| |
––––––––
Texas
––––––––
STANDING IN THE RUINS of the living room of my farmhouse, I turned in a circle with a frown. From what I could see, it had been searched thoroughly. The room was a mess and nothing had been put back in its place.
The rank odor of a dead body permeated the house. I wondered idly if it was one of my team members. I’d noticed straight away that the ward I’d erected around the building had been broken. The one guarding the basement was still intact. I couldn’t sense anyone inside, which was annoying. If Asha was still alive, I was going to have to search for her.
Trying to tuck the gem into my back pocket, I realized I was still wearing my armor. At a thought, Gorm’s gem changed my outfit to my favorite blue t-shirt and worn jeans. My old boots had been left behind in the Unseelie palace, so I kept the ones a brownie had created for me.
My swords and shield went with my armor to the basement. I could call on them when I needed to, thanks to the jewel. With it back in my possession again, I could do almost anything. It had only been slightly diminished by destroying the goblin portal and would quickly recharge to its full strength.
I followed my nose down the hall to see the front door was missing. A body I didn’t recognize was sprawled on the floor. The corpse was riddled with strange holes. I could tell he’d been a werelion. His scent told me he was one of the six men who had kept trying to invade the house. It seemed they’d finally been successful, but they hadn’t found what they were looking for. It was obvious Sheridan Harwood had sent them here to try to find the gem. It pulsed almost as if in agreement and I tucked it into my back pocket. I didn’t need to be holding it to get it to work.
Studying the wounds in the shifter’s body, I couldn’t tell what had made them. I flicked a look at the entrance, noting the hinges, door handle and other bits and pieces that had once been attached to the door. It was almost as if the wood had vanished, leaving only the hardware behind.
Shaking my head at the mystery, I didn’t bother to search the house. My team were gone and they could be anywhere. I mentally called for Rudy, but the leprechaun didn’t show up as he always had before. I concentrated on the gem, telling it to take me to them, but nothing happened. I knew I could teleport now, but apparently my talents were still limited after all. They could have a spell that was hiding them from being found. It would be the smart thing to do if the Master Archivist was after them. For all I knew, they could have become her captives.
At a loss of how to find Asha, an idea came to me. I knew someone who possessed handy computer skills. Brandon Cooper had access to the Archives’ network. He might be able to figure out where she was. This time when I concentrated, the gem teleported me to the Archives that was only a couple of hours away from Devil’s Peak.
It was the middle of the night in Texas, but Brandon was still awake. He sat at his computer in his office, rapidly typing away. “Hey there,” I said and he let out an unmanly shriek.
Placing his hand over his heart when he saw it was just me, the Archivist let out a shaky laugh. “You just scared the life out of me!” he said. In his late-twenties, he was tall and thin and had a shock of unruly brown hair and brown eyes. Instead of one of his usual brown suits, he wore striped blue and red pajamas and a dark blue robe.
“Sorry about that, son,” I said insincerely, pretending to be the person he’d once known.
“When did you get back from the Unseelie realm?” he asked. “Did you close the dragon portal?”
“I just got back,” I replied and hooked my thumbs through my belt loops. “The dragon portal is gone, Prince Sindarian is dead and the Unseelie realm is in utter chaos.”
He blinked and frowned. “You killed him?” he asked in a disturbed tone.
“I wasn’t the one responsible for ending his life, I was just the conduit,” I explained. “A dragon ate him.” Dacrith hadn’t told me about the bargain he’d made with the dragon long ago or that the gigantic reptile owed him a favor. I had to admit that his plan to eradicate his father had been pure genius.
“I thought it was frowned upon to kill in the fairy lands,” the Archivist said.
“Like I said, it’s chaos over there right now,” I told him with a shrug. I didn’t mention I’d killed a fae warrior, which had set the apocalyptic weather events into motion.
“I still haven’t discovered a way to defeat Sheridan Harwood,” he confessed. He assumed I knew what he was talking about and didn’t realize I hadn’t seen my team yet.
“Keep looking,” I instructed him. I’d intended to kill him once he told me where Asha was, but changed my mind. It couldn’t hurt to have an Archivist in my pocket to scour their databanks for information when I needed him to. “Do you know where Asha and the others are?” I asked casually.
“They’re at Gorm’s house in Scotland,” he replied, then narrowed his eyes. “Haven’t you seen them yet?”
“Like I said, I just got back and they weren’t at our base,” I said, striving for a concerned tone. “I called for Rudy, but the little fella didn’t show up. I figured you might know where they were, so I came here for your help.”
It was the right tone to use and his chest puffed out proudly that I’d needed his assistance. “I’ve been keeping in contact with them secretly,” he whispered as if he feared his office was bugged. “I hope they rescued Asha from wherever she was taken. The poor thing must be so frightened after being captured again.”
Again, I had no idea what he was talking about, but at least I knew where to find the others now. It would be inconvenient if I had to break the dryad out of a prison, but the quest my father had given me had bound me to find her. The girl didn’t know it, but as soon as I caught up to her, I was going to drag her to the Unseelie realm and toss her to the wolves, so to speak.
“I’m glad you’re back, Jake,” Brandon said. “Things went to hell after you left.”
“Everything will be fine now,” I lied with a wide grin. In truth, things were about to get a whole lot worse now that I’d returned. Once I’d fulfilled my end of the bargain I’d made with Lord Nicolaia, I would be free to do whatever I wanted. The Archivist had reminded me of how dangerous his boss was, though. Getting rid of the gorgon should be my first priority. With Harwood gone, I would have no competition when I decided exactly what I was going to do with this world.
