Chapter 18- Taz
A PANIC I’VE never felt seizes my chest, like thorns piercing into my very heart.
I’m hyperventilating, cursing up a storm as I feel around the air in the darkness, but to no avail.
The portal above me closed as fast as it opened.
I’m reliving the worst moment of my youth all over again after seeing Luther get sucked up into the Other Side.
No rift. No cultist. No Luther. Only darkness.
“No…nonono…no,” I rasp. My hands pull at my hair as I gaze around, and the dark forest spins around me. Luther can’t be gone.
“Shit,” Necia says. She and Max share looks of shock as they rush up to me. “That portal…”
“It took Luther,” Max says.
“No!” I howl, falling to my knees. As my hands dig into the dirt, I try to even out the panic in my chest.
This isn’t happening.
Still taking rapid breaths, I stand up and retrieve the gauntlet piece from my pocket. This infernal thing―resembling a gilded, bejeweled bracelet―is the reason the cultists were able to do any ritual. With fury in my soul, I’m going to make sure this relic gets him back.
“Taz, what are you doing?” Necia asks in a chastising tone.
“I’m getting Luther.”
“You need a blood sacrifice to use that, I thought,” Max remarks.
“No,” I reply, still studying the object. “We have geo arcanum. Those cultists were weak, so they set about it the best way they could, by using blood.” I step forward and raise my hands. “There are still cracks in the ley lines, weak spots where rifts can be opened.”
“Taz, you can’t seriously be considering opening a rift on your own,” Necia says. “That goes against every rule―”
“They TOOK LUTHER!” I shout, finally looking at my friends. “That blasted dimension took EVERYTHING from me! I won’t just stand here while it takes another person I LOVE, and if you won’t help me, then get out of my way!”
Funneling energy into my palms, I direct my magic at Necia. No one will stop me from doing this, not even the agents. The gravity of the moment seems to hit her, so both Max and Necia raise their hands in surrender.
It’s so quiet in the forest, I can only hear the crackling sounds of the distant torches. We’re at a standstill, but I’m not backing down.
“Taz. I’m not going to physically try to stop you,” she says slowly. “I understand you’re hurting.”
“You have no idea,” I say through gritted teeth. “And if you’re not gonna help me―”
“Think clearly for a moment. If you’ve studied the Other Side, you know that every rift is random.”
Taking deep breaths, I recall that what she’s saying is true, and I think I know where she’s going with this.
After a beat, Necia continues, “There’s no guarantee that space and time will work properly if you open up a portal.
” She nervously glances at Max and steps forward with her hands up, knowing I won’t depose her.
“Now I want to get Luther back, but we need to be smart about this. I don’t want you bending the rules just to let out a bunch of monsters. ”
She’s right―there’s no telling what will happen if I cut a hole in our universe. My mind spins with ideas, but I can’t think of a way to guarantee a path to Luther. Even using this potent relic and breaking every policy, I’m not sure of a solution.
And that truth breaks my soul. A sob escapes my lips, and I rasp, “I can’t lose him, Neesh.”
She gives me a sympathetic look as I power down my hands. After a tense moment, Max steps forward and says, “Why don’t we go back to HQ. I’m sure the High Council can come up with a solution.”
“That’s not fast enough,” I reply, wiping the tears from my eyes. “I don’t have time to convince them to even try. Every moment that goes by…”
Images of Luther getting tortured by monsters flood my heart. I shake my hand and put on the bracelet. “I have to do this now. I have to risk it. I’m sorry.”
My hand glows, but before I can infuse the metal with all the magic I can muster, we turn our attention to the steps approaching us. Max quickly lifts up his fist, ready to fight any more cultists. However, the person holding the flashlight is someone I recognize.
“And…that is time,” he says.
“Girish?!” We yelp in unison.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, putting my hand down.
“I’m, um, not sure.” He turns off his flashlight and steps closer to me.
“You see, I occasionally do my own scrying. I get visions of what I’m going to do, or rather, what I should do.
Sometimes it’s fragmented, but if I’m lucky, I can get some important stuff.
My vision told me I needed to be here in this exact place and time, not a moment sooner, so I set my alarm. And well…”
He hands me a scroll, and after sharing perplexed looks with Max and Necia, I take it.
“This is a really obscure spell I found in the library. It’s about finding someone you’ve forged a love bond with, which I guess is like sex?
But it only works across a distance via the astral plane, so you can’t, like, find your lover all around the world.
” He shifts up his glasses. “It’s pretty useless. ”
My heart speeds up, and hope fills my soul. I grin at Necia as my breathing picks up. “This…this is exactly it!” I exclaim.
“See, you said that in my vision, while holding that scroll.” Girish shakes his head. “I find it hard to trust my premonitions, really, but hopefully…”
“Girish, you beautiful wizard,” Max says, tapping my friend’s shoulder. “You couldn’t have arrived ten minutes ago?”
“My vision was explicit to the exact minute I had to arrive, no sooner or later.” He shrugs shyly. “I really don’t get why you would need it.”
“It’s exactly what we need!” I take out my geo arcanum, and Necia does the same.
“Why?” Girish asks, pushing up his glasses. “Hey, wasn’t Luther here on your mission with you?”
Five minutes later, we’ve drawn runes with conjured chalk into the grass. I’m seated in the middle, legs crossed, and the scroll and the gauntlet piece are before me.
“This is a huge risk,” Girish says.
“You came here at this very moment for a reason,” Necia says. “And that’s to save Luther.”
“I still think you should have come sooner,” Max murmurs.
“Sorry,” Girish replies with a frown.
“Don’t apologize, Gear. I trust destiny to pick this moment for a reason. You may have saved us all.” I straighten my spine. “Do we all know the plan?”
The others nod at each other. “Promise me you’ll cut my hand for blood magic when I send you the mental image?” I ask.
Max nods and steps forward. “It’s a lot of magic. There might not be a second shot at this,” he says. He crouches down and touches my chest. “Are you sure you want to risk losing your soul like this?”
“Luther is my heart and soul. No questions here,” I say.
“Aw,” Max says, sharing a smile with Necia. He clears his throat, then nods at me. I nod back and touch the scroll, focusing on the ancient symbols.
Concentrate on Luther’s soul…he has to be…somewhere…
I recall all the times I teased him when we were teenagers. I catalogued every moment he smiled. Then I see the day we met again as adults, all those weeks ago. We took selfies together in Paris. I recall sleeping with him, feeling warm and content in his arms. I’m madly in love with him.
At last, I sense Luther’s presence. Got him!
“Now, Max!”
With my command, my friend pushes my soul out of my body, and I fly across dimensions. Streaks of light and the cosmos themselves pass me by as I’m sent directly to the man I love.
The Other Side consists of a hazy, purple sky with rocks and terrain floating supernaturally with no set pattern.
In this realm, gravity and physics seem to be inconsistent at best. After floating down to one of the paths, I spot my boyfriend wandering around, like he lost his keys in the sand.
Seeing him alive in one piece makes my soul feel light―literally, my soul floats above him. “Luther!”
He looks up at me and smiles. Peering up at my floating aura, he asks, “Taz? Did you get sucked in, too?”
“Not quite. I’m here to get you back.”
“Get me back?”
“Of course! Now stop walking so I can open a portal.”
“Not yet.”
“What?!”
He gazes at a faraway stony island littered with decaying trees. This dimension makes no sense. “I need…need to go there.”
“What?!” I repeat. I try to grab his arm, but phase right through him. Luther uses energy to launch himself up to the other island, floating through the air like an astronaut on the moon. Fortunately, my form is able to fly around and keep up with him.
“Would you stop?”
“No. I hear a human heart beat.”
“Luther!”
“There it is!” Luther stops in front of one tree with a rectangular shape carved into it. It resembles a doorway or a…coffin?
“What the―”
“I can sense him, Taz.” Luther conjures a blade and handily cuts open the wooden door. When it peels off, my heart stops altogether.
My brother!
“Vik,” I murmur. It’s as if no time has passed; Vikrum is asleep, standing upright, with purple vines holding him up. He’s wearing the same outfit as the day he disappeared fifteen years ago.
“Let’s get him out of here.” In moments, Luther cuts away the vines. When Vik’s body falls limply into Luther’s arms, I let out a sob.
“He’s alive. He seems to be asleep,” Luther explains.
“I…I can’t believe it…”
“Alright, babe,” Luther says, holding Vikrum up in a bridal carry. “Get us out of here?”
I nod and mentally send Max an image. Hopefully, he cuts open my wrist promptly to make a portal so we can get out of this hellhole.
Before anything changes, we hear a roar from above. The shrill voice from my recent nightmares seems to echo all around us. “You will release me. You will release the Finality.”
“Cauldrons,” I mutter. The trees begin to shake, like a wind is passing through them. Before I can panic even more, lights float from my astral hand into the space between us, widening into a portal. When I spot my body sitting inside the circle, relief fills my soul.
“Hurry!” I say. Luther nods and steps forward, then gently leaps into the portal. He’s almost all the way through when one wooden branch wraps around his ankle.
“Shit!” he says. He tosses my brother’s limp body through to the real world and allows himself to get dragged back.
“No…nonono.” I try in vain to muster up any magic, but all of my energy is being pooled into the portal.
And it’s rapidly closing. At the same time, my astral form is being torn apart, meaning I need to rush back to my body.
“Luther!”
“Go without me!” He shoots the monstrous tree with energy, but it doesn’t give up its grip. “You have your brother! Go on! I’ll just―”
“You’re not staying! I’m not living this life without you! I love you too much, Luther, please!” My soul is being pulled apart, so I follow my instinct. Floating down to Luther, I pull him in for a kiss.
Somehow, someway, he feels my kiss, despite my astral form. It’s always been Luther Westbrook, no one else. He’s the only who’s completed me.
When I pull back, I notice two of Luther’s heads. Huh?
His soul is in the astral plane. There’s one physical head below, and one astral head in my arms. He’s holding me as we hover above his physical body.
With a grin, his soul reaches down into his own flesh, infusing it with magic.
I reach in and do the same. With a blinding light, Luther’s limp body flares with energy and flies through the shrinking portal.
He’s like a rocket fueled by magic, dragging both of our souls along with us on the journey.
I wake up to a pain in my right palm. I’m lying face up in the grass, and I gaze at the fresh cut on my hand. My left arm, however, is being held by a weight.
Luther!
He coughs and sits up, freeing me. When I sit up, we both wildly touch our chests, ensuring that yes, we’re made of solid mass. I look at him, eyes shining in the firelight. Tears of joy threaten to burst out of me. Before I can say a word, he lunges at me, assaulting my mouth with his.
“I love you, too,” he murmurs against my lips.
“I’m so fucking glad we made it,” I say, relishing his onslaught of kisses. I’m not one for public displays of affection, but for now I’ll make an exception.
“Are you guys back? Like, all of you?” Max asks.
We break apart and gaze up at him and Necia. “Obviously they’re back.” She snickers and points at us. “The way they’re making out? They’ve finally done what they should have done in ninth grade.”
We all laugh, and the pair helps Luther and me stand up.
“Um, excuse me!”
We turn to a pair of bodies on the ground. “Can someone like…please get this person off of me?”
Girish!
The four of us rush over to him and help my brother stand up. He blinks at me while Max helps Girish stand.
Is my nightmare really over? Do I really have my family back?
My heart wants to burst, knowing my brother is in my arms in one piece. “Vikrum? Vikrum, speak to me.”
He rapidly blinks, then looks me up and down. “What…Taz?” he asks with a croaky voice.
I let out a choked laugh, joy bubbling out of my chest. “Who else were you expecting?” I ask as I cry.
Vik studies me in confusion. “How…how did you get so tall?”
The five of us laugh again, and I hug my brother close.
“I can’t believe you survived living in the Other Side,” I say with tears streaming down my cheeks.
Despite all the fighting of the last hour, I don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy.
With all the people surrounding me, I have no intention of being sad again.