CHAPTER 1
Talan had taken me from my home, away from the Rim when I was needed there more than ever. In the moment, I saw what was left of my family standing with the wolves…
The asshole—Talan—had knocked me out so I couldn’t fight him to stay.
In my mind, I knew I wasn’t truly asleep. I did my best to push off what held me under the cover of darkness. The immobility of my limbs, my eyelids closed against the light, the way my breathing was steady and slow—none of it was truly rest, but confinement.
There was no way for me to break free. Talan’s power was too strong for me to cast off, which only infuriated me. The world around me moved and flexed. The wind in my hair tugged at me as we flew from the Rim, and yet I could not see. The smell of pine trees, the feel of Talan’s arms holding me so I wouldn’t slip off Shazer’s back, the rush of feathers in the wind as the Pegasus underneath us flew to wherever Talan had decided.
I’d done what I’d had to do; I agreed to let him train me. But that was before I’d seen the danger to my sister Belladonna and my family in the Rim.
I’d gathered four of the five stones of power and used them against the false mother goddess. I thought we had dealt with her, that the blow would be enough to keep us safe from her vengeance.
I was wrong.
And she was there, now, in the Rim, ready to hurt those I loved.
Even though I said I would willingly go with Talan, I would have fought to stay. He knew it, and knocked me out using Spirit before I could do anything to get away. He was supposed to train my ability with Spirit. Hell, he’d made a powerful case that the fake mother goddess would come for me, come for my family, and the only way to be strong enough was to learn from Talan. I understood that. I was an Ender, after all, a protector of the Rim and my family above all others. I was also the Destroyer, named by the previous Queen of the Sylphs as the one who would rain chaos down in an effort to change this place we called home. She never did say whether the change would be for better or worse.
None of that mattered now. I was as weak as any elemental in Talan’s hold.
The last image I’d seen of the Rim haunted my mind.
Viv, the one who’d falsely claimed the title of the mother goddess, the one who’d manipulated me for years, had stood behind my older sister, a threat on her lips only I heard.
Run while you can, little Larkspur. And while you hide from me, I will destroy your world.
With all I had left in me, all the power of Spirit that I carried, I hammered at the bonds Talan had on me. He grunted as though I’d physically hit him. “Lark, you can do nothing to stop Viv now. And if I thought for one second you would be rational about what is truly happening, I would let you come out from under this.”
“Damn you, Talan!” Peta screeched, and her body was gone from her place in my lap. He gave a second grunt and then his grip on me loosened. Just for a moment, and it was enough that I could drag myself from under the bindings of Spirit he had on me. I sat up, drew a breath, and looked around to get my bearings. Barren landscape, the flat badlands of North Dakota spun out as far as I could see. I had precious little time before Talan regained his hold on me. Which meant I needed the ground under my feet, the earth at my beck and call. He might rule the power of Spirit…
But I ruled the earth and all it offered in its strength.
“Shazer, land!”
“On it, boss.” The Pegasus tucked his wings and dropped from the sky at a speed that swept both Talan and me back almost to his rump. I scrambled for Shazer’s mane, caught it with the tips of my fingers as my legs were swept out behind us as we free dove from the sky.
Behind me, Talan swore as he slid backward. He managed to grab hold of one of my ankles, and tangled his arms around that leg to keep from falling off. Now that I was awake, I held onto my two elements and let them hum through me. I was afraid if I dropped my guard, Talan would put me back to sleep.
I couldn’t let him do that.
Shazer swept his wings out only feet above the ground, jerking us to a hard stop that slammed Talan forward into my back. I twisted as I leapt off Shazer so I could face the Spirit Walker.
The earth trembled under my feet and I tapped into all the power it would give me, keeping it just at bay, ready to be used.
“You bastard! You saw the threat to my family and you took me from them.” I took several steps back. I needed enough distance between us so I could make a run for it. I wasn’t fool enough to think he wouldn’t try to put me under the thrall of Spirit again, and skin-on-skin contact would increase his ability to do that.
Peta was beside me, her body shifting into her snow leopard form. She said nothing, but didn’t need to. We all knew whose side she would take.
Talan’s eyes were hard, and a set of claw marks down his cheek bled freely. “We have to go now. The false mother goddess will come after you. You aren’t safe here and you are untrained. That makes you more of a liability than a help.”
With my feet on the ground, I anchored myself. I would show him just what kind of liability I was. I opened my mouth to give him hell, to tell him I wasn’t training with him, not for one second. It was obvious he was a liar. He could take his training and stuff it up his ass followed by the mountain I was going to jam behind it.
But my connection to the earth stopped me from speaking, stopped me from doing anything but feeling. A gasp escaped me as raw power and a heartrending pain rippled through me in a wave that stole my breath, tensed my muscles, and cut all the way through to my soul. I dropped to my knees and pressed my hands to the dirt, Talan forgotten as I tried to decipher what, exactly, I was sensing. Peta was there in a flash, concern heavy in her bright green eyes.
“What is it, Lark?” She patted my cheek with one big paw.
“Something is wrong with the earth,” I whispered, barely able to draw breath through the growing pain. “Something terrible.”
Talan started toward me and Peta spun around and let out a long growl. “No closer, boy.”
He held up both hands, then crouched where he was. “Can you track the source of the pain?”
I stared at him for a moment. “Our previous conversation is not done.”
He gave me a tired, sad smile I didn’t like. “Of course not. Just put on hold for a bit.”
I didn’t dare close my eyes and give him an opening to come at me. I looked to the ground and pressed my hands harder. “Mother goddess.”
“She will not answer you,” Talan bit the words out. “The true mother goddess slumbers and will until…” He shook his head, seeming unable to finish whatever he was going to say.
I wasn’t telling him that he was an idiot. That the true mother goddess was no longer asleep, that I’d woken her. It wasn’t my fault she chose not to speak to him.
I opened myself more fully to the pain that coursed through the earth like bolts of lightning interspersed with tiny slivers of… hope? But how could that be? I stood, turned, and let the rippling power pull at my feet. “This way.” I broke into a run, Shazer on one side of me, and Peta on the other. I didn’t care where Talan was, as long as he didn’t interfere with whatever was going on.
I’d been a fool to trust him. I wouldn’t make that mistake again.
My blood pounded in time with my heart as I raced across the open landscape that reminded me in some ways of Death Valley. I pushed those thoughts away. I was no longer a prisoner in that place of my past.
My connection to the earth allowed me to use its power to fuel my body. Another wave of strength coursed over me and I doubled my speed. The world was a mere blur. Yet, still, I couldn’t see what was ahead of us, what was causing the pain through the earth.
“Can you see what’s going on?” I directed the question at Shazer as he pounded beside me. He grunted, spread his wings, and took off.
He was only twenty feet above us, but it was enough.
“Oh, shit,” he hollered. “This is bad, Lark. Even I can see that.”
Seconds later, I saw what he’d seen and had to agree. Oh, shit was perhaps the worst understatement I’d heard in a long, long time.
Ahead was a scene I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t laid eyes on it myself.
The Veil was open and waves of power rippled off it.
The Veil was made of parallel worlds, in a sense—seven levels to be exact. Each level had a purpose that served the world of the supernatural. The Veil was created to help hold the world together and make a safer place for both human and supernatural beings.
At that moment, the Veil was cut with a sword that I’d made to do just that—open the Veil. The sword was in the hands of a young witch I knew well, one who held a great deal of power despite her age. I’d met her not long ago, and had been so impressed by her strength and natural connection to the elements, I offered to train her.
Pamela was not who I expected to find here, not in the least.
Around her was utter chaos, and yet, she held firmly to the sword, to the opening, as a black beast raced out of it and charged a figure from my past. There was a swirl of a familiar black cloak, and the glistening of light on his blue-black hair.
Raven, my younger brother and the one elemental I would gladly kill given the chance. But it looked like the demon would do my job; it followed Raven as he disappeared right in front of us. How the hell could he do that? The question was peripheral. My concern was for Pamela and what was going on, why was she opening the Veil?
From where I stood, I saw how far in the Veil had been opened. Literally, every layer had been pared back to see through to the seventh level where the demons had been confined.
Talan caught up with me then. He said nothing, just watched what was playing out in front of us.
The sound of an engine cut through the air, and Pamela twisted around, though she didn’t let go of the sword’s handle. I couldn’t hear the words, but didn’t need to.
Rylee Adamson had arrived along with her mate, Liam. They were a powerful pair, not to be crossed. Between their combined abilities, they had survived what would have wiped out any lesser supernatural.
They had been the ones to put the demons behind the seventh level of the Veil. In their blood, sweat, and tears, they bore the brunt of the cost in losing so many they had loved. And here Pamela was, opening the Veil to that level again.
I knew in my gut that Rylee—Pamela’s guardian and surrogate family—would be devastated by what she was seeing. A girl she’d loved as her own, turning on her. I prepared to help Rylee end things.
She would not be able to kill Pamela. The witch was like her little sister, a child she’d rescued.
But I could kill Pamela. I reached for the spear at my side, steeling myself for what I was about to do.
The mother goddess spoke to me softly then, almost as if she didn’t want to be heard by anyone else.
What the witch does, she does with my blessing. Save her, Lark. Save her, and she will help you save the world.
I needed nothing more than that to move. I shot forward. “Peta, we’re getting her out of here.”
“On it.” There was no questioning me. From behind, Talan grunted as if I’d slapped him, but he was too far away to stop me.
The scene we raced into was utter madness, but not from fighting. From the emotions running so high. My connection with Spirit tuned me into the raging emotions, the fear, hope, disappointment, and anger swelling amongst the three people in front of me.
The Veil was open on my right. Pamela stood in front of it. She turned her back to Rylee and spoke to someone on the other side of the Veil.
“Come home.” The words resonated through the air, stealing my breath. She was calling someone out, someone who had died. I didn’t think it truly possible, but we were about to find out.
No, you must go, now. You must take her away from this. The mother goddess spoke softly again, yet I heard her and heeded her words.
A large tiger with orange and white stripes tangled with Liam in his guardian form of a monstrous black wolf. A shimmering line linked Pamela and the tiger. They were connected—it looked like Pamela had gained herself a partner in crime.
“Peta, help the cat!” I pointed as I slid to a stop beside Pamela. From the corner of my eye, I could see Peta in her snow leopard form slam into the tangled bodies, barely saving the tiger from having her throat crushed by the massive wolf.
Pamela looked up at me, her hands gripped hard on the sword. Her huge blue eyes were full of tears, both shed and unshed. “Don’t try to stop me.”
“I’m not.”
Rylee gasped and when she moved to come at us, I flicked a hand at her as I called up the earth. The ground swallowed her all the way to her knees, holding her firmly.
“LARK! Don’t do this! She’s letting the demons out!” Rylee screamed, and I could feel the rage and shock in her words slide over me. I shook my head, turned, and beckoned the ground up around the wolf’s legs, tying him in place too.
“I’m sorry, Rylee,” I said. “Time for Pamela to come with me.”
Rylee fought hard to get out of the rock I’d sealed around her, and I knew we wouldn’t have much time. She was strong and she was determined. And I didn’t want to fight her.
I hoped it would never come to that.
I slid an arm around Pamela’s waist. “Leave the sword.”
“The Veil will close,” she said. “I can’t let it.”
I stared into the swirling that was the Veil. I saw the one she was calling forward.
Peta and the tiger limped away from the wolf.
Time was ticking.
“He will either make it or he won’t; there is nothing any of us can do now,” Talan said from several feet away. His voice wavered through my ears, almost a warble. “We all must go. Lark, bring her to me at the top of the waterfall.” An image flickered through my mind and nothing in me could stop the command.
The asshole had just manipulated me with Spirit once more.
Shit.
“It will be done, asshat.” I spoke even though a part of me knew I was falling under his spell again. How was he doing it? I didn’t understand. I was strong enough to throw off the chains during other times Spirit had been used against me.
How was he so much stronger?
Pamela let go of the sword, her fingers sliding off the hilt one by one as she stared into the opening of the Veil. “I… I need to give him time.”
The rock around Rylee cracked and her eyes shot to the Veil, softening as she saw the one Pamela retrieved.
“There is no time,” I said. In that, Talan was right. Either he would make it out of the Veil or he wouldn’t.
I spun with my arm still around her waist. Shazer swept down between us and Rylee, and I caught his mane, pulling my captive and me onto his back with ease. The snow leopard and tiger shifted as they leapt, both housecats landing lightly on Shazer’s rump. The orange cat bled from a few wounds, but that didn’t slow her.
Interesting. I thought that was a gift only of Peta’s to be both a large cat and a small one.
“Oka!” Pamela called out as we were yanked into the sky.
“I’m here.” The now-miniscule orange cat grappled over my back to get to Pamela. She was barely half the size of Peta, even though she was bigger as a tiger. Peta climbed onto my shoulder and dug her claws into my leather vest.
I held the young witch in front of me, then leaned over the side and peered at the scene below.
I could see Rylee as she got herself out of the ground. Talan was there and then gone in a blur of pink lines that coursed over his body.
I doubted that meant I was done with him. Already there was a pull on my body and mind to follow the Spirit Walker to the north. Damn him.
I kept my legs tightly on Shazer’s sides, holding onto him in midair. “Wait.” I wanted to see if the one Pamela had called through the Veil made it or not. I wasn’t sure it mattered, but a growing suspicion told me this moment might be important to our future, even if I couldn’t pinpoint why exactly.
Pamela curled around her cat, and I kept one arm around them both. Shazer glanced back at me. “I have to take you where he wants. He’s got a hold on my body.”
I knew he meant Talan, and my anger spiked. “Mine, too. Do it. I will deal with him there.”
Shazer gave a laugh. “I look forward to that.”
Peta put her mouth to my ear.
“You realize what we’ve allowed to happen?”
I shook my head slowly. “It could have been worse, Peta. No demons came through the Veil.”
“They won’t,” Pamela said softly.
“How can you be sure?” Peta asked.
With a shudder, Pamela turned to look me in the eye, her shoulders straightening slowly as she pulled herself together. “Because I was not opening the Veil to them. I was breaking it entirely.”