Chapter Fourteen
The darkness of this new and different portal was absolute. It crowded in around Eva to the point that she was afraid it would suffocate her. She couldn’t even see Calidum in front of her, but she felt his hand, and he was squeezing reassuringly.
He’s a killer, Eva, her mind chimed.
I know, she replied shortly. Now was not a time she wanted to be reminded of her savior’s duplicity.
“Where are we going?” she asked, not only because she wanted to know, but because she wanted him to say something. Anything to dispel the weird impression that she was holding on to a dismembered hand.
“A safe house of sorts,” he replied.
“I’m not sure any place will be safe from him,” she said without thinking. Then she wished she hadn’t said it. Admitting how powerful Arach had become was like letting him win. She didn’t want him to have any more victories than he deserved.
“What did he do to you?” the disembodied voice asked. There was definite tension in that question.
Eva couldn’t help but think of Arach’s attack; her wrist still hurt. She couldn’t help but remember the distinctly sexual pleasure he took in sinking his fangs into her. She failed in suppressing a shiver. “He’s changed,” she replied simply.
Quiet greeted the response, but his grip went hard and still around her hand. A few seconds later, the portal at last changed. Its walls slowly lightened, turning the colors of a sunrise in an orange to pink ombré. It was frankly and starkly beautiful. She blinked against the gradual brightness, but watched in fascination.
“We’re here,” Calidum said. His tone was still tight. She could see him now, but his back was to her, straight and broad, so his expression was hidden.
The “hole” lightened to the point of white brightness at its far end, then began to spread open as any portal would. A shot of cool, salty air struck Eva, brushing through her brown disguised hair. Beyond the opening was a foggy shoreline. Stones, cliff sides, and mist touched the sea, which churned with a cold depth that promised secrets far below.
To Evangeline, it was stunning. She had always loved the cold, gray sea. The more troubled it was, the more beautiful. She recognized this beach, though.
“Glass Beach,” she said softly as they stepped out and the portal closed behind them. Her eyes were immediately scanning the pebbled ground beneath her feet for striking pieces of sea glass.
“Yes and no,” said Calidum. “It’s attached to Glass Beach. But it’s separate.”
She gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”
“It’s parallel to Fort Bragg, California,” he told her. “And so, it’s the same in many ways. But it will never touch it.”
A… parallel universe? She pulled her hand out of his and touched her forehead. Was that even possible? She knew there were other realms, and even realms between the realms, such as the Twixt. But to move sidelong into an entirely new dimension…. What kind of power did something like that take?
She swallowed hard as dizziness swept through her.
“You need to eat,” Cal told her. “Come with me.” He turned and moved to the nearest cliff face. It seemed sheer, sandstone and lava rock, covered in sea grass and moss. But as he neared it, she expected him to slow down. He didn’t. Instead, he moved right through it and disappeared.
Eva blinked. Crap.
But Calidum reappeared a few seconds later, stepping through the rock wall to stand just beyond it. He grinned at her, utterly devastating in his dark clothing, dark hair, and dark smile. “Trust me,” he told her.
Not a chance, she thought. But what choice did she have right now?
Eva carefully stepped over rocks and driftwood, making her way to where he waited. Then he gestured to the wall, allowing her to go first. She put her hands up, feeling for the solidness of the rock, just as Sarah had done in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth. And just as Sarah had found – the wall was not really there.
Eva stepped through it and into the beyond, entering a whole new world. She stared at it in abject wonder. The ceilings were impossibly high, illogically fitting into the space within the cliffs she’d walked through. Their exposed beams were luxurious, and the chandelier that hung overhead shimmered with either glass or rock crystal. She was betting the latter. A massive hearth was set into one wall, and in front of it sat a sofa set of soft tan suede over a thick, plush rug of snowy white.
Even softer throws of easy hues had been tossed here and there over the backs of the furniture for comfort and appearance, and the coffee table was already set with a gold-etched tea pot that literally steamed, hot and ready. It was accompanied by a containers of sugar, honey, cream, and milk. Two tea cups waited beside the set. A few inches away on the coffee table rested a tray of treats, all of them Eva’s favorites.
When she heard Calidum join her from behind, she turned to glance at him. “How the hell did you manage this?”
He stepped around her into the grand space of what was effectively a mansion. “I’m a Legendary, Eva. I’ve had time.”
The reminder that he was a Legendary made Eva think of her father. Which made her want to tell him not to call her “Eva.” But there were issues of far more importance at the moment than her immature insistence at keeping a personal distance from the Great Gray. One such thing of importance was Arach.
“Arach has managed much the same without nearly so much time,” she told him as he made his way through the living room.
He approached the hearth against one wall. It was massive, composed of dark carved rock, and its surface was etched with tiny, intricate symbols of immense beauty. Eva could have spent hours perusing their details, but she was becoming dragangry. As Mimi would put it.
“Please sit down, Eva,” Calidum said as he waved a hand over the logs in the hearth and they burst into pleasant, perfect flame.
He said please, she thought whimsically.
“I will get you something more solid to eat.” He looked back up at her, pinning her with those eyes that were just as dark and intricate as the carvings. They made her feel funny inside. Uncomfortable. And not in an entirely bad way.
I’m losing my mind, she thought with an inner sigh. Stockholm syndrome or something.
Eva didn’t argue with him, not only because she wanted to sit down – she was so weary – but because she knew it wouldn’t do any good.
She made her way to the sofa that was closest to the fireplace and sat, pulling the throw off the back of the couch to wrap it around her shoulders. Then she started in on the pastries, all the while wondering why she felt it was safer to eat these offered treats and not the ones Arach had offered her.
Stockholm syndrome, she told herself again with a mental shrug.
Around a full bite of baklava, she asked, “How did you know Arach was going to be in that portal at that time?” Never mind how he’d managed to step through it and into Arach’s path. She was getting used to Calidum’s impossible acts, from the way he’d straightened the toppled pier to this equally impossible living space. He was a Legendary, as he’d said.
Calidum replied from somewhere in the adjoining kitchen, which was just as gorgeous as the living room. “I wasn’t certain on the time, but I knew the direction. I knew he would go after Mimi,” he told her as he pulled ingredients from cabinets and cupboards and began cooking.
“It was simple. Arach wants your obedience.” He glanced up at her with a darkly meaningful look. “You wouldn’t give it to him, of course.” He looked away again and continued to go through the motions of preparing a meal. He looked well practiced at it. Eva found that drop-dead sexy. “Hence, he would feel the need to punish and threaten you. However, he isn’t going to do anything to you that will cause you lasting damage, and you’re too headstrong to be overly impressed with such threats anyway. The logical conclusion? Threaten someone else.”
He stopped talking for a moment as he lit the fire of the gas stove and placed a pan atop the flames. “Mimi was the obvious choice. She’s a dragon, so Arach knows of her existence. He knew the two of you were friends. And best of all, she’s a child.” Again, he pinned her with a dark gaze from across the room. “Which makes any punishment he inflicts on her extra juicy.”
Suddenly, Eva felt simultaneously sick and hungry. It was a disconcerting dichotomy. She couldn’t bear to think of Mimi on the other side of that parallel dimension, alone and unprotected, where Arach could get to her. But whatever Calidum was preparing smelled really, really good.
She was horribly torn.
“Don’t worry about Mimi,” Cal told her as if reading her thoughts. “She’s in good hands.”