And with that, she turned and vanished from sight.
We stared after her for a moment. I happened to glance out in the street. Tommy-Tee was sitting on the sidewalk, looking lost.
“Guys…look.” I nudged Jason. “Tommy-Tee.”
Jason wandered over and knelt beside him. “Hey, Tommy, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know…everything blew up. The sky’s on fire and Great Mother Gaia is singing her pain.” Tommy-Tee stared morosely at the curb. “I can’t find my bed. There’s only a pile of stones to sleep on.”
Jason glanced back at us and I bit my lip. I didn’t want to have to look out for someone like Tommy-Tee. He was one of the lost-boys, and would need to be constantly supervised. Tam frowned and shook his head.
“Guys, he doesn’t have a place to stay—his flop has obviously been covered up with rubble.” Jason was a mother hen. He had taken me in, and now he was worried about Tommy-Tee. He always gave cash to beggars on the street, and I knew that at least twenty percent of his income went to various charities.
I glanced back at the store. “You sure the building won’t hold together? We could let him sleep in the back room—lock it so he can’t get into things.”
“Fury, really?” Jason gave me a scathing look. “Given the chance of a big aftershock, do you really want to chance somebody’s life in there tonight?”
“We can’t stand here and babysit him, though.” I glanced at Tam. “What do you say?”
Tam spoke up. “Bring him with us, but make certain he does what we say. Where we’re going is someplace only the Bonny Fae know about. I cannot have him wandering around on his own. He’s your responsibility, Jason.”
Jason shrugged. “I accept that.” He leaned over and whispered something to Tommy-Tee, who held out his hand for Jason to pull him to his feet.
Tam jerked his head toward the shop. “Better make sure it’s locked tight and lower the gate.”
Jason nodded, heading back inside Dream Wardens while Tam, Tommy-Tee, and I waited outside.
“You okay? The other night you didn’t look so good.” Tommy-Tee turned to me, smiling. It was the smile of a child. Tommy’s brain had been scrambled by way too many drugs.
Relenting, I smiled back. He was a good sort, just broken. “Yes, Tommy. Thank you for asking. You’re going to come with us and we’ll find you a place to sleep.”
“Whatever that thing was, man, it was barreling toward you like a bat out of hell.” He laughed, then, and suddenly froze, staring into the street. “You better be careful, Fury.”
I frowned, following his gaze. Suddenly, my Trace screen popped up. An Abom was out there, somewhere, and it was moving fast. I tried to pinpoint it, but it kept jumping around on the screen. “What the hell? Tam, an Abom. Tommy-Tee picked up on an Abomination.”
Tam reached out to rest his hand on Tommy-Tee’s arm. A moment later he looked at me, arching his eyebrows. “We need to talk, but it will have to wait.”
Jason emerged from the shop then as the gate behind him clattered down to protect the store windows. He had activated the one for Up-Cakes, too, and that closed as well. “Ready.” He paused. “What happened?”
“Tommy-Tee picked up on an Abomination. I’m trying to pinpoint it.”
“You’ll have to leave it, Kae, we need to get to cover. The action tonight isn’t over yet. I just got word from my sister. The Devani are on the march toward the border between Darktown and Croix. Apparently, the bogeys are on their way into all districts, looking to loot. This night won’t end without blood.” He motioned to Tam. “Lead the way. I’d bring the car but the autopilot informed me the parking garage is closed down so looters can’t get in.”
We headed out on foot. Darktown bordered the Sandspit and the Junk Yard. I wasn’t sure exactly where in the Sandspit that Tam was looking to lead us, but wherever it was, we weren’t likely to be welcome. Add in watching for rogue magic zones and the sky-eyes, and we had a hike cut out for us.
Jason took a call as we headed out, following Tam. “Yeah, I made sure your gate is secure, too… No, you stay there with Leonard… What? Right, the shop is still standing… No, the windows held, at least this go-round. There may be aftershocks. I’ve got to—what? Really? All right, thanks for the warning. We’re not going near there but we’ll be cautious anyway. All right. Love you too, sis.” He slid his phone back in his pocket.
“Shevron?” It didn’t take a genius to figure out who he had been talking to.
“Right. I told her to stay home. Do not try to venture into Darktown. She said…” He glanced around, then lowered his voice. “She said the Devani are on the move, all right, but they aren’t just going after looters. They have moved into north Darktown and are searching some residences.”
“They need to search the Junk Yard is where they need to search. That’s where they’ll find the fucknuts behind this.” Our world had already been turned upside down, and now, Lyon and his Order wanted to twist it all up again. Life wasn’t perfect, there was a lot of poverty and a lot of corruption, but it was better than what it had been like, from what the history books taught.
We headed south. Darktown—and Dream Wardens—was located on the northern edge of the Sandspit, a few blocks away. As we skirted the 22-U, I noticed that the mall had weathered the quake pretty good, but next to it, one entire wall of the Emporium Plaza had crumbled away. We skirted the buildings, stepping over the piles of rubble that littered the streets, avoiding the residents of Darktown who were dazedly wandering in and out of the chaos.
A sudden movement caught my eye and I flattened against the brick. “Sky-eye.”
Tam and Jason followed suit, Jason dragging Tommy-Tee back against the building next to him. We waited while the drone zipped in and out, and then it circled the square once and flitted off to spy on another area. We waited for a count of ten, then relaxed back onto the sidewalk.
“I don’t trust them. Not at all.” Tam glared at the retreating drone.
“No, but let’s face it. The Devani are marching into north Darktown from Croix? They’ve never bothered to come down here. Not that I can remember. There has to be more going on than we know about.” I pushed a strand of hair out of my face. The rain had stopped earlier, but the wind was howling fierce. My sword hung over my shoulder, giving me comfort, and Tam was carrying my duffel bag, the strap slung over his shoulder.
We came to one of the Monotrain platforms and I stared up at the staircase. It was silent, and there were no lights on the top of the platform. Something had happened to the train—I knew it. I could feel it as sure as I could feel the shifting tides in the wind.
“The quake took out the Monotrain.”
“I think you’re right. I haven’t seen one pass by at all, and even though service isn’t that great down here in Darktown in the first place, we usually get a midnight train by now.” Jason scanned the skies, and I thought he was looking for sky-eyes again, but he put that thought to rest. “I’m thinking of going up—seeing what I can by air.”
“No!” My quick response startled even me.
“What’s wrong?” Jason glanced up at the sky again. “What are you sensing?”
I swallowed hard. I wasn’t sure exactly why I had reacted so strongly, but then, as I let out a slow breath, I knew what had startled me so bad. My inner Trace was singing like a choir.
“A flight-born Abom. I’ve never encountered one.” Panic hit me. How the hell had they become airborne? I had never seen one who could fly, and it hadn’t even occurred to me that it was possible. They always jumped to humans—how could a human fly?
“That’s not possible.” Tam shook his head. “They don’t work like that.”
“They do now, or my wires are seriously crossed.” I shook my head. “Something big is going down and it goes beyond the Order of the Black Mist. I can’t figure it out here, though. Hecate is right. We have to get under cover. Something…is coming…”
r /> It was as if a fog swept down to cloud my thoughts. The next thing I knew, I was racing into the intersection. At the center, I whispered the charm, swept my arms over my head to clasp my hands, and boom…landed dead center at the Crossroads.
Chapter 18
The moment I landed on the Crossroads, I knew something was up. Hecate was there, waiting, her expression grim. She was decked out in what I thought of as her Mother-of-Magic gear—long indigo robe with her hair falling to her feet. In this guise, the jet-black locks were streaked with white, and three snakes wound around her arms and neck. They were adders, gray with a brown leopard pattern running down their backs. Four feet long, with thick, stocky bodies, they danced, entwining around her in continual movement as if they were extensions of her body. She was standing behind a steaming cauldron in the center of the Crossroads, and through the mist, a moon rose darkly behind her, the clouds streaking past at a ferocious rate.
“My Lady.” I dropped into a quick curtsey, then rose.
“We’ll dispense with the niceties at this point. I just found out that the quake was magically activated, but it gets worse. The Order of the Black Mist is up to more than weather magic.” Before I could ask what she meant, she continued. “They aren’t looking to simply start another weather war. There are some doors on the World Tree that did not open when Gaia brought about the World Shift. Even in her anger, she made certain they stayed shut. One of those doors leads to Chaos.”
Confused, I tilted my head, frowning. “I thought Pandoriam was the realm of Chaos, where the Aboms come from.”
“No, though many make that same assumption. Pandoriam actually feeds off the energy from Chaos. The actual realm beyond the door is where the Elder Gods of Chaos live. They slumber there, and their dreams alone cause enough disruption in the universe. If they were to wake, it would be the end of all things ordered and peaceful.”
I eased myself down onto one of the nearby boulders. “The end of the world—of all worlds as we know it. And for some insane reason, the Order of the Black Mist is trying to open the gateway. Have they succeeded?”
“Not yet, but it’s imperative for you to retrieve that disk. The Thunderstrike might be able to help them break open the door—it has powers beyond weather magic, and one of the big problems is that we don’t know exactly what they are. The records were lost in the World Shift. They have no clue of what they are doing—of what this will mean. We have to get that disk back before they attempt to use it again.”
She paused and I knew what was coming. I didn’t want to hear it, but I knew what she was going to say.
“I’m sorry, Fury, but I need to ask you to go after it. If the Order hides out in the Tunnels as you say, then I need you to go down there and find it.”
I stared at my feet, my breath catching in my throat. The last thing I wanted to do was go chasing around an underground labyrinth, where Lyon waited at the center. I never questioned Hecate, not since the time she dragged me before Themis, but this time, I felt I had to say something.
“Lady…do you realize what you’re asking?”
“I do.” She stared at me bleakly. “If the Elder Gods could venture after it, we would. Rest assured, I do not send you into this lightly.”
Unfortunately—or maybe it was to our benefit, when I thought about it—the Elder Gods were constrained by how much they could interfere in mortal affairs. Just as the Fates were bound from revealing too much, the Elder Gods could only act indirectly.
“I know you’re forced to work through your servants here, and I know it used to be just through your priests and priestesses, until we Theosians came about. I’m not sure what binds you to that, but I do understand that you can’t just walk in there and take the Thunderstrike from his hands.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know where or how the restrictions began and I’m not sure any of the Elder Gods actually know, but we all have limitations, gods and mortals…and Theosians…alike. The gods are allowed to intervene through our servants, we can interact with your world, but if we break the boundaries, there will be repercussions. To ignore the rules is to ask for banishment from this realm. The Convocation of Gods is clear about that.”
I wanted to ask where they would be sent, but she sounded so incredibly bleak that I decided my curiosity could wait. “I don’t know where to begin. Is there any chance you might have any ideas on where I can find the entrance to the Tunnels?”
A light flickered in her eyes and she brightened. “There I can help. Before I brought you to the Crossroads, I asked Coralie to look into the matter. The entrance to the Tunnels is found directly in the northeast corner where the Bogs meet the Sandspit. It’s a treacherous area, rife with rogue magic, so you’ll have to be extremely cautious.”
I nodded. We were headed to the Sandspit anyway, so I might as well make a run on the Tunnels while we were there. “Thank you. Hecate, can you give me any more help on this? When we get into the Tunnels, how are we going to find Lyon?”
“Lyon apparently lives near the Tunnel Pike, near the waterfront. He’s always guarded by a couple of bog-dogs, so be cautious. They’re dangerous and won’t hesitate to attack. You’re going to want to take them down fast because they are vicious and quick.”
Bog-dogs were deadly. They had teeth sharp enough to rip flesh to shreds, and a temper to match. They were hard to train and harder still to domesticate. The government had originally bred them specifically for the Devani to use, but some had gotten loose in the Bogs and had bred into feral and deadly predators.
“Lovely. All right, bog-dogs and the Pike. Anything else?”
She laughed. “You’re always angling for a new spell or ability, Fury. I like that about you.”
Blushing, I stared at the fork in the road. “Well, at least I’m not over there, trying to make a deal.”
“You couldn’t even if you wanted to. Theosians aren’t allowed to make deals with the Elder Gods. You’re bound to obey.” Even though her voice was light, there was a hint of warning there.
But if I was bound to work for the gods, I wanted as many perks as I could get. Which reminded me that I had forgotten to thank her. “I found the cash card. Thank you—it helps a lot. If everything is a go on Monday, I’ll call about that job.”
“Fury, when you’re short on funds, you should ask me. I’m not going to heap riches on you—that’s neither your nature nor mine, but I don’t want you going hungry or worrying about paying your bills. I’ll always engineer a job for you, or if you need food, make certain you have the money to buy it. The gods sometimes forget that mortals—or demi-mortals such as yourself—have needs that can only be met in practical ways.”
Her voice was gentle and I realized that she really did care about me. Unlike some of the gods who made their Theosians suffer, Hecate didn’t use me as joke-bait, for which I was ever grateful.
“I’ll find the entrance to the Tunnels. I can’t promise anything, but I’ll do my best.”
Hecate reached in the pocket of her robe and pulled out a glittering disk about an inch in diameter. She handed it to me. I stared at the talisman. Engraved on the disk was Hecate’s knot—three snakes, entwined in a continuous loop. The silver charm tingled in my hand.
“Keep this with you. If you come within five hundred feet of the Thunderstrike, it will activate your Trace and you’ll be able to track the device.”
I pocketed the talisman, sliding it into an inner pocket in my shorts and zipping it shut. It was a gift better than gold, giving what we were facing.
“Thank you.” I paused, then asked, “What do you think will happen if I don’t get the Thunderstrike back?”
“I think…we will all be in a great deal of trouble. Jerako and the Greenlings will go after it, and Seattle will not be able to stand against their attempts to retrieve the Thunderstrike.”
“That’s what I thought. I just wanted to hear you say it.” After a moment, I shivered. “I’m getting cold.” E
ven in my leather jacket, the Crossroads sapped the life out of me. “Is there anything else?”
Hecate let out a faint smile. “Yes, actually. Sometimes, what’s right in front of your nose eludes you. Don’t go chasing after daydreams when the reality is much more suitable and willing. Go now. Be safe.”
I suddenly slammed off the Crossroads, landing on my knees between Tam and Jason, who were frantically looking around, calling my name.
“Kae! Where the hell were you?” Jason’s expression was grim.
“Oof, that landing was rough. Help me up.”
Tam took one hand, Jason the other, and they pulled me to my feet.
“Hecate called me over to the Crossroads.”
“Are you all right? Was there an Abom loose over there?” Jason asked.
I dusted myself off. My knees were scraped, but that was par for the course. I had more scrapes and bumps on my knees than a kid learning how to freewheel on a bike.
“Yeah, I’m all right. Change of plans, though. I have to head into the Tunnels and retrieve the Thunderstrike. Apparently, the Order of the Black Mist isn’t acting on a full deck. They’re using the Thunderstrike to try to open the doors to the realm of Chaos.”
As we headed toward the outer border of the Sandspit, I told them what she had said. “So, yeah, I need to go to the northwest corner of the Sandspit, where it meets the Bogs. The entrance to the Tunnels is there.” I almost asked if they would go with me, but then stopped. This was dangerous and I didn’t want to put my friends in danger.
Tam cleared his throat. “I’m coming with you. I won’t let you go there alone.”