Kissed by Eternity (12 page)

Bastet was in her usual spot among the pillows on the couch. She glared at me through slitted eyes. I liberated a chair from beneath a stack of junk mail, novels, and what looked like ad mock-ups for Cordelia's fortune-telling business, then plopped into it. The cat and I commenced a staring contest.

"Glad to see the two of you getting along," Cordelia chirped as she placed the tea tray on the coffee table, knocking a pile of magazines over in the process. Several of them slithered to the floor. I leaned over to pick them up.

"Oh, don't worry about that." She waved her hand. "I'll get them later." She poured me a cup of tea, plopped a couple of cookies on a plate, and handed it over.

"These smell amazing," I said, trying not to slosh my tea all over them. I'm not a dunker. I preferred my tea and cookies separate. I took a bite and dark chocolate melted across my tongue. "Chocolate chip is my favorite." Okay, oatmeal raisin were my favorite, but people looked at me funny when I said that.

Cordelia snorted. "Liar." I opened my mouth to protest, but she rattled on. "You wanted to know how to trace Alister Jones."

"Wait. How'd you know that?"

"Bastet, of course."

Of course. "Initially we believed he'd gone to the Otherworld. I think he was there, but we couldn't find a trace of him. Emory, a witch friend of Eddie's, tried scrying for him, but no luck there."

"And Kabita is unaware of his movements."

"Unfortunately, yes. They're not exactly on speaking terms these days."

She nodded. "Well, let us see what the cards have to say." She got up and wandered over to a bookshelf stuffed with crystals, orbs, tarot decks, and other accoutrements of her trade. She walked her fingers along the boxes of tarot decks, at last selecting a brown box. "I think we'll use the steampunk deck this time."

She sat down and pulled the deck from the box, then handed me the cards. I shuffled them and handed them back. We'd done this enough times I knew the routine.

Ignoring her rapidly cooling tea, and the fact that Bastet was eyeing her cookies, Cordy hummed softly to herself as she laid out the cards. "Eight of Wands," she said, laying out the first card. "This means air travel. Lots of action and excitement."

I frowned. "Maybe flying to Area 51? Finding Darroch's body. I wouldn't call it exciting exactly."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps it's something yet to happen." She flipped over the next card. "Five of Cups…interesting. Element of water. Perhaps he is near water?"

"That's clear as mud."

She sighed. "Don't be snarky. The tarot is often vague in such matters. But I've no doubt you will find him when the time is right. The Five of Cups means not all hope is lost. See," she said, tapping the next card with her long, blood-red fingernail. "The chariot. Success!"

"Well, that's good."

"But first…" She flipped the last card. "First you need to turn to your closest friend. That person will have the answer."

"Um, okay." Did she mean Kabita? I mean, Kabita was my best friend, after all.

"Yes, Kabita."

"Excuse me?" I hadn't said anything aloud.

"Bastet agrees with you. You need to talk with Kabita. She will be able to steer you in the right direction. But first finish your cookies."

Like I needed urging to do that.

Chapter 15

"How did the demon hunt go?" I asked when Kabita answered her phone.

"You know," she replied. "Same old, same old. I hunt demon, I kill demon, I go home to wash off the demon goo."

"Sounds like fun." I unlocked my car and climbed into the passenger seat. Bastet was in the window staring down at me. I stuck my tongue out at her. I could have sworn she sneered back. "Hey, what do you know about portals?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know, portals. Little wormholes or whatever to and from the Otherworld."

"Why do you need to know about portals?"

"Um, your dad might've escaped the Otherworld through one."

"Shit."

I always knew things were bad when Kabita started swearing. She wasn't wrong. Things were definitely bad.

"Here's what we know. He definitely escaped Area 51 through a portal to the Otherworld. We also know he's in cahoots with the queen, though we don't know why. We also know he got into Darroch's cell using a portal from the Otherworld which the queen probably opened, and all that's left of Darroch is a big blood puddle on the floor. Scrying for Alister's location didn't work, and I'm pretty sure he didn't stay in the Otherworld for long."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because he's got shit to do. And whatever it is, I'm convinced it doesn't involve the Otherworld. Your dad is a "for the humans" guy."

"True."

"I wish there was some way to trace him through the portal. I mean, we know he came through from the Otherworld and no doubt went back the same way. And he had to have used one to travel from the Otherworld to wherever he is now."

"Double shit."

"You're telling me. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to trace Alister since. I think possibly the queen is hiding him or something. He has to be somewhere here on Earth."

"And you want to try to trace him through the portals." It wasn't a question.

"I know it sounds crazy," I said, "but it's the only thing I can think of. Like I said, Emory tried to scry for him but it didn't work."

"Of course not," Kabita said. "My father is far too sneaky for that sort of thing."

"So the portal," I prompted. "Is it possible? Can we trace him?"

She sighed. "Once the portal is closed, other than being able to trace its origins, it's pretty much impossible."

"Shit." Great. Now I was the one cussing. Because that was so unusual.

"What we can do," Kabita said, "is trace his signature through the portal system."

I paused, leaning back in my seat. Bastet was still staring at me. "There is a portal system? Like, a highway system?"

"Sort of."

"Why didn't I know this?" I had been a Hunter for three years. No, make that nearly four. This was the first time I'd heard about a portal system. What else was she hiding from me?

"It's not something we talk about."

"Who do you mean, we? The guardians of the portals?" Okay, so I was being a little snarky. I couldn't help myself. People keeping things from me tended to make me really mad. And yes, I got the irony.

"No," Kabita said slowly. "I'm talking about witches."

"Excuse me?"

She sighed again. "It's a long story. Let's just say a long time ago in a galaxy right here where we stand, a coven of witches took a vow to protect the portals. It's been our job ever since."

"So how did the Queen of the Sidhe get her hands on a portal?"

"She's not human. She creates her own portals. She doesn't need to use the portal ways like we do."

Possibilities whirled through my head. The portal system could be the answer to fast travel and better hunting. And what about other planets? Did the portals go to other planets or just Earth? Clearly they went to other dimensions… I shook my head. I needed to focus. "So how are we going to track Alister? If he's not using the regular portal ways?"

"Even though she creates her own portals, the queen still leaves a trace within the system. Those of us with witch blood can sense those traces sometimes."

"This sounds like a really long story," I said.

"You have no idea."

I desperately wanted to hear it, but we had more important things to deal with. I could find out more after we captured Alister and got back the grimoire. "Fine. What do we need to do right now in order to trace him?"

"We wait until the full moon."

"Figures."

# # #

I stood at the edge of a lake, the water lapping the rock-strewn shore. I knew it was a lake because there was no salt tang in the air, but the water was so vast it seemed like an ocean. I could not see the end of it, only the infinite water stretching toward the horizon.

All around the lake, tall evergreen trees towered high into the blue sky. Long grasses waved in the gentle breeze making a faint hushing sound. It was a warm day, and small bees buzzed about tiny flowers hidden in the grass. A butterfly flitted inches from my face, its blue wings stretched out in the sun. I drew in a deep breath. All I smelled was the fresh perfume of a summer day. Not a speck of smog to pollute the air. I wiped a bead of sweat from my upper lip and worried vaguely about the burn of sun on my back. I should probably seek the shade soon.

The grating sound of metal against metal reached my ears. I turned to look behind me. Several women dressed in leather leggings, breasts bound, were setting up a small camp, erecting tents and building a fire. I recognized them instantly. They were from my previous dreams of the princess of Atlantis, the women who protected her for centuries. The Amazons. But this wasn't the Old World, not Europe where they'd originally made their home. This was someplace new, someplace different. I'd seen it in my most recent dream vision. This was the place where the Amazons had been attacked. This place was in the New World.

I walked toward the camp to help but was intercepted by a tall woman with long dark hair tied up in a knot. One side of her face was covered in tattoos. More tattoos twisted down her arms. Like the others, she wore a binding across her breasts and tight buckskin breeches. A quiver of arrows was on her back, and she held a bow in one hand. A short sword, like something a Roman centurion might use, was strapped against her side, and a hunting knife was on her thigh.

"Princess," she said, inclining her head slightly. "You seem far away."

"I miss our home." The voice that spoke was not my own, nor were the words.

"You know it became too dangerous to remain there." She tapped the tip of her bow against her thigh. "We had no choice. We had to leave or risk losing everything."

"I understand," I said. "But why this place? So far away from everything we know. So empty."

She stared across the water, her expression far away. "It was part of Amaza's plan. The one handed down through the generations. They say that long ago, before Atlantis fell, it established colonies in the far reaches of this planet. When Atlantis fell, so did the colonies. Only one survived the scourge. An outpost on the shores of this lake."

I was startled. "Here? But why?"

"Copper, she said. "They harvested metals from this area. It's rich in them. They shipped them back to Atlantis. There was a plan to build a city here eventually. I was hoping there would be someone left. Someone who could keep you safe."

"You mean you were hoping there were some Atlanteans left," I said. "That we weren't the last."

She nodded. "I'd hoped so."

"But we haven't seen anyone," I said. "Not even a sign there was ever anything here."

She nodded thoughtfully. "I don't believe we have found the last colony as yet. We must keep looking. Otherwise all will be lost."

"And if we don't find the colony?" I asked.

"Then there is only one other option open to us."

My heart filled with a dread I didn't understand.

Chapter 16

I opened my eyes to sun streaming into my room. I had forgotten to close the blackout curtains. I squinted at my alarm clock. Far too early.

Inigo was curled up next to me, one arm draped across my waist. I would've liked to stay in bed all day. The thought definitely had merit. But we had things to do. Alister was still loose with the grimoire, there was a war going on, and I needed to decide what to do next.

Since we were forced to wait for the full moon, which was several days away, I decided it was time to talk to my mom about Michigan. I'd recognized the lake in my dream. It was a place I'd dreamt about before. It was one of the Great Lakes. I was sure of it, but what that had to do with Alister or my father I had no idea. I rolled out of bed and padded to the shower. As I stood under the hot spray, I replayed the dream in my mind. I wasn't sure which lake it was—hard to tell from a dream— but I was certain it was in Michigan. The state had come up too often to ignore.

It made sense that Alister and my father would be interested in Michigan if that really was the location of the last colony of Atlantis. But what did that have to do with the grimoire? And what did any of it have to do with the Queen of the Sidhe? How would the grimoire and Michigan and all of this other stuff help her win the war against the djinn? And what did Alister have up his sleeve? What was his big plan?

As I dried off, I told myself to stop freaking out. If I didn't stop running this through my mind I was gonna go crazy. I wouldn't know what Alister was up to until I found him, and I wouldn't be able to find him until Kabita traced the portal system. Other than the whole last colony of Atlantis possibly being in Michigan thing, I wouldn't know what it had to do with anything until I talked to my mom. If she even knew anything.

I slapped on some makeup, did a quick blow-dry of my hair, and then slipped back into the bedroom. I thought I was being quiet while rummaging for something in the closet, but apparently, I wasn't quiet enough for dragon hearing. Inigo rolled over in bed.

"Hey, gorgeous," he said. His voice was a sleepy rumble. I turned to stare at him lying there all delicious and rumpled. There was nothing more I wanted than to climb back into bed with him and forget about this whole stupid thing. But I was a Hunter. I didn't get to climb under the covers and pretend bad things weren't happening.

"Hey, yourself," I said, giving him what I hoped was a seductive smile. "You gonna lay in bed all day, or are you gonna visit my mother with me?"

"Oh gee. Now there is a hard choice," he said dryly, sitting up. The covers drooped to reveal a tantalizing amount of naked male flesh. My mouth went a little dry.

I snatched his T-shirt off the floor and threw it at his head. "Don't be ridiculous. I need to talk to my mother about Michigan."