Chapter 19
Iwoke in Gabriel’s arms, feeling groggy and disoriented. That was right, back at the apartment, we had decided to take a nap. With the adventures of the first two pathways, I wanted to be ready for the next.
I realized a moment later what had woken me. Sebastian was standing at the foot of the bed. Gabriel was already awake, glaring at him.
Longing for more sleep, I lifted a pillow and threw it at Sebastian, who disappeared in a cloud of darkness then quickly reformed. Startled, Ringo hopped down off the bed. I hadn’t realized he had been sleeping next to my head.
Sebastian’s eyes flashed with fire as he looked down at us. “It’s time to create the pathway for my sister.”
I slumped back against the bed, grumbling, “And did she finally tell you what pathway she wanted?”
“She did not.”
That finally woke me up. I sat up in bed next to Gabriel. “Seriously? She knows she’ll have to tell us at some point, right?”
“She’ll tell us when she chooses. There is no clause in the contract forcing her to tell us in advance.”
“Yeah. Sure.” I raked my hair out of my face. At least we could delay the fairy realm for a little while longer. That would be the final pathway to the far realms. We would still need to take care of the other near realms, but those should be more simple.
And since some of the more powerful beings could still travel to the near realms without pathways, I doubted any of those were where the darkness was lurking. I had been to the hells myself, and I didn’t meet any creepy darkness there. Other than Penelope.
Sebastian tapped his foot impatiently.
I waved him off. “Yeah, yeah.”
Gabriel climbed out of bed first, then offered me his hand. We had been so cozy snuggled up, and I wanted nothing more than to return to my cocoon. But duty called, and the sooner we were done with Penelope, the better.
But what could she want in another realm? She could already reach the hells herself. Maybe the angelic realm? I supposed there was only one way to find out.
We all went out into the kitchen where Crispin was waiting. The impressive view of the city was alight with sunset colors, everything pink, red, and orange. We had been napping longer than I’d realized.
I heard the first burble of the coffee pot while I looked out the tall line of windows, making me glance over at Sebastian. “Do we really need to create Penelope’s pathway tonight? Morning kind of seems… better.”
Sebastian didn’t answer. He simply fetched a mug and poured a large amount of cream inside. Since he usually took his coffee black, I knew it was for me. And that answered my question. Hopefully Mistral would be ready for another adventure.
I looked down at my watch as it buzzed, seeing a new text from Dawn.
Eva, HOW COULD YOU?!?!
I considered ignoring it, but my curiosity won out. I hit the dictation button, then said, “How could I what?” Gabriel watched me curiously as I hit send on the typed out message.
It didn’t take long for my watch to buzz again. How could you form a pathway for Rian to return to his homeland without telling me?
“Probably should have thought of that,” I muttered as Crispin moseyed over to read the text over my shoulder.
“Ah, yes. We discussed that after you abandoned me at the palace. Rian will be amongst the first group of volunteers to cross the pathway.”
I glared over my shoulder at Crispin. “You could have warned me.”
“You were sleeping.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.
I sighed. “Well she’s just going to have to be upset for now. I don’t have time to go console her.”
Sebastian approached us, handing me my coffee as another text came through.
And another thing! You might want to know that a wave of magic hit the city last night.
Alarmed, I scrolled down to continue reading.
To those unable to sense it, it was just a blackout. But as you know, plenty of us could tell otherwise and guess the source.
Reading along over my shoulder again, Crispin’s eyebrows shot up. “That source being you, I’m assuming.”
“Oh be quiet.” I hit the dictation button again. “Did anything else happen?”
Oh, so that you reply to.
“DAWN,” I dictated in all caps.
I thought she might not reply just to teach me a lesson, but after a moment of me sipping my coffee, another message came through.
No other obvious differences like the lights going out for twenty minutes, But it feels different out here. Can’t you tell? Or are you cozied up in bed in the Bogs? You know, I had half a mind to go drag you out. Don’t forget that I have troll blood. I can go beyond those gates.
I didn’t bother explaining to her that I was actually in the city, but we had jumped right to the hidden apartment. I hadn’t gone out to notice anything amiss.
“We should probably look into this,” Crispin said as Sebastian gripped my wrist to also read the text. Gabriel didn’t seem terribly concerned with whatever it said.
Done reading, Sebastian dropped my wrist. “We can look into it after you create the pathway.”
He really wanted to kill his sister. “We have to be sure this doesn’t have something to do with the darkness.
Maybe it’s nothing, or maybe something crept through without us noticing.
” I met Crispin’s waiting gaze and knew he was thinking the same thing I was.
It had crept past him into his home realm without him noticing.
It could have very well gotten to earth the same way, hiding from us until it was ready to travel.
“And what do you suggest we do about it?” Sebastian said tersely.
I looked at each of the guys, but it was only Crispin who had something to offer. “Perhaps we should ask the nymphs. They are the ones most tied to the earth outside of the boundaries. If there’s been a shift, they might be able to tell us exactly what it is.”
I took another sip of my coffee. It was almost dark outside now. I was really glad I had at least gotten a nap.
“Nymphs, then the pathway for Penelope.” I looked at Gabriel. “Can you have someone send word to Mistral?”
He nodded and pulled out his phone. There were plenty of goblins in the city he could contact to carry a message in his stead.
For now, I wanted him with us, just in case whatever Dawn sensed was the darkness within the city.
Because Marcie was right about one thing.
If we let the darkness free, we were going to have one very pissed off ancient vampire and her entire brood of minions biting at our heels—or necks, as it were.
We jumped directly to the nymphs’ park. I was really starting to get the hang of this traveling business.
Of course, I still wasn’t tactful enough to be discreet.
A human woman let out a surprised scream when we appeared too close to her.
We didn’t try to attack her, but she took one look at Gabriel with his sword and ran.
Or maybe she had noticed my sword too, though I was doing my best to keep it mostly hidden. Walking around with swords in the city wasn’t exactly legal. And anyways, the small blue goblin on my shoulder probably drew more attention, even in the darkness.
At least the other woman near the park didn’t scream and run.
Isadora merely watched us with a bemused expression.
She wore a cropped white T-shirt, frayed jean shorts, and an oversized flannel.
A trucker hat covered most of her red pixie cut.
She held a strange device in her hands, part of it a metal box, and part of it clear glass filled with glittering liquid.
“What are you doing here?” I asked as the guys released their hold on me.
Taking each of them in, Isadora looked even more amused.
“Something real strange is going on.” She shook her little device.
“And whatever it is seems to be concentrated right here.” She pointed her device at the gates, and the glittery liquid turned from clear to glowing purple.
“I just wish I could get one of the nymphs to come out here so I can question them.”
“Ringo and I can go in and ask if you want,” I said. It really wouldn’t take long to find one of the nymphs, and hopefully they would have answers for all of us.
Gabriel cleared his throat behind me, and I looked back and shrugged. “Hey, unless any of you have nymph blood, it’s our only option. Sebastian‘s free pass expired after our meeting with Penelope.”
The nymphs were closely tied to the earth, but that didn’t mean their boundary wasn’t powerful. In fact, it was probably more so. Knowing everyone was about to argue, I quickly pushed open the gate and stepped through, shifting across the boundary.
I turned back to find both Crispin and Gabriel reaching for me. Sebastian merely narrowed his eyes.
Not noticing the tension, Isadora slid up to Crispin. When she pointed her little device at him, it glowed green and glittery. “Have you ever considered donating some of your magic to science?”
“Eva,” Gabriel warned.
I stepped backwards, further into the park, smiling. “C’mon. Ringo and I can jump right back to you if there’s trouble. This will save us all time.”
Crispin was too busy trying to get away from Isadora to comment, and Sebastian merely made a shooing gesture, no doubt anxious to move on to the pathway business.
Giving Gabriel an apologetic shrug, I turned around and started walking, looking around for any nymphs as I went.
With the nymphs as our allies and my great grandfather no longer trying to kidnap me, I should be safe enough.
Although, the darkness and the silence of the park had me feeling a little nervous.
I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans and kept walking, trying to enjoy the moonlit greenery and the feel of water in the air from the small lake.
I knew if the nymphs didn’t want me to find them, I wouldn’t, but hopefully someone I knew would pop out soon enough.
I could sense the extra magic now that Isadora had mentioned, and it was making me extra nervous.
“Where are they?” Ringo whispered in my ear.
“You know how nymphs can be. They’ll hide in a tree or a puddle until the perfect moment to startle you.” At least, I hoped that was the case.
“You know, I resent that.”
I turned abruptly at the sound of the voice behind me, relieved to see Seraphina standing there.
I knew she favored trees above water, so she had probably been hiding in one until I passed.
Even her brown skin and darker brown hair matched the varying shades of tree bark.
She had a little bit of flour dusting her casual purple floral dress and matching lightweight cardigan, so I knew she must have come straight here from her bakery.
As I thought it, Ringo stood up on my shoulder, lifting his nose in the air.
“Sorry little one,” Seraphina said. “I don’t have any cookies, and your mother never comes by the bakery anymore.”
“Been kind of busy.”
She walked toward us, then moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with me so we could both look out toward the lake. “You most certainly have. How many pathways do we have now?”
“Two,” I answered. “We were supposed to go to a near realm next, but my ex boss texted me about a magical blackout, then a friend said there was some magical occurrence here at the park.” I turned my head to look at her. “Know anything about that?”
She was still looking out across the lake, probably searching for her sister, who favored water.
“Something felt different when I woke this morning. I tried to brush it off and opened the bakery like usual, then my assistant, who’s half elf, came in for her evening shift and mentioned the disturbance.
I came straight here.” Her eyes narrowed at a ripple of light on the water, but nothing emerged.
“Someone should have greeted us by now.”
A little shiver went down my spine. This was officially getting spooky. “Do you think you could give permission for the guys to come in? They might be able to help with whatever is going on.”
She shook her head, still gazing across the lake. “Only my father can do that, or if he’s dead, his successor.”
Ringo huddled closer to my neck as I asked, “Do you really think he’s dead? What exactly is going on here?”
Her eyes remained on the water, worry now creasing her brow. Worry over her little sister, I was sure. “I don’t know, but someone really should have greeted us by now.”