Ethereal Entanglements (8 page)

After everything Caius had put her through down here, Claire’s lip curled. “What a stupid test.”

“Agreed. I would never accuse Caius of being thoughtful or clever, though. I recommend leaving the Palace as soon as possible to avoid letting him catch on to anything. He’s also not completely stupid.”

Claire smirked. “Only partly stupid.”

“Indeed.”

“Home?” Enion slid his head under her hand and lifted it, eyes wide with hope.

“Yep. Let’s get out of here. Think about how awesome it is that we just beat this stupid Ordeal.” Claire took a deep breath and followed her own instructions. The stone walls and darkness crumbled and the ground rocked. She stumbled forward and found herself in the Thoroughfare again with tiny Enion looped around her neck.

Only one Knight remained sitting on the floor, his back against the wall—the dark-skinned, man who’d been stationed outside her door yesterday. He must’ve done something to annoy Elder Yun or Djembe to keep getting stuck with guarding places against Claire. When he looked up, he nodded to her and said something in a foreign language.

This time, Claire wanted to understand him. She willed it to happen. “What?”

He grinned. “Congratulations on completing an Ordeal, Knight.”

Surprised by his politeness, she blinked and stared at him. “Thank you. Is everyone going to stop harassing me now?”

He raised his brow and smiled at her as he stood. “Probably not. Djembe is convinced you’ll be the end of the Palace. At a guess, he’s having trouble separating you from Iulia, and I get the feeling an Italian or Greek woman was cruel to him in his past.”

“Perfect.” Claire sighed and rubbed her forehead. “This place is just like high school.”

The Knight laughed. “In some ways, I’m sure it is. I’m Khalil.”

They shook hands. Claire noticed her eyelids drooping and her limbs felt like lead weights. “Nice to meet you. Do you know how long I was in there?”

“Several hours. At least five or six. Justin came and went. You should talk to him about why. He asked me to stay and make sure you reached your room safely.”

“Oh. Cool. Thanks.” Finally, she’d met another non-jerk Knight. For a while, it had seemed she’d only ever have Justin and Rondy on her side.

She let him drape an arm across her shoulders and leaned against him. Together, they plodded up the stairs to the fourth floor. They passed other men. One gave them both a dirty look. The rest nodded to Khalil and ignored her, like normal.

At her door, he smiled at her and let go. “I recommend food and sleep before anything else. In either order.”

Being treated this well made her match his smile. “I accept your recommendation. Thanks.”

“Good luck with your day, Claire.” He bowed his head and left.

Inside her room, she thought about lying on the floor for a while. But if she didn’t go home right away, she’d miss Thanksgiving completel. That would probably upset Marie, the one person in the whole world who didn’t deserve it. With another sigh, she walked to the blank, stone wall and pushed through it until she stepped out of a worn, old couch.

Dark and quiet, the cottage where she lived with Justin and his family smelled of potatoes and sage. They’d all gone to the farmhouse for dinner already.

Enion stretched and hung limp around her neck. “Nap?”

Claire wanted to say yes and sleep until tomorrow. “Nope. We better go see Grandma and Grandpa. They’ll have mashed potatoes and cooked carrots. You know how you like cooked carrots. And you need to try cranberry sauce.”

She shuffled to the door and had no idea what she’d say when she saw Justin. He’d checked up on her, which meant he had some clue how to move forward from here, but she couldn’t imagine how to start the conversation about what happened yesterday and this morning. With luck, he’d be entertaining the girls or watching football so she could avoid him until she got some sleep.

Chapter 11

Claire

Outside, the chill in the air wrapped around Claire and reminded her she hadn’t changed out of her armor. Everyone would understand, but she still felt stupid and weird about sitting down to dinner with the family while armed and armored. She hesitated on the tidy gravel path, torn between going back to throw some extra clothes on and plowing forward to dump some food in her belly.

“Hungry,” Enion chirped.

His decision suited her well enough. She tromped past the old stump where Justin often chopped firewood and up the path to the farmhouse. Ten feet away, the door opened and Drew stepped out, shrugging a coat on.

He saw her and smiled with surprise, but it fell quickly into concern. “Is that blood?”

Happier to see him than she’d expected, Claire closed the distance and wrapped her arms around him. “No. I’m fine. You?”

“I’m okay.” Holding her tight, he sighed. “You were gone a really long time.”

“Stuff happened. We’re starving. There’s something I need to talk to you about, but I’ve got to sleep and eat first.”

Drew pulled away and offered her a biscuit from the pocket of his coat. He opened his mouth to say something, but the clomp of hooves on damp earth made both turn to see Justin riding Tariel. For some reason, he carried a squirming brown dog.

“That’s my master!” the dog shouted with joy. When Justin let the dog go, it ran for Drew and knocked him over, tail wagging madly. Drew’s glasses went flying.

Claire snatched the biscuit out of the air as he fell and drew her dagger to defend Drew from what had to be an ur-phasm.

“Wait!” Justin rushed to their side and grabbed Claire’s arm.

Unable to break free, Claire glared up at Justin. “What for?”

The dog licked Drew’s face. “Master.”

“Ugh.” Drew shoved the dog off his chest and wriggled to get away. “Sure. Good dog.” He patted the dog on the head, then he paused and squinted in confusion. “Wait. This dog can talk.”

“It was Kurt’s ur-phasm.” Justin kept his grip on Claire’s arm. “It’s Drew’s now.”

“What? That doesn’t even make sense. He’s not a Phasm. How can he have an ur-phasm?” Claire poked the dog’s side and it looked up at her with soft, brown eyes. “You said we have to kill ur-phasms.” She yanked her arm away from Justin and didn’t care how whiny she sounded. At this point, she’d been awake for a long, crappy day and a half.

Justin shrugged. “I reserve the right to sometimes be wrong. If Drew is controlling it, I don’t see the harm of letting it live.”

“And I’m supposed to take your word for that? Really? Yours? Just accept whatever you say?” She glared at Justin and had no idea why she said that or why she scowled at him. The words just spilled out because she needed someone to yell at for all the hurt Caius had inflicted on her today, for what Djembe said and did, for Rondy dying to help her, for everything. Khalil had been too nice for that. Justin acted like himself and did something weird, which made her uncomfortable enough to spew venom all over him.

Realizing that, and seeing the distress on Justin’s face, she stormed into the trees behind the house. Exhaustion had caught up with her and made her a brat.

“Claire, wait,” Justin said.

“Way to go,” Drew snapped. “She just got back. She hasn’t slept yet, and you stopped her before she could eat.”

Their voices faded into the background, covered by the snapping and cracking of deadfall as she ran away from them and deeper into the woods. Drew standing up for her made everything worse for no reason. She stopped when she couldn’t see or hear them anymore and sat on a gnarled root, covering her face. Enion crawled onto her shoulder and jumped to the ground. With a bright flash of white light, he expanded into his horse-sized self.

“Fly?”

“Not now.” She rubbed her face and felt a hollow emptiness pushing the anger away.

“Do you want to talk?”

Startled, Claire jumped to her feet and drew her dagger. She hadn’t heard Drew approach. Adrenaline fired her up for another bout with anyone who’d followed him, but only the dog had come, and it sat obediently at his feet. She stared.

Drew, his glasses now back in place, held up both hands in surrender. “Or I could just go. Sorry.”

Sheathing her dagger again, she took a deep breath and shook her head. “No. Stay. I just…didn’t hear you coming.”

“Oh. Yeah. The mist. Kay and I practiced this morning some. It’s getting easy already. He says I’m kind of a natural. Not sure how to feel about that coming from the spirit possessing me.” He looked at the dog. “And now I have a talking pet, I guess. Just like you guys all do.”

Claire dropped onto the root again to wait for her arms and legs to stop shaking. “It’s an ur-phasm.”

“Yeah. I’m not really sure what to do with it, actually.”

“I’ll do anything for you, master,” the dog gushed.

Claire gave the dog a sidelong glance, unnerved by the idea of sharing space with something she’d been told ought to be interrogated and killed whenever possible. The cute face accompanying its heartfelt expression of devotion didn’t help.

She rubbed her eyes and wished this day could go away. “The most important thing is probably controlling it all so you don’t get corrupted or something.” The thought chasing on its heels hurt too much to think about, but she blurted it out anyway. “Which would make me have to kill you.”

“That would be bad, yeah.” Drew sat beside her without touching her. “What happened?”

The only person she could tell about her night gave her an opening she couldn’t refuse. She stared at the ground and started with explaining about Caius being the Heart of the Palace and how he had the ability to make objects fashioned there permanent and effective against magic. The story skipped over the things he knew about what had happened with Kurt. When she finished the tale of the Ordeal and Iulia, she looked up at him.

“I don’t know if she’s right, but I at least want to do the part with the crystal. Justin came so close to destroying the Palace. If some other tainted Knight does it…” She trailed off. He already knew the consequence.

Drew took her hand and squeezed it. “That’s a hell of a day you’ve had. No wonder you blew up at Justin. And I understand why you don’t want to talk to him about it.” He draped his arm over her shoulders. “Of course you can use my blood. And I’ll help you get the dirt. Anne probably has a crystal you can use. Just have to ask her. She’s got so much guilt on her back she won’t press for details.”

“Thanks.” She sagged with relief and leaned her head on his shoulder. Sleep beckoned. Her belly growled.

Drew chuckled. “You need to eat. Come on. Avoid Justin. Dog…do you have a name?”

“Kay!”

Claire snorted. “That won’t get confusing or anything.”

“I’m giving you a new name.” Drew tapped his chin and let go of Claire. “We’re going to call you Mutt. Mutt, there’s a minor ley line you can use near here. That’s how far you can go from the house in any direction unless I say otherwise. Understood?”

“Yes, master.”

“You’re naming a dog ‘Mutt’? Really?”

Drew smiled at the trees. “When I was a little kid, before my parents died, I always wanted a dog. We couldn’t have one because my mom was allergic. Instead, I had a stuffed dog. That’s what I called it. Mutt. I lost it somewhere between foster home number seven and eight. He looks kind of like that old toy.”

Claire touched the tender spot on her chest. With the locket lodged into her flesh now, she no longer had anything from her parents. She’d lost a treasured stuffed animal along the way too, only hers had been a unicorn.

“Hey.” Drew lifted his shoulder gently. “No falling asleep until you’ve eaten. Food first, then sleep.”

Grumbling about unfairness, Claire stood and stretched. An awkward dinner needed to be endured.

Chapter 12

Justin

Justin stared after Drew and the dog. “Congratulations, dumbass,” he said to the empty air. “Maybe, if you’re lucky, you can also find a way to anger your wife. Oh, wait. I forgot. I’ve already done that.” With a sigh, he turned to face the door. The sooner he went in there, the sooner he got all this over with. He took a deep breath and went inside. The door opened into the family room where Marie’s father, Jack, sat in a reclined armchair, watching football with a bottle of beer. Missy and Lisa drove toy cars over his slippers, the furniture, and the beige carpet.

Missy saw him first and squealed with joy. She dropped her two cars and ran to him, providing a much-needed buoy for his mood. He crouched and hugged her, then took Lisa into the hug when she ran to him too. He picked his girls up, one on each arm. Lisa would be too big for this soon. That realization spawned a wish to for time to slow down. Staying close to home for a few days sounded like heaven.

“You missed dinner, Daddy,” Lisa chided. “Mommy is mad.”

“I know. I’ll fix it.” He kissed each girl on the cheek and carried them to where Marie sat with Anne and their mother, Tammy, at the kitchen table. The three of them had the same thin frame, the same blue eyes, and the same high cheekbones. Marie’s platinum blonde hair shone brighter than Anne’s dirty blonde and Tammy’s gray. Anne liked jewelry the most, with rings on every finger and dangly blue earrings.

Dinner still covered the table, with the nice china and silverware. Justin guessed Drew had been the one sitting at the empty spot, where the dirty dishes must have been taken to the sink already. Based on his memory of previous Thanksgivings, the platters and bowls seemed more full than they should be. Neither he nor Claire had eaten anything yet, and it showed.

When Marie saw Justin, she gave him a stern glare. “Oh, you decided to grace us with your presence. What an honor that you’ve deigned to show yourself among the peasantry.”

“I told you,” Lisa whispered in his ear.

“I’m sorry.” Justin set both girls down and ruffled their hair. They ran back to Grandpa Jack without being asked. “It took longer than I expected.”

“I gathered that.” Marie stood and picked up dirty plates.

Anne covered her face and sighed. She’d been tainted right along with him and knew how his night had gone.