Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
We were almost too late.
Cecil, back in his duocorn form, kicked the door in and gave an ear-splitting whinny. “Stop!”
The ring of blue flames spread over the whole of my drawing room floor.
Cress and Bronwyn stood together on one side.
Bronwyn was flicking through what looked like an enormous grimoire—the expression of panic sat strangely on her usually calm face.
On the other side, Eryk bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, tears pouring down his cheeks.
In the middle of the flaming circle, Nate held his arms above his head, chanting words of power. He saw me, and relief flooded his expression. “Thank the old gods, you’re back,” he sighed, dropping his arms. The flames died down a little.
“I am. And you’re not going anywhere, Nate, that’s an order.” Gently, I laid Audrina down on a chaise lounge by the window and smoothed her hair back. She was so pale. “Take care of her for me, please, Violet.”
My house bumped my feet once and ferried her away, out of the drawing room. Violet would look after her. I’d take care of her evil mother later.
Nate climbed out of the blue circle of flames and bowed. “We must find him now, Your Highness. Someone with a blood bond must go, otherwise we will never locate him. Eryk and I are his blood bondsmen, so our spirits will be drawn to him in the Under.”
“Well, you’re not going. I am. I think my bond with him outranks yours.”
He blew out a breath and closed his eyes for a second. “Thank the gods. I know for a fact that Morganna will not release me again.”
Cress skipped around the ring of blue flames and threw herself at me. “Chosen!” She hugged me so hard all the breath left my lungs, then, she smacked me on the back with her fists, preventing me from taking any more air in. “You are back!”
I tried to say something, but it came out as a squeak.
She squeezed me harder, then drew back a little. “I’ve been so worried. We’ve been lost without you.” Her hands rubbed my shoulders, dipping to my lower back. “Are you well? Did you break your curse?” One hand caressed my left boob.
Bronwyn pulled her off me, gently wrestling her away. “She did, darling.”
“You can tell?” I asked her. “I thought you didn’t have any magic.”
“You wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t. And yes, I can tell,” she said, smiling. “Your eyes aren’t haunted anymore.” She peered at me. “Although you do look a little panicked. Did you want to try some breathing exercises with me?”
“I’m panicked because I’ve only got five hours to find Donovan and get him out of the Under.” I gritted my teeth. “Or Connor will tell the Queen he’s dead and take his army.”
“And the Prince will be gone for good,” Cecil added, his tone grim.
I whipped around. “You didn’t mention that part!”
“Didn’t I? Sorry, Chosen.” He dropped his head, looking miserable.
“It’s been a rough day. But yes, that’s exactly the reason why the Queen will grant the heirdom to Connor when Venus rises.
If he’s not back before then, the Under will swallow his physical body completely, and he’ll be…
well.” His bottom lip wobbled. “He’ll be dead. Like, dead-dead.”
I cursed.
“And he won’t be able to come back. The Queen is not just going to take Connor’s word for it, you know, or else he would have already tried that. She’ll send mages to confirm that Prince Donovan is… he’s…”
I cut him off. “So, I just have to get him back home, and everything will be fine? We all live to kick Connor’s ass another day?”
He nodded.
Adrenaline flooded me. “I need to go now. Nate, go ahead and open the gateway.”
“You need an outfit!” Cecil waved his hooves. Golden sparks flew.
I looked down. He’d put me in a sexy leather catsuit and thigh-high boots. “Really?”
“That’s no good, Cecil.” Nate was busy unpacking what looked like little paint pots and brushes from a leather satchel. “We need exposed skin. I have to paint the glyphs on her so we’ve got a spell-tie to get her back when she finds Prince Donovan.”
Cecil pursed his lips. “Fine.” He waved his hooves again, and suddenly, I was wearing the same outfit he’d put me in when I’d challenged the berserkers—tiny, striped, red-and-white booty shorts with a blue star-spangled bra top.
I gave him a look. “You want me to venture through the Underworld like this?”
“What’s wrong with it?”
I frowned. “This is not particularly dignified.”
“Fine,” he huffed. He waved his hoof, and a pathetic puff of golden sparkles erupted from his horns. “That’s the best I can do. Sorry, Chosen. I think I’m burned out.” He slumped down on his bottom and let out a long, pathetic sigh.
I was still wearing the star-spangled tiny bra and booty shorts, but he’d added a royal blue silk tie in a Windsor knot around my throat. “Goddamn it, Cecil,” I muttered. “I?—”
The words died in my throat when I looked down at him and saw he had tears in his eyes.
He really was burned out. It shouldn't surprise me. We were all at our breaking points. At least I’d had some sleep—in between languishing in prison and drowning in my nightmares—but none of them had any rest at all.
“I love it,” I said hastily. “It’s perfect, thanks, Cecil. I'm sure the tie will come in handy.”
“Take this, too.” Cress hefted a heavy, large hourglass in between her hands—a huge thing, over a foot tall and made of copper, with two big glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck. “I set it for when Venus rises.”
I looked at it, frowning.
Golden sand flew through the neck, flowing far too quickly for comfort.
“When the sand runs out, your time is up,” Cress explained.
“Don’t let the sand run out, Chosen.” She met my eye, her expression grim.
“Find him, and come back quickly.” She hefted the huge hourglass in her arms and held it out to me. It looked like it weighed a ton.
“Uh. Thanks?” There was no way I was carrying this thing around the Underworld. I’d have to set my smartwatch. Did smartwatches work in Hell? Probably not.
“Go on.” Cress brandished the huge hourglass. “Take it.”
“Uh, Cress, I’m not sure if it’s entirely practical for a journey to the Under?—”
Cress suddenly whirled around, swinging her arms as if she was going to hit me with the hourglass, and shouted a strange word. I flinched. Green sparks flew, but the device didn’t hit me.
My arm tingled, and I looked down and saw what looked like a little tattoo on my wrist. I peered closer; the sand was still trickling. “Huh. That’s handy.”
“It’s called magic, Susan. You need to hurry.
Time moves differently in the Under. Depending on what you are doing, sometimes it will feel like centuries have passed, and others, the time will go too quickly.
So, keep one eye on your hourglass, and don’t mess around.
” She pushed me into the wide circle of blue flames.
“I don’t plan on having tea and cookies there.” My heart started pounding.
Nate stepped into the circle with me and bustled around, painting little glyphs on my body in a cold silver emulsion, then kneeled to paint identical ones on the floorboards in a circle around me.
“I’m creating a spell-tie. It’s like the curse-tie that Connor put on you.
His tie connected you to your nightmares in the Under, but this one will hold a connection to Violet, here in the human realm.
Her magic will be able to help pull you out of the Under once you’ve found the prince. ”
“Okay, good.” There was just one more thing. “How do I find him?”
He stared at me, a shadow passing over his eyes. “You have to fight your way through yourself before you can find anyone else. You’ll be confronted by things in your life that have haunted you or things that you haven’t resolved. Things you feel guilty about.”
“I’ve already confronted my worst fears,” I said, gritting my teeth. “I think I’ll be fine.”
“The worst ones, you have. There will be others. They might trick you,” he warned. “So, keep your wits about you. When you find him, you have to say the words to activate the glyphs so you can return. Remember this, ‘Iliya minyth armat aymantia!’”
“I got it.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. An image of Donovan fixed in my mind’s eye—blazing with golden light, overwhelmingly handsome and brave, fighting off his own personal demons.
I had to find him. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Bronwyn gave me a hug. “Don’t forget to breathe. Touch grass if you can. And most importantly, be kind to yourself, Susan.”
“Yes.” Cress leaned forward, kissed my forehead, pulled a dagger out of thin air and brandished it, handle first. “Be kind, and slaughter all your enemies at will. Leave nothing but a trail of blood; it will guide you back home.”
“Gee. Thanks, Cress.” I took the dagger, sliding it into my booty shorts. They stepped out of the circle of flames.
“Bring my brother back, Chosen,” Cress said, winding her arms around Bronwyn.
“I will.”
“Don’t be the reason all the worlds fall to darkness,” she added.
“No pressure or anything,” I muttered.
Nate and Eryk began to chant, drawing magic into the circle of flames, and they roared, higher and higher. Violet trembled once, then gave me a little bump on the bottom of my feet for good luck.
The next time I looked down, there were no floorboards. Only mist swirled around my feet. I was leaving the physical realm; I could feel it.
I blinked through the rising flames and swirling fog, trying to see my friends one more time before they disappeared.
Cress held Bronwyn in her arms; both had tears streaming down their cheeks.
Nate and Eryk, dark circles under their eyes, arms straining with exhaustion, shouted words of power, sinking everything they had into the spell to open the gateway to the Under.
“Chosen!” Cecil popped his head up over the line of flames and held up a little mirror with a straw on it. “Do you want a toot before you go?”
“Cecil!”
The fog swallowed me, and they disappeared.