Call to Arms (War of the Fae: Book 2) (39 page)

“No.
 
He knows what’s going on.”
 
Jared moved back from the table, heading towards the door.
 
“The plane leaves in three hours.
 
Be at the door with the wing of Mercury on it by nine o’clock.
 
That’s two and a half hours from now.
 
Make sure you eat your breakfast before you go.
 
We won’t have much food on the plane, and I don’t want to be in Florida for more than two days.
 
I don’t want the elders sending anyone after us, and I think two days is as long as we can run this game.
 
We’ll put together our plan on the plane.
 
Jayne, you get to Gregale, ASAP.
 
He’s probably still at breakfast.
 
Do whatever you need to do to get him to take you into the Gray.”

We all stood, heading for the door at once.

Jared made one last comment before he walked out the door.
 
“Remember to pack your weapons.”

I walked as fast as I could back to the dining hall.
 
Gregale was there, talking to some of his brainiac friends.

“Hey, Gregale, can I talk to you for a sec?”
 
I tried to cool myself down by blowing air up into my own face.
 
I was sweating like mad from rushing back and from general nervousness.

“Sure, Jayne.
 
What can I do for you?”

“Could you walk with me for a minute?”

“Of course.”

He followed me out into the hallway.
 
I imagined the door with the sideways figure eight on it, and we were standing in front of it in less than fifteen minutes, which had to be some sort of record.

“Are we in some sort of hurry?” Gregale said, breathing heavy.

“No, not at all.
 
I’m just excited.”

“About what?”

I pushed the door open, stepping out into the meadow where he and I had our first session together.

“Well, I learned today that you have a special talent and I was really hoping you could show it to me.”

He looked at me with a frown on his face.
 
“And which talent would that be?”

I turned and faced him.
 
“Going into the Gray.”

His eyes widened.
 
“Oh, no, I do not think that is such a good idea, Jayne.
 
Maybe we should go back to the dining hall.”
 
He turned to go back through the door, but I grabbed his sleeve, halting his movement.

He looked back and saw my hand on his sleeve.
 
He looked surprised to see my hand there.
 

“Jayne, what are you doing?” he asked in a testy voice.
 
“Unhand me.”
 

“Listen, Gregale,
please
.
 
I need you.
 
Badly.
 
Remember that day we were out here?
 
And I showed you The Green?”
 
I knew that event had earned him big points with his fellow gray elves.
 

He smiled in memory. “Yes, of course.”

I got hardcore on him.
 
“Well, guess what?
 
You owe me.
 
I showed you my talents, now it’s time for you to show me yours.”

He got a pissed look on his face, but he didn’t argue.
 
“Why do you want to go into the Gray so badly all of a sudden?”

“I miss my friend Tony.
 
I got an email from him that worries me.”
 
That wasn’t a total lie.
 
I just didn’t tell him that the email was from six weeks ago.
 
“I need to check on him and make sure he’s okay.
 
He should be sleeping now, so I know where to find him.”

Gregale sighed in defeat.
 
“Astral projection is not tied to a place.
 
It is tied to spirits.”

“Astral projection?”

“Yes.
 
That is what you are asking me to do.
 
Take you with me as I project my spirit out through the Gray – the space that exists between our world and the Otherworlds.”

I felt a chill go up my spine.
 
I’m pretty sure if Tim were with me right now, he’d be shaking, but he was back in our room getting ready to go.

“Okay, so what do I need to do?”

“Come.
 
Follow me.
 
It is better if we find a comfortable place to lie down.”
 
He stomped through the meadow grasses until he came to a suitable spot.
 
“This would be much better if you had your daemon here.”

“Why?”

“Because he could watch over your body while your spirit is gone.”

Holy bat balls, what have I gotten myself into?

“How about The Green?
 
I can have it watch over both of us.”

Gregale perked up a little bit.
 
“Yes ... that could work.”

He
laid
down on the ground and patted a spot nearby with his hand.
 
“Lie down next to me.”

I laid down, silently sending my message out to The Green, asking it to protect Gregale and me from any creature wishing to do us harm.
 
I also asked it to protect us from any creature trying to see what we were doing.
 
That should cover it
.
 
I didn’t want anyone sneaking through this time.
 
I felt the hum of The Green’s willing response.

“Hold my hand.”

I reached over and placed my hand in Gregale’s.
 
It was cool and slender, uncalloused – the hands of an intellectual who touched only paper all day.

“Now, close your eyes.
 
I am going to ask you to imagine some things in your mind’s eye.
 
You will feel energy coming from me ... then you will feel a pulling near your core.
 
Do not panic.
 
Once your spirit is free, it will not be so jarring.”

“Okay.”
 
I was trying not to freak out, but it was hard.
 
I wasn’t so sure I wanted my body and my spirit separated.

As if he had read my mind, Gregale spoke again, “Your spirit will not leave your body completely.
 
There will always be a connection.
 
When you are out of your body, you will see it.
 
It will look like a glowing string.”

“A string.
 
Gotcha.”

“Okay, relax.
 
Here we go, into the Gray ... ”

At first I felt nothing.
 
Then I felt something coming into my hand from Gregale.
 
At first I thought he was pulling me with his hand, but then I realized that his hand was still.
 
It was some sort of weird force that was pulling at me.
 
It crawled up my arm and then into my shoulder.
 
It took my chest and face and head ... my stomach and thighs and calves ... and then my feet came last.
 
Eventually, all of me was being pulled, harder and harder.
 
My breath sped up as I started to panic.

“Just relax, Jayne, do not fight it.
 
You are trying to bring The Green with you and you cannot do that.
 
You have to let it all go.
 
Just be free.
 
Release yourself from your earthly bonds.”

I pictured myself floating up from the ties that kept me to the Earth.
 
I even let go of The Green, which was emotionally very hard for me to do.
 
I realized as I let it drop away that it had become nearly a part of me.
 
I briefly wondered if that integration was what began the process of an elemental eventually going crazy.
 
I made a mental note to talk to Spike about it later, since Valentine seemed to be the guy with the gossip goods.

“That’s it.
 
Now, here we go, let us begin.”

I felt a
pop!
And then I realized I was completely without my normal physical feelings.
 
I didn’t feel the weight of that energy from Gregale, The Green, or even from my own body anymore.
 
“What the hell?”

“Open your eyes.
 
Look down.”

I opened my eyes and looked down.
 
I could see my body lying on the ground next to Gregale’s, both of us holding hands.
 
“Wow.
 
That is the freakiest thing I have ever seen in my entire life – my body
laying
on the ground like that.
 
I look like I’m dead or something.
 
It’s like I’m having a near-death experience.”
 
I tried to look out at myself, the part of me that was floating up above my body, but there was nothing to see, except a faint green haze that had a glowing string attached to the center of it, stretching down to the ground and attached to my body’s midsection.
 
It was like a giant, glowing umbilical cord.

“Hey!
 
I’m like a big glowing fetus up here!”

I could sense Gregale’s patience with me.
 
“Yes, you could say that, I suppose.
 
So, where are we going then?
 
We are now in the Gray.”
 
Gregale’s voice was projecting into my consciousness somehow, because he wasn’t actually talking.
 
He had no mouth up here in the Gray and I didn’t exactly have ears either.

I looked around.
 
It
was
kinda
gray looking, actually.
 
I felt like we weren’t alone, even though I couldn’t see anything but our bodies below and the glow-strings linking us.

“I feel like ... we’re not alone in here, Gregale.”
 
It was beginning to creep me out, too.

“We aren’t.
 
Which is why I would like to hurry this along if you do not mind.”

“Are there ... bad things in here?”

“Well, that depends on your definition of ‘bad’.
 
Please
... our destination?”

I tried not to think about his evasive answer.
 
“I need to see Tony.”

“Picture Tony and the place where you think he is in your mind.
 
Focus on your feelings for him.
 
I will hang on to your energy and follow you while I keep a watchful eye out.”

“Eye out for
what
?!
”

“Shh, just focus.
 
Let me worry about everything else.”

I shoved the worries of the unknown away and searched my mind for memories of Tony.
 
Tony standing next to me in the foyer of his house as he packed his bag to take with us to Miami.
 
Then Tony in his room with walls covered in posters of planets.
 
Tony holding doors open for me.
 
Tony and his shy laugh.

“Are we here?” asked Gregale, softly.

I looked down and saw Tony’s room below me.
 
At least, I thought it might be Tony’s room, but it looked very different.
 
Gone were all the planet and science posters.
 
In their places were posters of rock bands.
 
His floor was a mess, dirty clothes and papers all over the place.
 
His desk had stuff piled all over it – and none of it looked like homework.
 

“I’m not sure.
 
It’s his room, I mean, all of the dimensions are right and the windows and doors are in the right places, but other than that, it’s all different.”
 
I looked down at the bed and it was empty.
 
“Where could he be?
 
It’s after midnight there.”

“Look at the window,” said Gregale in a hushed voice.

The window was going up of its own accord.
 
Then I saw a head coming through – a head with hair that was badly in need of brushing.
 
The rest of the body came through and fell to the floor.
 
I saw that this person was wearing heavy, black boots – combat style – jeans, and a sloppy flannel shirt.
 
“Who is that guy in Tony’s room?
 
Maybe Tony’s family moved.”

But then he looked up from the floor, standing to brush himself off, and I saw his face.
 
I gasped.

“What?” asked
Gregale.

“It’s Tony!”

“Great!”

“No, not great.
 
Not great at all.
 
Look at him!”

“He looks like other human boys I have seen.”

“He doesn’t look like Tony though.
 
He’s totally changed.”