Your Dimension Or Mine? (22 page)

“Wait,” he said. “You won’t leave if I give the little brats over to your babysitter?”

Her mind went over everything. If she agreed to stay, that wasn’t agreeing to his enslavement. “I will stay here if you bring the girls and give them to Mayir.”

Nodding slowly, he was gone.

“Where did he go?” she asked, afraid she had blown it. Would the girls pay for her mistake?

“He went to get your nieces. He doesn’t have the ability to send others unless he is with them.” Mayir turned and looked into her eyes. “His greatest fault is his ego. He thinks he is more powerful than he is. Use that any way you can.”

As she nodded, the air changed around them again and he appeared, the three girls lying dead on the ground at his feet. “No!” she screamed, ready to dash forward. Unable to move, she realized Mayir’s magic was holding her in place. “Let me go!”

“No. Not until he releases the girls from their slumber and sends them with me.”

Slumber? They weren’t dead? Relief went through her. Orion gazed at her mentor with disgust. “Take them. They are of no use to me.” In the next instant, all three girls lay around Mayir’s feet.

He looked at the three of them and then up at her. “Good luck, Arwen Maria Reynolds Agastion. Remember everything I’ve taught you.” Before she could respond, they were gone and she was left with Orion.

Never in her life, not even when she was wandering along that straight rode on Zeta, had she ever felt so alone. Standing just a few feet away was the enemy. Was she good enough to fight him? At the thought, her mind seemed to instinctively trace her light barrier, becoming aware of every shift and change in it.

“So, pet, we meet again,” he said smoothly, walking toward her. “You kept me waiting a very long time. You should be proud of yourself. Nobody in your bloodline has ever done that before. Of course,” he continued, “you will be punished for your disobedience. First off, you have a question to answer, do you not?”

A tug at her right hip made her aware it was happening. He had started his assault. Focusing on that area, she gently pushed it out and away, not wanting him to realize just how much she had learned.

“Question? I wasn’t aware you asked one.”

His red eyes darkened, and a grim smile crossed his gaunt face. “Playing games, pet? I almost had you twice, but something tore you away from me. Not anymore. This time you will answer me.”

A burn began in her ankle and started its way up her leg. As she shored up her protection, she backed up as he advanced. “Once again, I’m waiting for a question.”

“Fine,” he said, stopping his advance and flicking something off his slacks. “Pet, do you accept your eternal enslavement to me, your master?”

Just like that, it happened. Attacks on several areas of her shield happened at the same time. Panicked, she was unable to focus, and he made his way in. Immediately, her chest tightened and breathing became difficult. Her brain went fuzzy, and she had a hard time remembering what was going on.

What was she supposed to be doing?

She needed to breathe.

There was something important she was supposed to be doing.

“Air!” she gasped, “I need air.”

“Say yes, and you can have all the air you want,” he said in a deep soothing voice that she so desperately wanted to follow. As she dropped to her knees, grabbing her neck, her left ankle seared with pain, and for a brief moment in time her head cleared.

“NO! I won’t accept—” Her voice cut off as breathing and speaking became impossible. Her chest tightened even more, and her throat seemed to shut off.

“No?” he hissed, standing over her. “So you enjoy choking, pet? Fine, I will let you choke until you pass out. When you come to, I promise you will be more malleable. It will be easier to gain your respect back in my dungeon anyway. So many torture devices I can use on you.”

At the word dungeon, images of blackness entered her head, and she knew she had to fight. If he got her back there, the chances of her getting out of this were nil. Struggling to stay on her knees, she tried to ignore the need for air and the incredible desire within her to give into him, even as she worked at strengthening her protection.

It was so hard, black spots began to swim in her vision, and she didn’t know how, let alone what she should do to repair the holes in her silver barrier. At the thought of silver, Terrian’s eyes swam in front of her face. “Come back to me,” he said and with a strangled interior cry, she fell over.

Terrian. If she passed out, she would never see him again. Ever. She would live a life she wouldn’t wish on anyone. Plus, if she could somehow fight Orion off, she would free her family forever of the zoor. Her hands moved to the back of her neck, clutching each other, even as she rolled her body into a ball.

Think! Think, Ari! What do you need to release his control and get some air?

Power. Cyclone. She knew that kind of energy only came when Terrian held her, but it was her only hope. Reaching down, she grasped hold of her ankle even as she brought him to mind. She felt him holding her, the amazing power within his arms, and the way he lit her up when he kissed her.

“Hurry up and pass out, pet, I have plans for us once you accept,” Orion said, interrupting her.

Just like that, anger coursed through her veins. Orion had enslaved women in her family for five millenia. And now, he planned to enslave her? Energy began to twirl in her chest, and she trembled. Plus, he had kidnapped her three nieces just for fun. The power built, pushing her chest out and in, and she realized with relief she was breathing. Without the fear of passing out, she concentrated on the openings he made in her barrier, mentally repairing each one in preparation for what she was about to do.

There would only be one chance, and if she screwed it up she would have wasted all her energy on this one attempt. He would have her because her barrier would collapse. But she had to take the risk. “Ask me again,” she demanded in a raspy voice, struggling up to her knees.

His eyes narrowed as he walked around her. “How are you breathing?” he murmured and then paused. “Ahh, my pet is ready to accept. That would be the only reason the pressure would let up.” Taking two steps backward, a cold, hard smile crossed his face. “Pet, you will be my slave for the rest of your days. Do you accept?”

There it was, the final question. She hoped denying him three times over time fulfilled the escape clause, because she had nothing else in her. She let all the images and memories of what he had done fill her up. Kidnapping her, her nieces, his twisting of Celie her great-great aunt, and finally his destruction of Mayir’s granddaughter. Fury burst from within her as the cyclone in her chest seemed to take over her body.

Opening her eyes, she stared right into his, thrilled to see them widen in surprise. “For the last time,” she said through parched lips. “No. I
do not
accept your enslavement, you red-eyed zoor!” At the last word, the power burst within her breaking through the fissures he created at the same time as a strange image passed quickly through her head. With a groan, her body collapsed as a scream filled the air.

****

The sun pelted down upon her as she lay on the dirt, but she had no energy to get up. Her breaths came hard and fast, and when something came between the sun and her, she whimpered. A male voice cleared its throat, and it did not sound like Orion so she cracked an eye open. Standing above her was a man with one eye and two noses. Surely, she was hallucinating. She closed her eyes and reopened them to be sure. Yep, one eye, two noses. “Who are you?” she asked, coughing at her dry throat.

“My name is Circe Olendeerthal,” he said in a nasal voice. “What is your name?”

“Ari.” Oh what she wouldn’t do for a glass of water. Even as she thought it, one appeared in front of her, and she guzzled it down. As it refilled itself, she drank it down again. By the third glass, her head felt a little clearer, and she sat up and looked around. “What happened to Orion?” The last thing she remembered was exploding.

“Ah, so you were with Orion when the contract was nullified, yes?” he asked, pulling a large stack of papers from his briefcase.

Just like that, her brain put the pieces together. “I did it. I nullified the contract. I said no to him three times!” Laughing in shock, she laid back on the dirt.

“It would seem so,” he said with a frown as he held the paperwork. “Do you know where he is?”

“Uhhh, no? The last thing I remember is telling him no and things went dark for a while.”

“I see. Well, Miss Ari, you have created an incredible amount of paperwork for our office. We have to release every female in your DNA strand. Do you have any idea how many that is? It will take us a century to find them all.” He sighed and ran his sleeve over his forehead to capture sweat that wanted to drip into his eye. “Anyway, if you see Orion again, could you tell him to get in touch with the magical contract archives? He owes us for all this new paperwork.” He stuffed the papers into his briefcase and stood up. “What a horrid planet. Do you live here?”

“No. I need to get back to Zeta, actually.” How long had she been gone? Did time go at the same rate from here to there? Where was Orion anyway? He could have taken her even though she said no. It wasn’t as if she was in any condition to fight him off. Considering how horrid he was, he didn’t seem like someone who would honor the end of a contract if he could find a way around it.

“Ah, well, I will leave you to that, then. I have to make a report of all this,” he sighed, looking around at the dirt.

“Uh, well, if you must,” she said, slowly rising to her feet.

“Oh, yes,” he nodded emphatically. “I must. All ‘I’s must be dotted and all ‘T’s must be crossed, you know.”

“Sure,” she said, even though she had no idea what he was talking about. How would he report dirt, anyway? Shaking her head to get rid of such a strange concept, she realized she had no idea how to get back to Zeta. “Crap.”

“Pardon?” Circe asked, pulling a pencil out of his pocket.

“I don’t know how to get back to Zeta.”

“Ahh, that is your problem. Now, I must get back to mine.” Without another word to her, he began to walk around, making notes of whatever it was he thought he saw in the dirt.

Frowning, she looked around. Why had it never occurred to her that she needed to find her way back? Oh, right, because she never actually thought she would get back. Walking a little ways away from Circe and his annoying note taking of nothing, she cleared her throat. “Mayir? If you hear me, I’m ready to come back.” Nothing happened.

“Ugh.” Spotting hills in the distance, she began to walk toward them. Maybe if she got back in the area where they arrived on the planet, she could contact him easier. Hours later, she had no idea if she was close, and she was hot and sweaty. The sun was going down. Not good.

So, how did I get from my bedroom to the stone room?
It had been simple really, once she figured it out. All she had to do was imagine herself in that room, feel how it felt…just like Mayir taught her. Pausing, she cleared her mind and focused on the stone room. She felt the coolness of the stone and saw the light coming from the windows. Mayir was seated on his chair, morosely staring into nothing. With the image in mind, she drifted through the other steps.

As the warm moist air dissipated and dry cool air took its place, she opened her eyes. She was definitely in the stone room, but nobody else was there. “Mayir!” she cried, running outside. The sight that met her gaze was bizarre. Mayir’s guards were gone, not one of them in residence, and in the center, between four of the flower patches, Mayir and Verisha were sparring. With sticks.

“You can’t seriously expect to hurt one another with those,” she said in exasperation as she walked up.

Surprised they both turned to her. Mayir’s face broke into such a large smile, she was surprised it didn’t crack his face. “Arwen!” he called, leaping over the flowerbed between them and pulling her close. “You bested him!”

Beaming, she nodded. “Yep! The contract is now null and void! And Orion seems to have disappeared. Where is everyone?”

“Abigail took the girls home, and they seem no worse for their journey, by the way. Orion might have put them to sleep immediately as they do chatter incessantly, don’t they?” Verisha said, walking up. “Glad you did it. Terrian will be thrilled.”

“Where is he?” she asked looking around, hoping to see a set of silver eyes.

“He had to return to Darinth at the command of his father. We told him we would let him know as soon as we heard something, though. I suggest you get some dinner, maybe wash off all that dust,” Mayir said, looking over her, his normal demeanor setting back into place, “and then we will take you home. Go.”

Chapter Seventeen -
A Great Start

Arwen looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror. It was hard to see the woman in the mirror as the last three days zoomed through her head. After taking Mayir’s advice—well, it wasn’t so much advice when he sent her directly to the shower in her room—subtlety was not one of his gifts. After taking a shower and putting on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, she ate a salad and then went down to the stone room.

Verisha was gone, but Mayir stood waiting for her, dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt. “You’re looking very human,” she remarked, waving at his clothes. Her eyes widened as she took in his ears, which had lost their pointy tip and looked very human.

“Earth does not know of the existence of the different dimensions, and we would prefer to keep it that way,” he explained simply. “Earth is a very backward place. The last thing we want is any of them finding out how to find us. It is best if I fit in.”

“Are you going to Earth?”

“Of course. I am taking you there. Are you ready?”

“Yeah, but…” Before she could continue, the stone room was gone, and in its place was the small round room with the insignia on the wooden floor. “Cory!” she screeched, running for the door, Mayir momentarily forgotten.

“Ari!” Cory yelled, opening the door. In the next instant Ari was grabbed and swung around by her sister, their laughter bouncing off the ceiling. “Ah, hell, sis! We were afraid we wouldn’t get you back!”