Ever After

Chapter Five



Cer-r-r-ri!"



Trent's voice raised in summons jerked my attention, and I yanked Molly to a halt. Just off the path was a clearing, the winding, shaded stream we'd been paralleling beyond it. The fresher wind shifted my hair, bringing the scent of burned grass and decaying vegetation-and spent magic, tingling like ozone before a lightning strike.



There were two ugly burn marks and a large circle pressed into the tall grass, and the line I was connected to seemed to hum with the reminder of an energy draw. The fast-moving stream chattered among the rocks and tree roots, and I stifled a flash of fear when I saw Trent crouched over Quen, Tulpa standing a watchful guard. It was probably the same stream that I'd stumbled through once to lose the hounds chasing me.



"Hie!" I shouted, giving Molly my heels, and she jumped forward, neck arching and hooves stepping high when her footing unexpectedly turned spongy. The low-lying area surrounded by craggy trees looked as if it flooded often; the grass that wasn't burned was tall. Three trees managed to survive the wet ground, but they were spindly and let a lot of light through, especially this early in the spring.



Jenks hovered over Quen, his dust seeming to melt into him as I came to a fast stop beside them. Ray sat in the crook of Quen's twisted body, her little hands clutching her father's jacket; she was too scared to cry. Quen was unconscious, no signs of attack but for a slight burn on his hands.



"His aura is intact," Jenks said as he darted to me, "but it's doing something really weird, shifting outside its normal color spectrum like it doesn't have a clear connection to his soul anymore."



Worried, I unfocused my attention to bring my second sight into play. Molly quivered as if feeling it, and I looked down. Trent's aura was its usual gold with sparkles around his hands and head, a deeper slash of red running in the thin spots and a new shiny white at the center I'd not seen before. Quen's was a dull green that mutated to red, then an orange as I watched. Whoa. Still holding my second sight, I looked away, shivering.



The sunbaked surface of the ever-after overlaid itself atop reality, a dry streambed and sparse grass running to the distant profiles of broken buildings where Cincinnati would be. There were no demons, no eyes watching, and I let go of my second sight, trembling as I maintained my hold on the ley line. "That's not right," I said, and Trent stood.



His eyes were haunted, and his hands cupped about his mouth. "Ceri!" he shouted again, but the silence was broken only by the sound of the water and wind. Ceri wasn't here, nor were the horses.



Jenks rose up on a column of purple dust as I slid down, my knees protesting. "How bad is he hurt? Is he okay?" I said as I crouched beside them. Ray made a sob that was too old for her, and I reached out as she leaned toward me, falling into my arms.



"No."



I froze where I crouched. Ray's grip tightened, and she twisted on my hip to see her dads. Still she didn't cry, red, wet cheeks under deep green eyes. What had she seen? Turning, Trent squinted into the surrounding woods. "Ceri!" he called again, his voice holding fear now.



I held my breath, listening. There was a burn mark on the closest tree, the part that hadn't hit it spreading out behind in a long trail. There'd been a fight-short but powerful. Demons . . .



"She's not answering," Trent muttered. His hair fell into his eyes as he looked down, cell phone in hand, and I stumbled to my feet when he shoved it at me. "Call the gatehouse. The number is there. Have them send the med copter. Stay with Quen. I have to find Ceri and Lucy. They could be hurt and unable to respond."



His leaving wasn't a good idea, and I resettled Ray on my hip when she reached for him, small sounds of distress coming from her. "Trent . . ."



Jenks's wings clattered. "Stay here," he said, hovering between both of us, Quen silent at our feet. "I can cover more ground faster than you can."



Trent looked awful, his grace mutated by fear. "No." Turning, he broke into a jog for the nearby trees. I took a hesitant step, but Jenks was faster, and before Trent could even get past the horses, the pixy was in his face, dripping a silver-tinted red dust.



"Hey!" the pixy shouted, and Ray's whimpering cut off. "I said stay put! Whoever did this might still be out there, Mr. King-of-the-World, and I can cover ten times more ground than you. You got me?" Wings clattering, he stared Trent down. "Stay here and call your ambulance. Quen's aura is freaking out. He needs help!"



My heart thudded, but Trent hesitated, and finally with a groan of frustration, he spun back to Quen, his head down to hide his eyes as he returned. He held his hand out for his phone, and I swear I felt a tingle of magic as he took it in his cold fingers.



"Do you know a healing charm?" I asked, not knowing one myself. I'd been afraid to learn, and Al wouldn't teach me lest I do something worse to myself than the burn or cut I would use it to fix.



"I did it already," he said, flipping his phone open as he dropped down to kneel beside Quen. "That's when his aura started cycling, but it did get his pulse to even out."



Not even a bird disturbed the silence, and, awkward with Ray on my hip, I knelt as well, reaching for Quen's wrist. "His pulse is thready," I said, and I shifted Ray's weight when I leaned to pull Quen's lids back. "Dilation is normal," I said, at a loss. My hand was tingling, and disconcerted, I pulled back. Ray began to protest, and I stood.



"It's Trent," Trent said into his phone, his voice iron hard, all hint of his fear hidden. "We've had an accident. I need the med copter out at the stables. Now."



"You have a medical copter?"



He didn't even look at me, his eyes scanning the nearby trees as if wanting to be among them searching. "Inform the university hospital we might be bringing Quen in. I suspect a demon attack. Yes, in the daylight. Ceri and Lucy are missing. I want the dogs in the woods running a rescue pattern as soon as possible. Focus on the river path." He hesitated, and I saw him struggle to keep his face steady. "I will be out of contact for several hours. Questions?"



He closed the phone, breathing raggedly. "Hurry up, Jenks . . ."



I stood, my shadow covering Quen's pale face. It made his pox scars stand out. I couldn't do anything. If he was bleeding, I could stop the blood. If he had a concussion, I could treat him for shock. If he was delusional, I could sit on him until help arrived-but this? I didn't know what to do, and I found I was rocking back and forth with Ray. She was silent, her beautiful dark green eyes scared.



"Maybe Ceri made it back to the stables," I said, turning to the burn marks. "The horses are gone."



Trent was taking Quen's pulse again. "I called before you got here." His voice was even, distracted. "The horses came in riderless. Ceri never would have left Quen."



And yet, she was gone. Damn it, Quen had tried to stop them. I should have been here. I could have helped. "It doesn't mean that demons took them," I said, flushing when Trent looked up, his anger obvious.



Ray turned, her eyes tracking Jenks as he darted back from under the trees. His dust was almost nonexistent. "I did a circle two hundred yards out," he said. "No sign of them."



"Then do a wider one!" I said, and he frowned.



"I didn't go out any farther because there's a circle burn. We're in the center."



Shit. Quen couldn't make a circle that big, even under stress. Neither could Ceri. It was demon made.



"If there's a demon circle, then they've been taken," he finished, and Trent's hands clenched.



Ku'Sox. I needed to talk to Al, and I turned to the horses, thinking of my scrying mirror, hours away. I'd been promising myself I'd make a compact version, and I cursed myself for having put it off. I was completely out of contact with the ever-after. "It couldn't be Ku'Sox," I whispered, just wanting it to be anyone else. "It's daylight, and he's cursed to stay in the ever-after."



"He's working through Nick." Trent stood up. "This is my fault."



Fault? It was no one's fault. "Don't start," I said harshly, and Jenks hummed his wings nervously. My tone brought Trent up short, and his eyes narrowed as he focused on me. "No, I mean it," I said, jiggling Ray on my hip. "Ku'Sox could have as easily been going for you. Maybe he didn't because I was with you, in which case it would be my fault they were taken." Oh God, Ceri and Lucy with Ku'Sox was too terrifying to think about.



"You don't understand. This is my fault," Trent said, his voice angry. "I never should have left them. I thought I was his target. I sent them into danger, not away from it." He looked at me, anguish in his green eyes. "He took them. Why? I was right there!"



"Because you're an emancipated familiar," I said, numb and almost sick to my stomach. "Ceri was freed, but you were emancipated. The papers had been filed and there was no way he could get away with it like he can with Ceri. Trent, give me a chance to look into it and get Ceri's papers signed and filed. Lucy is my godchild. I think that comes under the leaving-me-and-mine-alone deal we have." I hope. "We can get them back."



Teeth clenched, he turned away. Another look of guilt slithered over his face. "I'm the only person who can make the Rosewood cure permanent," he said, head down so the sun couldn't reach his eyes. "It should've been me. I was ready if it had been me."



His voice cracked and he stared at the river. It flowed uncaring before us, like the chaos that was running through his mind, always moving, never silent. I hovered over Quen as I remembered that hug last night. It had been unusual, especially in front of the newspeople. Had Trent known this might happen and had been trying to keep me from being a suspect? Up until recently, I would have loved to see him in jail.



"He took her to make me comply," he said flatly. "Rachel, I can't do that. I vowed to see to the survival of the elves. A resurgence of demons might be our end."



"Maybe not. There's the-"



"I can't!" he shouted, and I became silent. "I was ready to give my life to keep the secret of the demons' survival out of their hands. I was not ready to give theirs."



"We'll get them back," I said as I shifted Ray's weight, but even I knew it was only something to say. The doing would be harder. A faint thumping of a helicopter's blades sounded in the late morning air, and Trent looked at his watch, then the woods. I touched his shoulder, finding it rock hard. "It's going to be okay." He jerked from me, and my resolve strengthened. "I'm telling you, if Ku'Sox has them, they will be okay!" God, please let them be okay.



He spun, the sound of the chopper blades growing. "How?" he barked. "The demon is sadistic and psychotic! He does things because he enjoys it, not for power or money, but because he enjoys it!"



Then maybe you shouldn't have let him go from under the St. Louis arch, I thought, but to say it wouldn't do any good; he'd freed Ku'Sox to save me. "Trent, I've been where you are now. It's going to be okay. Give me a chance to talk to Al. We'll get the papers filed and get them back. In the meantime, they will be safe. Will you look at me?"



He finally looked up, the anguish he was trying to hide stopping me cold. I held Ray tighter, and the little girl began to fuss. "Pardon me if I don't share your trust of demons."



"Trust has nothing to do with it!" I shouted, and Tulpa flattened his ears. "I know he's psychotic, but he is not stupid, and he's not going to eat his bargaining chip!"



Trent glared up at the circling copter, ignoring me. How would they even know where to land? "Ceri knows demons," I said. "She will keep Lucy safe. She has her soul, and that makes all the difference. I promise I'll find out what happened. We have a space. We need to think. Please give me a chance to do something."



He wasn't looking at me, his jaw set and his manner closed. I didn't know if I'd made things better or worse. "Jenks," he said suddenly. "They will have to land in the pasture and walk in. You're the fastest person here. Will you tell them where we are?"



Frowning, I shifted Ray higher. We didn't have time for this. I didn't know what Quen's aura was doing, but it wasn't normal. "Are those trees important to you?" I asked Trent suddenly, and he looked at me blankly. Even Jenks hesitated. "Your dad didn't kiss your mom under them or anything?"



Trent shook his head. "No."



Jaw clenched, I pulled heavily on the ley line. Ray jumped as if smacked, but she wasn't crying so I narrowed my focus and pushed it into my hand. "Adsimulo calefacio!" I shouted, throwing the curse at the nearest tree, superheating the sap in an instant. The tree exploded, and I spun, shielding Ray with my body. Bits of bark and sharp splinters struck my back.



The horses scattered with the muted sound of hooves. "Hey! Give me some warning!" Jenks shrilled as the last of the branches fell back to earth, and Trent looked up from where he had hastily covered Quen. The tree was scattered over a twenty-foot circle, the last pieces still falling. It had only been Molly that had run away, and Tulpa stood at a four-posted stiffness, his neck arched and his eyes wild. He snorted at me, shifting his skin to shake off the bits of bark and leaves.



"Consider yourself warned," I said grimly, and after seeing Ray wide-eyed and quiet, I shifted her to sit more firmly on my hip and blew up two more trees. It was an ungodly mess, but there was room now, and better yet, the ambulance would know exactly where to land. Growing more angry, Tulpa withstood it all, held to the spot by Trent's will alone.



Trent was silent as he joined me in the new sun, squinting up as the sound of the copter blades grew closer. I felt ill as the imbalance for the curse rose up, lapping about me. I could feel it cresting, and with no regret, I lifted my chin. I pay the cost for this, I thought, feeling the smut slither across my soul. The sun didn't seem any dimmer, the sky was just as blue, but looking at the shattered stumps and splintered branches and wilting leaves, I knew my soul was a little bit darker.



But what was the point of a clean soul if Quen died and I could have helped?



"Thank you," Trent said, and then he darted back to Quen as the long medical helicopter began to land. What wasn't nailed down blew to the edges-and there was a lot. Ray began to wail, and I held her face to me, covering her head as I turned my back on the copter. Swearing, Jenks tucked in at my collar, and I stood there hunched and shaking, feeling as if I were at the center of a tornado.



Finally it was only bits of grass striking me, and I turned to see three men in scrubs jump out of the side, a stretcher between them. The blades slowed but didn't stop, and Trent stood over Quen, his worry coming back threefold.



"No spinal damage," one said, squinting at an amulet held against Quen's temple. "We can move him," and the other two manhandled him onto the stretcher, starting an IV and taking vital signs.



"Sir?" the one with the amulet asked, and Trent pulled his attention from Quen's face. His eyes looked better.



"Treat it as a demon attack," he said, voice raised against the wind. "Yes, it's daylight," he added when the man looked doubtfully at the sun. "He was possessing someone."



Jenks left me, Ray starting as the silver sparkles sifted down. "His aura is wonky," the pixy said, standing on Quen's chest to garner everyone's attention for a brief instant. "It's cycling through shades like it's ringing. It's getting worse, though. Five minutes ago, it was taking thirty seconds to cycle and now it's down to twenty."



Brow furrowed, the man put on a pair of glasses another handed him. His eyes widened, and his motions took on a new urgency. "Get him in the chopper. Now!"



"I didn't see it happen," Trent said as they counted to three and lifted the stretcher, the first man holding the IV bag high. "Morgan and I were out on another trail and felt the disturbance. I think they took Ceri and Lucy," he said, fear crossing his face before he tried to hide it. I could see it shimmering behind his every move.



With an efficiency of motion, they loaded Quen, the sound of the blades drowning out the new conversation between the two techs. Jenks had darted in with them and out of the wind, and Ray was watching for him to come back out-silent, so silent. Still beside us, the head guy looked at the pilot, motioning for a moment of time. Concern showed in his eyes as he leaned in to be heard. "Sir, I don't know what this is. We have to take him to the university hospital."



Trent looked up at the whirling blades, and I held Ray tighter to me. "Are you sure? I don't want a media circus."



But the man was shaking his head. "We're running out of time. He needs to be in a desensitization tank, and you don't have one. We can try a quiet room-"



"No." Trent looked inside, fear flickering over him like a second aura. "Go. Take him."



The man made a motion to the pilot, and through the glass, I saw him grab a radio. "We'll call ahead," the tech shouted. "They'll be ready for him. I think we're in time, but we have to move fast to stop the damage. I have room for one more."



Trent spun to me. His face was riven with a worry he was trying to hide with a cool efficiency. It all fell apart when he looked at Ray, then me and whispered, "Rachel . . ."



I couldn't hear him, but I could read his lips. Something in me twisted, and I shoved it aside. "Go!" I said, propelling him toward the door as the wind whipped my hair around. "I've got this! Call me when you know something!"



He kissed Ray's fingers, looking her firmly in her eyes. "I'll be back as soon as I can." His eyes rose to mine as the blades shrieked in the air. "Thank you."



I held Ray closer, letting her see as we backed away. Trent effortlessly got into the medical copter. Jenks darted out just before the door closed, whipped downward and out as if he were on a roller coaster. He streaked past me, swearing at Tink, but I figured he was okay.



One hand supporting Ray, the other holding my hair, I watched the pilot do a check before lifting up. Squinting, I held my ground as more sticks and leaves blew. Blades thumping, the copter gained altitude and vanished beyond the trees, heading for Cincinnati.



Slowly the leaves settled. Shaking, I looked to where we had found Quen. The grass was flattened. Ray's grip on my hair tugged, and I disentangled her, letting her soft, damp hand hold my fingers as I listened to the quiet, my ears ringing.



Jenks's wings sounded muffled as he started to land on my shoulder, then thought better of it and hung where he was, dust sifting from him in the leftover breeze. "He'll be okay. We got to him in time."



I didn't know. But I had an unusually quiet toddler on my hip and no horse. Tulpa had vanished. I didn't blame the animal, but I needed to get back to the stables. I heard the hounds bay in the distance and shivered.



"Quen is strong," Jenks said, his words fast as he fell into place beside me as I picked my way through the shattered vegetation. One of the trees I'd taken out had been damaged by magic, all evidence of it destroyed. The I.S. would have a cow. Either that, or blame me for the attack.



"He's going to be okay," Jenks said again, and I walked into the shade on the path. Hoofprints were a sad reminder of how fast life could change, the marks going both ways and crisscrossing in a chaotic mishmash.



"He'll be okay," I agreed just to get him to stop talking, but I didn't know if I believed it.



Ray was still silent, leaning away from me to try to see Jenks flying over my head. I hadn't spent a lot of time with her, but enough that I was familiar. She was so different from her sister, quiet and reserved where Lucy was outgoing and demanding. My face twisted and my gut clenched at the thought of Lucy with Ku'Sox. I had told Trent everything was going to be okay, but the uncertainty as we waited for what Ku'Sox wanted was heartbreaking.



From above my ear, Jenks made an ultrasonic chirp. "Holy toad spit!" the pixy squeaked, and I stiffened, feeling as if something was crawling through me by way of the ley line. Ray, too, stiffened, her hand in my fingers clenching harder.



Then I sucked in my breath as I felt a huge tug from the nearest ley line. It felt like a sudden drop in the road you weren't expecting-a quick jolt and then back to normal. "What was that?" I said. The back of my head was hot, and I made a face as if trying to pop my ears.



"How should I know?" Jenks shrilled. "Listen, it's going to do it again. Oh God, here it comes!"



I froze, my feet planted on the path as the line hiccuped and became nauseatingly erratic. Hissing, I dropped the line from my thoughts as it raked through me. Silver-edged dust fell from Jenks so thickly that Ray reached for it. The memory of that itchy feeling scraped up my spine and lodged itself in my brain. Glancing at Jenks, I tentatively tapped a ley line, squinting as I let it flow through me, tasting it. It felt okay now, but something had happened. I'd have to ask Bis when he woke up tonight. He was more in tune with the lines than any person I knew. If I got home, that is. I didn't know if Trent would approve of me taking Ray home with me.



Jenks hovered before us, a weird, lost look on his face. "What happened?" the pixy asked, and I pushed into motion, wanting to get to a TV.



"I've no idea, but it can't be good."