Chapter 29 - Luna
CHAPTER 29 - LUNA
S hit was about to get real. My men and I were about to commence the most dangerous mission ever, one with little chance of success. We had to do it. Had to cross into the djinn planet to stop my grandfather from seizing control of the sixth element and enslaving this world and all the others.
“Wear this.” Talon gave Gable a Tollen’s suit to wear, and he changed into it, making it easier to sneak my dark lover in.
No one said a word to us as the three of us navigated the hall to the room to portal to the djinn realm. Several Tollens saluted Talon as we went, and eyeballed Gable, probably thinking him their new recruit. Arriving at our destination, Talon glanced left and right, then let us into the room, locking the door behind him and barring it with a chair under the door.
Stomach twisting in knots, I secured my hair in a ponytail to prevent the winds of the djinn realm from getting it in my face. My four men amassed at the glowing, golden arrangement of planets orbiting the sun of the human galaxy, ready to portal to the djinn world.
We executed this mission fast after my rescue and return to Gable’s loft. Talon had an emergency meeting with the headmaster to fill him in.
The conversation sharpened in my mind.
“Camus must be stopped at all costs.” The headmaster rubbed his thickening layer of gray-brown stubble. “But I won’t be able to get approval to send a force to thwart him for a few hours. Kymbal is a thorn in my side and drags out decisions.”
Fucking Kymbal. The slimeball Gildron whose family connections aided his evasion of discipline for using dark magick spells when staff and students were expelled and sent packing. When we dealt with my grandfather, we were turning our focus to him and avenging Astra.
“We don’t have a few hours, sir,” Talon pressed, bouncing his leg, impatient to get the go-ahead to march into the Cairn of the Elements to stop our enemy. “Camus has access to a sixth power, and we cannot let that fall into his hands.”
“I fear you’re right.” I was surprised the headmaster didn’t shave off his stubble with all the abrasive motions. “You realize the risks if I authorize you to go?”
“Absolutely.” Talon clutched his spear baton.
“Very well.” The headmaster leaned forward and grabbed a sticky note, scribbling something on it. “This is my code to access the Terra Room. Use it to travel to the djinn planet to stop him. This way, it won’t activate an alarm.”
“Are you sure, sir?” Talon stared at the numbers he accepted from the headmaster.
“Go before it’s too late.” The headmaster waved us away. “If you’re not back within twenty-four hours, I’ll send a rescue squad.”
We could be dead by then, but it was better than nothing.
“Thank you, sir.” Talon stood, lifting me from my seat, marching me out the door, and together we enacted a plan to get Gable inside these walls, into the Terra Room to cross over with us.
Talon punching in the headmaster’s code into the portal apparatus brought me back to the present, and I straightened.
We needed to utilize this method for travel between worlds because it channeled more Veil power than a human could handle. Large crystals in the machine were designed to conduct the amount of Veil energy necessary. Blue-white energy charged between the crystal prongs, illuminating the dim space and breaching a conduction window.
“Head on out.” Talon swept his arm back and forth as if ordering his soldiers into war. And what a war it would be. The war to save our lives and this world.
We crossed as one unit into the multi-colored landscape, different from the one we encountered previously. The one constant was the bite of the sun on my skin and the drying out my lips. We took a moment to orient ourselves. Colored sand ridges, valleys, mountains, and flats. Lands of fire, pools of lava, molten rivers and ash on the ground. Forests crawled with life, plants, fruits, ancient trees and everything nature had to offer. Floating cities, trees were shaking from a breeze, whirlwinds dancing across the desert. Darkness, death, and destruction. Nothing alive for miles. A palace made of shells. A sky with a gaping hole in it where the Veil had been torn.
“Which way to the Cairn of the Elements?” Talon squinted at Blaze.
At my teacher’s direction, Talon marched us to the north—at least, I think it was north by the direction of the sun, but this was a different world. Our leader scanned the scenery, on the lookout for gantii or any djinn wandering the terrain. By my estimate, we made it a mile before the water bubbles emerged from the sand, blocking our path. From them emerged the same four djinni we met previously, this time brandishing spears with tips carved from shells. They smelled like salty sea, dry sand, and sweet like tropical fruits.
“You shouldn’t have come here, Yar… brother,” the male Marid chief who went by the name Pasuntha addressed Blaze. “The serpent’s magick is forbidden. You cannot be here. Leave.”
We couldn’t afford for the Marids to prevent us from getting to the Cairn of the Element when both our worlds hung in the balance.
Blaze crossed a fist over his chest then raised it to his forehead in some sort of respectful greeting. “I request permission to travel to the Cairn of the Elements. The Snake Lord is here, and he means to access a power called the sixth element, which can grant its master control of all power.”
The Marids spat as they spoke, indicating they knew of this legend, and it made me curious why they didn’t harness the power.
“The Snake Lord must not obtain this power,” Pasuntha said. “We appreciate you warning us, brother. We will take care of it. Farewell.”
They turned to leave, but Blaze remained unmoving.
“Jinjiri owes me a life debt, and I demand it is paid,” he called out to them, and they stopped in their tracks.
I collected on the debt the djinn king owed Blaze, and that left Jinjiri’s to be fulfilled.
Pasuntha glanced back at his companions and spoke in the language of the djinn, which sounded heated and Arabic in origin.
Eventually, Jinjiri grabbed Blaze’s shoulders, pressing her forehead to his in a gesture of solidarity and support. The beads and sequins of her corset rustled with her movement. “I honor my life debt to save you from the serpents.”
My throat dried as the Marids argued among themselves before Pasuntha relented, ushering us into his travel bubbles and transporting us to the Cairn.
The closer we floated to our destination, the more the power I’d absorbed from the Cairn of the Elements flared inside of me. Weak and distant but ever present. I wondered if I could recharge upon the stone and challenge my grandparents. Except, I needed the djinn king’s assistance in the ritual. Or perhaps Blaze might be able to perform it from his familiarity with it.
Pasuntha delivered us to the stairs at the base of the Cairn. Whirlpools of power danced around the edges of the Veil breach I tore open to march into Earth and rescue Blaze. Snakes crawled under my skin as the Serpent King and Queen raised their arms and intoned dark words to summon the sixth elemental, lightning cracking around them.
“Stop them,” Pasuntha ordered his three companions, marching up the stairs, my men and I close behind them.
At the top of the dais, Sanctuary stomped forward, making a circle around my grandparents. Cole and Talon launched an offensive to pare them back and aid us to retrieve the glowing sigil from her upturned palm. Dark magick sparked against the light as Talon’s spear collided with the Sanctuary’s canes. Blood splattered as Cole’s weapons tore through the dark soldier’s lines. I’d never seen anything as majestic and lethal. The Sanctuary redirected my lover’s attempts to get to their master.
Phoebe clutched the Book of the Dead in the crook of one elbow, she and her husband uttering the final word from the spell. My mind shuddered with the power they woke. Lines of Veil energy flexed at the movement of something enormous hidden in its fabric. An ominous, damned beauty, emerging from the Veil hole at my grandparents’ command.
Phoebe’s face lit up. “Come to me, my love.”
A churning fury of clouds and lightning formed the head of a giant snake, curling in descent from the sky. Of course, it had to be a fucking snake, didn’t it? Or perhaps that was my grandparents’ notion of power.
“Stop!” I shouted over the thunder roaring above, hoping I still possessed some connection over the ultimate power that might stop this.
Phoebe turned and looked at me, at my men and four djinni behind me. “How gallant of you, my dear, bringing the djinni and your coterie of man-sluts to accompany you.” With a smug smile, she turned to address her husband. “Deal with them, my love.”
“With pleasure, dearest.” Camus’ maniacal smile froze my blood. His pupils reshaped into slits as he called on his snake magick. “ Vnac nuk kyna .”
The dark words of the serpent tongue dragged down my back like Lycan claws.
Magenta light pulsed in Blaze’s snake tattoo and his eyes. Oh, fuck, Camus took control of him again. The coward always puppeted others to do his dirty work, hiding behind them as a barrier of protection.
I lunged for my bonded, grabbing his arm. “No, Blaze, listen to me. Resist it!” I chanted my own words, making Camus laugh, and Blaze shove me away.
Gable caught me and steadied me. “Easy there, Blaze,” he hissed, deploying his snake powers, the influence thrumming in my veins, twisting Blaze’s head in our direction.
“You’re no match for me, boy!” Camus asserted his authority in a stupid pissing contest. “I taught you everything you know.”
“Wanna bet?” Gable released a bolt of white magick that thrust him back.
White light exploded as Cole and Talon broke through the line of soldiers and went to work on my grandmother to stop her from seizing control of the sixth elemental.
My grandfather sneered and gripped my lover’s shoulder. “Young Blaze, kill anyone that’s indecently touched my granddaughter.”
My bonded turned like a robot to face us. Dark red globes blossomed on his palms. Jinjiri tackled him to the ground and her companions wrestled to hold his arms down.
“Houston, we have a fucking problem!” Gable shouted, calling on his dark and light powers, deflecting a crimson projectile directed his way from a Sanctuary coming to Camus’ aid.
Two Marids broke away from Blaze and went to battle with Camus, throwing him aside from their kin. Camus’ skin shrank as they pulled the water from his body, desiccating him. Fuck. He looked like a dehydrated snake with beady eyes.
“Blaze, no, please.” I made it two steps when a hand clamped on my arm, jerking me back.
“Leave him, love.” I stared up into Gable’s grey eyes.
He pointed to the snake coiling in the air, easily as long as ten football fields and quite possibly the largest being I’d seen in my life. It landed on the ground, and everything shook. If it weren’t for his grip, I would have landed on my ass.
He shook me gently, calling my attention back to him. “Think you can take back the sigil, love? I’ll distract her.”
An impossible ask, but I was willing to try.
“Come, my love.” Phoebe coaxed the elemental, and the furious python cloud slithered closer. “Assist my husband and take care of these fools for me. Then bring the djinn world under my command.”
My eyes widened as the elemental opened its mouth and roared. Chaos unleashed on the Cairn. Clouds of darkness wrapped around the foundations, which rumbled, stone crumbling from the structure, sending us toppling.
Blaze rolled free and climbed to one knee, beating at his djinn family with crimson blows, defending the master claiming his mind.
“Now, Princess,” Gable urged.
As if by some stroke of luck, Talon and Cole took out the last Sanctuary and charged at the Queen of Serpents, bowling her over, knocking the sigil from her palm. I raced over and captured it. Cole restrained Phoebe’s arms behind her back, preventing her from etching any spells.
Camus’ expression turned murderous. “Get your hands off my wife, you vile Guild filth!” he croaked as his skin cracked and flaked like a snake shedding scales rather than his entire skin.
Talon climbed to his feet and spun his spear. “Get ready to die, snakes .”
The freedom gave me time to take charge of the elemental python.
“ Rarc vul shak .” My first order. Bow to me, great beast.
“ Yarbara ,” the beast hissed and stopped in front of me, a good ten feet away, dropping its head. Close enough to eat me if my plan didn’t work.
The name translated to snake whisperer. I bet old Grandaddy regretted teaching me the serpent language now.
“ Sluv nek vena kev shi, shak .” Two more orders. “ Destroy the Dark Queen and King who summoned you, do no harm to the djinni or my men and I, and I will free you.”
Vibrations rippled up my leg as the elemental rumbled with delight, wanting nothing more than to rid itself of the lowly creatures who woke it and disturbed its slumber. Executing my command, it slid up the side of the Cairn and cranked open its colossal jaws. My breakfast threatened to resurface as I scampered out of the way. Lightning crackled as it came down hard on Phoebe, her screams dying out.
“What did you do, you fool?” Camus came at me with a pulsing ball of dark magick, ready to wipe me from the face of this planet for his last action before his expiration.
Talon thumped him on the back of the head, and he went down. The elemental thundered down over him.
“Wait!” Gable shouted at me.
I held my hand in the air, warning the elemental to halt, and it obeyed, hissing with impatience to be done with the Snake Queen and King. Long fangs made of electricity flashed with power.
Gable removed a stick from his pocket and unwound the black ribbon and hair wound around it. “Now we’re no longer tethered to him. Please proceed, Princess.” He kissed my cheek.
“Bossy.” I tapped his ass.
He drew me into his arm, leaning me on his chest. “I prefer to think of it as knowing that I want.”
I laughed and shook my head, gazing back at the darkening storm composing the python elemental’s body. “Finish him,” I commanded, and the mighty jaws swallowed my grandfather.
Thunder rumbled and lightning flickered as the snake waited for its freedom. A promise was a promise.
I went to release it when Gable grabbed my shoulder and said, “Not yet, Princess. I think you have a little more work to do before you let this beast go.”