Aetherial Annihilation (8 page)

"Call me anytime. If you ever feel the urge to tell me more about whatever secrets you're keeping, I'm all ears." He ran a hand down his face. "I think I'm gonna go back to the States, rest, and then pay that pretty doctor a visit."

"Sounds like a smart plan," Elyssa said. "Maybe when we visit, we'll see the both of you." She hugged him. "Take care, Reese."

"You too." He saw us to the taxi and waved as we pulled away.

The Obsidian Arch was hidden deep beneath a parking deck about twenty minutes from the airport. Our footsteps echoed in the eerily empty way station. A sign on the ticket booth declared,
Closed until magic crisis resolved.

Like most way stations, this one had a stable, and behind it a hidden door to the control room. We went inside and found an arch operator sitting in a chair and reading a book titled,
How to Be a Nom, for Dummies
.

He glanced up and frowned. "What the hell? Didn't you see the sign?" His head jerked back and recognition set in. "Wait a minute, are you Justin Slade? Elyssa Borathen?"

"That'd be us," Elyssa said dryly. "We need to get back to Queens Gate."

"But we were told not to use the arches." His forehead creased. "Do you know something I don't?"

"From what I understand, the Obsidian Arches will work." I sighed. "Can you give it a try?"

"Let me contact Queens Gate." He took out an arcphone and argued with someone for a few minutes. "Okay, they're willing to try it, but won't take the blame if you end up in the Gloom or blown all over creation."

I didn't relish the thought of being trapped in that strange place, but I'd lost my passport, and taking a plane home would create a lot of unwanted complications.

"We've got to take that chance," I said.

He shrugged. "Are you working on solving this aether problem?" He held up the book. "If you don't get things working right again, I'll have to find a stupid nom job, probably working at a fast-food restaurant or something awful like that." His shoulders slumped. "It's about all I'm qualified for without magic."

I felt his pain, though I at least had my demonic powers to fall back upon. He walked to the raised platform at the front of the room. A large world map with markings for each Obsidian Arch in the world stretched along the front wall. In the center of the platform stood a raised block of stone with a large gray orb atop it: the modulus. It allowed the operator to power on the arch and select which waystation to target.

"We'll head to the arch," I told him.

"Good luck." He managed a half smile, but it quickly faded.

Elyssa snickered when we left the control room and walked toward the towering Obsidian Arch in the center of the cavern.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Just imagining robed Arcanes flipping burgers." She quirked her lips. "Life without magic would be pretty depressing. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this."

A low hum filled the cavern, building in volume and rising in pitch as the arch powered up. The expansive silver band around it flashed as it closed, trapping magical energy within it. The process usually only took a moment or so, but this time it took a lot longer than usual. After a long wait, arcs of aether flashed across the arch columns and the middle flashed. An image of another way station appeared on the other side.

"Looks clear," Elyssa said in a hopeful voice. "Let's pray we don't get zapped."

We raced forward to the massive gateway, hesitated at the threshold and looked at each other, then dashed through.

My skin flashed hot the instant we crossed over and I thought we might end up vaporized. Instead, we stepped into the Queens Gate way station deep below London and shared looks of relief.

"That kinda hurt," I said, looking at my skin for signs of burns.

Elyssa checked herself as well. "Looks like I'm all here, except—" Her eyes widened. "I'm missing a toe!"

"What?" I dropped to my knees as the hum of the arch wound down, and inspected her feet. She wore sandals so it was plain to see she still had all her toes.

Elyssa burst into laughter. "Gotcha!"

I rose and gave her a dirty look. "Not funny." I had to admit, it was a bit humorous, and god knew we both needed a laugh after what we'd been through. "Let's go talk to Shelton."

We walked across the wide space to the large pair of doors at the entrance of the pocket dimension of Queens Gate. Though I'd been through them many times, it was still somewhat wondrous stepping through into a whole new world.

We opened the doors and stepped onto a brick paved road. A wide valley stretched before us, cliffs towering on all sides. Atop the cliff to the right sat the Science Academy, a silver gleaming citadel dedicated to mad science. Out of sight on the cliff to the left, a plateau showed the towering spires of Arcane University. The city of Queens Gate nestled in the green valley between the two cliffs, and far behind it rose another mountain.

I called Shelton and had him open an omniarch portal. I didn't feel like hitching a ride on the sky car up to the university and hiking to the secret tunnel near the Dark Forest at the back of the university.

"You're here?" He whooped. "One portal coming right up."

A moment later, a nice proper portal without deadly static sliced open the air before us and we exited in a large room where the smaller sibling of an Obsidian Arch stood.

Shelton gave me a hug. "Great to see you, man." He traded hugs with Elyssa and kissed her on the cheek. "I wasn't sure you'd make it."

Bella, a petite Colombian, embraced us and kissed us on the cheeks. "We were so worried. Harry couldn't concentrate when we played Scrabble, and I won every game."

"You always win, woman." Shelton flashed a smile. "Let's go to the mansion and relax. I gotta hear what happened."

I almost broke into tears at the thought of being home among family.

It was great to be back.

Chapter 7

Over cupcakes and milk, Elyssa and I took turns telling the story.

"Holy Mary, mother of midgets." Shelton ran a hand down his face. "So destroying these things is like setting off a nuke?" He grabbed another cupcake and bit into it. "How are we supposed to counter them?"

"Perhaps we could move them and fire them into space," Bella suggested. "The only other option is disabling them somehow."

"I need to speak with my father, but the aether lines are down outside the pocket dimension." Elyssa looked doubtfully at her phone. "I have a signal here, but only get an error message when I try to call."

"We might have to go topside so you can use the nom cell towers," Shelton said. "Or, I guess we simply go to Atlanta."

"That seems our best bet," I said. "No sense hanging around here." I stood, stretched, and cracked a yawn. "I'd like to get a good night's sleep first."

Shelton slapped the table. "It's settled then. Tomorrow we head to Atlanta." He stood and rubbed his hands together. "Just when I thought things were getting boring, we're back in the saddle."

"I really thought ending Daelissa's conquest would be it for a while." My lamentation was greeted by sad nods.

"It never ends." Bella collected the cupcake platter and stacked the empty cups on it. "The Overworld government is still in shambles, and the lack of magic is making everyone grumpy."

"It definitely puts a damper on things." Shelton snatched a half-eaten cupcake from the plate and wolfed it down. "On the bright side, Ryland and Stacey had a litter of kittens or pups, or whatever you call baby lycan and felycans."

"They're called babies, Harry." Bella gave him an admonishing look. "They moved to a nice house in Atlanta, but I haven't heard much since the baby shower."

"I got the message from Stacey about their twins," I said. "I wonder what kind of morphs they'll be."

"We have a few years before discovering that." Elyssa stifled a yawn. "I'm ready for bed too. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, dear." Bella vanished into the kitchen.

Shelton clapped me on the back and elicited a groan from me. My muscles were still plenty sore.

"Oops, sorry," he said. "It's good to see you again, man. Got a second?"

I nodded.

"I'll be upstairs in our room," Elyssa said with a curious glance at Shelton. She walked upstairs and left the two of us alone.

Shelton motioned for me to follow him and went down the hall and into the war room, a large place with only a conference table and chairs. He closed the door behind us and produced a small box. "I'm gonna pop the question to Bella." He opened it to reveal a bright opal ring.

I slapped him on the shoulder. "Congrats, dude! When do you plan to do it?"

"Well, I've been looking for the proper romantic moment, you know?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I want it to be memorable, but I'm not that great with this stuff."

"I'm sure she'll be happy no matter how you do it." I tried to think of something or somewhere he could do it, even falling back on my favorite movie of all time,
The Princess Bride
. Taking her out for a ride on white horses didn't seem to be Shelton's style, and I came up short on ideas. "Um, maybe take her for a carpet ride and have a picnic somewhere nice."

He chuckled. "Yeah, that could work, but it might be kinda cliché." He shrugged. "Maybe you could ask Elyssa for some advice."

"Sure." I looked at the ring. "Sometimes, simple is best, though. Don't go overboard."

He ran a finger over the opal. "Yeah, I definitely don't want to mess this up."

"I don't think it's possible. You know she'll say yes." Another yawn yanked open my mouth. "Let's sleep on it."

Shelton chuckled. "All right. See you in the morning."

I went upstairs and considered taking a shower, but was just too damned tired.

"What did Shelton want?" Elyssa lay atop the covers in only panties and a bra.

My mouth watered at the sight. "Huh?" My mind finally took in her question. "He wants to ask Bella to marry him."

She popped to her knees. "Really? That's great!" Elyssa clapped her hands like a little girl. "Does he have something romantic planned?"

"That's what he asked me for advice about." I shrugged. "I couldn't think of anything."

"Hmm." She tapped a finger on her chin. "I'll help you come up with something. In the meantime, I just want to cuddle and go to sleep."

I stripped down to my boxer briefs. "I am totally down for cuddling." I crawled into bed next to her and ran a hand up her smooth, muscular leg. "And maybe a little something more."

She giggled. "Sure you're up for it?"

I kissed her. "For you, always."

My phone rang. I groaned, but knew any call coming through couldn't be ignored. I didn't recognize the number but answered anyway. When I moved the phone from the nightstand, the only remaining signal bar vanished. I quickly moved it back in place and put it on speakerphone.

"Hello?" The voice was barely audible through the static on the line.

"Who is this?" I asked.

There was a long silence, and I feared I'd lost the call.

"Justin, hello? It's Nightliss." She repeated herself once more.

"Nightliss?" I jerked upright and sat on the edge of the bed. "Where are you?"

"Oh, thank goodness you can hear me." More static covered what she said next. "…don't know how but I will."

"Repeat what you said."

"I'm in India…finding way home…what's happened to the magic?"

I adjusted the phone a tiny bit to the left. It was amazing I had a nom cell signal so far underground, but it seemed to be limited to this one spot. The signal didn't grow any stronger when I moved it.

"Have you seen the meteors? They're sapping the magic." I leaned over the phone, hoping she was still there.

"I thought so," she said, her voice much clearer. "One of them caused chaos in the village I was visiting. There were men—awful men who tried to take the women. I protected them, Justin."

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"There is no use running from conflict is there?" Despair clouded Nightliss's voice. "It always finds you."

"Are you coming home?" I asked, daring to hope.

"Yes." She sighed. "I do not know how, but I will find a way."

"We'll be waiting," Elyssa said. "We love you."

"I love you too, my friends." Her voice broke.

"Try to find the nearest Obsidian Arch," I told her. "Some of them are still working."

"Let me find the nearest one," Elyssa said.

There was a crackle, and the call ended.

"Damn it." I tried calling the number, but only received an error message.

"Your call cannot be completed as dialed," a robotic voice informed me.

We waited by the phone, but Nightliss didn't call back.

Elyssa rubbed my arm. "I'm sure she'll make it home safe."

I lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. "I hope so. The Templars need their Clarion."

I woke up the next morning feeling much better. The soreness in my bones and muscles had faded to a dull ache. My ribs felt mostly whole again, and it seemed I was on the mend, albeit slower than usual. Elyssa and I went downstairs, the smell of pancakes and bacon wafting into our noses.

Shelton popped out of the kitchen with a heaping platter of flapjacks and a huge grin on his face. "Just in time."

Bella followed him with plates of bacon and eggs. "Good, you're up before Harry eats all the food."

"Smells heavenly." I took a chair and wolfed down a pancake. "It's good to be back."

I chowed down two helpings of pancakes, and finished with eggs and bacon then sat back and released a contented burp.

"I knew you missed my cooking." Shelton sipped his coffee, a smug grin on his face. He checked the time on his phone. "Welp, guess we should get a move on. I have a feeling Commander Borathen is on the warpath to figure out what's going on, and I sure don't want him blowing up one of those meteors before we get there."

"I doubt he'd do anything so rash." Elyssa finished off her orange juice. "He'll study them from every angle before committing to anything."