it for a precious moment as we made the transfer to Kadir’s realm.
Our subsequent trek to the gate stayed blessedly uneventful. I took advantage of the conflict-free moments to prepare for what was sure to be a battle royal when we came through the gate on Earth. No way would Captain Hardnose take kindly to us arriving with two strange humans and a big scary demon. I’d have to utilize my full ninja powers of bullshit and persuasion to keep the newcomers—and the rest of us—out of a holding cell.
Once we made it across the sand to the gate, I gathered everyone into a tight group between the two crystalline spires. “There’s a military detachment on the other side of the gate,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “Since I don’t want anyone getting hurt by accident, I’d like Turek to get between Pellini and me.”
The demon hissed but complied.
“When we go through the gate,” I continued, “it’s going to feel really strange for a few seconds.” I paused. “Really strange.”
Pre-flight instructions complete, I nodded to Pellini. We both placed a hand on the crystal nearest us, focused and . . .
This time I was ready for the disorienting free fall through cold, black nothingness. I firmly reminded myself to Believe! and fixed in my mind the image and feel of the parking lot and the DIRT units and air and gravity with all of us through, safe and sound.
The frigid dark shifted to cool breeze and the soft light of dusk. My head spun as if I’d been twirling, but I wasn’t nearly as disoriented as the last time. Within a few seconds, I was clear-headed enough to take stock of our group. Janice looked a bit green, as did Giovanni, but Michael had a broad grin on his face and was looking around in utter delight. Reassured that everyone had made it through safe and sound, I turned to confront the more pressing threat of trigger-happy DIRT personnel.
As if on cue, an alarm blared, and a voice rumbled through the PA. “Remain where you are and keep your hands in plain sight.”
“Stay on your toes,” I muttered to the others, making sure everyone had their hands and claws in the open.
A squad in riot gear trained their weapons on us, while another half dozen soldiers hurried toward the gate, demeanor downright unfriendly. Off to our left, Captain Hornak exited the command center and jogged our way. Now we’d get the “detain them all and let god sort them out” treatment. I struggled to scrape together an oh-so-compelling argument for why we all needed to remain free to go. Maybe I could threaten to call the President? Of course, there was always the chance that she’d agree with Hornak. Crap. This was going to be a mess.
