"Not if you don't want me to be," she said. She gestured at the shadowy welcoming committee. "You have a choice. You could stay here with your friends, I think."
The elementals clustered around the newborn, affectionately ruffling a whole headful of shaggy, unkempt hair. Iskia wiped tiny black fingers under its eyes and gave them a shy smile. Then it looked at Jace. The smile wavered and vanished.
I'm afraid.
"Me, too," Jace said, again shooting for honesty. Although she couldn't hear or see them outside of the shadow-cocoon, she knew the Hunters were still there. Waiting. Willing to murder. "I don't like the idea of a master. Being one. Having one. Not exactly my style. But if you like, I can be your friend."
She offered her hand to the floating Card spirit. "My name is Jacelynn."
Iskia soberly regarded both her face and her hand. A few more tears leaked out, but it wiped them away almost absentmindedly. Its voice sounded stronger. Jacelynn?
She grinned. "Call me Jace."
Okay. Iskia's black cherub's wings fluttered, and it floated closer. One tiny palm and five fingers grasped Jace's thumb. Solid. Strong. Gently, Jace folded her bigger fingers around them, trying not to engulf the doll-sized arm.
Will you keep me safe, Jace? Iskia asked her, its galaxy-gaze unnervingly direct.
She swallowed. She hadn't kept Erebos safe, had she? Could she do it? Could she promise, to herself and to this creature, that she wouldn't fail again? "I want to. I'll try."
A wave of resigned determination from the Card spirit passed between their joined hands and left her feeling slightly dizzy.
I will help you, then, Iskia said.
Like the last tatters of clouds after a storm, its childish form dissolved, and then the most intense caffeine rush of her life flooded her body with tingling energy. Iskia's energy. He – for he was male, Jace was sure of that now – filled her organs and muscles from the inside, expanding them to fit. The ever-present ache in her leg eased, and then faded altogether. Jace grew taller and thinner. Her hair slipped out of its ponytail, the ash-blond waves flowing over her shoulders and into her eyes as inky blackness. In contrast, the skin of her larger, more masculine hands turned white as frost. Her clothes, now too small, melted into shadow and reformed as crisp slacks and a tunic-robe, a sash wrapped snugly around a trim waist, all in shades of black and as soft as cashmere.
A midnight star imploded inside her skull. Jace blinked several times to remove the filmy feeling coating them, and then she could see. They had bonded, the newborn Card spirit and the human, and the night no longer held any secrets from her.
Bourneyate Woodland glowed with non-light and life, shimmering in colors that Jace had only seen under a black light, and in others that she had never seen before. Her feet, bare and white and too big, dangled several inches off the ground. The air buffeted her, keeping her aloft the way bubbles in a hot tub could make her float. Trying to wrap her head around this phenomenon, she raised her eyes.
And gasped. They were everywhere!
Misty purple ghosts waved shyly at her from around the glowstick trunks of trees. Ice-pale succubae danced in the starlight, their eyes black as pits. Fuzzy, bat-like fairies swooped among the iridescent leaves, while heavier imps tried to catch them.
Lumps of solid shadows, the LED-like gems in their head-bumps flashing in warning, swarmed the three Hunters. The humans couldn't see the elementals, but they could feel them. The solid shadows headbutted legs and hips, none too gently. The Hunters cried out, their words unintelligible in the jumble of noise that suddenly rushed back into Jace's awareness. They fought to keep their footing, tripping over and pushing each other.
What now? Jace wondered, feeling kind of helpless as she watched the shadows herd the Hunters into a tight, frightened, and confused knot. She nearly screamed aloud when her head answered in a voice that was not hers.
What is your desire?
Possible courses of action flashed across her mind. She couldn't tell if the ideas were hers or Iskia's, though she flinched from some of the bloodier visions: the dismemberment, the maiming, the death. When she flinched, what sounded like several crows flapped their wings loudly behind her, uneasy and restless.
No, she thought at the spirit borrowing her headspace, physically closing her eyes and turning her head as if that could stop the disturbing images from blooming across her mind's eye. I don't want to hurt them. I just want to get rid of them.
More ideas strobed by, less gruesome. Jace mentally caught one like snatching a paper airplane out of the air. She studied it. She smiled.
Iskia studied the idea, too. He radiated approval somewhere in the back of her head. His thought brushed against her eardrums from the wrong side. My power is yours. Take it.
The shadow elementals abruptly released the harried Hunters, as though to give Jace and Iskia room. Startled, the Hunters regained their balances, boots digging into the dirt, gloved hands clenching around the handles of wicked-looking hunting knives, the crossbows long gone, probably stolen by playful imps.
One of the men gawped at Jace, who crossed her arms haughtily and hovered like a dark avenging angel, or so she imagined.
"There she is!" he shouted.
"Monster!"
"Get her!"
All three rushed her at once.
Jace pointed a finger at them.
The idea was a simple one. One that had saved her life a couple of nights ago. Iskia's power welled up and traveled down her finger. Beneath the grinding boots of the three Hunters, a black hole yawned open. All three men tumbled into it, yelling. The black hole zipped shut with a satisfied sound and an exhalation of rich dirt, though the ground seemed untouched.
From not too far away, Jace heard the Card Hunters reappear, still yelling, and then three distinct plop!s. A brief burst of cold water rained down. Spluttering, coughing, kicking, and swearing drowned everything else out for a moment. Then the normal, peaceful background music of nature took over once again.
Maybe that lake will help them cool their heads, she thought at her new friend. It's so dark here in the woodland, they'll never find us without their lizard-dogs.
Iskia giggled. That was fun.
Yeah, it was. Pleased with the fact that her leg no longer pained her, Jace put her arms over her head, pointed her toes, and stretched muscles stiff with tension. Her wings rustled, sounding like several crows disturbed from a dinner of cold smashed fries on the street, but it felt so good to loosen them—
Shocked, Jace dropped to the ground. Pebbles and broken twigs scraped her bare feet, and she almost fell right on her ass. Wings?
She grabbed one, touched the stiff feathers, watched rainbows of non-light glimmer off the blacker-than-black barbs. She could feel her hands on the wing as though it were another arm, and feel the joints complain when she bent it too far. We have wings?
Of course, Iskia said, sounding smug. He had been busy rummaging through her memories, assimilating her vast organic database of metaphors and interests. Every dark avenging angel needs wings. Tell me, Jace. Would you like to fly?
..::~*~::..
Isis crossed her arms, holding her elbows in her hands, feeling a little smug herself.
Night, Palatium Somnia . . .
In the crystal ball, the awakened Sorceress of Shadows swooped and sailed through the nighttime clouds on broad, plush wings. Isis could hear her laughter over the rustling of the feathers and whistling of the wind.
Awakenings often ended badly. Anyone could bond with a powerful Ephemeral Card, granted they were present when it hatched, though it was a proven fact that aliens, with all their diversity and capacity to dream, met with better success than natives. Isis had known that Card Hunters would show up, seeking this egg. She had not known if the alien Jace would survive the encounter. Now that she had, and had gained the confidence of the notoriously shy Iskia Card, all that remained was to wait for her to tire and return home, turn her into a faithful Nightmare, and use her to gain control of the Elementis Achaici.
Never had all seven Card Masters awakened at the same time. Fire, Water, Wood, Earth, Metal, Shadow, and Light. A couple here and there, usually, but their lives tended to be short because of the prevailing and incorrect belief that to become a Card Master one only needed to take the previous Master's deck, which no Master would relinquish without a fight. Thanks to Khonsu's tireless efforts in the lands of the dreamers to bring all seven Masters to Ephemeros, a true convergence was about to take place.
A great time of chaos was coming, the third in Ephemeros's long but static history, and Isis was going to be there to see it. She smiled and inhaled slowly, reveling in the thought.
"It sounds like your little pet was successful," Sati said in her characteristically monotonous way. "Are you going to fetch her?"
"No. She will make her way home when she is ready. She is completely dependent on us. She trusts me implicitly." As she should, she added silently. She brushed her fingertip over the edge of her Shadow deck, tucked close to her hip. Like called to like, after all.
Straightening her cloak, Isis turned from the crystal to watch her friend approach.
Hands folded behind her back, Sati glanced around the viewing chamber, deserted but for Isis and the iron viewing flower. Her long robes fit like a sheath and her belt jingled with each step she took down to Isis's level, the golden embalming tools she wore clashing against one another. She flicked her head, shaking back chin-length cornsilk hair. The sharp antelope horns of her flat, gilded mask rose high, making her seem taller, though the petite Nightmare woman barely reached Isis's shoulder when she came to a halt. The thick leather strap buckled with gold around her slim throat looked tight enough to choke. She spoke with serene detachment. "Where is Khonsu?"
"Who cares?" Isis asked. She returned her attention to the crystal and the alien. The one she'd gambled on. And now that the gamble had paid off, Khonsu could go right ahead and suck his own—
"I care," Sati said, still monotone. "I need to speak to him. About Aker's daughter."
Isis twitched her shoulders, shrugging away from the sensation that someone had grabbed her with big, sweaty hands. Aker's daughter, Esna. Isis didn't want to think about the girl. She had enough problems to deal with without that. "I am not Khonsu's keeper."
"It was not an unreasonable assumption that you would know his movements. There are still two Card Masters somewhere out there. After the Sorceress of Metal and Sorceress of Water debacles, we must ensure the aliens complete their awakenings under our jurisdiction."
Isis propped her fist on her hip. Everything Sati said tended to sound like an accusation, even when it wasn't. Besides, she – Isis – was second in control of the Nightmares. It had been that way ever since Queen Bailalee had gone into hiding and Khonsu had put this plan into action. He meant to entice the spirit of the queen back to her rightful place as ruler of all Ephemeros, he the king at her side.
Isis sighed. "You're right, of course, Sati."
She held her hand over the crystal ball as though testing a frying pan for heat. It responded immediately. The images inside blurred away from the flying alien girl and rolled through the misty reaches of the worlds, searching for their ambitious leader.
The mists solidified and the images slowed. The crystal's depths opened upon a narrow dirt alley between high stone walls.
Dressed in a very strange outfit indeed, Khonsu strode through the alley. To Isis, he appeared to have donned a pair of black silk pajamas meant to flatter a much more compact physique. Embroidered in white, a crescent moon splashed across the back of his jacket, sailing through ink brush-stroke clouds like a fishing boat. A flattened cone of a straw hat hid his tattoo and obscured his rugged, bearded features, though the light of a stone lantern on a low post picked out his wide, satisfied smile, crammed with his large, block-like teeth. The clench-jawed smile that suggested he was about to do something wicked.
Obviously sure of his destination, he stepped through a weed-strangled gate built of red-painted wood and into a crowded courtyard. He looked neither right nor left as he marched across the middle, though he dragged stares after him like a trolling fishing line.
Sati flicked her hair out of her eyes with a faint jingle of her ornamented epaulets. "Do the otherworlders not recognize him for what he is?"
"They never do," Isis said dismissively. She tasted bile again, sour at the back of her mouth. I didn't.
Feet shod in the low black slippers and white stockings that everyone in the courtyard seemed to wear, Khonsu ascended the three shallow steps leading up to a towering pagoda. He spoke briefly with a man standing guard outside, and then, when the man bowed and opened the door, strode in. The long black braid swinging down his back looked real enough that the guard shut the door behind Khonsu without hesitation and resumed his watch, hands obscured by loose sleeves, black fox-eyes trained for trouble in the crowded courtyard.
The crystal ball trailed Khonsu through several corridors and stairways, carrying Isis and Sati higher in the tower. He stopped and spoke with many people, men and women dressed in silk, smoking long pipes that puffed blue, using thin, long sticks to eat a glistening feast, sipping white spirits from small glasses. He bent to bring his lips closer to the ear of a player seated around one of the low tables checkered with white and green game tiles. Small gold ingots flourished everywhere, in glittering heaps on the game tables, peeping out of silk drawstring bags, passing over counters and through grates in exchange for game tiles or palmed paper packets. Sensual music, played upon stringed instruments and flutes, twined through the lantern-light and the blue smoke.
Isis gestured. The crystal ball brought Khonsu's insidious voice to them.
"The book," he whispered under cover of the music. "The Book of Secrets, guarded by the Chin family. In its pages are inscribed the great hidden truths of the worlds connected to dreams, and the absolute power that holds them together."
He leaned closer until his lips brushed the shell of an ear beneath gleaming black hair. "You could get the book. You could hold absolute power. All you have to do is kill Chin Shao Chen."
Then he straightened, bypassing the pipes, the feast, and the alcohol, and picked a new target. Everywhere he went, everywhere he whispered, at least one of the listening humans began to smile.
Wide, satisfied smiles. Smiles that suggested they were about to do something wicked.
A/N2: All right, I'm feeling pretty good about how things are coming together and evolving! Happy Saturday, Dear Readers, and thank you so much for visiting me.
Reviewer Thanks! St4r Hunter, Moratorium19 (twice!), and Darwin. YOU GUYS. You have made my days so much brighter. I can't thank you enough.
Yours with brownies,
Anne