Chapter 36
After a delicious and traditional French meal, Bran helped to take the cart out to the hall.
Nate followed and shut the door. “Make sure Evangeline stays safe.”
Bran rolled his eyes. “I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“Yeah, still needs to be said.” Nate rubbed a hand over his face. “She’s like a sister to me. And well, we’re brothers. I can’t imagine life without either of you.”
Bran bumped his shoulder. “Same goes for you two. Take care of Savon, as much as she’ll let you.”
Nate chuckled. “Yeah. As much as possible.”
“Thanks for coming out here with me.”
“As if I wouldn’t? You’ve had my back since we were kids. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Bran. I mean that.”
Bran pulled him in for a quick hug. “Thank you. It means the world.”
“Better get back in there,” Nate muttered. “Before they think we ran off without them.
Nate stepped into the room, and Bran followed.
Evangeline met his gaze, and her head tipped, her brow cocking. She didn’t say anything.
Tremaine cleared his throat. “Shall we?”
Evangeline held up a hand. “First, what are you planning to do?”
Ceridwen stood up. “Search for Zariha.”
“I’m ready,” Savon answered, standing as well.
Nate led them out, and Bran locked up.
Evangeline took Bran’s hand. “Let’s hope I can get us all there.
Robert, Tremaine, and Preston all touched her arm, then they were standing at the top of the lighthouse.
A laugh bubbled out of Robert as he looked around. “I wasn’t sure we’d make it here.”
“And you let me try anyway?” Evangeline demanded.
He lifted a shoulder. “We would have simply stayed behind while you went.”
“Well, we’re here. Now what do we do?”
Tremaine looked around. “We get to work.” He walked around, looking. “Yeah, we’re between planes of reality. We just should figure out the rifts. They’re stacked.” Rubbing his face, he shook his head. “Yeah, stacked. It’s different. Probably why no one can get to the lighthouse.”
“Let’s explore, see if we can catch her trail,” Preston offered, reaching for the trap door.
* * * *
“Slow down,” Savon pleaded with Ceridwen. “We don’t need to run. We’ll only draw more attention.”
Sighing, Ceridwen did as asked. “The guilt…I can’t get over my stupidity. I should have killed Zariha when he betrayed me the first time.”
“How did he betray you?” Nate asked.
A strained laugh escaped. “He killed my family, thinking I’d have to accept his protection.”
“Accept it?” Savon whispered, her face scrunched.
“I refused to marry him. He believed the only reason was my family. I had pissed off the wrong dark mystics. And I knew better than to trust the bastard. It’s why I never let us get more involved. He never expected me to uncover the truth. I couldn’t save them.”
Savon grabbed her shoulder. “Shh, I’m sorry. Jesus, I didn’t know.”
“Ancient history. Now, let’s find him, because I need to stop him once and for all.”
“We will.” The spirits chattered in French, something Savon couldn’t understand, but one of them came forward.
“American?” The accent was thick, and he wasn’t powerful enough for Savon to see.
“Yes. Do you know who we are looking for?”
“The shadow man will kill everyone in this town. They’re all afraid of him.”
“We’ll find a way to stop him,” Savon promised.
Nate placed his hand around her waist. “That’s why we’re all here. To find him and stop him.”
“He’s been watching the lighthouse. Searching. There’s another, but he’s not really there. I can’t follow him when he slips away. But I believe he’s the key.”
“Thank you. Please, if you have any other news, find me. Please,” Savon whispered.
“Of course.”
Savon turned to Ceridwen. “Is it possible Merova’s Rift Bender slipped between rifts and can’t find his way back?”
“Anything is possible. Though Tremaine would be the one who can perhaps find a way to change that.”
“Maybe we can look for him too. Though if we find one, perhaps we’ll find the other,” Nate offered.
“Let’s hope,” Ceridwen answered. “I know what it’s like to live without someone because they are unreachable.”
Savon almost asked, but she had an idea of what Ceridwen would answer, and the truth. They wouldn’t be the same. No, Ceridwen played everything close to the chest. However, if the founders of the Branches of Emrys were Myrddin, and Ceridwen, and with him missing, it was a solid theory, one Ceridwen would never confirm.
Nate nodded down the road. “We have somewhere to start. Let’s head for the waterfront.”
* * * *
After searching the lighthouse and outside the door, Tremaine came back to the bed where the magic was the strongest. He stretched his neck side to side and stretched out his arms.
Many years had passed since he’d messed with someone else’s rifts. There was danger in doing so, but at the same time, Zariha was a danger to everyone in town, and anywhere else he managed to go.
“Back up, in case this goes wrong.”
“How would it go wrong?” Evangeline asked.
Robert shook his head. “It won’t, but give him space.”
Evangeline leaned against the opposite wall with Bran. Robert and Preston moved toward them.
As Tremaine started to chant, green light radiated off him. The area around the bed rippled and morphed, then snapped back into place, the colors off just enough to know it wasn’t the same.
Merova sat cross-legged on the bed. She smiled up at Tremaine, then looked at Evangeline. “You found me, but without the token, I can’t come across.”
“I have it,” Evangeline answered.
Tremaine tipped his head. “Why does the token affect whether you can leave the rift?”
“Halstien created a series of rifts, all interconnected. The token is my key, and as long as I’m separated from the token, I cannot cross from his rifts to the world, or any world.”
“Never heard of such, but I thought you had the gift of altering reality. You should have been able to change that,” Tremaine stated.
Merova looked away. “Sometimes the reality I create is binding. I know of no way to change it back.”
Merova lifted a shoulder. “Can you bring Evangeline through? Or at least take the token from her?”
Tremaine stepped through the rift and looked at Evangeline. “How would you like to proceed?”
She handed over the token. “I remember the disorienting feeling in the rift on the mountain. Not sure I want to step into it again.”
He looked around. “This is another rift already. He put one within another. And the interesting thing, there’s a third and fourth as well.” He stepped through the rift and held out the coin to Merova.
Merova met Evangeline’s gaze and smiled. “Thank you for helping me. Now I plan to destroy Zariha.”
“Good. He’s already terrorizing the people of this town.” Tremaine took her hand and brought her through the rift by simply stepping across the boundary.
“We’re here in another rift,” Tremaine offered. “But Evangeline can take us all out.”
“Because she is of my blood.”
“How can you be sure?” Evangeline asked, even though she saw the records.
Merova took her hands and closed her eyes. A million memories flitted through her head. Starting with her, working her back through mother, to mother, all the way back to Merova.
“Shit,” she whispered.
Merova let out a small laugh. “Every one of those who entered my cave were descended from me. I have given many gifts over the years. I’ve even given this dagger to others, though it always comes back to me, until you. I don’t believe it will be coming back this time. It feels like it’s at home.”
“I don’t understand,” Evangeline answered.
“You were always going to find me. I’ve known you forever, Evangeline.”
“One of us can kill Zariha, if you tell us how,” Evangeline offered.
“It will take more than one. We have to completely destroy his body and push his remains into another realm, far away from the rest of us.” Merova managed a smile. “I’m Merova, and you are?”
Tremaine chuckled. “This is Robert.” He pointed to the blond-haired, well-dressed mage. “Preston.” He pointed to the tattooed mage. “I’m Tremaine,” he stated. “And I assume you know Evangeline and Bran by name.”
She dipped her head. “I do, and I watched them while they were here before, searching for my token. When they claimed they knew not how to bring me into this realm, I feared I may be stuck, but thankfully that’s not the case. Though, yes, we’re still in another rift, aren’t we?”
“We are, for the moment,” Robert stated, then looked at Evangeline. “This was easier than I expected, though perhaps it would be best for us to go back to the hotel until we can find out what Ceridwen and the others are doing.”
“Hotel?” Merova asked. “It’s been a long time since I was in this plane.”
Bran’s head cocked. “Like an inn. I assume you are familiar with that.”
“Ah, yes, please,” Merova answered.
Evangeline smiled. “Touch me, and we’ll be back where it’s safe, fully in the world, but behind wards that Zariha shouldn’t sense you from.”
“I assure you, that between the three of us, no one is getting through our wards. You’ll be safe,” Robert promised.
Everyone placed a hand on Evangeline and she closed her eyes. Then they were in the hotel, safely away from the lighthouse and the rift.
* * * *
Savon ran along the street adjacent to the water. She stopped, and Nate placed a hand on her waist as he paused, looking at Ceridwen as she charged past.
They had seen the shadow off in the distance and Ceridwen started running, without regard to what was going on around them. In fact, she ran into the path of a car, but phased through it. Apparently, she had the sense to lose her form at least long enough to survive the blow.
Savon had caught up by pulling on energy from several spirits, and yet, running didn’t seem the answer. It was a trap. She wasn’t sure how, but she knew it was.
A man started walking toward them. He was surrounded in fog that seemed to coalesce a few feet around him, swirling and moving with him, as if it were trapped in a bubble that hovered above a pond in the breeze.
“You may want to stop her,” the man said.
His hair was long, blond, his blue eyes bright, and his beard was thick. The accent was thicker, something unfamiliar.
“Who are you?” Savon asked.
“Halstien. You’re here to stop Zariha?”
She nodded, trying to catch her breath. Running had never been a favorite activity for Savon.
“Call your friend back. I fear she’s up against something she cannot beat.”
Savon squeezed her hands shut and released them. “Would, but she’s not listening. And she’s something other than you or me. And where are you exactly? It’s not here.”
Nate shook his head and looked at her.
She lifted a shoulder. “He’s just not there physically.” She reached out a hand and ran it through the fog and Halstien, not making contact.
“What the fuck?” Nate whispered.
Halstien chuckled and stepped forward, leaving the fog behind. He reached out and touched Savon’s arm. “I’m here now.”
The fog faded away, and there was a pop.
“Rifts. Don’t concern yourself with that. I was watching you all. Seems you’re bringing Merova back from the rifts I broke to keep her safe.”
“Uh…is that a bad thing?” Savon asked slowly.
“No, not really. Though, it means she may finally be ready to see this through.”
“Why didn’t she before?” Nate asked.
“She believed I was dead. My fault, I assure you. I was lost in another place, and had no way back at first. My magic wasn’t working right, thanks to that bastard.”
“You’re all right now?”
“Aye, took decades to recover. He nearly drained me dry, but I slipped away, and in my frenzied state, landed in a world I did not understand. Now, I stay near her as much as I can, though I can’t get back through those old rifts.”
“Why?” Savon asked.
He sighed. “Not sure. Maybe because she warped them into something else as she entered without me. Merova’s magic is unpredictable.”
“Right,” Savon answered
Ceridwen screamed somewhere down the beach, and Savon and Nate started forward.
“Don’t. You won’t be able to handle him. Not yet. Trust me,” Halstien said.
“Why?” Savon asked.
“My ax can kill him, though it’s no longer mine.”
“Bran has it,” Nate answered.
“And he’s with Merova. I can feel her in this plane. Take me to her.”
“Shit,” Nate muttered. “Should I go after Ceridwen?”
Savon shook her head. “No. She’ll be fine. We need to get him to Merova. Hopefully we can figure it out once everyone is in one place.”
“But what about Ceridwen?”
“You heard her. They have history, and she can take care of herself. Trust me on that.” She started back toward town and the hotel.
She hoped in this instance Ceridwen would be fine, though there was no telling what would happen.