Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 1, After the Fall (10 page)

CHAPTER NINE

STUPID JERKS.  ALWAYS BOWING DOWN to Ben and his bullshit.  Well, they can do what they want, but I am
not
going to eat every meal with his stupid ass and I am
not
going to pretend like he's this nice guy everyone has to love and I am
not
going to be his friggin life mate.

There
.  I'd said it.  The thing that had bothered me from the first second I'd heard we were to be permanently bound together, the thing that I had tried to ignore for the good of everyone else ... it had finally come to the surface to be officially recognized by me - only way too late for me to do anything about it but bitch.

"I do not want to be tied to this guy for the rest of my life!  He's arrogant and bossy and annoying as hell!" I yelled out into the empty hallway.  I had no destination in mind and wasn't picturing any door to the compound, so I knew I'd be wandering this corridor forever until I did; the damn witch spell would make sure of that.

"Feel like talking about it?"
asked the mystery girl's voice in my head.

"Oh, so you're back?" I said into the air around me.  "Great.  You want to lecture me too?  Fine.  That's awesome.  The voices in my head are giving me shit me now, right along with my best friends.  I should just go into that friggin garden and never come out."  It was tempting, too.  Getting lost in the colors and the smells had been so peaceful.  It was like a dangerous drug, and I was seriously considering overdosing on it right now.  Every anchor I thought I had keeping me firmly tied to this place and its people felt like it was dragging me down somewhere I didn't want to be - into a dark abyss very much like the one I thought I'd left behind in the human world, where everyone else decided what was best for me and disregarded what I wanted.

"Who are you talking to?" asked Tim, flying up from behind me.

"Myself.  What are you doing here?"

"Pfft.
  Like you even have to ask.  That Ben guy is a total gnome-butt.  He makes me lose my appetite, too."

I smiled, more than glad for the loyalty.  "Me too.  But you may want to abandon ship right now, because I'm going to go see Maggie."  The decision had come to me the instant Tim's voice had hit my ears.

"Are you serious?  Why would you want to do that?"

"Council business."  I strode down the hallway, imagining the door with the small gargoyle head on it so the spell that kept the corridor going on forever would allow me to reach my destination.

"Hmmm, what to do, what to do ... ?  Risk life and limb to hear possibly earth-shattering secrets or stay safe and warm in bed?"

"With the booger-eating pixie baby," I added.

"Excellent point.  I'll risk it.  What are we going to talk to her about?"  He landed on my shoulder, grabbing a hunk of hair to keep himself steady.

I laughed at Tim's lame-ass parenting, even though I probably should have scolded him.  "They think she might know something about how the demon got over here.  And someone on the council mentioned scrying."

Tim's sharp intake of breath told me how he felt even before he spoke.  "Baaaaad idea, Jayne.  Super bad.  Like pixelation-of-the-entire-compound bad.  Like making booger-eaters with Ben bad.  Don't do it."

"I don't get why it's so awful, but you're not the only one who thinks so, so I'm not saying I'm going to ask her to do it."

"You know I'm all for bucking the system and thumbing my nose at the Man, but not this time.  Not for scrying.  No good comes from seeing the future."

"Why?  I don't get that at all; I mean, couldn't it help us fix our problems before they happen?"  We'd reached the gargoyle door and I pushed it open to step out into the meadow that would connect us to the part of the forest where Maggie lived in a tree called the Ancient One.  Already I felt its presence in the Green; it was always there waiting for me to reach in and connect.

"Everything we do is linked and interrelated.  You mess up one of those links in that chain of fae and time and places and humans, and it can set off a series of catastrophes that are impossible to stop or control.  We live in a symphony, Jayne.  Can't you hear it?  Imagine what would happen to that symphony if one of the instruments started playing the wrong notes."

"I'm not sure if I believe that," I said, pushing through the thigh-high grasses.  The chill of an early autumn had set in, making me wish I'd put on a heavier cloak.  My tunic and jeans weren't enough at this time of day, after the sun had gone down, to keep me warm.  I rubbed my upper arms quickly, trying to build up some friction as I moved closer to the edge of the forest.

"I know you feel the Oneness, Jayne.  Don't pretend you don't."

"The Oneness?"

"Yeah.  The connection.  How all of us are linked together.  What you do, what they do ... it's all part of one big whole ... thing.  The Oneness."

"All I feel a connection to are my elements, Earth and Water.  And my friends.  That's it."

"Bull-dookie.  You've said it before - all of the living beings are connected in the Green.  How can you say that and not realize what you're actually feeling?"

I thought about it for a minute as we entered the trees.  The air wasn't moving as much here, so the wind-chill left; but it was replaced with a dampness that was ever-present in this part of the forest, bringing its own special kind of shiver to my bones.  I never felt like I really knew everything about this place - like there were creatures here watching me that I couldn't see, but could somehow feel.

"I don't know.  I don't want to try and put it all together today.  It's like solving world peace or something - it strains my brain too much."

"Meh. 
Fae brains aren't meant to comprehend it any more than human ones are.  Just take my word for it.  You don't want to see the future.  You would end up making a decision you wouldn't normally make knowing outcomes and then different outcomes would come out and we'd all be out in the cold."

"Stop, Tim.  You're giving me a headache."

"Undo your ponytail.  I need to hide."

I reached back and pulled out the elastic holding my hair back.  "She's going to know you're there.  She can smell you or whatever."

"I prefer to be harder to get to," he said, climbing into my hair, giving me goosebumps with his movements.

"Listen," I said, coming to a stop in a particularly dark part of the forest, "I have something to tell you, and I'm not sure I should do it in front of Maggie."

"What?"

"I don't know how to say it without sounding crazy."

"Nothing you say could make me think that about you, Jayne."

"I've been hearing a voice in my head lately."

"Except that.  Time to medicate."

"Shut up, I'm not kidding.  There's seriously someone in there, and she's not me and she's not my conscience."

"But you know it's a girl," said Tim, leaving my hair to fly out in front of my face.  He searched my eyes as he hovered there, his wings a blur.  "You
look
sane ..."  He frowned, zooming in to look at my pupils or something.

I backed up and waved him away.  "I'm completely sane, and I'm not imagining it.  She's as clear as day in there, and she's come twice now."

"When?"

"At the council meeting and in the hallway just now.  Right before you came."

Tim flew behind me.

I turned to see him backtracking a few feet, staring off into the darkness towards the compound door.

"What are you looking for?"

"Someone following us and messing with your head, that's what."

I shook my head.  "It's not someone physically here.  She wouldn't have been able to get into the council meeting.  Even you can't do that."

Tim came back to join me.  "You have a point.  If I can't get into one of those, no fae could.  And believe me, I've tried."

"So who is she and how is she in my head?" I asked.

"You're asking me?  How the heck would I know?  I'm not crazy."

I sighed.  "I hope you're kidding.  Because insanity would be just the thing I need to add to my already busy schedule."

Tim got back onto my shoulder and climbed into my hair again.  "Ask Maggie.  She might know."

"She knows everything," I said bitterly.  She always managed to irritate me with that skill, too.  She either kept secrets I needed to know, or told me things I wished she wouldn't.  And no matter what the situation, she seemed to enjoy the torture it brought me.

We passed the last few trees that ringed the circle around the Ancient One, bringing it into view.  The arched door in the base of its massive trunk was the entrance to Maggie's home, and its branches reached out above our heads and into the surrounding area for twenty yards in either direction.    It was massive.  A ley line ran beneath it, amplifying the power of any nearby fae using magic or the elements.  Maggie was the one who had taught me how to tap into it, which had saved my bacon on a couple of occasions.  I was begrudgingly grateful to her for that.

I approached the tree-door and knocked three times.  She got cranky if I did more or less than that, and since I was here to ask her for information, I figured I'd save the four-knock greeting for another day.  I did so love to mess with her when the timing was right.

"Who's there?!" came the loud cranky voice from inside.

"It's me, Grandma Maggie. You're long-lost granddaughter."

The door opened a crack, exposing her one good eye.  "Don't call me that.  It makes me feel old."

"You are old, Maggie.  Like a couple thousand years old."

"You're only as old as you feel, which makes me only two hundred."  She wheezed out a juicy, gargling cough before recovering enough to continue.  "What do you want?" she barked.  "I'm busy."

"Busy doing what?"

"Wouldn't you like to know!" she shouted, cackling at some private joke.

"Actually, no ... strike that question.  I just want to talk to you on behalf of the fae councils."

The door swung in, and she shuffled away, saying nothing.

"Do you have any idea how much I hate going in there?" whispered Tim.  I could feel him shaking.

"About half as much as I do," I said.  I would never forget the day I was here with Tim when we traded his wings for an antidote to Chase's spelled arrow illness he'd received protecting me.

"Talk to me about hating this place after you've been dismembered," said Tim.

"Yeah, okay.  You've got me there.  You hate it more."  I shut the door behind me and waited just inside the entrance.  Her place was small enough that I could see almost everything from where I was standing, except for a back room that always had a door closing it off from the rest of the main room where her kitchen and sitting area were.

Maggie was hunched over her big black cooking pot, and one of her huge dirty rats was lumbering around the table top it was sitting on.  It pooped as it went and Maggie jumped with glee, picking up the turd and adding it to her brew.

My stomach churned.  "Oh, God, that's nasty," I said under my breath.

"What?" whispered Tim.  "I missed it.  What's happening?"

"She just put a rat turd in her stew."

"Oh, that's a baaaaad sign.  We need to leave."  Tim yanked my hair hard.  "Go, Jayne! 
Leave!"

I felt the panic rising up into my chest.  "Why?  What's she making?"

"Do you really need to ask that?" whisper-screeched Tim.  "What good could possibly come from a rat turd in a witch's spell?!"

"You have a point," I whispered, slowly backing towards the door.

"Leaving so soon?" Maggie asked, cackling to herself and then hawking up another loogie.

"I suddenly remembered something I have to do," I said, feeling for the door handle behind me.  "It's very urgent.  Urgent council business."

"Humph.
  You can ask me about the voice in your head later, then," she said, shuffling around her table and entering the room next to the kitchen, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her.

My feet refused to go any farther. 
"Shit."

"What?  What are you doing?  Run for it! ...  Rat turd alert!  Rat turd alert!"

"I can't!  I need to talk to her about the voice."

"Voice schmoice.  We'll get you some medication or a spell.  I'll personally clean your ears out for you - it's probably just wax build-up or something.  Please, let's just go."  He was pulling my hair until my eyes watered.

I reached back and flicked him on the butt.  "Stop it.  You can go if you want, but I'm staying."

"Open the door," he said, buzzing up into the air next to my face.  "I'm gone like the wind, baby.  You're on your own."

I turned around and pulled on the handle, opening it enough to let him out.  He buzzed through, moving so fast he was nearly a blur.

"See you later!  I hope!" he yelled, disappearing in the distance.

I shook my head, shutting the door behind him. 
So much for loyalty.

Maggie came back out, her eyes focused on her pot.  "Decided to stay, eh?"

"Yep.  Go ahead with your rat turd brew.  I have questions that need answers, and I don't trust anyone else with my secrets right now."

"Truth!" she screeched, making me jump.  She played lie detector every time I was with her, but she still always surprised me with her intensity over the whole thing.

"So, I've been hearing this voice in my head.  How do you know about it, and who is she?  Is it me?"

Maggie looked up at me, one eyeball cloudy and the other black.  "What do you think?  Does she sound like you?"

"No.  She sounds like someone I've never met.  I
hope
she's someone I've never met, otherwise I might have to check myself into the clinic."

"Ha! 
Those quacks can't help you."

I didn't doubt her on this fact.  She'd had to bail them out before with antidotes, and the Dark Fae healers seemed to be a lot more advanced than the Light Fae ones when it came to treating pixelation problems; but even that had taken thousands and thousands of years to figure out.