Chapter 7
IN THE LABORATORY, we were each taken to a separate bed. We were dressed for traveling in warm, loose clothing. Perri had told us our clothes would translate to the appropriate gear once we made the shift over, including shoes instead of just socks, but it still seemed odd to see Nerissa with her hair pulled back beneath a brilliant blue bandana. She usually dressed for work—business casual—or for clubbing.
Shade was there, looking for all the world as though he were fast asleep.
Next to each of the beds, an IV stand stood, complete with bags full of pale pink liquid. I stared up at them, realizing that we were going to be jacked up to needles. I wasn’t afraid of needles, but I hadn’t expected this.
“Aren’t you going to just keep an eye on us after I contact the Autumn Lord?” I glanced over at Perri, who was consulting her notes.
She shook her head. “No. I found a recipe for a formula that will help the whole process. It’s a mixture of magical herbs and compounds. We have to administer it through an IV drip because if we injected this much liquid into you at once, you’d bloat up like a balloon. It will work best if we introduce it into your system at a certain rate. Otherwise, the solution might propel you out farther than you really want to go. There are some realms that aren’t safe to visit, out on the outer edges of the Ionyc Seas.”
“Other than the herbs and compounds, what else is in here?” Nerissa poked at the bag, suspicious. “There’s something about it that feels tingly when I get near it.”
“This has some of the actual energy from the Ionyc Seas in it. We recently discovered a method to materialize it into the physical realm, then make a powder from it. This is going to be revolutionary for teleportation spells and the like.” Perri sounded excited, her eyes were bright. I realized that a lot of the Fae and Elfin healers were actually scientists as well. It had never occurred to me before that they might actually try experiments to establish new procedures rather than simply relying on age-old remedies. I wasn’t sure why it seemed like such a surprise, but it did.
“You guys really are cutting edge, aren’t you?” The words slipped out before I realized that I had said them aloud. I blushed.
“Actually, we are. We’ve done a lot of consulting with the Elfin techno-mages, and have formed a new society—Healers for the Future.” She motioned to a door against the back of the wall. “If you need to use the restroom, please do so now.”
“What happens if we have to go to the bathroom while we’re under?” Roz asked, only half joking.
“We’ll take care of matters if you do. We have ways of tracking the bodily functions, so no worries there. If you need water, we’ll hydrate you. If you need food, we’ll add a nutritional formula to your IV drip. If your body temperature drops, we’ll warm you up, and so on. You’ll feel hunger and cold and heat while out on the other realm, but we’ll be handling those issues for your bodies here. Any other questions before we begin?” She looked at each of us in turn.
“We have to carry our talismans on our body that the Autumn Lord gave me. That’s a must.” I held up the charm. I had given each of the others their talismans as soon as we entered the laboratory.
“That’s fine. Just place them in your pocket. When you need them, you’ll find them in your pockets out there and you’ll be able to use them. But you need to remember where you put them—otherwise, you may think that you’ve lost them and we won’t be able to help you.” Perri motioned to each bed in turn, checking off our names. “Rozurial, please take the bed on the end. Nerissa, the next. Trillian, the third, and Delilah—you take the last.”
“The Autumn Lord said he’ll show up and help transport us once we’re ready and I summon him,” I said. “As soon as I’m in bed, I’ll touch the tattoo on my forehead that links me to him, and he should arrive. I’m just warning you all in advance. You know who he is, so please don’t antagonize him.” On one level, I didn’t think I had to ask. On the other hand, given Roz and Trillian’s natures, it seemed reasonable to remind them.
“We’ve got your back,” Trillian said. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
“What about weapons? We’re supposed to take them with us.”
We had brought our daggers with us, although Roz wasn’t allowed to bring his coat-slash-armory that he usually wore. Instead, he had chosen a sturdy short sword that looked so old that I wondered how long he had had it. He seldom fought with a blade, but it looked comfortable in his hand, and it made me wonder.
“I don’t think I’ve seen that before.” I settled on the bed Perri had assigned to me. The mattress was comfortable and firm but not so hard that it would give me bruises. I settled back against the headboard, holding my dagger on my lap.
Perri examined each of our weapons. “These will be fine. When you lie down, place them to your side on the bed, as though you could reach down and grasp it. We don’t want your hands clasped around them because it will cause muscle cramps if you’re in stasis too long.”
As we stretched out, a twinge of fear raced through me. I wished my sisters could come along. We had faced so many dangers together, everything from demons to vampires to gods. Visiting other realms was always tricky, even without the possibility of finding yourself trapped. You never knew quite what to expect.
When we were all ready, Perri motioned to me.
“All right. You can summon him. We’re ready, but we can’t insert the IVs until he begins the ritual. We don’t want to put you under before then.”
With my left hand, I reached up and brushed the black crescent scythe on my forehead, closing my eyes as I called out for the Autumn Lord. A shiver ricocheted through me as I sensed he had heard me. And then we waited.
One beat… Two beats… Three…
A gust of wind raced through the laboratory, carrying with it the scent of crackling bonfires and ripe apples and yeasty cinnamon rolls on a cool, chill night. The walls of the room seemed to reverberate, like water in a glass that was trembling. A mist rose up, rolling along the floor of the room, and then the Autumn Lord stood there, his dark glory filling the room.
Trillian gasped, along with Rozurial. Nerissa sucked in a deep breath of air—so loud I could hear her from my bed. I started to sit up, but the tech standing next to my bed held me down.
“You are ready?” Hi’ran didn’t address any of the others, but looked straight at me. His words echoed through the room.
“Yes, we’re ready. They’re going to inject us with a compound of herbs and potions to help us transfer over. Will that interfere with the ritual?”
Hi’ran shook his head, a faint smile on his face. “No, it will actually help. I’m glad they’re keeping tabs on your bodies.” He turned to Perri. “You may begin the injections. As soon as they’re ready, I will shift the worlds so they move into the Land of Wandering Souls. I cannot bring them back, however.” He looked at the others at that point. “You are all aware of this, are you not? You must give me your permission. I will not send you out there if you do not want to go.” Hi’ran was deadly serious.
Nerissa was first to speak. “I’m still willing to go.”
Trillian and Rozurial joined in, each pledging their own assent.
“Then close your eyes. I will open the gate. When you see the mist and hear me say ’Jump,’ jump. I hope to see you back here, along with Shade. Good luck, and may the blessings of the gods go with you.” He turned to me. “Delilah, remember: you are my only living Death Maiden. You are to be the mother of my child. Return to me.”
As the healers began to insert our IVs, the Autumn Lord began to chant in a voice so low I couldn’t catch the words. But the tone was resonant, hypnotic and mesmerizing. I closed my eyes and felt the twinge of the needle go into my arm. It hurt for a second, stinging as though I had been pricked by a bee. Then a delicious flow of warmth began to flood my body as a mist rose up in my mind. I no longer felt the bed beneath me but merely the floor beneath my feet, as mist roiled past. I turned and saw Nerissa, and Trillian, and Rozurial standing there.
The Autumn Lord’s voice echoed throughout whatever chamber we were in, the words so old, so ancient that they meant nothing and yet they meant everything. Like a trail of sparkles, they were magic incarnate, caught into sound bites, waves that rang through me with every word that he uttered. The next moment, he thundered, “Jump!”
And we jumped—all of us—as a door opened in the mist.
I TUMBLED TO the ground, shaking my head as I pushed myself to my hands and knees. I looked around, and saw the others beside me. A glance over my shoulder told me that the door no longer was there.
Panicked, I felt for my dagger and found it at my side, in its sheath where it should be. I touched my pocket and the talisman resonated from within, comforting, a promise to help me find my way home. As I stood up, I noticed the others were doing the same.
“Are we really here?” Nerissa glanced around, a look of bewilderment on her face. “I’d swear we were here in body.”
“We are, for all intents and purposes.” I glanced around, trying to get a sense of our whereabouts.
The landscape was oddly familiar, and yet different enough that it took on an alien feel. We were on a rocky hill, near a path that led down into a thickly wooded valley. I glanced back at the hill where the door should be. The mountain rose up behind me so far that I couldn’t see the top. The precipice was cloaked in mist and clouds and it looked as though a storm was raging.
To the left of where we stood was another hill, much smaller with a rocky incline, up to what looked like a mesa. To our right was a dropoff into the valley, a steep slope of grassland leading down into the woodland below. A narrow path edged alongside the hill overlooking the valley, so steep that it made me dizzy. Straight ahead, the path wound around an outcropping on the mountain, looking as though it curved back some three or four hundred yards later.
I squinted into the distance. The sky was a silvery gray, but it seemed to be daylight. In fact, it reminded me of around 3:00 p.m. on a cloudy autumn afternoon in Seattle.
The mountain behind us loomed so large that there was no way around it. We stood at the beginning of the path. If we wanted to go in that direction, we would have to climb over the mountain itself.
Where we stood, the ground offered sparse vegetation, some straggling grasses and a few scrub brushes. But in the valley below, the grass was thick, looking almost like moss. From here it was almost impossible to tell whether the woodland was deciduous or coniferous. The soil itself was a deep ruddy red, the color of rust, although it seemed to fade into a russet brown below the grass in the valley.
In the valley, a river churned along. It looked as though it wended through the woodland, and was so wide that I had my doubts whether we could cross on foot.
“Well, where do we go from here?” Trillian looked around, shading his eyes. “I’d rather not have to go over the mountain behind us if we can avoid it.”
I realized they were waiting to take their cue from me.
I walked over to a large boulder and sat down, surprised that it felt so sturdy. I glanced around, wondering if Shade had been propelled into this realm through the same doorway we had been. Closing my eyes, I reached out, trying to get some sense of where he might be. I searched for his energy, reaching out for the familiar touch of his skin, scent of his body, feeling of safety when I was around him. Something inside stirred. Panther raised her head, wanting free. Nerissa jerked around, staring at me.
“Let her free. I can feel her from here. I think she knows what to do more than you do.” Nerissa’s voice was throaty, and I could feel her puma rising to meet my panther.
“You’re right. I’ll bet you can interpret for me when I’m in Panther form.” I caught her gaze and she grinned.
“Big cats of the world, unite.”
I stood back, summoning Panther as I let her off the leash. As I began to transform, my clothes morphed into the beautiful emerald collar I wore as Panther. My limbs welcomed the shift as they stretched and altered. It felt as though here, Panther belonged where I did not. A few moments later, I stood there on all fours, luxuriating in the feel of my skin and bones and muscle. Every sense seemed heightened, every noise louder.
I let out a low rumble as Nerissa stroked my back. I could sense the puma in her responding to me, and it took all the focus I had to bring myself back to my task at hand. I wanted nothing more than to encourage her to shift and then to run off and race through the mountains together, feeling the wind in our faces as we leapt from rock to rock.
“I know, I can feel it too—but I can’t change right now. We’re here to find Shade.” Nerissa’s voice was soft, soothing in a way that I didn’t usually find people’s voices, and she brought me back to why we were here.
I cast around, trying to pick up the scent. And there, faint but still detectable, I smelled a familiar odor. It was the smell Shade had when he was nervous. I sniffed again, inhaling deeply to fill my lungs with the scent. I could taste it on the back of my tongue, and I looked up at Nerissa, my mouth open with my tongue rolling out, as I let out a chuffing sound.
“Did you find something?” she asked.
I bobbed my head up and down, nosing at the ground where I could smell him. I slowly began to follow the odor, one step at a time, to make sure I didn’t lose it. We were headed along the pathway that wound around the mountain. Part of me wanted to go lolling off into the grassland below because it looked softer and easier, but I forced myself to keep on track.
The path was about six feet wide before dropping off into the steep slope of grassland, and there were numerous stones and twigs along the compacted dirt trail. But it was relatively level, and if you watched your footing, it didn’t seem all that dangerous. Nerissa was walking behind me, with Trillian and Roz behind her. A gust of wind railed against us, and I noticed it was blowing away the clouds, leaving a faint slick of pale blue sky in its wake.
We were about sixty yards along the trail when the scent suddenly vanished.
I stopped, looking back at Nerissa, who held up her hand to Roz and Trillian. While they waited, I took a few steps forward, but I couldn’t pick it up anywhere. I cautiously approached the edge of the trail, glancing over into the grassland below. In my four-legged form, it didn’t seem nearly so steep, and I sniffed at the edge of the grass, searching to see if I could pick it up again anywhere along the bluff. A moment later, I caught a faint whiff, this time about three yards down the slope. I looked back and let out another chuff.
Nerissa gave me a nod, and turned to the others. “I think she’s picked up the scent again. It looks like we’re going to have to go down into the valley. That’s a steep decline, so be careful.” She paused, then laughed. “I forgot, we aren’t here in our actual bodies.”
“We may not be here in body, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take damage.” Trillian gave us a look that told us he was well aware of how dangerous this mission was. “Try to be careful. If you get hurt, it means that your body will take damage. In other words, if you stub your toe while we’re here, chances are you’re going to have a bruised toe when you get back to your body. And if you get attacked, you’ll suffer damage in the outer world.”
Roz let out a sound, but I wasn’t sure what he had said and I didn’t pay much attention. I was too busy searching again for Shade’s scent in the grass. It was harder to track here on the slope, but I was relieved to get off that path. I wasn’t sure why, but the trail had made me nervous, as though we were headed toward danger. There weren’t any smells that seemed alien, and there was nothing I could see off the bat. But I had the feeling that danger lurked in those mountains.
The hill leading down to the woodland was extremely steep, but the grass was dry and it wasn’t that difficult to keep our footing. Especially for me, given I was in my Panther shape. I reined myself in from running full tilt down the mountain, focusing on tracking the scent and following the trail. It was leading to the river, to the place just before it entered the forest, and I hoped to find some evidence that Shade had been there. His scent was clear in my mind, but there was part of me that wanted some tangible proof, some sign that I wasn’t imagining things.
Overhead, a loud shriek cut through the air and I looked up to see a massive eagle passing by. At least I thought it was an eagle. It appeared to have a ten-foot wingspan, and for a moment I was afraid. Maybe it couldn’t carry me off, but those talons could do some serious damage.
“Crap,” Roz said. “That’s one hell of a big eagle.”
“There are some that big back over Earthside, and in Otherworld there are larger still. But you’re right, it’s impressive and it could be a deadly foe if it decides it’s hungry.” Trillian scanned the sky, watching as the eagle flew off to what I assumed was the east. I actually couldn’t figure out what the directions were, so I arbitrarily decided north was behind us, up the mountain into the clouds. Which meant we were headed southwest into the valley.
“It’s looking for something,” Nerissa said. “I recognize the posture. It saw us, but we weren’t its prey, so it left us alone.” She shivered, and I could smell the faint aroma of fear wafting off of her. I could also smell Menolly mingled in with her scent, and if I had been in my two-legged form, I would have blushed as I realized they must have had sex that morning.
I picked up Shade’s scent again, and once more, continued the descent into the valley. It was still faint, but at least it was present and by now I was convinced that I actually did smell him in the grass. I had some pretty vivid daydreams, but even I didn’t have enough imagination to conjure up someone’s perfume.
The descent was longer than it looked, and I estimated it took us about half an hour to reach the valley below. As I gazed back up the slope, it looked almost impossible to climb, and I was surprised that we had made it without incident. I had neither seen nor heard any other animals on the way down, except for the eagle. It almost felt like we were alone in the universe but I knew that couldn’t be the case. My gut told me things would change once we reached the forest.
As we approached the river, I began to notice wildflowers dotting the lea. They looked like violets, except they were bright red, and other flowers that reminded me of lavender spiked up through the tall patches of grass. Though faintly blue, they didn’t smell like lavender, but looked very much like the dusky plant. I was cautious to avoid pressing my nose against them. I knew very well that back Earthside, foxglove could cause heart palpitations if you inhaled much of the pollen. We had no clue what these flowers were, or what they could do, so it was best to be on the safe side.
The roar of the river grew louder as we approached the shore, and I saw now that it was even wider than I had thought. At least thirty yards wide, white caps flowed atop it, a vision of foam and froth. The current raged along, so swift that I could easily imagine being knocked off my paws if I stepped into it. I shuddered, watching the untamed rapids that roared by.
“I’m thirsty,” Trillian said suddenly. He slowly approached the water, kneeling by the edge where it was spraying against the shore. He glanced back at us. “Do you think I should chance it?”
Nerissa shrugged. “I don’t know, but we don’t have another option, do we? I’m sure that they are going to hydrate our bodies, but… Will they know we’re thirsty if we don’t drink?”
“I’m going to take the risk.” Trillian scooped up a handful of the water and slipped it. He shivered. “It’s icy, but good. It tastes cleaner than any water I’ve had in a long time.”
I padded up beside him, lowering my head to lap at the waves that churned along. He was right. The water was clear, and tasted remarkably good as it rolled down my throat. Part of me wondered if we were seeing the river because they were giving us water back in the laboratory, but then I decided that no, this really was a different realm and we weren’t creating it with our minds. If we could take damage here, we could drink the water.
We rested for a few minutes while I prowled around, searching for Shade’s scent. Finally, I picked it up, heading directly toward the forest. I turned back to my companions and let out a low growl.
Nerissa stood, stretching. “Caught the scent again, did you?”
I gave her a bob of the head. Then I turned and slowly began to traverse toward the forest. Nerissa walked by my side, while Trillian and Roz followed behind us. We weren’t far from the treeline when the river disappeared into the thick tangle.
I looked for a pathway in. Finally, Nerissa pointed to a trailhead that I had somehow missed. “There, that has to be the trail. Can you smell Shade? Did he take the path?”
I cast about, smelling for him. Finally, a few moments later, I moved onto the trail, following the faint odor. The others scrambled to keep up. As we entered the forest, the sunlight receded, kept at bay by the tangle of foliage twining in the canopy above.
The trail itself was spacious, wide and unmarred by more than small patches of grass or a hand-sized pebble here and there. The trees looked familiar, a mix of deciduous and coniferous, but not quite any that I could identify immediately. One smelled like cedar, but didn’t quite look like it. Another looked like a giant oak, but the leaves scattered below it on the ground were an odd shape, and I didn’t get that sense of ancient foundation that oaks usually had. Again, everything felt familiar, yet not quite the same.
The sound of the river roared through the trees, and the undergrowth was thin enough that we could see the shimmer of the waves in the distance, about fifty yards away from the trail. I had hoped that the trail would be parallel to the river, right next to it, but instead, the swath of trees that created an island between the path and the water kept us just far enough away so we couldn’t actively see what was going on. I wasn’t sure why this bothered me so much, but it did, and I felt uneasy, like we were under observation of some sort.
Part of me wanted to change back into my two-legged form, but it would be harder to track Shade’s scent that way. So I continued on in my panther form, snuffling at the ground, searching out the direction in which he had gone.
“This forest makes me uneasy,” Roz said, voicing my own thoughts.
“I know. It doesn’t seem like it should,” Nerissa said. “But I’m finding myself uncomfortable as well. I feel like we’re being watched. Delilah, can you sense anything?”
I paused, glancing up at her before closing my eyes and trying to drift into the energy that surrounded me. First there was the energy of the trees, and they were watchful, but neutral. I didn’t sense any danger from them as long as we kept to ourselves and didn’t try to harm them. The water, though, felt mesmerizing, and I realized that the reason I wanted to walk beside it was because I was being urged to its side. Naiads, perhaps? Or undines? Or river sirens, maybe? Or perhaps even a kelpie, or a púca? Whatever it was, something was urging me toward the water.
I had to let them know, and this wasn’t something that I could explain to Nerissa while she was in human form and I was Panther. I moved aside. As I transferred back into human shape, taking my time so it wouldn’t hurt, I felt a dizzying sense of disorientation. The world looked far different than when I had been in panther shape.
As soon as I could talk, I nodded to the river. “The water—there’s something enchanted about it. Or there’s someone who’s enchanting it. All I can tell you is that I’m feeling drawn to its side, and that’s a scary thought, given all the creatures that can cast charms.”
“Elder Fae, perhaps?” Trillian asked.
“I hadn’t even thought of that. But can the Elder Fae enter this realm? Why would they even be here?” The idea of the Elder Fae making their home in the Land of Wandering Souls seemed almost ridiculous. Yet I couldn’t think of a good reason why they wouldn’t. Especially the ones who searched for human victims, or those who fed off of life energy.
“They probably can—the Elder Fae seem to be everywhere. What do you think it might be?” Trillian asked.
“I’m not sure. At first I thought maybe púca or a naiad, or even a kelpie. But now I’m not so sure.” And then, before I could say another word, there was a rustle from a thick stand of brambles near us.
A large creature careened out, teeth gnashing, eyes bulging. It reminded me of Yannie Fin Diver—one of the Elder Fae I had fought with Camille—only this one was much, much bigger.