Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 1, After the Fall (8 page)

I gave up on removing all the soil from my clothes and looked from one friend to the other.  "Does anyone want to tell me what the heck just happened here?"  It sounded like I had Samantha to thank for my garden-tripping. 
Surprise, surprise.

Tony guided me gently out of the plants and into my sitting area, pushing me down onto a chair.

"I found you in the Gray.  You were wandering around looking for Chase, I think."

I dropped my gaze to my lap.  "I wasn't looking for him, but I did find him."

"Well, I suggest you not try to not look for him again," said Tony. "How did you get in there anyway?"

I shrugged and mumbled, "I have no idea."

Tim flew over to join us.  "You saw Chase?  How's he look?"

"Awesome, of course."  I sighed, looking up at my pixie friend, noticing he was back to normal, his color pink again and his smile in full force.

"Jayne, seriously.  You need to let him go," said Tony.  "He's dealing with some heavy-duty stuff right now.  You're a distraction he can't afford."

My head snapped over to Tony.  "What?  How could you possibly know that?"  The blood that I'd seen on Chase's wing was nagging at me.  It couldn't possibly be a good sign of anything.

Tony glanced to the side, almost guiltily.  I could practically see him trying to come up with a lie.

Tim started up with his singsong voice.  "Someone's got a secret ... someone's got a secret ..."

"Don't even try it, Tony.  Tell me the truth.  You and I don't play those games, right?" 
Please don't turn into one of the fae I cannot trust.  You and Tim are my last hope.  And even Tim's a bit iffy, the little bastard.

He sighed.  "No, we don't play games.  I just don't know if it's such a good idea to share what I know with you right now.  You have enough on your plate, and things are in flux.  I could tell you something that's true now, and it could be untrue the next day.  Things are just ... weird."

"Weird, my ass.  Tell me.  All of it."  I was determined to get to the bottom of all this stuff, starting with Tony's secrets and then Tim's.  Chase had told me we were through until the day I died, but since I never really listened to anyone anyway, I figured I should leave that option open - especially now that I'd seen him again.  My heart spasmed painfully with the recent memory of his beautiful face.

CHAPTER SEVEN

TONY SAT DOWN ON THE couch opposite me, and Tim rested on my shoulder, his arm gripping onto a lock of my hair.  I tried not to wince as he moved around, tugging on it.  Abby had stayed in the garden with her son, the mischievous little wannabe nostril explorer.

"I've been spending a lot of time in the Gray, becoming better at finding my way around and getting in and out quickly.  We think this is how the creatures from the Underworld are getting through to our realm."

"How is that possible?  I mean, I thought it was a place you could only get to from here - in the Here and Now."

"That's what everyone thought.  But it's kind of like the waiting room between realms, so since there is a way for a spirit to leave the Gray and enter either the Overworld or the Underworld, I guess it makes sense that with the right amount of magic, someone could reverse the doors or keep them open somehow and go the other direction, too."

I thought about that for a few moments.  The terribleness of it was nearly unfathomable.  Tim must have gotten nervous too, because he farted on my shoulder.

I sighed heavily.  This was not good - neither Tim's gas nor the idea of demons coming into our world through the Gray.  Like Torrie, for example.  The former silver elf was known by the still-living silver elves in this fae compound, and he was not only disgusting and evil, but he was also very hard to kill.  It had only been the combined forces of all of the elements being managed by Ben and me that had finally sent him back to the Underworld.  It was where he deserved to be sent, after having beaten my mother to death and after having planned to rape me in order to conceive some evil half-demon child who would make it possible for Torrie and all of his buddies to enter the Here and Now and end the world as we know it.

I shook my head.  "If there's a door in the Gray that's open somewhere, we should be seeing a lot more of those things over here."

"We have no idea how many there are here, first of all.  There could be many, hiding and waiting to strike.  And we also don't know if there's some sort of time issue involved with the door or anything like that."

"Time issue?" I asked.

"Some of the gray elves have hypothesized that the demons are only able to get through during certain times."

"Like, times of day?"

"Maybe.  Or the week, or the year, or ..."  Tony shook his head.  "We really just don't know yet.  That's why I'm spending so much time in the Gray, trying to get answers."

"You're like a Gray detective or something," I said, proud that my best friend was playing such an important role in our new world, even if it was all kind of screwed up right now.

"Yeah.  Something like that.  It's not easy getting those spirits in there to talk."

"How come?"

"They don't care about the things we care about, so they don't focus on details.  And they aren't motivated to help me, either."

I didn't really want to ask my next question because it gave me the heebie-jeebies a little, but I had to.  "How do you motivate them, then?"

"It depends on the spirit.  I try to find the one thing that's important to them and then work with that."

I frowned, wondering how far Tony had gone to help our friends.  "Give me an example."

Tony squirmed a little in his seat.  "I can't really think of anything right now, off the top of my head."

"Bullshit.  Tell me now."  I knew right away when Tony was avoiding something.  He absolutely could not tell a lie without broadcasting it to the world.

Tony sighed.  "You know, Jayne, you don't need to know everything that's going on with me all the time."

My mouth dropped open in shock before my righteous indignation came blazing up to save me.  "Say
what?!
  Since
when
do I not need to know your every last personal detail?"

"Well ..."

"No, seriously.   When did that happen?  Because I didn't get the memo, Tones."  I gestured between the two of us.  "We share shit.  We're soulmates.  We don't keep secrets."

Tony smiled.  "You feel pretty strongly about this, I see."

"You bet your sweet, freckled ass I do.  Now spill it.  I want to know what you've been up to and what kind of crazy shit they've talked you into doing."

"No one's talked me into doing anything.  Everything I've done has been my own idea."

"Well, what is it then?  Stop stalling."  I fixed him with my staredown, knowing he'd never be able to resist me now.

"You can lose the lunatic expression, Jayne.  It doesn't scare me; it makes me want to laugh."

I kept my gaze as penetrating as possible, not moving a muscle.  "No, it doesn't.  Right now you're worried I'm going to send you into a coma and you're lining up all your stories and facts so you can tell me every last one of them."

A small smile played on Tony's lips.  "Are you trying to hypnotize me or something?  Because it's not working."

"Tony!" I yelled, dropping my staredown and throwing my hands up.  "Come
on! 
Stop messing around!"

"Whoa, Nelly!" yelled Tim, swinging around on my hair.  "Simmer down, there, mule.  Give the boy a chance to speak."

I reached up to knock Tim off my hair, but he swung out of my reach, giggling his tiny ass off.

Tony smiled.  "Fine, okay.  Don't get your panties in a twist, I'll tell you.  It's not that big a deal."

I folded my arms across my chest.  "I'll be the judge of that."

Tony sighed.  "Okay.  Well, for example, earlier today I talked to a spirit in there who remembered Torrie coming through.  Only it was him going the other way, back to the Underworld, not him coming in."

"Well, Torrie would have come in months ago, right?  That's when he took over my step-father's body and started working on my mother."

"Exactly.  Finding a spirit who is still there now, and who was also there back then, is difficult on a couple levels."

"As in ...?"

"Plead the fifth!" Tim yelled, jumping off my shoulder and buzzing in front of Tony's face.  "Plead the fifth!  You're going down in flames!  Mayday!  Mayday!  Mayday!"

Tony smiled at Tim's antics.  "What's he saying?"

I leaned over to swat at Tim again.  "Go away, big ugly bug.  No one's interested in your intestinal problems."  One of these days I was going to find out how Tim knew so much about American culture; and I was more motivated than ever, now that he was talking about the Constitution, for shit's sake.

"He's talking about ... intestinal problems?" asked Tony, leaning away from Tim, staring at him suspiciously.

Tim buzzed back over to me.  "Stop talking about my intestines!  And I'm trying to save your friendship here, Lellamental, so back off!"

I caught Tim in midair, much to his consternation.  He pushed against the top of my fist,  struggling to try and free himself.  I blew my stinky lunch-breath into his face as I spoke, delighting in his wilting expression and flagging energy.  

"Listen up, pixieman.  The grownups are talking now.  Time for you to go play in the garden."  I drew my hand back behind my shoulder and launched him towards the open glass doors that led out towards the flowers, releasing him from my fist at the apex of the throw, knowing he'd recover in mid-flight and right himself but only after being far away from me.  It would give me at least five seconds of peace and possibly another ten seconds of Tim working himself into a snit before I'd have to deal with him again.  And that might be just long enough to get Tony talking.

"You were saying?" I asked, ignoring the sound of Tim's screaming as he flew through the air, tumbling ass over wings.

Tony's gaze was following my pixie projectile, so I snapped my fingers near his face.  "Hey!  I'm over here.  The story?"

Tony shook his head, getting himself back on track.  "Yeah.  Ummm ... okay.  So ... as I was saying, it's difficult because first of all, fae and humans usually move on to either the Overworld or the Underworld pretty soon after dying.  They just use the Gray as a transition zone of sorts.  And for those who end up staying -the ones who can't or won't move on- they start to get so disconnected from what we'd consider reality, they're very difficult to communicate with.  They're almost in their own worlds, locked inside themselves, if that makes any sense."

Tim came buzzing back, remaining ominously silent, giving me the stink-eye before sitting down all prim and proper-like on the edge of a nearby chair, crossing his legs and folding his hands over his knee.

Tony spared him a concerned glance and then turned back to me.  "I met a woman in there today who looked like a warrior of some sort, so I just talked to her about her last battle and that kind of woke her up a little ... or a lot ... at least, enough to get her focused on the spirit world so I could ask her some questions."

"Did she help you?  Who was she?"

"Not really.  Like I said, they're in their own worlds in there, so they ignore a lot of what's going on.  But I asked her if she could try and ... keep her eyes open for us, or whatever.  And no, I have no idea who she is or was.  They lose their Here and Now identities or names pretty quickly.  That stuff isn't important there."

"How did you know she was a warrior?" I asked.

Tony gave me a small smile.  "She reminded me a lot of you, actually."

"Me?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah.  The way she stood, her posture.  The way she held herself.  She was a take-no-baloney kind of spirit, just like you.  Plus, she wore weapons and armor."

I couldn't help but smile.  "Thank you, Tony.  I like being described as a take-no-baloney type person."

"I could think of another description," said Tim in a haughty voice, not changing his polite and cultured stance.

"Save it, pixieman," I said.

Tony leaned forward, whispering.  "Is he talking about his stomach thing again?"

Tim zoomed up to hover in front of Tony's face, his hands on his hips.  "Listen up, Luke Gray Walker ... I don't talk about your pimples
or
your mighty unibrow, so you shouldn't be talking about my
farts!"

I burst out laughing, shooing Tim away, but a lot more gently this time.  

Apparently he didn't like being a pixie-baseball.  He flew backwards from the room and into the garden, giving us the finger as he went out.

"Oops," said Tony, ducking his head down into his shoulders a little, grimacing.  "I guess I offended him."

"He's easy to offend.  Don't worry about it.  Tell me more about what you've found out.  And about Chase, too."

"There's not much to tell.  I've only had a day or so to look around and ask questions.  Chase is working on his end to try and help us, but I don't communicate with him.  I just get a feel for his presence in the Gray.  Traces of him, I guess you could say.  But we're going to find the spot where those demons are getting through and find a way to close it up, with or without the Overworld's help."

"You're
going to do that?"

"I'll find the hole, but it'll be someone else's job to close it up.  That's beyond my capabilities."

"So, who, then?  A witch?"

"Probably," he said.  I could tell he was not saying something the way he was looking at me, as if judging my reaction.

"Any particular witch?"

"A strong one," he said, still staring at me.

I sighed heavily.  "Don't tell me.  Let me guess.  Samantha?"

"Maybe," said Tony, visibly relaxing.  "Does that make you upset?"

"Yes, of course it does.  I can't get away from that bitch.  First she kills our friend, then she causes all kinds of problems trying to start a war between the fae, and now she's in here putting spells all over shit and pissing me off all over again.  Wouldn't you be upset?  Aren't you?  Honestly, Tony ... sometimes your ability to forgive anything is annoying as hell."