Fate and Fury (9 page)

One by one, they opened their eyes. Sally squinted against the brightness of the flames from the fire. She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She had pictured her greatest fear, had stared it straight in the face, and she had not fallen before it. That was her triumph. It was still there, simmering in the dark, but she had faced it, and it had not broken her. She wouldn’t let it. Not now, and not when they entered the In-Between.

Everyone finally settled down to get some sleep. Like every night, they took turns taking watch. Sally’s eyes drifted closed and she hoped that she would speak with Costin again. She hoped that she could tell him that tomorrow she would hold him in her arms. But, it wasn’t Costin she dreamed of. To her surprise, it was Jacque.

“
Jacque?” Sally took a step towards her friend. They stood in the forest near a fire much like the one Sally had been sitting at before sleep.

“
I’m fighting Sally. I’m fighting, but I need help.” Jacques words were laced with desperation and she looked tired, as if she hadn’t slept in weeks.

“
What are you fighting Jacque?” Sally asked. “I’ve tried to help you but I can’t get through.”

“
I’m pushing against the spell,” responded Jacque. I’m thinking of everything I can to bring myself back to our world. Fane told me to fight, that you all needed me. Please Sally, help me.”

Sally closed the space between them and wrapped Jacque in her arms. She couldn’t believe how real the embrace felt. Maybe her mind was just that desperate to have her friend back. She felt tears gather in her eyes as Jacque squeezed her closer.

“
I’ve been so alone,” Jacque’s words were muffled as she pressed her face into her friends shoulder.

“
We’ve been with you this whole time,” Sally tried to reassure her.

“
I know. I can hear you, I just haven’t been able to move or respond. It’s like something has wrapped itself around my brain or something.”

“
I will get Rachel and we will see if we can help you, okay? We won’t let you stay like this Jac, you need to know that.”

Jacque pulled back from their embrace and collected herself. A slow smile stretched across her face.

“
You had better get me awake. I hear that we’re going in to rescue our men.”

Sally nodded with a smile of her own.

“
Jen hasn’t started using military lingo just yet, but I figure it’s coming.”

Jacque gave Sally one last nod, as if to say:
let’s do this
. And then, Sally felt the dream fading, slowly morphing into another dream... one that she would never forget.

Lying around the circle, one by one each woman slipped into her own dream. The Great Luna was blessing them, helping them bolster their wills. They each got to meet with their mates. Brief that it was, they were able to tell them to hold on, that they were coming for them very soon. Tears streaked down their faces as their fleeting moments of time with their men slipped away.

Morning came much too quickly and the chill crept into their bones, drawing them to consciousness. The females were solemn and even Jen was more subdued than ever. But, a sense of urgency, which seemed to grow with every second, danced at the edges of their nerves. They gathered their few belongings, ate some Fae bread, and every now, and then smiled encouragingly to one another.

It was Jen’s singing that finally broke the silence as the words to
Leaving on a Jet Plane
–Jen style of course, rang out into the gradually lightening forest.

“
All our crap is packed, we’re ready to go,

We’re standing here moving too slow,

I hate to tell you all to get in gear.

But the dawn is breakin’, it’s early morn,

The troll is waiting, he’s scratching his horn,

If you going any slower I will die

If you kiss me I’ll kick your ass,

Shove you into the grass,

Let’s just get the show on the road

‘
Cause we’re leaving, coming or not,

Can’t leave our men left to rot.

O’Crap, we need to go.

By the time Jen was finished with her rendition of the song, the urgency was still there, but instead of the solemnness as its company, now hope had taken root.

“
I don’t know how you do it,” Peri said, shaking her head.

“
It’s simple,” Jen told her. “You just pick a song and go with it. I believe my versions are always better than the originals.”

“
That’s just because you use explicit words in yours and questionable content,” Sally chuckled.

“
That is definitely a bonus.”

They were all finally packed and ready to go. They stood staring at each other, and steeling themselves for what was to come.

“
I have another song for this moment, shall I share?” Jen asked.

A collective, “NO,” rang out among them.

Jen held her hands up in surrender, muttering under her breath. “Good grief. Let a prego chick down gently.”

The group had just begun walking when they heard a small whimper coming from the direction Jacque occupied. They all froze, waiting in rapt silence to hear it again. After a few moments, they heard what sounded like another whimper. Sally and Rachel were the first to reach Jacque’s side, and they both instantly laid their hands on her. They closed their eyes and tried, like they had so many times before, to push through the shield that was keeping them out of Jacque’s mind. But, there was no resistance this time. They slipped right in and what they saw amazed them. They saw a cage with a writhing, living darkness trapped inside. It was as if Jacque had pushed the evil from her mind and locked it up. Sally and Rachel called to her, drawing her back from the place where her wolf had taken her to protect her. Slowly, they felt her coming to consciousness until finally she opened her eyes.

Jacque looked up at eight pair of eyes staring, hopefully, down at her. She drew in a painful breath, her lungs stretching under the amount of air filling them. She blinked to clear her blurred vision and attempted to use her voice, which had lain dormant for so long.

“
Hi,” she croaked.

Silence.

Then the inevitability, that was Jen, broke in. “That’s all you have for us, hi? Really Jac, we’ve been lugging your butt around for more than a week and all you can say is
hi
.”

Jacque smiled up at her friend and her eyes sparkled. “I missed you too Jen.”

Jen winked at her. “Well, you woke up just in time. We have a black ops assignment and you need to start pulling your weight.”

“
And, so the military lingo begins,” Crina muttered.

Peri pushed around Jen so she could examine Jacque more closely. Rachel and Sally continued to try and expel the evil that was still inside Jacque's mind, although it was contained. They chanted in a language the others did not know and pushed with the magic drawn from the nature around them. Peri laid her hand on Sally’s shoulder and shared her own magic with the healers and it was enough. Jacque’s eyes closed and she let out a breath that seemed to have been frozen in her lungs. She felt the evil dissipate and the murkiness that had been filling her insides fade away.

She started to stand, but was stopped when Peri put a hand on her shoulder.

“
Hold on there, wonder woman. Take a few minutes to get your bearings.”

She handed Jacque some Fae bread and a bottle of water. Jacque looked at the bottle and grinned. “Where exactly did you get a bottle of Aquafina water?”

Peri shrugged. “I have my ways.”

Jacque gulped the water, allowing it to wet her dry throat and cottony mouth. She could feel it following the path of her esophagus. It was cool and refreshing and helped her body rejoin the living. She took a bite of the Fae bread and remembered that it was supposed to give them energy that they would not otherwise possess on their own. Within minutes, she felt its effects. Finally, she stood, her legs a bit shaky, and her muscles stiff from disuse. She grinned as she watched all of her friends hold out their arms, waiting to catch her if she fell. The symbolism in that thought was profound and hit her like a herd of elephants. These women, her pack, and friends, had been there for her when she
had
fallen. They had caught her and eased her to the ground instead of letting her fall to her demise. They had cared for her, wept over her, talked with her even when they thought she couldn’t hear. Yes, she thought as she looked at their eager faces, outstretched arms, that they would always catch her.

She waved them off. “I don’t need eight mother hens cramping my style.”

Reluctantly, they backed up and gave her some room to move. She took a couple hesitant steps forward and when she didn’t fall over, took a few more. She stretched up on her toes, reaching her arms up in the air feeling her muscles resist against the motions. She felt good, better than good. She felt ready to get her mate back.

Peri saw the fire beginning to emerge in Jacque’s eyes and knew what was coming. She held up her hand to stop the inevitable. “Let’s give it a little while, let you get used to moving and being conscious again. You won’t be any good to us if you just fall over while we’re in that hell hole.”

Jen stepped forward and held up her hand. “I’d like to point out that if she just fell over like a fainting goat, for one second I’d laugh. That's all.”

“
Thanks for the positive thoughts, Jen,” Jacque said, dryly.

“
I’m always there for you babe.” Jen grinned.

Jacque’s eyes met Peri’s and there was a fire that lit them burning with unwavering determination. “We aren’t going to wait any longer, Peri. They have been in that place for long enough. My mate is not going to rot in that terrible place, because I’m some pansy that can’t pull it together after being asleep for a few days.”

“
When you put it like that you sound pretty awesome,” Sally pointed out.

“
Well, I
am
awesome, dammit,” Jacque stomped her foot.

Jen threw her arms up in the air. “That’s it, people, decision made. Jacque has stomped her foot. If she can cuss and stomp her foot at the same time, I say she’s ready to barge through the gates of hell.”

Peri looked over to Alina. “You okay with this?”

Alina looked her daughter in-law over. She saw nothing by a will of steel. “She’s going with or without us.”

Peri nodded. “That’s what I was afraid of.” With a huff, she waved for them to follow. “Well, hold on to your butts, it’s about to get messy.”

“
Jurassic Park,” Sally, Jen, and Jacque all yelled out at once at Peri’s movie quote.

Peri looked back at them and shook her head. “I think your parents must have dropped you guys on your heads five times too many.”

“
My mom claims it was only three,” Jen walked alongside her two best friends, finally feeling a little bit more like herself. “But, I swear it was four because I remember this one time…”

Jacque slapped her hand over Jen’s mouth, and the others let out a collective sigh.

Crina smiled at Jacque. “It’s good to have you back.”

“
You’re telling me that no one has been censoring this beast?” She motioned towards Jen.

“
She’s quite dangerous these days. We all wanted to keep our clothes dry and our hair on our heads.” Sally said in defense.

Jen growled low, her wolf getting agitated along with her. “I’m standing right here you know.”

“
Actually you’re walking,” Jacque dodged the hand that reached out to smack the back of her head and laughed along with the others.