Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
“Where are we going?” I ask Jaak. We’re not on the move anymore, not since we had the ‘what are we’ talk and I asked him to stay with me. We’re standing together while Jaak works on feeling out his power to teleport us somewhere safe.
I trust him enough. I mean, he’s been through my worst night terrors with me but still, a girl likes to know what to expect when teleporting.
“A safe house. There’s one in the town where the mages live.”
“You have a safe house there?”
“Your mind was not the only one that I entered during my imprisonment. When the mages began to visit the clearing, I was able to enter their minds then. One of them was…” Jaak tilts his head like he’s trying to find the word in his memory, “he’s a real…
no, that can’t be it…” he sighs and tries again, “an agent of estates?”
I blink in surprise. “A real estate agent?”
He snaps his fingers. “That’s it. You are very clever, wife.”
My cheeks warm at his praise. “Thanks.”
“In this agent’s mind I saw the safe house.
We will be able to rest there for the night and make our plan of attack on the town of Bitter Root and its mages of chaos.
They will rue the day they thought to command Jaakobah the Destroyer.
Once we have the lay of the land we will be able to find their leader, and when we do, we will defeat them in combat ensuring your friend’s safety and yours. ”
I blink in surprise. “Mine? But they’re after Charlie, right? Not me.”
“As you remember, I said your mind was open, susceptible to receiving memories of beings long gone. Your mind will be their next target. The memories you have are priceless to mages.”
I lift a hand to my head. “You mean people want my nightmares.”
“They would kill to know what you’ve seen.
It’s only a matter of time before they find you with the way the lesser demons have been attacking your home.
Your town is under siege right now because they sense great power within it.
The Harbinger and her demon are one source, your friend’s games book another, as well as the witch that haunts your woods, and then, of course, there’s you. ”
“When you put it like that I see why power hungry mages would want to take us down.”
“Precisely. Now we must make haste.” He motions for me to come closer to him. “I am still weak from dealing with the mages and my power is slow to regenerate after being imprisoned, but I think I have enough to transport us now.”
“Power? I think I can help with that,” I tell him and reach for the power that I know I should have. When I do, it’s there. It’s faint but the magic sparks up against my fingers. “I don’t have much either right now but I can give it to you.”
“You would do that for me?”
“Of course, I would,” I answer and bring my hands to his.
“I don’t know how to do this but this kind of feels right.
” I let go of the power and let it flow out of me and into Jaak’s hands.
The silver shines in the moonlight for a second before it’s gone, absorbed right into his skin without so much as a sparkle left behind. “Neat.”
“Verily,” he says and then nods to himself. “That was more than enough. You’re a powerful witch, Meadow.”
Again, his praise makes me blush and I give him a shy smile. “Thank you.”
“Now come close and hold on tight. I cannot risk you being swept away by the arcane. We are about to move through time and space, and the flow of time is strong.”
“Right. Stay close. Don’t get swept away by time.” I come forward and then wrap my arms around Jaak’s waist. My cheek presses against his chest and I try to ignore the way my jacket awkwardly pokes me in the belly. Gods, why is my husband this beautiful? I’m not ready for this kind of thing.
Jaak puts a hand on my shoulder and I jump. “Ready?” he asks.
“Y-yes. I’m ready.”
“Do not look anywhere but at me. No matter what you hear, do not look,” Jaak says and wraps his arms around me and I almost swoon from the perfect feel of it even though he just gave me a cryptic warning about looking at things. “Take a deep breath and clear your mind. We’ll be there in no time.”
“Sure, right, I can follow a few directions. Nothing to be scared of when it comes to teleporting, not even a little bit.”
Jaak doesn’t answer, he does whatever demons do when they teleport and then we’re moving.
My body feels like it’s coming apart and melding into his all at once.
My bones feel heavy and my muscles feel loose and liquid.
I hold on tighter to him and I’m surprised when I feel him firm and solid against me.
Jaak’s body reminds me that I’m solid and in one piece.
I open my eyes to look up at him but the moment my eyes are open I realize what a bad idea it was to do that.
Something flashes behind Jaak’s head. I don’t know what it is because I wasn’t lying when I said I could follow a few rules.
I grew up in a cult. I’m a pro at following rules.
All kinds of rules. You name them and I’ll follow them, no questions asked.
The thing behind Jaak is dark, like a shadow and it blocks out the swirling clouds around us.
Again, I don’t look so I can’t tell if it’s clouds but what looks like a cloud drifts in front of my nose and hides Jaak’s face from me.
He’s looking out at whatever is moving around us like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
Whatever he doesn’t want me to see out there doesn’t scare him one bit.
There’s a scream behind me and I swear I feel something brush against my leg before a wave of fetid air rolls over us.
Oh my gods, is something screaming behind me?
There’s a low rumble that sounds especially like a growl and then a huff of hot air that I know has to be breath.
Yup, it’s a mouth. My arms start to hurt from how hard I squeeze Jaak.
A flash of red appears and disappears to the left of us, before everything goes dark.
Whatever is behind me moves closer, I expect to feel its sharp teeth biting into me but it doesn’t come.
Jaak jerks forward, the movement surprises me and I scream.
My feet touch solid ground a moment later and the darkness vanishes.
All around me I can hear the night sounds of the forest, the cool air hits my hands where they’re still locked in a death grip on Jaak.
There’s no weird flashing lights or death breath blowing on me anymore and overhead an owl hoots.
It’s over.
Still, I don’t lift my head. I don’t open my eyes. It’s a well practiced dance I’m used to executing. I’ve done it since I was a kid and the nightmares paralyzed me.
Just don’t look, Meadow, don’t look, just keep your eyes shut for a minute longer and it’ll go away.
I was right, it always did go away. Just like it has now. It’s not so bad now that I think about it. At least I have Jaak. Still,I can’t lift my head.
“I-is it safe? Is it over?” I ask, voice just above a whisper. I sound exhausted, wrung out and weak. My knees shake and I hate it. Why am I always so…so…
“It is safe, witchling. Open your eyes.”
My breath comes out in a rush. I run from my head full of thoughts and open my eyes. I blink a few times to get my bearings and smile when I see Jaak.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I lie.
Jaak doesn’t answer, he looks behind me and frowns. “It was not good. The Augers should not have been able to get so close to you. I failed you, Meadow.”
“What? No, no you didn’t. I’m fine. What’s an Auger?”
Jaak shifts forward and gives something a toss. I hear it hit the ground with a thud. From the sound of it, it rolls too. “Malevolent beings. Scavengers. They flit from world to world in search of their next meal. They feast upon the fears of weaker beings until they’ve claimed their souls.”
“Big yikes,” I say, turning around to see what he tossed.
Jaak reaches for me but it’s too late. “Meadow, no. Don’t look.”
“I never want to come face to face with one of those and oh my gods what is that?!” I scream and throw myself back into Jaak’s arms. Ten feet away there’s a massive head.
It has to be taller than me and just as wide as it is tall.
At least, I think it’s a head? It has to be from the row of sharp teeth I see coming out of the biggest hole in its face.
Oh my gods, if it’s not a mouth, what is it?
It’s white and furry, or some of it is. Blood stains the white fur, making the thing shine in the moonlight.
There’s one pointed ear with a few gold hoops in it and they sway in the wind, pinging lightly when they hit each other.
“You were holding that,” I say, pointing a shaking finger at the head.
Jaak steps in front of me and turns me away from the thing. “I was. I did not mean to bring it with us, but there was no time. A most inopportune chain of events.”
“What do you mean you didn’t mean to bring it with us? Where did you even get it? I might have had my eyes closed but nobody was passing out free monster heads in there, Jaak.”
“The Auger pushed its luck. It thought to make an easy meal of you and for that I blame myself. It should have never been able to get that close to you. I’ll not let it happen again. That I swear to you.”
They flit from world to world in search of their next meal. They feast upon the fears of weaker beings until they’ve claimed their souls.
“It wanted to eat me because I was scared, didn’t it?” I ask.
“Fear is natural. A completely normal emotion to experience.”
“Are you ever afraid?”
“No.”
I cross my arms. “So it was me. Of course it was me. I probably smelled like a five course spread to that thing. An all you can eat buffet of fear.” I laugh, but the sound is wrong.
It’s hollow and bitter. Tears prick my eyes at once again being made vulnerable through my fear. I wish I wasn’t so afraid all the time.
“I am out of practice. Had I been more prepared the Auger wouldn’t have dared to consider attacking you. Next time will be better. You will see.”
I nod numbly while Jaak hustles me forward as he talks about the pros and cons of teleporting and it’s only when my foot hits a porch step that I realize where we are.
The safe house.
I look up the steps to see a wrap around porch with a porch swing.
There’s leaves all over it, most of them have blown together to make a pile in a corner by the door, there’s a few scattered papers that look weathered and old too.
No one has lived here in a long time. I look around me and see weeds in the yard and there’s a flower bed the weeds have overtaken to the left of us.
The house itself is big, two stories and pretty in the kind of way that I used to imagine fairytale cottages, though I never imagined one this size.
I can’t make out the colors in the dark but I can tell it’s made out of stone.
Big windows shine in the moonlight on the second floor and I wonder what room they belong to.
The roof looks tiled, or at least it does until I look closer and see what looks like grass swaying in the wind.
Okay, make that someone hasn’t lived here in a very, very, long time.
“The safe house is cute,” I tell Jaak when he takes my hand and leads up the stairs.
“It will do for now until our mission is carried out and we can leave this place and you can tell me exactly what kind of home you wish for. I’ll ensure that it’s made perfectly to your specifications.” He waves a hand over the door and the lock clicks open.
“You’re going to build me a house?” I ask him.
Jaak turns to give me a look. “Of course, I am going to build you a home. That is the custom when taking a bride. I am ashamed this home is not truly meant for you, but no matter, we will make do,” he says and then holds his arms out to me.
I’m still stunned by the fact that my new demon husband wants to build me a home, so I don’t process what he wants from me when he motions for me to come closer.
“What’s going on here?”
“For a human that has been a sacrificial bride twice you do not know much of marriage customs, do you?” Jaak picks me up with one arm and opens the door with the other and it finally dawns on me what he’s doing.
I laugh. “Are you carrying me over the threshold?”
“If you know of a better way to protect you from evil spirits in this home, I’d like to know it.”
“Is that why brides get carried over the threshold?” I loop an arm around Jaak’s neck and lean into him. The big monster head doesn’t seem so scary now that there’s some distance between us.
“Yes, it’s a human custom. One of the oldest, and a very potent protective measure when bringing your bride into a new home. You never know when a cursed threshold or spirit is laying in wait.’
“You’re right,” I tell him because he is. “Wait, what do you mean cursed threshold? That can happen to a door?”
“Yes, it’s far more common than you might believe,” he tells me as he walks into the house and closes the door behind us.
This house might not be the place we’ll live, not the custom built house Jaak is talking about making me but there’s something official about seeing the door close after he carries me in.
I give the door a sympathetic pat. “Who would curse a door though?”
“A certifiable maniac.”