Chapter 18
Being with Chatan and his family was easy. Jacinda usually felt awkward in groups, but she quickly felt at ease with most people he had introduced her to. And she was strangely happy to see Brent and Amelia walk into the back yard where they’d been for an hour.
“Good evening. Enjoying yourself?” Brent asked.
“Very much. Glad you could make it,” Jacinda answered. Then smiled at Amelia. “Your family lives out here, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I would have called my sister, but she’s with Robert’s nephew, bringing your car back. By the way, she says it’s running rough.”
Jacinda winced. “Yeah, the Tercel is old. And I don’t keep up on the maintenance like I should.”
“Maybe you should consider a new car.”
She managed a smile. She had a little money saved up, but not the kind of funds to buy a new car. Which was why she loved her beat up old Tercel. But it couldn’t live forever, and she knew that.
“That’s a worry for another day.”
Brent rubbed his chin. “What if I could come up with a solution?”
She shook her head immediately. “We have other things to worry about than a vehicle. Chatan has a car here, and a truck at home. I’m fine for now.”
Chatan ducked his head.
Brent gave him a determined look. “Neither of his vehicles are in great shape either. But I’ll drop it for now. But once things settle down, we’ll discuss it again.”
“He’s right, you know.”
Her eyes widened. “We can worry about that later.”
Chatan leaned over and brushed his lips over hers. “Relax. He’s done the same thing for his niece.”
Meaning Jackie, and if he was willing to do that for a niece, it made sense he would for a granddaughter. Still, a new vehicle was something she would worry about later, when she had time to think about it.
Amelia took the seat next to Jacinda and whispered, “Don’t mind him. He gets ideas in his head and it’s hard to deter him. But he wants to do something for you.”
“A car is a pretty big something.” She lifted a shoulder.
“Sure, but he has the means.” Chatan explained.
Jacinda nodded, unsure what to think.
Brent moved closer, his hands up. “I won’t mention it again, tonight. How are you liking it up here?”
“I’m loving it.” And that mostly had to do with the people. It was easy to talk to them, to hang out with them. A portion of that was Chatan, but maybe a little of it was finally accepting that she didn’t need to be on the outside of everything. Chatan managed to slip into a group easily. Maybe he was rubbing off on her.
Jacinda turned to Brent. “You’ve all talked about In Other News, but can you tell me more about it? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.”
“I can help with that.” Dakota disappeared inside. He came back a moment later. “Jolene says she only sees the Enquirer.”
“So the people who would hunt us down can keep believing Others don’t exist,” Brent answered.
Amelia lifted a shoulder. “Yeah, and he seems to take those of us with a knack of getting to the bottom urban legends, and chronicling the strange, and bringing them into the magazine.”
“I wish I had stayed in any place for a length of time so I could have seen that. I’m sure I could have learned from it.”
“I have plenty of copies you can have,” Brent offered.
* * * *
Nearing midnight, the hair on her neck stood on end. Jacinda’s gaze swept through the yard. Thanatos was watching from another realm. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did.
“I should have read the journals.”
“Why?” Chatan sat up, scanning the forest around them.
“You feel it too, don’t you?” Amelia asked.
Jacinda nodded. “Yeah, but I’ve never been this close. Still, it feels like he’s here, but not in this realm. Is that possible?”
“Yeah, it is,” Brent answered. “Maybe going back to Pine Vale Reserve would be best.”
“Or maybe Wanatoga. With that rift, I’m not positive he can’t get through,” Matoskah answered.
“What rift? What happened exactly?” Jacinda asked.
Matoskah sighed. “Olivier’s brother is a sorcerer. He was at the reserve because he prefers spirits to humans, and he’s been known to get himself into trouble. And his choices were Pine Vale, or in a cell at the Council. But he killed someone tonight to summon Thanatos. So even though Thanatos goes into a slumber for nine years, nine months, and nine days, and he should be falling asleep by now, Lars screwed that up.”
“Wait, there’s a timeframe?” Jacinda asked.
Matoskah nodded. “Your father tracked his appearance in the world. He can come through for a few days every nine years, nine months, and nine days. But he falls into a slumber a few days after he comes back.”
And when she did the quick math, it made sense.
Brent rubbed at his face. “Do you think Lars has gone too far? Or do you think it was a desperate attempt at freedom?”
“I hope like hell it was a desperate attempt,” Matoskah answered. “I urged Olivier to take his brother away for a while.”
Jacinda shook her head. “That doesn’t make it right.”
“Not at all. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s evil either.” Matoskah pushed his fingers through his hair. “I warned Olivier to take him on another trip, but he couldn’t get away from work, and he doesn’t know what to do with him either.”
“Yeah, but would a trip away actually have stopped anything?” Amelia asked.
“Probably not,” Chatan conceded.
“We can worry about what we do with Lars once we find him,” Matoskah answered.
Chatan swept his hair back and looked his father in the eye. “There is at least one rift in Wanatoga. Will that matter?”
“Doubtful. He wouldn’t know where or how to get to it,” Matoskah answered. “He’s never been to Wanatoga, and if you’re talking about the island, I guarantee he has no access point.”
“And what if he goes for someone else here?” Jacinda asked.
“Our options are stop him or go where he can’t follow. Lars isn’t smart enough to go after anyone here, anyway. Besides, Edenton is more protected than say, Seattle,” Brent explained. “But if Thanatos only goes for your family, or those surrounding you, he must be able to track you from whatever plane he’s stuck in. There are places better protected from other realms. Edenton is better than Seattle. Pine vale would be better.”
“No, if Lars comes back to Pine Vale, I don’t know what he’ll do,” Matoskah said. “Wanatoga is the safest place. He wouldn’t even sense her there. The wards surrounding it are so thorough that he wouldn’t even be able to follow Lars there if he were bright enough to figure out where you might go. And Lars may not be able to cross over if he’s tainted enough now.”
“Sure, Wanatoga works. First, I need to grab my journals. I’m going to need them. I just…what about my box?” Jacinda asked.
“Robert won’t mind taking you for that. In fact, I’ll give him a call while you and Chatan get the journals.”
Matoskah nodded. “Besides, you left a lot of worried people in Wanatoga. Both of you.”
Jacinda squeezed her eyes shut. Guilt. That’s all that flowed through her. She should have known better, but she thought she was protecting everyone by leaving. She had never expected to make friends so fast.
Brent turned to her, taking her hands. “Jacinda, go to Wanatoga and scour the journals. Take as long as you need. We’ll be here, waiting for you.”
Chatan rubbed her back. “We can always come back here after all of this is said and done. For as long as you want.”
She smiled. “I do have family here now. Even if that might take a little getting used to.”
“I’ll help you. But you have family in Wanatoga now, too.”
“Something I never thought I’d find,” she admitted.
“Aww, don’t say that,” Tomahawk said.
“It’s true. Other than my mother, I hadn’t met anyone else in my family. Not until Brent. And I’ve never even considered a—boyfriend until I met Chatan.”
“With as pretty as you are, I find that hard to believe,” Tomahawk teased.
She shook her head. “I kept away from everyone. I was too focused on figuring out what was in my father’s journal, so I could stop Thanatos.”
Darla gave her a sad smile. “At least you know what you’re dealing with. And he sounds a little like what sent me running from Tomahawk.”
Jacinda’s head tipped. “Hmm?”
Chatan nodded. “That’s right. Only, wasn’t Izackarus hopping from one body to the next?”
Brent nodded. “Ceridwen explained it all earlier. Izackarus was a dark mystic who wound up on Faery, not Earth. The move there transformed them into something without a physical form. Scathane is who possessed Thanatos or melded into him to become something more. Instead of finding a new home, Scathane was lost out in the abyss, until Thanatos called him through to this side. How he was summoned, I don’t know. But it seems that some of the mystics can form a bond with a person. Maybe that’s what he did. Either way, I don’t believe he’ll find himself in Wanatoga. He senses you here, and if Robert takes you, he won’t know where to look.”
Jacinda nodded. “If he doesn’t mind. I’ll focus there, where I don’t have distractions, or as many.”
Chatan chuckled. “You know Loretta is going to insist we eat there?”
“I’m fine with that. It will keep everyone here safe, and if you’re sure he won’t be able to breach the wards, then that’s the best place to be.”
“That’s settled,” Brent answered.
Jacinda shook her head. “Just one thing. We should find out if any of my other relatives are still alive. I know there were four. I don’t know much about them. Just where they roamed.”
Chatan nodded. “I’ll give the information to Eddie, and he can find them, or what happened to them.”
“Thank you,” she said. “If Thanatos goes for them, I’ll need to try to stop him.”
“And we’ll help. Robert already assured you he would do everything in his power,” Brent said. “And I trust Robert to follow through and get us wherever we need.”
She nodded.
Brent touched her leg. “And, Jacinda, we think you may be able to learn any magic you want. You may want to talk to him about translocation, if not everything else.”
She gulped. “I don’t know about that.”
“Why?” Chatan asked.
“I’ve seen what happens when someone doesn’t know the environment they are moving to. People can get stuck in walls, the ground, furniture. They fuse with the solid object. It’s a painful death in most cases.”
Brent smiled. “He’s never had an issue with anyone he’s translocated. I’m sure he could teach you how to do it and sense where you’re going or attempting to go.”
“I don’t know. We’ll see. Right now, I need to work on those journals.” She turned to Dakota and Tomahawk. Darla and Jolene were getting the little ones to sleep. She smiled. “Thank you for having us over. I enjoyed getting to know you both. I hope I’ll see you again soon.”
“Me too,” Tomahawk said. “You’re nothing like I expected, and I expected Chatan to find a good woman. You’re amazing.”
Heat flushed her cheeks. “He’s amazing too.”
Dakota nodded. “You two are good for each other. I wasn’t sure Chatan would ever find the right woman. I’m glad to see I was wrong.”
“Me too,” Chatan grumbled but then pulled her close. “We should go. I’ve kept you out all day, and now we’re going back out to Wanatoga.”
“Yeah, but the trip will be fast. You drive us back to Seattle to get our things, and that should give Robert a little time before he has to be there. Besides, I want to say goodbye to Jackie and Eddie.”
“We can do that.”
* * * *
Lars hit the ground in another cave far from where they started. He was beginning to wonder if he had made a grave mistake. Scathane’s will bore down on him. He hadn’t even argued at the way he was flowing through the most bizarre terrain, from one plane to another as they zapped through portals. They landed in a dark realm. The walls gleamed in the candlelight. Some strange black stone that chipped and flaked.
At least he could breathe the air. “Where are we?”
“Between realms.” Thanatos’ voice was deep and rumbled through the entire cavern.
“Then how am I still breathing?”
“Your form becomes ethereal when we pass through the portal to here. I’m bound here without passage through. You belong there, and now, you are the key to me crossing over.”
Thanatos stepped out of the shadows and crouched before him, his wings winding tighter around him. He was always menacing, but the power rolling from Thanatos in this realm was beyond anything he had ever experienced.
He was in deep shit.
And yet, he could have that power. He just needed to separate man from shadow. Everything he wanted would be his. If he just managed to pull them apart and take the power for himself.
And possibly lose himself in the process.
Worth it.
Lars stared him in the eye. “Tell me how to free you, so I can bind you to the world. You do want to be bound to the world, right?”
“Yes.” Thanatos crept closer. “The ritual will require human sacrifice. Someone overflowing with magic.”
“Of course. I’ll arrange it. But I’ll need to be there to find someone. Somewhere far from Pine Vale Reserve.”
“If you don’t find someone for the ritual, I will eat the flesh from your bones.”
He nodded. “I won’t fail you, Thanatos. I want the power Scathane offers.”
Thanatos’ voice deepened, a new sound rumbling through it. “You’ll have my power, and I’ll finally be able to break from my host’s body and roam free for a time.” A cruel smile formed on his lips. “I know the perfect victim. She’s the only caster for miles, and no one will hear her screams.”