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“What?” I asked, but they continued on their journey. I turned in another slow circle, taking in every detail of my surroundings. “Where the hell am I?”
Everything about the place felt foreign. The smells were too sharp, the sounds garbled under the weight of a persistent hum. Even the air felt wrong, like it was tainted.
Buried beneath it all, though, was the hint of something familiar. A gentle pull. My heart tripped over itself as the possibility of what that meant infiltrated my confused thoughts.
Am I in Never’s world?
Again, that tug deep in my being stilled my lungs, freezing my breath in my chest. “She’s here,” I whispered.
I spun again, trying to get a feel for which direction that pull was coming from, and when I found it, it took everything in my power not to run.
This world was unfamiliar ground for me, and if I truly was in the human realm, there was no telling what could happen. I couldn’t depend on my power here. And if the council of gods found out I was no longer manning my post in the Nassa, there would be hell to pay.
I couldn’t bring myself to care about that last bit. All that mattered was following the tug of my magic until it brought me to the only thing in all the worlds I truly wanted.
For hours, I wandered the unfamiliar streets. Once I finally got a handle on the scents and sounds, the horseless carriages, and the snickering humans who thought something about my appearance was amusing, I finally picked up on her scent.
The magic was enough to point me in the right direction, but she must have been on the move. I would turn a corner, thinking I would find her there, only to be pulled in a different direction a minute later.
It was maddening, and after what had felt like a lifetime of trying to get to this world to find her, my patience had officially run out.
I wanted to see her. Needed to feel her.
My only hesitation came from not knowing what I was getting myself into. How long had it been for her? Would she remember me? With the ache in my chest, I found it hard to even entertain the thought that she might not.
Unless our short time together hadn’t meant anything to her.
The thought doused my thoughts in ice water. I’d given her a piece of myself to get back to this wretched smelling place. A piece that should have tied her to me, assuming we had any kind of real connection. I was almost certain we did, but when two more hours passed, shrouding the unfamiliar city in darkness, her scent was becoming a distant memory. With every new street, it was drowned out by the overwhelming stench of hundreds of thousands of other humans.
I focused my attention on the power drawing me to her. Gods, I hoped it was drawing me to her.What if someone else had gotten their hands on that piece of me?
I shook my head. Even if that’d happened, I wouldn’t feel... this.
Countless steps and twists and turns later, I was standing in front of a towering structure that appeared to be made almost entirely of glass. A few squares of light shone from the countless windows lining its high-reaching exterior, but up wasn’t the direction my magic was telling me to go.
No, it was leading me to a set of metal doors being guarded by a man dressed in all black. A line extended down the alley, with at least a hundred people standing and chatting idly. Most of them wore clothes that glittered and shimmered even in the dim light of the streetlamps.
The women were especially dolled up, wearing heels that looked as though they could have doubled as weapons if used properly. Were they all waiting to go inside?
I approached the man standing guard. “I have a need to enter this establishment,” I said, taking a polite but firm tone, making it clear I was not to be trifled with.
The guard looked me up and down and chuckled. “You’re a few weeks late with that get up.”
My get up?I glanced down at my clothes, then at the others standing in line, and immediately understood the problem. What was it the woman in the forest had said to me?
“Cosplay,” I said, offering him my most confident smirk.
The guard smiled wide. “Fair enough. I’ve never met a woman who can say no to a pirate, but the sword has to stay with me.”
Fine by me. If it truly came down to it, I could inflict plenty of damage without it. I unbuckled the scabbard and handed it over. With that, he swung the door open and motioned me through, despite the grumbles of disappointment from those in the line.
The moment I stepped through the open door, I was accosted by music so loud it felt like a second heartbeat in my chest. It thumped through me, working its way up from the floor. The air itself seemed to shimmer with the sound. Beyond the music was a world of pulsing lights and moving people. Dozens crowded a bar where drinks were being served. Couples and groups of people mingled at tables and nestled in booths.
So many people.
But the pull of my magic was still strong and growing stronger with each step. Never was there, somewhere in the throng.
The music changed, flowing into something with a faster beat, and the group on the dance floor cheered. Their movements became almost animistic. Primal.
