Night Finds (7 page)

“Hey, your girlfriend has a big enough mouth for the two of you, so let’s only let one of you be able to tease me. Walt, you and Jonas probably packed accordingly, but did you mention to the others where we were heading so they could also leave their less useful weapons at home?”

Sebastian reaches over and starts moving his hand around on my belly. Soph doesn’t make any move to kick him. It is a little unlike her, but I think she has finally decided sleeping is a good thing. With everything going on out in the non-belly world, I hope she is happy just hanging out while mommy takes care of business.

“We named her a few hours ago and you have already cut off a syllable from her name. I thought it would at least take you a day,” Sebastian says continuing his belly rub.

“Butt out. You won’t let me in your head, so the least you can do is keep out of mine. It is quite rude.”

“To answer your question,” Walt says interrupting the beginning of a spat between Sebastian and me, “I made sure everyone was loaded up with iron, as well as anything we need to blow the Collective agents that have your father out of the water.”

“We are going to try to only fight one battle at a time, though,” Alex interjects. “Fighting the Collective and the Fae might be a little more than we can handle at the moment.”

“Say that all you want, but them Fae let my brother be taken hostage. I am at least going to have a few words with them about the definition of hospitality. Aaron was not happy with how he was treated to begin with. I don’t think he would mind if I throw a few punches on the way to rescue him.”

“I concur. Walt, find me a couple of people that I can slap around too. I don’t want Sophia to see a lot of bloodshed, but an active cat fight shouldn’t traumatize her too much.” My little fights with Phee are fun, but I haven’t been able to get a good workout in the gym since it was broadcast that Baby Sebby was growing inside of me. None of the guards wanted to deal with Alex and Sebastian’s wrath for actually taking me on in full combat mode. Fighting with a person that is allowing you to win gets old quickly.

“I see that happening about never,” Sebastian says. He must be satisfied with whatever he was feeling because his hand leaves my stomach.

“Sophia says she doesn’t mind. She wants to help,” I insist.

“Sophia wouldn’t talk to you after you promised her an expensive car and a pony. I doubt very highly she has become a chatterbox in the last hour,” Sebastian replies.

“Plus, she is sleeping,” Alex adds.

“She will be talking to us all soon enough. Why don’t we turn the discussion to how we are going to keep the mother and baby safe,” Hilda suggests.

“I vote for strapping her to her seat when the rest of us travel through the mound,” Alex advocates.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to distress me. If that was your plan, my bed is much more comfortable, but sadly we are far enough down the road now that turning back would be foolish.”

“The closer we get, the more I am thinking you shouldn’t go. There are a lot of things that can go wrong.”

“Even Frank said that the chances of me getting killed are zero. I might get a couple of bruises, but nothing major and I am sure Peanut is in a bulletproof shell.”

“Sorry, Nyx, but I wouldn't put that theory to the test. I would hate for us to find out she was only candy coated,” Hilda offers.

“So, how are you guys going to keep me safe? I am not willing to wear a bubble suit.”

“When it comes down to exchange time, I say I take your place,” Hilda states like it is the most obvious thing in the world.

“I don't know if you have looked in a mirror lately, but we look nothing alike.” I know it is actually a really stupid thing to say to her, but I can't help myself.

“I think she has hit her head just a few too many times in those sparring matches you guys have, or maybe during one of the times she has been shot she landed funny when she fell,” she says extending her hand to me over the back of my seat. “Nice to meet you, super powerful witch here able to change forms at will. I could turn myself into Clyde if I felt like it, but I really don't want to have to mess with the fleas.” She takes her hand back, I hadn't made a move to shake, and she sits back in her seat.

“What would I be doing? I want to be there during the meeting and I don't think they would buy there being two of me.”

“I am guessing you guys won't let me alter her physical appearance. Maybe make her in to a gnome. I hear she likes their pointy hats.”

“Now would not be the best time for that,” Sebastian says. “I don't know what it would do to the baby, but as you can imagine I am not willing to allow any physical alterations.” Yeah, because I have no say whatsoever in the matter.

“Because of her condition, I don't want to do a body swap. I usually only do that with guys anyway. I love to watch the shock on their face and then I laugh hysterically when they start playing with their new milk jugs. It never fails that they become fascinated by them. Well, they would on any body other than Nyx's pre-pregnancy version. I could put them in a ten-year-old girl and they would probably feel bigger lumps than what she had.”

“Thanks, Hilda. Can you move on to whatever plan you are cooking up? It isn't like I wanted to switch bodies with you either.”

“Fine. But you have to admit being a normal height would have been fun. Since we will be in Faerie, it is probably best to do as they do and just use a glamour. There will be no actual changes to her. Others will just see a different appearance when they look. Glamours can be seen through, so I would want to put some other levels of distraction in place.” I can tell by her voice she is getting excited about making me look like someone else. I swear if I end up green, I don't care how much Marcus thinks he is falling in love with her, I am killing her.

“For this glamour, will I have to ingest anything? My stomach doesn't feel all that great right now and I don't want to upset it further.”

“I will go the spell route and leave the potion part to your other double,” she replies and is successful in losing me. I wish I had a giant sign filled with question marks that I could just raise up for all to see at times like this.

“I am pretty sure we only need one person that looks like me and I thought you volunteered.”

“I did. How shocking is that? However, as I mentioned, the glamour isn't foolproof. There are crystals and other oddball objects that can allow a person to see through the disguise. To adjust for that, I vote we turn the female wolf along with us into another you, like I will be, and then put a glamour on in front of that. The spell on me and her would not be crackable by anything they have, so if they are able to bypass your new exterior, they will find them trying to figure out which of the three of us is the real thing,” she explains.

Three of me running around is my idea of a nightmare. I bet most of the people that live with me would concur. It will offer a good amount of confusion though.

“Your next issue will be making it so neither Sebby nor Alex tries to stick by my side. Even if everything else works out, one of them rushing to my side could ruin everything,” I point out.

“You are going to have to do some more of your transformation spells then because I have to be glued to her,” Sebastian claims. It is like we have broken our bond all over again. He isn't as touchy this time, but he is just as annoying.

“We can work something out. First, we have to get past dinner with Addie. I think we should all be ourselves for that joyous event. As soon as we escape the castle, I will put us all in order.”

“Just how much longer do we have before we get to this mound?” I ask ready to get this over with.

“I am telling you, she has some kind of brain damage. Is Sophia cutting off her oxygen?” Hilda says making me look up from the floor. I have been staring down there because looking out the window was making me a little nauseous. It wasn't like there was a lot to see out the windows anyway.

We are, of course, parked in a wooded area and I wouldn't doubt for a second that we have been in this position for more than a couple of minutes. Great. We have what I would guess is four hours left to meet up with Frank and the gang and we have been sitting around with our thumbs up our noses.

“How exactly do we travel over to this other land?” I ask as we start climbing out.

“It's pretty easy,” Walt says walking over to a pile of dirt that is covered with flowers. I am voting that they are daisies. “Queen Adeline gave me a passcode for us to use to get in.”

He walks around the mound and then finally stops to pick something up. It's a rock. Okay. He flips it over and fiddles with it until he removes a piece. He punches his pointer finger inside of it and I am beginning to believe that if I look at it I will find a number pad.

He stops fingering it and twists the removed portion back in place. When he puts it back on the ground, the earth starts to shake. As it is moving I feel an odd movement in my stomach. I am not sure what Sophia just did, but she has moved into a new position and it feels funny.

“No worries,” Alex says from beside me. “She is just getting comfortable.”

For some reason I don't believe him, but we can discuss that after Daddy is home with us. I finally get to visit him over the rainbow and you better believe that I am taking him back with me.

Chapter 7

It isn’t always brighter on the other side of the rainbow

The mound in front of us parts down the middle to reveal a set of stairs. That is not at all strange. Hilda takes off dragging Marcus straight into the pit. I am sure she has done this before, but I would still be taking a gander prior to just skipping down the steps. Using a stick to poke around a little would have been advisable in my book, too. There could have been snakes or something down there waiting for us.

“You ready?” Sebastian asks while at the same time moving me closer to the hole. I notice that Alex is on my other side and he is carrying the duffle bag. Where is my X-ray vision when I need it? I could come up with a lot of helpful uses for a power like that.

“I think it has been determined that I was born ready. Have you ever been to Faerie? I would think you were born before the lock down happened.” The hole in the ground isn't as dark as I thought it would be. Me having night vision may be part of the reason.

“It won't be my first trip, but I can hope it will be my last. I have never been extremely fond of the Fae. I think hanging out with your mom down in Hell would be more enjoyable than attending one of their parties.”

“Any previous friends of the girl persuasion that I should be worrying about? You told me once that they were all ancient history, but Candace proved to be not quite dead yet.”

I am focusing on the back of Hilda's head as she leads us around some really earthy smelling catacombs. I doubt anyone would admit to worms having a smell, but this is what I envision them smelling like.

“I know without a doubt there will be no old flames down here. Vampires are extremely incompatible with Fae. We find them to smell so atrocious that Clyde's breath would be akin to smelling the ocean air compared to what we get off of them. I am guessing since you aren't a full vampire you won't have to deal with that.”

Anything that smells bad compared to Clyde's breath has to be killer. I really hope that I get to bypass that pleasure. I would also really like to be out of this passage. Don't we just walk through a wall or something and magically get transported to a land full of rainbows and sunshine?

“Let's just say not exactly. Where we come out may very well be nice and green like Hilda mentioned, but Faerie was slowly dying before the gates were closed. The air that caused them problems in our world was leaking in and causing pockets of magicless land that nothing would grow on. I don't know if closing things off brought back the magic to those areas, but I highly doubt it. The things I saw looked pretty permanent.”

That makes me excited to see this wonderful, new land. Not. Ahead, I finally see a portal looking entrance like I was expecting. It is on the dirt wall and not in the ground, which scores points for me. I hate jumping into something when I cannot see the other side. Walking through it won't be too much fun, but I have to believe it is better than falling.

“When we walk through, I want you to keep in contact with me at all times,” Sebastian says. I won't fight him on that one. He wants to give a little support as we cross into the great unknown, I am all for that.

“This doesn't look right,” Hilda says in front of us. “I am afraid Sebastian isn't too far off with his thinking of how the land is going to look when we crossover. The entrances into Faerie used to be giant looking glasses. They showed the life thriving on the other side. This is nothing but death. I am surprised it will even work to let us pass through.”

“And my dad has been hanging out here? Couldn't you have found him a roach motel somewhere with a decent view?” The Collective found him anyway, so I don't know what the difference is.

“Light is bright and moons are plenty. Passage desired and granted,” Hilda says holding her left arm out, palm facing the black circle. The blackness clears and we can see the other side and it leaves a lot to be desired. It looks like the field before us has been caught on fire at one point and there is a lone charred tree amidst the landscape.

Looking at it brings an instant sadness over me. “It will be okay. We won't be in here more than a couple of hours, one for dinner and another to get your dad. Then we can get back home and wait for our daughter to be born,” Sebastian tells me trying to help settle the emotions swirling around me.

It doesn't really help, but we need to get this done. Hilda starts us off by walking through the veil. We can see her on the other side and she immediately puts her hands up. Great. I am guessing there is a welcoming committee. Marcus hurries through after her and we create a funnel to follow.

I don't feel anything as I step through, at least not physically. The sadness is still there and it gets stronger as I reach the other side. The blackened earth is literally crying out to me. I fall to my knees to try to soothe it by touching what I can.