Chapter 15 #2
“Congrats on being the only member of our friend group who can legally travel?” Nyx offered.
The problem with portaling to Morgen and Kaden’s homeworld was that Nyx didn’t know where it was.
Yes, she had a planet name, but that didn’t tell her how to get there.
The planetary map her portal magic brought up couldn’t tell her a planet’s name or where it was located in the galaxy—it was just a sea of glowing dots her magic was pointing to as possibilities.
Jevryn could likely show her the location, and Griff had written to him days ago at Nyx’s request, asking just that, but he hadn’t responded.
It was yet another bit of worry gnawing at her.
What the hell was her father doing that could possibly be more important than ensuring Griff’s freedom?
He viewed nothing as more important than Griff’s freedom, so the lack of response could only mean that he wasn’t able to read his correspondence.
She didn’t know where he was, and it ate at her.
It was also inconvenient, since without him as a resource they had only two options for getting to Raveras: use a portal stone from the Shadow Market, or get one of Nyx’s anchors onto the planet.
Nyx had fully expected that Morgen would have a portal stone home.
As it turned out, he did not, because Bryn Morrigan, Keeper of Shadows and sole purveyor of black market portal stones, was a tad on the vindictive side and had apparently refused to sell any portal stones to her ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend.
While it was possible she would sell one to Nyx, Kaden, or Evra, it wasn’t a guarantee.
Nyx didn’t want to see Bryn because she still owed her a portal magic lesson for the magic she’d taken from the Keeper’s well, and she had neither the time to give it nor the patience to deal with the bad mood the Keeper was likely in from having been left an IOU in place of that lesson.
Not to mention she didn’t want to divulge enough information about the various uses of portal magic to explain why she would need one. Not yet.
Kaden wasn’t a great option either, because Bryn knew he was connected to Nyx, and she would probably fuck with him just to fuck with Nyx.
Evra was the one most likely to be able to get what they wanted, but the ’s interactions with the Keeper were always fraught with the potential for disaster.
Then there was the problem that Evra’s sister, Tamrin, was living at the Shadow Keep.
Evra didn’t want to jeopardize the tentative peace they’d come to by barging in unannounced—and with the intention of leaving again as quickly as possible—and so had come to the conclusion that she would rather carry out Plan B.
Plan B was sending someone through the ley lines to Raveras with an anchor Nyx could use to open a portal and pull them all through.
Nyx, as a Station Guardian, couldn’t travel the lines.
Though her leaving wouldn’t kill the Station anymore, she didn’t have any identity papers to give the Guardian on the other end, and if she did, it would only alert the Council that she was doing what was supposed to be impossible for Guardians.
Kaden was still a wanted fugitive, and Morgen still couldn’t ride the ley lines legally.
Tristen had no papers with which to travel.
Getting them restored would involve a long legal process that would in all likelihood out his Shamanic status, and would definitely involve alerting his mother to his continued existence, neither of which Tristen wanted.
The only person left who could legally travel anywhere without raising suspicion was Evra.
And while she could toss an anchor somewhere out of the way for Nyx to bring the rest of them through, that wasn’t going to get her out of meeting Morgen’s mother. Without him.
The reason Evra was threatening to murder him?
He’d written to his mother about Evra. On numerous occasions.
In his words, his praise “maybe have been effusive” and his stated intentions “of a matrimonial sort”.
According to Morgen, his mother might have then told everyone he was engaged, and by everyone he meant everyone.
His exact words had been “You won’t make it two steps inside the Station without being bombarded, the Guardian’s a friend. ”
In response to Nyx’s comment about Evra being the only one legally allowed to travel, the bestowed upon her a glare of epic proportions. “This is the end of my relationship we are discussing, the least you could do is not be flippant about it.”
“It’s not the end of your relationship.”
“You fail to understand how vehemently mothers dislike me. My first girlfriend ended our relationship within hours of introducing me.”
“It won’t be that bad. Morgen’s mom sounds so nice.”
“That is the problem. The nicer they are, the more they dislike me, and the more their offspring like them and trust their judgment.” It was the look of resignation in Evra’s eyes that made Nyx realize Evra was completely serious.
She actually thought meeting Morgen’s mother was going to doom her relationship.
“How many of your relationships have ended after meeting parents?”
“All of them that got far enough for parental introductions.”
“Then I say this with complete sincerity: your exes all need to grow a spine. Morgen already has one. Just be yourself.”
“I always am,” Evra muttered darkly. “That is the problem.”
“This woman raised Kaden and Maruca and apparently still likes them,” Nyx pointed out.
Evra mulled it over, then brightened a little. “That…is an excellent point.”
Nyx clapped her on the shoulder. “Ready?”
At the ’s nod, Nyx stepped up beside Griff.
The orbs atop the six silver posts that formed the hexagon of the portal bay began to spin, slowly at first, then faster, until they moved so quickly they looked still again.
The familiar thrum of the portal built, calling to Nyx like it had the first day she’d arrived.
Objectively, it hadn’t been that long ago that she’d stumbled in here, confused and alone and desperately needing someplace to belong.
But it felt like a lifetime. Because she fit here.
Because this was home. Something hard formed in her throat as Evra stepped onto the cosmic floor, sinking into ley dust until she disappeared.
This was home. And standing just outside the border of that home was the person who was going to take it away from her. The person she had gone to find so that he could take it away from her.
It’s not today, she told herself. You aren’t losing Kaliaris today. And hopefully, she wouldn’t be losing them for a while, yet. She needed to talk to her Station.
The thrumming halted, the orbs atop their posts slowing to a halt until the portal floor went smooth and glassy again. Once it had, Nyx tapped gently on the surface. “Can we talk?”
In response, the portal swirled, opening not to the ley lines but to Kaliaris’s Heart. She jumped down and Griff followed. Once on the vine-covered floor, the atmosphere in the chamber felt somber. Or maybe that was just her mood, knowing what this conversation meant.
Kaliaris said.
“I do. But it isn’t all good news.”
“No. But he’s only agreed to help us—one Station, Avatar, and Guardian— and only so long as I find his mother on Raveras.
He hasn’t agreed to help any of the other Stations yet.
And while I think he will”—she hoped he would—“I have a lot of work to do to fulfill conditions he stipulated for him to even consider it.” She had to convince Bryn to let her train her portal witches to become replacements for the Stations.
And she had to hope they actually had the skill and ability to serve that function. “It will take time.”
There was an odd inflection in Kaliaris’s mental voice.
“If Tristen does what we want—if he separates us all from each other now, and you from the councilors, the Council will immediately know that it has happened. They will feel their tethers cut. You’ll have two options, at that point.
You can either choose to remain here until the other other Stations are freed, or you can choose to return to the Harvester.
If you choose the former option, it’s possible we can keep the councilors out indefinitely.
They won’t have direct control over you anymore, so it’s possible. But I don’t know.
“It’s possible that if they combine their efforts, they could force their way in.
It’s possible they are capable of killing you again.
I just don’t know. But even if you are successful in repelling them, coming and going from here will become difficult.
” Not impossible, with Nyx’s Hidden ability, but even that had limits.
“It will make doing what is required to help the rest of the Stations nearly impossible.
“If you choose to return to the Harvester instead, it will still be some time before the others can join you. You will be there, alone.” They had said they had not enjoyed their time in the Harvester’s depths.
Already, she hated that the only way she knew of to free them was to first imprison them in it once more.
“But there is a third option. You could wait. Allow Tristen to sever us all from each other, so you have autonomy, but wait on the councilors. Give me time to sort out the other Stations before the councilors become aware of what we are doing.”
The mass of vines in the room writhed, rustling against one another. Kaliaris’s voice in her mind was sharp enough to cut.
“I’m not going back on anything.”