Chapter 15

Starke hit the ground shoulder first, me still wrapped in his arms. The momentum from the jump still in play, we began to roll down the muddy incline. I sucked in dirt and leaves every time we flipped since my mouth was wide open from my screaming. My yells tapered off as we finally came to a complete stop. Spitting out the debris, I flopped onto his chest with an exhausted sigh.

“You okay?” he asked for about the millionth time this week.

I nodded into his chest. “Yeah. I think. Don’t think anything is broken. Man, I’ll never get used to those damn jumps, but I’m becoming a pro at opening them under duress.”

“Lucky for us,” he grinned down at me as I finally lifted my head.

I grinned back. “Damn right.”

My grin faded as I stared in his dirt flecked face.

“Thank you,” I said.

“For what?”

“For having my back, back there.”

“Always, little rabbit.” His eyes looked like green velvet in this light, and I knew he was speaking the truth. He would always be there when I needed him because that’s who he was.

“Hey, you two break a hip or something?”

I glanced up to Jill’s look of amusement and Zoe’s typical disdain.

“Maybe a little help?” I held out my hand and Jill hefted me to my feet. Zoe ignored Starke as he leapt nimbly up, dusting himself off as he did.

“You did well, elementals,” he threw over his shoulder as he retrieved his sword from where it had fallen from the now closed portal.

“Yeah, we did. Did you see those fire walls? Those Preservers didn’t know what hit them. Man, Zoe and me were a wicked team.” She glanced at us. “Huh, you two did alright too.”

“Geez, thanks,” I snipped back as I collected my sai. “Considering all I did was open a portal to another world and jump us all to safety. No biggie.”

“Speaking of?” Jill spun, looking around and taking in the surroundings. “Where are we? Is this the earth elemental’s world?”

“I have no idea,” I mumbled as I too started looking around. The landscape with its bare trees and mountain backdrop seemed awfully familiar. A crazy hope started buzzing in my brain.

“Starke,” I threw over my shoulder. “Is this—”

“The magic came from over there.”

The voice echoed through the stillness of our surroundings. Whoever had spoken was close. Too close. With nowhere to go and nowhere to hide, Starke and I pulled our weapons, waiting for the owner of the voice to come into view. Man, we couldn’t catch a break at all today.

We didn’t have to wait long. Within minutes bodies surrounded us, emerging from the trees like they had appeared from thin air. I blinked a couple of times in disbelief before a grin slithered across my face and I dropped my sai in relief.

“Bishop!” I shrieked as I ran across the distance separating us.

“Jette girl,” he called back as his eyes lit up with happiness. I leaped at him, nearly knocking him off his feet as my arms twined around his neck. I held on for dear life. I was so freakin’ happy to see him, since there had been this teeny, tiny part of me that was scared I would never see him again. I was tickled pink to prove myself wrong.

Bishop hugged me just as tight before holding me out at arm’s length, his face wrinkling in disgust.

“It is good to see you, Jette girl, even if you smell like you’ve slept in a den of dead rats for a week.”

I snorted in laughter. “Sorry, Bish. We just escaped a magical stronghold through a sewer.”

“You tell me that now after I hug you?” he replied dryly.

“Yeah, sorry ‘bout that. Hey foxman,” I yelled out to Baylor, happy to see him and his band of merry men. I was just one giant Hallmark card of happy wishes right now. Foxman grinned back and winked one golden eye.

“Putrid or not, I am pleased you all made it back. We have been so worried. No messages have reached us since we parted ways with you a week ago. We had no idea if the plan succeeded or not. Your grandmother has been beside herself with worry.”

“Uh, it is so freakin’ good to be home.” I paused. “Wait. This is Endova, yes? Please tell me you’re all not replicas or some shit on another planet? Cause we’ve already done the replica planet thing, and let me tell you, it did not end up well for those guys. Have you all ever seen the movie Alien?”

Bishop’s wrinkled brow creased even more. “Still same Jette girl. You still talk too much. Your lips flap but all I hear is blah, blah, blah.”

Yup. This was the real Bishop.

For the first time, Bish noticed the others with me.

“Prince Starke,” he acknowledged Starke’s presence. “I am pleased to see you as well.” His brows lifted slightly as he noticed the other two. The quintessential Bishop look of surprise.

“And are these--?”

“Yes.” I nodded, pleased with myself. “This is Jill, the fire elemental, and Zoe, the air elemental.”

“Welcome, elementals.” He nodded at them in turn before pinning me with his dark stare.

“And where is the earth elemental?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Starke interjected, and I glanced back and forth at both of them in disbelief.

“Really? We risk life and limb to get these guys here and all you two are concerned about is the one we didn’t bring?” My gaze flew back to Bish. “How about, well done, Jette. Or you did a fantastic job, Jette. Heck, I’d even take a, two out of three ain’t bad, girl.”

“Did you jump us here on purpose?” Starke asked behind my back and I spun on my heel.

“No,” I protested. “I mean, I don’t think so. I was picturing Larry. I knew that’s where we had to go. But deep down I was praying for the portal to take us somewhere safe, so….maybe?” I mulled it over a bit. “Crap, I think I hijacked my own jump.”

“Safe?” Starke did not sound happy. “You just landed all three of the elementals on the most unsafe world of all. If Asha tracks us—”

“Agreed,” Bishop interrupted Starke’s rant. “We need to get back to the village. We are not the only ones who felt your magic, I am sure. Lucky for you we have swept Dagger Woods every day for signs of you, so we were the first to reach you. Asha has also been doing the same. Morquals have been a very common sight in these woods lately. We should go before we meet one.”

Man, I hadn’t taken that into consideration when I thought of Endova as ‘safe’.

“Yeah, good idea. After all the crap we’ve been through this past week, morquals are the last thing I wanna see.”

###

Back in the shelter of my grandmother’s house, I felt like I could finally breathe again. Well, that plus the fact I had washed and changed, so I really could breathe again since I wasn’t sucking in the stench of sewer.

To say she had been surprised at our arrival had been an understatement. Athena had been thrilled to see me, plus the other elementals as well. She sat across the table from me now, beaming at me and watching silently as the four of us scarfed downread, and cheese, and apples, and whatever else we could get our grubby little hands on. Kara had followed us into the kitchen as well, along with Satoga. Our own little welcoming committee.

Just having them around me and so happy to see me back and safe, it made me feel like I truly was home. Like I truly belonged. Something I had never ever felt before.

Athena reached over and gripped my hand in hers, giving it a tiny squeeze. “It is so good to have you back, my darling girl.”

I swallowed the chunk of cheese in my mouth.

“It is good to be home, Grandmother.”

She lifted her smile to include the others around the table. “And it is good to have you all here, elementals. Today is a great day. One step closer to defeating Asha and restarting the prism.”

“We still need the earth elemental,” a crabby voice interrupted her.

I shot Bishop a weary look. “Again, I know that.”

“So why is he not with you?” Bishop questioned.

“I’m still waiting for that answer,” Starke added wryly.

“Leave the girl be,” Athena chided them both. “She has been through much, I’m sure. As you all have.”

I rolled my eyes and moaned. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“So tell us what has transpired since we parted ways.”

I placed the bread I’d been stuffing in my gullet, down on my plate and dusted off my hands. “Okay. You want the long version or the short version?”

“How about the most informative version with all vital information, but none of the theatrics?” My grandmother smiled, taking any bite out of her words. She already knew me well.

“Alrighty. I’ll start. Starke, Jill, Zoe, feel the need to jump in whenever.” I took a deep breath. “Once we got captured by Asha, crap really hit the fan. That witch is cray cray, know what I mean? We got beat about, mind fracked and thrown into prison. After Starke’s people helped us get out, we took down the Grimner and escaped with Jill.”

“Wait, Grimner?” Bishop asked.

I looked up. “Yeah. You know, those ugly troll things.”

His gaze jumped to Athena. “I did not think the Grimners were loyal to Asha. Does she have the clan’s loyalty as well, you think? They have been non-aligned to this war for years. Shall we send a delegation to speak with the clan leader?”

I had no idea what they were talking about, but Starke seemed to. “I don’t believe so. The ones she commands are outcasts. Loners. She can only control a few with magic, not the whole clan. I don’t believe they are a threat.”

Athena nodded. “I tend to agree with Prince Starke on this. The Grimners are a waste of time. They haven’t taken a side in decades. They are not a threat. Continue, Jette. How did you escape?”

“Um, well, things were pretty intense. We didn’t have a lot of time and the Grimner was threatening to break down the door. Starke used blood magic and…”

“Blood magic,” Athena interrupted, her look of anxiety unmistakable as she studied Starke through narrow eyes. “Does she speak the truth? Were you so stupid?”

Starke met her disapproval head on. “Desperate times call for desperate measures. You, of all people, should know that, Athena. I did what I needed to get us out of there. There were no repercussions.”

I jumped back and forth between them as they spoke. Repercussions? What on earth were they talking about? What sort of repercussions? I seriously needed to talk to Starke and get to the bottom of this, but I could tell by the way he was glaring at me in warning, now was not that time. He did not want to discuss blood magic. So, I guess I don’t bring up the part where he used blood magic again to heal me and to defeat the cannibals when they attacked? Got it.

“Jette and I opened the portal and jumped us,” Jill chose to join in. “Only the jump was real messed up. There were two doors. We didn’t know which one to choose. We didn’t know our jump was hacked.”

“Hacked?” Athena questioned.

“Yeah, someone else was controlling it. What did you call her, Starke?”

“A precognitive. The girl was able to connect with and guide us through her dreams. We ended up on her world instead of the air elemental’s.” He searched the room for Satoga. “I believe that’s how you ended up there as well, for no doubt this world was the one you encountered and were injured on.”

Satoga stood straight, her Rolling Stones tee sparkling in the sunbeams shining through the window.

“You came into contact with the mutations?”

“That’s one way of putting it,” I snorted. “And not only the mutations, the aliens and the cannibals. That is one severely messed up world. The people that are left there need our help.”

“All worlds need our help, Bridjette, dear.” My grandmother said patiently, like I was a thick child who didn’t get it.

“Yeah but this one more than others. The way these people live, Endova looks like a five-star resort. We promised to go back and help them.”

“I’m not sure what that nonsense means, but Endova is your first priority now, understood?” Athena’s voice grew sharp, and I glanced at her in surprise.

“Of course, Grandmother. I get that. But our job is to help all worlds, yes?”

She smiled at me apologetically. “Of course it is, my darling. I apologize. Hearing of the other realms under stress is overwhelming. Please, go on.”

“Umm, yeah, so, by the time we got there we had no magic. The people there helped us. Saved us from the mutations and helped us find a ley line so we could jump again. But as I said, we promised to go back and help.”

“A promise I intend to keep,” Starke added forcefully, like he needed to back me up as far as Athena went. Dude really had my back. It was a good feeling.

I thought Athena would argue, but she merely gave a single nod. “Duly noted.”

I continued on. “As we were jumping to the air elemental’s world, Asha tried to hijack the jump. We don’t know how she found us. She nearly succeeded, but we lost her in transit. We finally hit the correct realm this time, and we found Zoe here. But again, a world that is in trouble. Magic is forbidden. Magical beings hunted and prosecuted and sold as slaves. We have a lot of work to do, Grandmother. This whole multiverse is messed up. Humanity and supernaturals alike are suffering everywhere.”

“I agree. But all in good time. First thing we do is set Endova back on track. Heal this world. The others will follow once this one is running smoothly.”

“And how long do you think that will take?”

Athena glanced up in surprise at Zoe’s curt question.

“Sorry?”

“How long do you think it will take to help the other worlds? Just to let you know, I’m here for one reason and one reason only. To help take back my world. I could give a rat’s ass about Endova or the privileged Fae and Faeries and supernaturals that live here. You don’t know suffering. Not like the rest of the worlds.”

Aw crap. I expected Athena to lose her shit at Zoe’s comment. She did study her through narrow eyes as the vein in her forehead pulsed with irritation. But to my surprise, she smiled.

“I knew your parents, Zoalyn, daughter of Kash and Charles. They too, were great humanitarians. Big hearts and even bigger power. You are very like them.”

“Yeah see, I wouldn’t know since they were killed when I was only five. Killed in this stupid Fae war. A conflict that has to be stopped so the rest of the worlds can live in peace, not just Endova.”

“Do not speak to Lady Athena that way, elemental. You know nothing of our suffering,” Kara snapped at Zoe, the tips of her pointed ears red from her anger. “So, please don’t insult us by speaking of things you know nothing about in such a derogatory manner.”

“As you know nothing of my world, Faerie,” Zoe snarled back.

“This is your world,” Kara retorted.

“This is where I was born. My heart lies with the world that have people in it I love. That is the world I fight for.”

“Enough,” Starke interjected. “This is not the time for dispute. We have all suffered loss, and none is worse than the others. We all need to work towards our common goal, not to war amongst ourselves. That is exactly what Asha wants us to do. Whether human, Fae, or Faerie, we need to work together as one. Unity is priority.”

“I agree.” Athena placed her hands flat against the table, encompassing us all. “But to save the other worlds, we need to set Endova right first. And that means we need all the elementals on the same page. I understand your anger, Zoalyn.”

“Don’t call me that,” Zoe muttered, but Athena ignored her interruption.

“But to help all worlds, we have to help the prism first. And to help the prism we must fetch the last elemental. Time is of the essence. I assumed you would all arrive together.” I squirmed guiltily under my grandmother’s quick glance. “But as that did not happen, we will take what we have been given right now. We will celebrate that we have three of the elementals and have faith that the fourth will soon join us. We will take today as a hard-won battle, while tomorrow we win the war.”

My grandmother was an eloquent speaker. I give her that. She even had me convinced we were on the right track. Her calming smile back in place, she looked around the room.

“Tonight you will rest, elementals. Gather your strength and your power. Eat, sleep, regenerate. Take comfort in being among friends for this evening.”

She glanced up as Foxman and one of his merry men entered the room, both carrying white chests in their arms. Foxman’s was a long rectangular shaped box, while his sidekicks was small and square.

“Ah,” she cried. “Perfect timing.”

She motioned them forward.

“Jill and Zoalyn, I have a gift for you both.”

She smiled broadly as the chests were laid on the table in front of their respective elements.

Jill looked around excitedly while Zoe stared at the thing like she’d just bit into a lemon.

“Go ahead,” Athena urged. “Open them.”

I knew what they were before I could see them. The electricity pulsating in my wrist told me these were their magic instruments. I waited in expectation for them to open their gifts.

Jill was the first to dive in. Her face lit up with excitement as she lifted the lid and saw what was inside. She yanked the silver whip out and leaped to her feet. Before anyone could stop her, she unfurled it and snapped it at the air. Fire curled along the braided thong and dissipated into the air, leaving behind a smudge of soot along the ceiling and the smell of burning rubber.

Bishop caught Jill’s hand before she could do it again.

“Maybe we will practice this outside, yes elemental?”

She nodded; her face still too filled with excitement to worry that she had just almost caught my grandmother’s house on fire.

“Man, a whip is so cool,” I whined, but no one paid me any attention.

“Your turn, air elemental.”

Zoe grumbled to herself before unfurling her arms and grudgingly flipped the lid open. I knew the moment she connected with her magical wand. The angry fire left her eyes and she picked the silver bow from the box with as much reverence as I had my sai. Just like my sai and Jill’s whip, there were runes etched along the bow. I wondered fleetingly if it were the same type of runes etched on Starke’s chest and if blood magic was something we could perform as well.

Zoe turned the bow over in her hands, studying it intricately.

“Man, I can’t wait to see what you can do with that, Zoe,” Jill grinned at her. I almost fell over when Zoe grinned back.

“Me too.”

“Magic, my dears,” Athena smiled at them pulling them both into a two-sided hug. “These have been waiting for you patiently since I hid them thirteen years ago. And now they are back where they belong. In the hands of the elementals. Now all we need is the earth elemental and we will be unstoppable.”

My grandmother’s eyes sparkled with excitement and something else I couldn’t quite place.

“I believe this momentous moment calls for a celebration. Baylor, spread the word.”