Soulceress (The Mythean Arcana Series Book 2) (11 page)

“Excellent. Where is it?”

“Fingal’s Cave.”

“Fingal’s Cave? That odd rock formation off the Isle of Mull?”

“Yeah, the one on Staffa.”

She’d never been to the small, uninhabited island located off the west coast of Scotland. The cave, made of towering octagonal rock formations, sat at the base of a vertical cliff and opened right into the sea.
 

“The soulceress
howf
is in a cave that is well known to mortals? The Giant’s Cave is famous,” Warren said.

“Fingal’s Cave is just the entrance. The geological formations that draw mortal attention are an unavoidable manifestation of our power. But back when we used it, mortals weren’t taking tour boat rides. And Fingal wasn’t a giant. That’s just a myth, meant to scare away the few mortals who might want to visit. His name was Finn. Finn MacCummhail, and he was a soulcerer. Not the first of our kind, but the most powerful.”

“What happened to him, if he was so powerful?”

“Some say he was killed in the Burnings. Others say he sacrificed himself for the remaining soulceresses with magic meant to hide them from other Mytheans. Those few who survived believed that it was Finn MacCummhail who crafted the magic that calmed some of the hysteria. As for the
howf
, the entrance is at the back of the cave. It’s only visible to Mytheans, not mortals, and it’s submerged at high tide. If we miss the tide, we could be crushed by the waves.”

“Can we aetherwalk? It would save time.”
 

“To Mull, yes. Not to the cave, because the
howf
will be protected by magic that won’t allow us to just appear inside. Any other species who can aetherwalk could gain access that way.”

“We’ll take a boat, then. Tourist boats won’t be running this time of year, which helps us avoid people. When can we depart?”

“I need to refuel my power.” She watched his face for any sign of a grimace, so used to seeing it on the faces of Mytheans was she.
 

Nothing. Not even a flinch. Did he really not care that she was a soulceress? She wanted to believe that.

“All right. I’ll give Cadan a call. He has a house on Mull. He might know where to get a boat. I’ll come get you in a few hours, and we’ll head over there, all right?”

“Fine. I’ll check the tides. We might have to wait until tomorrow to approach the cave.”
 

Which meant they might be spending the night together on Mull. Esha swallowed hard.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“We’re screwed, Chairman,” Esha said to her familiar as she trudged up the spiral staircase to her tower. “There isn’t enough power in the world for us to beat what’s coming at us.”

He meowed his agreement, and she held the door open for him at the top of the stairs. He sauntered in and settled in front of the fireplace. Meowed again.

 
Absentmindedly, she waved a hand at the fireplace and flames burst into existence. Within seconds, he began to snore. She felt a smile almost stretch across her face, but it faded as she went into her bedroom.
 

When she reached the far wall, she pulled the dagger from the sheath in her boot. She grimaced as she made a small incision in her palm and placed her bloody hand against one of the stones that looked like all the rest. The stone disappeared and she reached into an enchanted space and withdrew a wooden arrow.

Please work.
Andrasta had only given her one arrow, and Esha had never used it before. With a deep breath and a prayer for luck, she snapped it in half.
 

One second. Two. They were agonizing.

Then her friend stood before her. Naked and dripping wet, with a scowl that would rival a wet cat’s. A glorious laugh burst out of Esha’s chest, as if the tension and disappointment of the day refused to be held any longer.

“Why the hell are you laughing? What’s wrong?” her friend demanded.
 

The arrow was for emergency use only. It dragged her friend out of Otherworld no matter what she was doing there.

Esha tried to stop, even clapped a hand over her mouth, but her laugh had become one of those uncontrollable freak-out laughs that was more about panic and less about humor. The glorious power that seeped into her from Andrasta only emphasized it.
 

“Ah, I’m sorry,” she said, finally catching her breath. “Let me get you a towel.”

She tossed her friend a towel and then found a T-shirt and jeans. They wouldn’t fit the much shorter Ana, but they’d have to do.

“I didn’t even know if that arrow would work,” she said, watching Ana dry off and tug on the clothes.

“Me either.”

“What’d I do? Pull you out of some humpathon with Adonis?”

“Wrong afterworld. He’s Greek, not Celtic. I’ve never even met him. I was taking a bath.”

“Sorry.” Esha tried to grin, but her laughing binge had sucked any levity right out of her. Her previous happiness was as gone as tuna in the Chairman’s bowl. She headed into the living room and curled up on the couch, knowing that Ana would follow.

 
“Thanks for coming,” she said when Ana entered the room. “I’m sorry I had to use the arrow.”

“It’s fine. I gave it to you so you could call me if you needed to.” With no phones or email in Otherworld—what with it being the ancient Celtic afterworld and all—there was no way to get in touch with Ana. Normally she just showed up when she could get away for a visit. “What’s wrong? Why did you need to see me?”

“For your power,” Esha said, guilt twisting something inside her until she swore it was a physical pain.

“Oh fates, don’t worry about that. You can have it all!” Ana could read her so well, but she meant what she said. Ana hated the power that made her a god.
 

“Thanks. That’s not how everyone else feels.”
Whiner.
 

Esha rarely moped, but Ana was the only friend she had who didn’t speak Cat and just having someone to talk to made her want to spill her guts sometimes.

 
“You really need to get over that. Worrying what those assholes think isn’t going to do you any good.”

“I know. And I don’t really care. Not normally.” Beating herself up over something she couldn’t control was the height of stupidity, and Esha made a point to limit any conscious stupidity.

“Is it that asshole Warren again?”

“No. He actually apologized for being a jerk. I know he still has a deep-seated problem with what I am, but I think it’s mostly my own issue. Every other Mythean is an asshole about it, so I guess I’m just sensitive. Maybe too much so.”
 

Ana just shrugged. What else could you do in the face of truth? “Why do you need so much power all at once?”
 

“I don’t have time to find a big enough group of Mytheans before I have to go with Warren tomorrow to find the soulceress
howf
.”

“Why the hell are you going there? Isn’t it super dangerous?”

Esha told Ana all about Aurora and Warren and the hunt for one of her own kind.

Ana frowned. “But he’s been such a jerk to you. You’re helping him?”

Esha shrugged. “It was a good apology, but mostly I want to meet her. I’ve never tried to learn anything about my people. When I ran away from school, I was just trying to survive. By the time I got here, I guess I’d just turned into a big wimp who only wanted people to like her, and I figured that if I stayed away from anything related to other soulceresses, it would help.”

“Wow, I had no idea. You’re always such a badass, hunting rogues and spitting in the eye of anyone who looks at you wrong.” Her friend paused. “Which is basically everyone.”
 

“Yeah, well, my plan was crap. I know that now. I want more. I want to meet someone like me. Someone who won’t judge me on sight.”

“I don’t judge you.”

Esha smiled. “I know. And it means the world to me. It does. But I want to find this other soulceress. Maybe learn to control my power collection better.”

They talked for another hour, mostly about Otherworld, since Esha wanted to take her mind off things. Eventually, Ana left, but not before repairing the arrow in case Esha ever needed it again. Her power coursed through Esha’s veins as she checked out the tide charts and packed a small overnight bag. She was just closing her laptop when a knock sounded at her door.

“Hang on!”
 

 
She tugged on her coat and grabbed her bag. The Chairman was hissing at the door when she headed over to open it.
 

Warren stood outside, clad in a beat-up leather jacket and jeans. She told herself not to think about how good he looked. He made her act like a spaz, so the smart thing would be to ignore him.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah. Come on in.”

He nodded and stepped inside. Absentmindedly, she twisted the lock in the door while following him into the room with her eyes.
 

“What did you find for a boat?” she asked.

“Cadan has one at his house that we can borrow. It’s got a trailer that we can use to get it to a better place to launch. We can stay at his place, too, if need be.”

“All right. Since the boat is at his place on the south side and we need to tow it north, we’re going to miss low tide this afternoon. The next low tide during daylight is at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon.”

“That’s less than an hour before sunset. We’ll need to hit it right on the nose or we’ll be in the dark. Let’s go tonight, stay at Cadan’s, and use the time to see to the boat. He said he hasn’t used it in a while, so we’ll need to make sure everything works.”

“Okay,” she said, but her mind went straight to the idea of spending the night in Cadan’s house with Warren. The place was big, but still. “Do you have everything you need?”
 

He held up a duffel.

“Good. We’ll leave from here. You’re going to have to wrap your arm around my waist,” she said as she stepped closer.

He stared down at her, his eyes intense, then wrapped a hard arm gently around her waist.

Her eyes snapped back to his face when he spoke. “I wanted to say thank you again for helping me with this. It’s... really important.”

Struck by the sincerity in his voice, she nodded, unable to break eye contact. Finally, she looked away. “I’ll take us to Cadan’s house. I’ve been there before, so it won’t be a problem.”
 

When she could feel the Chairman twining himself about her legs, she focused on his energy and her destination. Moments later, they stood in the front hall of Cadan’s home on the Isle of Mull. Sunlight streamed through the windows to illuminate a wooden floor and gray walls decorated with paintings of faraway landscapes.

“You can open your eyes now,” she said. The Chairman unwound himself from her legs and stalked off, presumably to find the kitchen.

Warren removed his arm from her waist and she mentally kicked herself for mourning the loss of him. She tossed her bag onto a bench, then turned to him. “Shall we go check out the boat?”

Later that night, after inspecting the boat and hitching the trailer to the Land Rover in Cadan’s garage, Warren wandered downstairs for dinner. Dealing with the boat had taken hours, then a shower and calls from work had kept him busy. He’d tried to keep his mind off Esha and he’d failed. Of course.
 

The kitchen was dim when he stepped inside, but the glimmer of light from the other room provided enough illumination that he ignored the light switch in favor of heading straight to the fridge. A quick glance revealed beer in the refrigerator and TV dinners in the freezer. He snagged a beer and put it on the counter, then wandered toward the walk-in pantry.

“Warr—”

He stumbled straight into Esha, who’d apparently been in the pantry hunting down some dinner as well. A box of crackers was clutched in her hand.

“Sorry.” But he didn’t step back to give her any space. He couldn’t. His mind was too wrapped up in how she looked.

Her hair was wet from a shower, and she wore loose cotton trousers and a threadbare tank top that molded to her breasts. No bra. The sight made his brain short-circuit and any thought of his long-enforced celibacy flee like a coward from a dragon.