Chapter Sixteen – Shadows and Stone
~Likosa~
The surge of Shontae’s energy nearly broke through my shield again.
I wasn’t sure if she knew it, but I felt the moment the invisible barrier cracked.
I’d fortified myself before going to her, but still, when I kissed her, slipped my tongue into her mouth, I felt her energy pushing against me, wanting me to let her in to see everything.
Leaving the way I did was another show of cowardice. I vanished before she could open her eyes, trying to protect myself from that look of hurt when I pulled away. Shontae tasted like summer. She tasted of a youthful soul, freedom, and optimism.
Her lips made me reminisce about days I could never get back, and maybe that’s why she could get to me so easily, why I couldn’t hide from her. It took me to a place, mentally, where I didn’t want to hide anymore.
“This will be okay. We will fix this.” I stood at the edge of the pool in my cave, leaning down to fill the jar with water. Payment for Amelsia.
“What will you fix?” The deep voice should have shocked me, but I felt him before he appeared. Still, he hadn’t received an invitation, and it irritated me that he had the nerve to show up there.
“Cufio, what are you doing here?” I rolled my eyes, not turning to meet the face of the silly man behind me. “I don’t recall inviting you in, and you know how I feel about unexpected visitors. Unless Rayna is with you again, I suggest you leave.”
“Hey, I was out there knocking for hours on end! Of course, that just led me to worry about my dear, sweet Likosa. What kind of friend would I be if I hadn’t come in to make sure you were okay?”
“Right, I find that totally believable.” If nothing else, the shadow walker knew how to lay it on thick! “What do you want?”
“Klougus sent me. He wants an update.” When I turned to him, he stood there posing, looking at his nails as if he were completely uninterested in my answer. But, of course, I knew better.
“Cufio, my answer is the same this time as it was the last, and you can let him know that.” I peered at the water shifting inside the jar. “Or did you keep it from him?”
“Right. No, of course I told him. And as you can imagine, he wasn’t at all happy with that response. Now you want me to tell him the same thing?”
“Afraid to go back and tell him?” I couldn’t help the smirk that lifted the corner of my lips. This man was practically trembling in front of me. I wondered how long it took for him to regret his choice to go back to join Klougus’s team.
“I’m not afraid of anything. It’s like you don’t know me at all. I’m here because I’m interested in you, dear, sweet Likosa.” He looked around, searching for anything to serve as a distraction. “Tell me, what are you working on? Need any help with anything?”
“You’re so transparent.” I shook my head as I laughed at the pathetic shadow walker.
“Hey, I’m made of shadows. What do you expect from me?
” He shrugged. “You know that old guy doesn’t take the answer ‘no’ lightly.
Excuse me for wanting to hold off on giving it to him.
I’m pretty sure he tried to take out his own child because she didn’t want to give him what he wanted. What do you think he’ll do to me?”
“You’re the one who chose to go back.”
“True. I should work on my decision-making skills. You think Windsor would be willing to help me out with that?” He twirled in front of me, as if putting himself on display.
I’d seen more of him than I ever needed to, but his performance sparked an idea that would solve one of my problems. I needed a method of containing the flame Amelsia would create for me. A shadow walker could create one with the proper guidance.
“Actually, I can use you.” I sighed. “You have a specific skill that will come in handy.”
“Use me, Likosa. Please, I beg of you.” He dropped to his knees. “Finally take me into your pool of magical waters.”
“Get off your knees and stop begging.” I glanced back at the water. “I told you, I will never sully my water with your soul.”
“So harsh. What have I done to deserve this from you?”
“Hmm, let me consider your question.” I tapped my chin. “Two seconds ago, you were trying to convince me to get my friend to help you. Maybe if you weren’t so fickle in your pursuits, you could actually land a mate.”
“Fine, break my heart for the hundredth time.” He stood. “Tell me what you need and let me be of service.”
“Your friend, the one made of stone—what is his name?”
“Noville?” Cufio’s face twisted in disbelief. “That’s the big favor? You need me to retrieve a stone demon?”
“Technically, I will need you both to complete the task. Run along and get him, then meet me at Amelsia’s home by the river. Can you do that, or is that too complicated?”
“I’m sorry, you want us to go to the ehkunilke’s home? You’ve lost your mind, haven’t you?” He chuckled. “Remind me to stay far away from Earth from now on. It must be something in the air down there that makes something dissolve in the brain.”
“Do I look as if I am without my mind?” As my temper rose, increasingly pushed by his banter, the water behind me raged. The sloshing sounds of the active waves were implied exclamations.
“Likosa, you know how dangerous that is.” Cufio shook his head. “If she even thinks we are there to hurt her…and you know everyone always thinks a shadow walker comes to stir up drama.”
“It’s no more dangerous than aligning yourself with the man who tried to end your brother’s life. Now, are you going to help me or not? I have little time to stand here, debating the topic.”
“Yes, okay. We’ll be there. But then, you have to take me into the water.” He looked over my shoulder at the pool. “Fair trade.”
“I will make no such promise. Just do as I ask.”
“Everyone else can cut a deal with you but me. Fine.” He relented. “I don’t know why I’m so nice to you. But at this point, I’ll do anything to keep me from going back to the big guy with another no.”
“And there’s your fair trade.” I waved him off. “Do hurry and run.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He saluted me and then vanished, stepping into the shadows. After everything was said and done, I would have to punish him for breaking my rules. It didn’t matter to me who he worked for—I allowed no one entry to my domain without my permission.
I capped the water and stared at it. Giving it to her would break a longstanding promise to myself never to share the waters of my world, but I had no choice.
Shontae was hurting because of me. She didn’t deserve to have her abilities stifled.
Selfishly, I wanted her to be okay so she could still help me reach my goal.
Do I still want it?
This was not the time to second-guess myself. I’d plotted for centuries, the weight of the quest heavy on my soul. Only in the recent past had the possibility of success seemed attainable.
“Goddess, forgive me,” I muttered before leaving my cavern to return to Amelsia’s home.
Inside the cozy cottage, she waited for me, once again rocking in her chair, but this time with a cup in her hand. I noticed immediately it had nothing inside. As the door shut behind me, her eyes locked on my face, and she stood eagerly, holding the cup out to me.
“What is that?”
“For the water. Please.”
“You’re going to drink it?” I frowned. “Is that your plan?”
She pulled the cup back, tucking it behind her. “It is of no concern to you.”
“That would be easier to say if you hadn’t just held a cup in my face, Amelsia.” I winked at her. “You’re losing your touch. I don’t know what your plan is, but please, be careful.”
“The outsider cares for me.” She forced a soft smile onto her face. “Perhaps I am losing my touch. I’ve been so tired lately.”
“You should get some rest.” I suggested what I knew wouldn’t be possible for her. Not in the literal sense, anyway.
“You know an ehkunilke never rests, Likosa. I thought you of all people would be the last I’d have to explain that to,” she fussed.
“As long as there is magic to consume, I must. I must continue consuming it. Always the way station in the life cycle of energy. But more stays with me now. Fewer born meant fewer souls for centuries. Their power came to me and stayed. And now, the Bane is healing. More are born, but not enough. Never enough.”
This was the worst I’d seen her. Her voice was small, trembling with fear.
That was the plight of the ehkunilke. Power could not be destroyed, only transferred.
When anyone or anything died in the Bane, the energy possessed moved into the ehkunilke.
She was the vessel. The power should only stay with her for a short time until a new soul is born to take it, but Amelsia’s body trembled with stored power, and I wondered if there could ever be enough born to take it all.
“You’re right.” I nodded and then redirected our conversation. “Where is the teardrop flame?”
“I have it here.” She lifted her hand, and flame appeared.
The special, crystal-like object moved with the energy of a live flame.
It looked like it would be cool to the touch, like touching a jewel, but it was dangerously perceptive and could melt through flesh and bone within seconds.
That was why I needed Cufio’s help. I had to make it safer for Shontae.
“And the water?” Amelsia pulled her hand close to her chest.
I produced the bottle, and her eyes lit up.
“Oh, and you were so generous with me.” She grinned. “There’s so much here.”
“I wanted this to be a fair trade. I can take some back if you think I’ve done too much.”
“Oh, no!” She reached for the bottle while pushing the flame in my direction. We made a swift and easy exchange. “Thank you. Thank you. Oh, thank you!”
“Right…” There was a tickle in the back of my mind, a question if I’d done the right thing.
“Now, do run along. I have…things to do.” Her words tumbled out in a rush of giddy excitement.
“Don’t do anything crazy.” I warned her, but I knew whatever plan she had in mind was one she would see through.