Slip Song (Devany Miller Series) (13 page)

I wasn’t sure how to start or what to say. Arsinua saved me and said, “There are things Devany needs to tell you. They won’t be easy to hear or understand, but I hope you both keep an open mind.”

Ann and Travis glanced at each other then both sets of eyes were on me. 

I stood and held out my hands. “I need to show you both something.”

“Is this a joke? We going to do a seance or something? Because that would be weird.” Travis’s last sentence trailed off and then he winced. “Shit. Sorry, sis.”

“
That’s okay.” I wiggled my fingers. “Give me a second.”

It took a long two minutes to form the hook. When it formed, warping the air, Ann gasped but followed me through. Travis I had to tug. “Come on.”

“I’m not going in that. What the hell is going on?”

With a push, I forced the hook out around him and let it swallow us all.

I jumped us into Tytan’s house, hoping that would keep them safe while we did the tour. Travis yanked his hand free and spun in a circle. “What did you do? Is this some kind of trick?”

“
It’s another world,” Ann whispered.

“
Sort of. It’s actually a space between worlds.” I watched Travis, wondering why he was so upset. Okay, I knew my brother had a hard time with new things and I had just jumped him into another world, but this seemed extreme even for  him. “You okay?”

“
No.” He stalked to the window and jerked back, flavoring the air with an inventive curse. Before he could tell me what he’d seen, Nex floated into the room. Ann screamed. Travis flung himself back into the wall, grabbing a chair as he did.

Nex turned his eyes on me. “Devany. Another visit so soon?”

“Get away from her. Get away from it!”

“
It’s okay. He’s a friend.” I touched Nex on the cheek and he made a weird purring noise. “It’s a field trip.”

“
That’s not fucking funny.” My brother held the chair out like a lion tamer.

“
Take it down a couple of notches. Seriously. Breathe.”

He was sucking air in great gasps and I hoped he wouldn’t end up passed out.

“This is amazing.” Ann’s tremulous voice filled the air between us. Whether it was her words or the way she gazed around as if she were high, she broke the tension.

Travis choked, then dropped the chair, his hands hitting his knees. “Holy shit!” He glanced at Nex and just as suddenly as his anger came, great gasps of laughter filled the room.

“Is he quite sane?” Nex floated up beside him, the soft hiss of his trailing intestines against the floor a particular kind of creepy.

“
Well, considering he’s gone from normal to insanity in a few seconds, I think his behavior is understandable.” My lips shut as I watched Ann reach out a tentative finger toward Nex.

The fleshcrawler king turned, exposing his teeth and she jerked her hand back with a small shriek.

“Let’s all just relax.”

My brother was still laughing but there was a hysterical quality to it that made me cringe. “A dog. A scary, freaky dog.”

Nex turned to me and I could tell by the look on his face he was insulted. “I’m sorry. He doesn’t understand. Not yet.”

“
Tell your friend I am not a museum exhibit.” He turned and gave Ann a death-ray look.

She slapped her hand over her face and shook a moment. When she pulled her hand away, she wasn’t smiling, thankfully. “I’m sorry.”

He nodded regally.

Travis held up his hands. “Wait a minute. A place between worlds? So there are more worlds?”

I shrugged. “Only one more I know of.”

“
There are many other worlds than these,” Nex intoned.

That thought made my head hurt and seeing Ann about to ask, I said, “But only two that concern us. Earth and Midia. I have to go to Midia to try to fix things. Problem is, time on Midia moves differently than on Earth. So while I might be gone a week Midia-time, two weeks or three will pass on Earth. That’s why I needed to bring you guys here. To show you the proof. Because I don’t have much time to get shit done.”

“Can we go to Midia? See it too?” Ann sounded enchanted. I supposed she was giddy with excitement. After all, this was confirmation of her belief that magic was real.

“
It would be dangerous.” I sighed. “Quick explanation. All humans have magic in them but it’s dormant. If they go to Midia, it explodes to life.”

Ann’s face lit up in wonder. “That would be wonderful.”

“Explode being the key word. It kills people.”

“
Oh.” Just as quick, the light went out.

My brother, whom I’ve been keeping an eye on since he started waving the chair around, dropped the seat to the floor. “You said humans.”

“Yeah.”

“
You said humans. If
they
go. So what, you aren’t human?” I heard the challenge in his voice, remembered it from our days as kids fighting over everything. Every. Thing.

“
No. Not really. Not anymore.”

“
Shit.” He sat on the chair and put his head in his hands. “That’s just fucking great.”

“
Not really. It’s scary and dangerous and frightening. I worry constantly something will come out of the woodwork to eat me or the kids and way too much stuff depends on what I do. Life and death stuff.” Sick at the thought of it all, I turned back to Nex, the one person—thing?—in the room who knew what I meant. “As soon as the funeral is over tomorrow, I’ll be back to go to the Swamp.”

He inclined his head. “As you wish.” He floated off, leaving both Ann and Travis staring.

“So. You guys ready to return?” I held out my hands.

Ann looked sad, Travis pissed and scared. They both walked over to me and took my hands. I pulled them back through to my living room where Arsinua waited. Travis looked at the clock. “Didn’t move? It’s the same time we left.”

“Time doesn’t count in the Slip. I could stay there for a thousand years and come back here the same moment I left.” I curled up on the sofa, feeling raw and vulnerable. I showed them the Slip. Now did they understand? Now would they take that much better care of Bethy and Liam?

God I hoped so.

“This is crazy. Are you sure you have to do this? Why you? I mean, how did this happen?” My brother waved his hand up and down in my direction.

“
Arsinua can explain it to you. She’ll stay with you to help keep you all safe while I’m gone. There are things out there, bad things, bad people, who don’t give a crap about human life. You need to understand to really be able to protect yourselves.”

“
Do you still have lodestones?” Arsinua said.

“
I brought back more a while back. Hardly hurt at all. They’re in the front table by the door.”

She nodded. “I thought I felt power there.”

Travis still looked shook up. I wished I could take the time to talk to him about all this but I could feel the clock dragging time—and all its consequences—grimly ahead.

“
I’ll be back. I promise. And I’ll check in whenever I can. It’s a quick trip for me.” I smiled, trying to get one in return. He didn’t smile but he did reach over and squeeze my hand.

“
You have everything ready for the funeral tomorrow?”

I sighed. “I think so. We’ll have the memorial at the funeral home and then there will be a short graveside service. I don’t want to have a dinner afterward. I’ll leave when we get home. Say goodbye to the kids.” My throat tightened. Shit. Could I do this?

I had to.

The memorial was perfect. Tom’s dad spoke, as did Tom’s sister. Nick, his camping buddy. Liam. I was so proud of my son. It was hard for him but he told a story about going fishing with his dad when he was a kid. “We had a box of worms and I asked him why we needed them. He told me that we were going to feed the fish because they were hungry. Then Bethy picked up the box and dumped the fish in the water. Dad was like, ‘Bethy! Why did you do that?’ and she said, ‘Daddy, you said fishies hungry.’”

The laughter felt good. Inside me I imagined Tom soaking in the love our gathered group had for him.

We drove out to the cemetery, to the plot we’d bought when we were still in love and death was a distant nightmare. Tom and I both wanted to be cremated so the space was small. The headstone had his name and birth and death dates. My name was on the stone but there wasn’t a death date under it. I hoped there wouldn’t be one for a long time.

Liam and Bethy stood with me until Tom’s cremains were buried. Then, shivering, we made our way back to the car and home. I didn’t want to get there because getting there meant I would be leaving. Bethy clung to me and Liam held my hand tight in his as we walked inside. Arsinua had been cooking again; the house smelled divine.

“Mom?”

I took a deep breath. “I’m going to go now. You guys be good for Uncle Trav, Ann, and Arsinua. I’ll be back. I promise.” They both hugged me and I held onto them for the longest time, wishing it could be different. “Okay. Okay, guys. I have to go.”

I worried they would prolong the goodbyes but both of them stepped back, eyes dry. “We’ll be fine. You go, do what you have to do. Okay?”

I smiled at my daughter then son. “Okay. Thank you guys for understanding.” I kissed them both then turned to my brother. “Time for me to get going.”

“Just, go? Like now?”

I hugged Travis too, noting the tense, stiff muscles in his arms and shoulders. “I’d better. Putting off the goodbyes will only make them harder.”

“Shit.”

“
Uncle Travis!” Bethy grabbed his hand. “Come on. Let’s watch a movie. Bye Mom.”

“
Bye.”

Liam waved then disappeared upstairs. My heart hurt. “You’ll make sure they’re safe? Loved? Hugged?”

“Of course,” Ann said. “I will spoil them rotten. Go.”

I looked at Jasper. “You ready?”

He pushed away from the wall where he’d been leaning, watching Arsinua cook. “Yes. I will be interested to see you negotiate with a fleshcrawler.”

I snorted. I’d be lucky if she didn’t eat me when she found out how hopeless I was at magic. Maybe Tytan could help. Who knew? “Come on.” I led him outside, unwilling to risk Bethy seeing us hook. I took Jasper’s hand and shut my eyes, not to concentrate on the hook but to reach out to Tytan. Once done, I hooked us to the swamp.

Jasper wrinkled his nose when the smell hit him. “This place is awful. I never liked even being on the outskirts, when the caravan that kept me hostage would travel to the border towns.”

“Well, this is the outskirts too. We’re going to wait on Tytan before we go in. I need to ask him a few things.” I rubbed my arms though I wasn’t cold. There was a slimy warmth to the air, oozing out of the anemic-looking trees scattered at the edge of the swamp. Far away, something hooted and another creature trilled in response. There was an abrupt scream and the trill cut off. Yuck.

Tytan appeared shortly after. He looked Jasper up and down, then curled his lip. “You could do better,” he told me.

“Uh, what?”

“
You want him. I can smell it on you.” He leaned in close to me and the warmth I always felt when he was close suffused my body. “You know I would be better in bed, right?” He winked and moved away so fast I didn’t have time to respond. “Why am I here?”

“
The queen wants me to reseal the pact. I don’t know what to do. So you’re here as my emissary and ear-whisperer if I need help.”

“
I told you, Ravana didn’t let us in on her little experiments unless they were designed to torture us. I have no idea how she did her magic.”

“
But you do know how to do Skriven magic and it can’t be all that different, can it?” I wanted to smack him but thought if he got too annoying, I’d wait until we were near one of the many slops of murky white water and give him a shove.

“
It’s different,” he muttered then waved his arm as he sketched an elaborate bow. “Shall we?”

“
No. We can jump there now. I just wanted to make sure you kept your eyes open and your thinking cap on.” I rubbed my palms down the front of my jeans. “Oh! I need to grab Nex. Hold on.” I made a hook before either one could speak and found Nex. He’d been floating in the shower, enjoying the water cascading over his entrails. They were actually clean for once, though they wouldn’t stay that way for long. They dragged the floor more often than not and he got frustrated with them.

“
You ready to talk to your queen?”

He bobbed in place, his pale flesh glittering with water drops. “She is no longer my true queen. You are.”

“No. No, no, no. I’m your friend.”

He blinked.

“Seriously.”

A smile full of razor sharp teeth. Why the hell did I think it was endearing? I must be crazy. “Thank you. You are my friend as well.”