Chapter 26
HONEY, I’M HOME
Istood before the tub, trying everything in my power to open a waterway. Despite my desire to return to the palace, I failed.
“I don’t understand. Why can’t I do it?” I wanted it more than air.
Didn’t I?
Of course I did.
“A hike it is, then.”
Did Jasher sound relieved?
He waved me to the door. “Let’s go. If we hustle and avoid trouble, we’ll reach the palace in three days.”
I snorted. “I can guess the odds of avoiding trouble while on a quest in Hakeldama, and it’s zero.”
“But we’ll be together, so we’ll make it work.”
Traversing Lawless Forest side by side. Overcoming every obstacle. Meeting each challenge with strength and determination. I admit, excitement washed over me.
Here we go again.
He led me into too-bright morning sunlight.
But oh, wow, the scenery. An abandoned village nestled in a valley.
Huts, huts, and more huts, all shaped like cupcakes, with frosted windows and colors faded but still sweetly alluring.
From the outside, the walls appeared to be gingerbread, the tiered roofs sugar-spun, with candy-striped chimneys.
They could’ve been designed by a child’s imagination.
Peppermint lampposts and partially withered gumdrop trees lined cobblestone paths that appeared paved with iced sugar.
Thick spiderwebs wove through misshapen fences.
In the square, what might have once been a bubbly water fountain had become stagnant, a tar-like substance coating the surface.
The stench of burnt caramel clung to the breeze, wafting from a carousel of motionless horses with gouged-out eyes and jagged mouths. Red ivy covered its floor.
While I easily imagined the echo of children running, laughing, playing, I also sensed an inner Armageddon in Jasher. A wealth of sadness, loneliness, and hopelessness. Born from memories?
“I’m glad to see your childhood home,” I said, treading carefully. “Are you?”
“I hadn’t planned to ever return here, but I’d hidden the serpens-rosa, just in case.” A grumbled admission.
So he’d returned for me. I reached out and laced our fingers. He held on, almost clinging.
“I’m sorry I let Ian hurt you.” Still he grumbled. “I didn’t break free of his command until I watched you fall over the side of the nest.”
“You came for me. That’s what matters.” I gave him a squeeze. “Where are your brothers?”
“The second batch of monstra—my batch—are ten years old.” We stepped onto cobblestone, following its winding path. “We spent our first nine years here, then moved to the mountains to serve the first batch of clones as they claimed more and more territory. We call them elders. They are…not kind.”
“So young.” To avoid falling behind and losing my grip on him, I kicked into a power-walk, mall-retiree style. “Just a baby.”
“When you’re one of thousands, created for the same purpose, you are disposable. When you are disposable, you do whatever it takes to make yourself…not disposable.”
I ached for the boy he’d been. “You are one of a kind, Jasher. Priceless. Beyond value.”
“Hardly.” The muscles between his shoulders bunched, his marching steps landing with more force. “Under the right circumstances, a single egg fragment can produce another egg, which can produce another and another. It never ends. Only takes a drop of Ian’s blood for the siren to start the process.”
“What happens when you’re born? Er, hatched?”
A quick, humorous smile. “Hatched works. Ian gives us to someone who raises three of us together, in a village like this one, filled with other mothers and fathers also raising a trio.”
“You, Anders, and Reese were given to Emma.”
“Yes. She was kind to us. I loved her, but I always sensed she kept her heart distant. I thought it was because she hoped to return to Texas. Had no idea she was a water maiden serving her queen.”
“She called you and your brother her boys,” I told him. “She loved you, too.”
“Perhaps.” Aggression rippled through his wings. “I remember our life here, but my memories are now mixed with others. Past lives, with other mothers. Other brothers.” All torment and desperation, he grated, “You appear in many of them.”
I wet my lips. “What am I like? In your memories.”
Motions jerky, he swiped up the axes buried in a tree stump and anchored them to the sheath hidden beneath his shirt. Said nothing.
“It’s that bad?” I squeaked.
“One in particular plagues me,” he admitted, casting a glower my way, as if I were the source of every problem, world-wide. “You wore a green dress, and you danced.”
Oooh. Not bad but impactful. My mouth curved up. “Please describe this dance.” He’d brought it up twice before but had never shared the details. “Just give me a description. Hip hop? Ballet? Tap?”
A beat laden with yearning. “Intoxicating.”
Flutters in my heart. “Confession corner time, so you don’t keep your hopes up. Past me must have had skills present me does not. I have zero moves and even less groove. I can dance, but you’re more likely to laugh than…burn.”
“Well.” He tossed a wink over his shoulder. “Now I want to see you dance even more.”
We snickered at each other. And as we checked off the miles, we ate strips of jerky and talked about nothing.
Then we held hands again. He moved branches out of my path and helped me hop over logs.
I performed my best dance move, the Twist, earning a bark of laughter from him, warming the cold recesses of my heart.
A woman’s scream of “Help” ended all playfulness. We shared a beat of dread before racing forward. The trees grew denser as our cobblestone path thinned. At its end waited a glittery wall of air.
He ran through it. I did the same, experiencing a prick of energy. We entered…
Chaos.
An inferno crackled all around, another village aflame. Men, women, and children rushed in every direction, screaming with panic and pain. Helmeted soldiers in royal armor peppered the throng, calm, cold, and collected as they brandished torches and swords while shouting, “For King Ahav!”
Jasher ground to a halt, and I crashed into his powerful body. “These men do not belong to Ahav but Ian. They’re clones.” A flat statement. “The elders were trained to mimic royal guards while causing as much pain, violence, and death as possible to spread hatred for Ahav far and wide.”
Righteous fury flared. No wonder the townspeople throughout the land came to despise the royals so much they pretended he never existed.
I blinked in time to see a soldier swing a blade at my head as his horse reared up.
Without thought, I made my body mist. His sword sliced through me without causing harm. A second later, I solidified.
Shock rattled my bones before realization rolled in. Just then, I was a water maiden through and through, able to wield abilities I didn’t yet understand.
Jasher stopped the next swing with an axe. Metal clanged against metal. “She’s not to be harmed,” he snarled at the offender.
“No one is to be harmed,” I stated. “Call off these men, or I’ll stop you myself.” I meant it. They served Ian and harmed innocents. There would be no mercy. If Jasher tried to stop me, well, I’d deal.
“Call them off,” Jasher demanded in solidarity. Another shock.
“Brother?” The soldier calmed the stallion. Beneath the visor on his helmet, he flicked his attention to me, his neon red eyes aglow. “You. You’re the traitor with her. I found her!” he bellowed to the others. “I found the green one!”
Stopping them it is. “I won’t kill them, but I can’t let this continue. I’m sorry.” Letting instinct take me over once again, I exploded into action, becoming water and ghosting into the offender…flooding his lungs with just enough water to drop him.
He toppled, writhing. The horse ran off, stomping on his thigh along the way.
In unison, the other soldiers focused on me, as if driven by a hive mind. They readied to attack.
Jasher shot past me, axes swinging. He leaped, dove, and spun from man to man. Heads fell. Despite his unnatural speed, he skipped villagers and animals, ending only the soldiers. I could only stand in place, gawking as he worked his way back, finishing off the elders.
Panting and splattered with blood, he halted. Blood rained from a gash on his arm, pouring from minced muscles. Bile seared my throat. Some parts of him resembled raw, ground meat.
“I remember this night,” he croaked. “Ian encouraged the elders to bring the females back to camp as a prize. Many did. The screams…” Muscles clenched in his jaw. “Younger ones like me disposed of the bodies once they finished. The men in this battle were not my brothers.”
Shock re-surged, a far more potent brew. “You need serpens-rosa.” Though the enemy had fallen, bedlam reigned all around, infernos snapping, huts deteriorating. The good news? Villagers had escaped. Smoke thickened the air, stinging my nostrils.
He snapped his wings to his sides and hooked his axes to his back. “I’ll be all right. Come.”
We hurried from the heat, Jasher in the lead once again. I noticed he avoided any tracks left by the villagers who’d made their escape. Smart. The sight of a half-shifted monstra would only incite more battles.
Running, running. The forest blurred at my sides. Past the trees and branches, over logs. Through an icy river where I tried and failed to open a waterway to the palace. Every rainbow bird we passed gave chase. Ian’s best little messengers.
“Imma need a break soon.” I was used to hard labor, but come on. Even mythical embers had limits.
“Can’t stop now. A pack of rabdog runts has caught our scent.” He picked me up and carried me as if I weighed nothing.
Rab-babies! My favorite. I threw a glance behind us, hoping to spot one. Too far back to see. “Maybe I can win them over?” The runts were the most violent and bloodthirsty, yes, but they were also just so cute. Nugget had given the best cuddles.
“If we stop to play, we’ll be dead before we can say bad boys.” He darted around a massive oak.
He ran. And ran. When I’d caught my breath, I urged him to set me down, but he didn’t. Just kept going. Maybe we lost the pack. Finally, we reached a small, flowery valley at the base of a white stone mountain. The birds landed all around us, listening.
“Ian knows we’re here,” I grumbled. The sun had begun its descent, slipping behind the towering structure, casting us in shadows. “Those tattletale birds keep no secrets from him.”
Jasher sighed. “For the time being, we have bigger concerns.” Tightening his hold, he unfurled his wings and hauled us both into the air.
Wind whistled past my ears as we ascended the mountain and plunged into a cavern carved halfway to the peak. He set me on my feet. The birds tried to enter with us, shrieking and fluttering.
Jasher released me and turned on them with a flash of teeth. “Not now.”
His snarl sent them scattering, feathers and panic dissolving into the mist.
I turned slowly, taking in our shelter. The cavern walls were smooth and pale as polished ivory, veined with crystal that caught the low light and scattered it like diamonds. A fire pit waited at the center, stacked and ready. A single blanket lay stretched near the back wall, deliberate.
Without a conscious command from my mind, my arms automatically wound around my middle. Romantic comedies often relied on the old “only one bed” trope. Something we’d experienced during our last adventure. Here we were with only one bed again.
“Should we secure the entrance?” I asked, aware of how exposed we were.
“And block our only exit?” he countered. “No. Anything determined enough to reach us should be killed on sight.” His mouth twitched. “Besides, I’ve made this mountain a nightmare to climb.”
Before I could respond, a familiar plastic voice cut in. “Hi. I’m Kevin, your unemotional support companion. Press my buttons for a giggle.”
The toy sat proudly on a rock, surveying the cavern like a sentry.
I rolled my eyes—then froze as insight expanded.
I’d never been here in real life, but I had been here before.
A vision rose unbidden. Heat. Stolen breath.
Jasher’s mouth pressing into mine until the world narrowed to fire and promise.
My pulse skidded. I turned to him, trembling. He didn’t seem to notice; he was busy wiping blood from his wrist.
“We’ll stay the night,” he said. “Leave at first light.”
Later, I told myself. I’d unpack the vision later. Right now, priorities. “Let me tend your wounds.”
“I can do it. I have a feeling you’re about to be very busy.” His gaze sharpened. “Allow me to introduce you to… me.”
He gestured to the rear of the cavern.
I turned, air lodging in my throat as a young boy stepped from the shadows.