I gripped the steering wheel in both hands, hanging on as I veered around a curve too fast. The car swerved over the center line, but I wrenched the wheel in the other direction, my muscles burning from the strain of it, and the car eased back into the right lane. I checked the rearview mirror.
Brennus, no longer a bird, hulked in the center of the road near the highway marker, just inside the mystical border. We'd passed the boundary — safe, for the moment.
I wrenched the wheel and jammed the brake pedal down to the floorboard. The car fishtailed and stopped amid a hail of gravel. I twisted around to peer into the backseat.
Nevan lay prone with his eyes shut and both knees bent, legs askew, one arm hanging off the seat. I snatched up his hand and felt for a pulse in his wrist. It thumped against my fingers, weak but there. What the hell was I going to do now? I'd had no time to formulate a plan. Sheer panic had driven me to action.
A healing vortex. That's what I needed.
We'd resurrected Brad with the one at the shop, but I didn't dare go back inside the boundary. Not that particular boundary, anyway. One very ticked-off sylph lay in wait for me there. I should've shot him in the head, right between the eyes. It might not have killed him, but it could've bought me more time.
Nevan had told my parents there were other portals, near other water features. I knew of another waterfall a few miles from here. Christ. Miles. Did Nevan have that much time?
No choice.
I floored the accelerator and the car hurtled onto the asphalt. The force of our takeoff pinned me to my seat. The car weaved, the wheel jerking in my hands, until I got a firm grip and evened out the vehicle's trajectory. Scenery zipped past. The headlights punched through the darkness like twin swords annihilating the night, though at the periphery, shadows of every shape and size lurked. They seemed to writhe and jump from the car's dizzying speed. At first, I jumped at each faux surprise — until a strange numbness set in, affecting me down to my bones. I navigated on autopilot, my mind incapable of any thought except getting to the waterfall.
Roaring around a curve, I spun the wheel to slalom my car around another vehicle. My body was slung one way, then the other. Back in my lane, I risked a quick glance into the backseat.
Nevan was sprawled as before. Eyes shut. Lifeless.
No, not lifeless. Unconscious. Remember that. You can't afford to freak out every time you look at him.
I concentrated on the road, both hands on the wheel, my knuckles white. Nobody was losing anybody tonight.
How far had I driven? The miles blurred the same as the road. I let up on the gas pedal and the speedometer eased downward. Seventy. Sixty.
The landscape was familiar. Not far now.
Nudging the accelerator, I pushed the car back up to eighty. The road curved left and right, forcing me to ease off the gas. My heart pounded. A cold sweat dribbled down my temples. Almost there.
The headlights flared across an asphalt driveway up ahead. A big, blue road sign announced "Rest Stop." This time I stood on the brake pedal, terrified to miss the turn and have to double back in the dark, on this narrow highway. I veered the car into the semicircular drive and parked it in front of the shed that housed the restrooms. The car was angled across three parking spaces, but nobody was here in the dead of night. By rote, I shifted the car into park, shut off the engine, and stuffed the keys in my pants pocket. The headlights stayed on, but outside their reach, full-on dark had swallowed the earth.
I retrieved a flashlight from the glove compartment, kicked the driver's door open, leaped out, and tore the passenger door open.
Nevan lay so still. His head lolled. One arm dangled off the seat with his fingertips grazing the floorboard. Blood still trickled from his wound, down his side and onto the floor.
When I shoved a finger into his neck at the pulse point, a weak beat pushed against my flesh. Relief nearly toppled me to the ground.
I needed to move him, but how? I hadn't been able to carry him by myself before, and even with his aid it had taken all my strength. A fatigue deeper than any I'd known before weakened my limbs, far worse than before. The adrenaline spike I'd experienced back in the clearing had drained away when I needed it the most.
"No!" I screamed it into the night, collapsing against the door, and glared up at the stars. "I could use some fucking help down here!"
As the echoes of my screams spiraled down into silence, I detected another sound.
The soft rumble of a waterfall.
I jerked upright. Of course, you moron, that's why you came here.
To heal Brad, we'd required a leprechaun's help. And elementals — fae, whatever — possessed far more strength than I did, not to mention nifty magical powers for zipping here and there. Locating a leprechaun meant traveling into the other realm on my own. Could I even open a portal without Nevan's help?
Well, I'd transported Nevan across the boundary and he was still alive. Maybe I was the Janusite, or maybe things weren't as black-and-white as these supernatural types believed. I had to try.
My gaze lanced down to Nevan. I'd have to leave him here, alone, while I hunted down a willing elemental.
A sharp pain stabbed at the back of my throat.
Bent over the seat with one knee on the floorboards, I brushed my fingers over Nevan's cheek. My hair fell around his head like a curtain. His customary heat was fading, with a chill seeping in behind it.
"I'll be back soon. Don't you go anywhere." Though his face was blank, I imagined his smirk and that sultry chuckle every time he'd teased me for saying dopey things. I touched my lips to his forehead. "I'll fix this, promise."
Without allowing myself to think anymore, I shut the door and clicked on the flashlight as I ran for the waterfall. No trail led down to it. Instead, a railing made of driftwood barred the way and a big wooden sign offered historical information on the site. I clambered over the barrier. My left boot caught on the uneven wood. I cursed, the noise bouncing off the trees, and shook my foot loose.
I bolted toward the falls. The water cascaded down from maybe ten feet above the ground, onto a flat landing of sorts that tapered into a small, shallow pool.
My boots slid on the slick rock as I sidled across the landing, my back flat against the cliff. In my left hand I clutched the flashlight, while with my right I clawed at the rock wall in search of support I didn't really need. At the falls, I stepped away from the cliff and squinted into the darkness. My flashlight penetrated the thin veil of water.
No cave. A solid wall of rock backed the falls.
My head spun, and for more seconds than my wits could stand, I waited out the vertigo. I still felt lightheaded, but at least I wouldn't trip and crack my skull on the rock landing.
You should exercise more care, darlin', or you'll crack that lovely head of yours.
Nevan's words to me the first time I'd seen him replayed in my brain. A sharp sob burst out of me. The flashlight clattered to the ground. I slapped both palms on the cliff face, through the water, oblivious to the cold liquid that sprayed up in my face and inundated my hands, my arms, my ankles, my boots.
Water is the doorway. Nevan had said that too.
Not the waterfall is the door, but water itself. Had that been what he meant?
I pushed away from the wall. Snagged the flashlight. Clamped my hand around it. Turned away from the falls.
The pool appeared shallow, probably similar to the deep end of a swimming pool. I really could crack my skull, if I was wrong about this. Time for a genuine leap of faith.
Drawing in a long breath, I held it. Now or never.
I leaped into the water.
My feet punched through the surface. Water erupted around me. I plunged into the pool, sinking deeper and deeper, flailing my arms, struggling against the overpowering urge to suck in a breath.
Up, down, left, right — my mind fought to sort out the directions but failed. I twirled round and round, starved for air, chest aching from my thunderous heartbeat and the urgency to breathe. Oh God, I would die here, in this pool, alone.
Images flashed in my mind, bright and fast. My parents. My baby brother. The rock shop. Travis. Nevan.
He would die because of me. Because I failed.
My lungs screamed for oxygen. I released the breath I'd held, shooting out a cloud of bubbles. Pressure built inside me until I feared my lungs might explode. One final, anguished plea echoed in my mind. I don't want to die.
A vision of Nevan's face hovered in front of me, glowing with ethereal light. The soothing energy of his presence streamed into me.
The beam of my flashlight, still gripped in my hand, speared down to the pool's bottom.
I fought the impulse to inhale, but it grew stronger every second.
Open up, you stupid portal.
As my body dived toward the bottom, the ground crumbled away below me. An oily blackness churned like a whirlpool, its spiraling eddies interwoven with iridescent green and purple. The pull of the portal dragged me down faster, faster, as my limbs stretched taut and pain coruscated through me. Just as I lost the battle to not breathe, I launched through the surface into the open air, bobbing like an empty bottle. I gulped in mouthfuls of air. Nothing had ever tasted so delicious or felt so wonderful. Water streamed off my hair, rolling down my face in rivulets. I blinked to clear my eyes.
Night enveloped me, but a faint, milky glow sifted through it.
Head bent back, I panted and stared at the double moons — one large, one small — smiling down at me from a sky speckled with more stars than I'd ever seen from the mortal realm.
I swam to shore. My flashlight lanced across the alien landscape and straight up into the sky. A new burst of energy shored up my body, fueling my muscles as I hauled myself out of the water and onto my feet.
Now to find a damn leprechaun.
My jaw hurt, which made me realize I was gritting my teeth. I chewed my lip instead, drilling my brain for answers. I knew of one leprechaun, but we'd found Tris by going through the other waterfall. Everything looked different here.
When I'd screamed for Nevan, he'd heard me and come to my rescue. Might the same tactic work with a different elemental?
I threw my head back and yelled, "Tris, you obnoxious little twerp, get your ass out here this instant."
Seconds that dragged like minutes ticked by on my mental clock. Ten. Fifteen. Nothing happened.
Nevan was dying, all alone on the other side. I'd gotten him past the boundary, halting Brennus's pursuit.
The boundary.
Everything inside me froze. Since I'd brought him to another waterfall, that meant we'd traveled inside another boundary. Brennus and Skeiron might've found him already.
No. They couldn't have guessed which waterfall I'd taken Nevan to, or that I took him to any kind of portal. I needed to cling to the positive thought, because otherwise I'd fall apart.
I shined my flashlight into the inky woods. No leprechaun yet.
Screw this.
I screamed, like a teenage girl riding her first roller coaster. I shrieked Tris's name, railing epithets into the night.
My cries slid back into wordless, blood-curdling screams, the likes of which had never busted out of me before in my life. I screamed until my throat burned, until my voice cracked, until —
Tris materialized in front of me.
Gasping for breath, I choked off my wail. My throat scorched like sandpaper set on fire.
The leprechaun screwed up his mouth, brows knit and lowered in a sullen expression. "What the hell do you want, lady? You're waking up the whole neighborhood."
"To hell with your friends," I croaked. "You're the only one I need."
"Here I thought you were hot for the sylph. Hate to break it to you, sister, but you ain't my type." He waved at my breasts. "Too busty."
"You little worm." I stomped straight up to him, stabbing my finger into his chest. He winced the tiniest bit. "I don't have time for your bullshit. Nevan is dying."
His brows smoothed out and an emotion flickered across his face, but I had no brainpower left to decipher it. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his ripped jeans. "What's it got to do with me?"
I bent to glare into his eyes, our faces so close my breaths reflected off his skin. "You are going to heal him with the vortex."
"Ain't no vortex here, lady."
I shuffled back a step. "What?"
"No vortex." He enunciated with exaggerated care, as if speaking to a dimwit.
I felt dimwitted at this moment, and devoid of all hope. But I could not — would not — give up. "There's a waterfall. I brought him here, I nearly drowned crossing the fucking veil, and you're telling me it was all for nothing?" I grabbed the collar of his flannel shirt, hauling him into me. My lips scraped his as I hissed words at him. "You find a way to heal him or I will rip your dried-up, repulsive, festering little heart right out of your chest."
He stopped blinking. Stopped breathing. Stopped fighting and just stared at me.
"Do you hear me?" I shook him hard enough to rattle his brain. "Do you?"
"Yeah," he said slowly, his voice hushed. "I hear you, but… "
"What?"
He shrank a little, shoulders bunching. "There really ain't a vortex here, I'm sorry. We'd have to somehow get him to where there is one."
"Not the one where I first met you. Skeiron is there, or he was, and he's pissed." Understatement of the millennium. "I don't think Skeiron's dead, but even if he is, Brennus would be waiting for us there."
"Skeiron? Brennus? Holy cripes, lady, feed me to the hell hounds and get it over with. I can't fight those two."
"You don't have to." A retched thought took hold and I squinted at Tris. "Are you working for Skeiron? Is that why you won't save Nevan?"
"Working for him?" Tris blew air through his lips. "He massacred a whole coven of fae witches to steal their power. No fae helps him — ever."
"Unless he tricked you into a bargain."
One corner of his mouth ticked up in a half smirk. "He can't. We made a group bargain not to deal with Skeiron, and trust me, we worded it so no stinking sylph can get around it."
Though I couldn't focus on his words, though part of me understood.
I shoved him away. "Get Nevan to another vortex and fix him."
"Yeah-yeah, okay." Tris raised his hands, palms out. "I know of another one, a good strong vortex. I'll have to, um… " He twirled one finger in the air. "You know, uh, kinda get us there the magical way."
"Whisk us through the tunnel thingy. Fine, I don't give a damn, just do it."
"Well, ya see, I ain't eaten lately."
I shook my fists in the air. "Then eat some goddamn copper."
"Got none."
"Nevan is dying."
"Sorry, I can't do nothing without fuel." He cringed, as if expecting me to explode.
Which I'd done constantly since summoning him. I drew in a breath, letting it out little by little, and fought for self-control. Easier said than done. My entire body had begun to shake with a combination of terror and fury. Still, I managed a calmer tone when I spoke again. "Zip over to the rock shop, you'll find plenty of copper there."
"All right." He eyed me askance, leaning back. "You better come with me. Never know who you might've woken up with your hollering."
The thought of Nevan breached my panic. He'd be as safe where he was as anywhere, and besides, I had no other options.
Tris cautiously stretched out a hand to me. I took it. Nevan had always embraced me for traveling this way, but the instant my hand touched Tris's, he zipped us away. We materialized in the darkened shop, my flashlight illuminating the interior.
My trip with Tris proved Nevan hadn't needed to hug me for traveling. He must've wanted to do it that way. The realization made my chest ache.
Tris and I scurried around the shop gathering every kind of copper available — nuggets, fist-size chunks, jewelry fashioned from the stuff, and a pair of copper ore bookends like the ones Brad stole.
Brad. He was dead forever this time.
Nevan would be soon too, if we didn't hurry the hell up.
In one hand, Tris grasped the plastic shopping bag we'd laden with copper items. Before I could pester him, he snagged my hand and transported us to my car, where it was parked at the rest stop. I tore the back door open and knelt at Nevan's head. Tears fuzzed my vision and tightened my throat. I clamped my teeth over both lips, clasped Nevan's cold hand in mine, and looked at Tris. His hand still held mine.
"The vortex," I said through my teeth. "Now."
No griping. No eye rolling. He zipped us away from the car, into a forest much like the one around the shop and the other waterfall. Were we still in the Keweenaw? In Michigan? I didn't give a crap anymore. Nothing mattered except saving Nevan.
He lay at my feet, crumpled on the ground. The moss-covered earth squished under my boots as I moved to Nevan's side and crouched there, his hand still enclosed in mine. I clasped our hands to my heart.
Tris inched backward away from me.
Wherever we were, this clearing had no sign declaring the area a healing vortex, no stone benches, nothing except empty space ringed by the woods.
The leprechaun squatted, ripping open the shopping bag. He wolfed down copper ore in whole chunks, only resorting to biting off mouthfuls when he got down to the bookends. Ore dust rained from his lips, coating his clothing and sprinkling onto the mossy ground, as his teeth pulverized the rock in quick time. When he'd finished, he wadded up the bag and jammed it in his pocket. Then he rose and rolled back his shoulders.
His blue eyes gleamed, twin supernovas of cobalt blue.
And he just stood there.
My frustration exploded out of me on a breath. I flapped my arms, trying to get his attention, but he gazed off into nothing. "What is wrong with you? Wake up, dammit."
"Something hinky's going on," he said, sounding drugged. "Funky energy's interfering, and I can't get past it." His gaze cleared and zeroed in on me. "It's you."
"That's — " I stopped, my mouth still open. Nevan said time passed slower in the Unseen because magic must've been interfering with it. He'd suggested the energy he sensed in me had been responsible. Now Tris made a similar claim, but I didn't give a damn what the cause was. "How can we fix this?"
"No frigging clue. Maybe a b — " The color flooded out of his face. "Forget it. There ain't no way."
I slunk closer to him. "A bargain. That's what you almost said."
"No way." He blundered backward, tripped on a rock. "If I power up the vortex from this side of the water, I have to pull in a piece of the Unseen realm to do it. In essence, we are in my world."
So a bargain… Shit.
"Can't let you do it, lady." He twisted his shirt around his fingers, glancing down at Nevan. "He'd kill me if I did."
My gaze fell to Nevan. His pale face. Those sensual lips now a frightening shade of blue-white. The blood on his chest. The gaping wound.
Flashbacks raced through my mind. Nevan taking me away when Travis was chasing me. Nevan's body curled around mine as I slept. The way he insisted I eat and brought me tempting foods to ensure I did. His lips on mine, tender and then ravenous with passion. The vow he'd made to my mother, that he would protect me at any cost. I squeezed my hands around his. If his death was the cost, I could not let him pay it. My hands trembled. Nothing else matters.
I rolled my eyes up to fixate on Tris. "If you heal him, I will give you anything you want."
"Aw, lady, are you nuts?"
"Probably. Do we have a deal?"
Tris's gaze darted to Nevan and doubt flickered on his face. His shoulders hunched. "Oh man, if I let you do this, he'll murder me for sure."
"I won't let him." I lifted my chin, trying for self-assurance I didn't feel. "Here's the bargain. If you restore Nevan to his normal state, healing all his wounds and bringing him back to consciousness, I will give you anything you want and I'll stop Nevan from hurting you. Agreed?"
"You sure about this?"
"Quit hemming and hawing."
He gave a curt nod. "I accept your terms."
A tether of power whipped between me and Tris, the unseen ends latching onto us with a jolt. Bargain sealed.
"Do it already," I said. "Uphold your end."
Tris closed his eyes.
Energy roiled off him in coppery, glittering tentacles. They nipped at my skin, zapped into me down to the core of my being. The tentacles gyrated around the three of us, diving into the ground, spewing out of it again, encompassing Nevan until the shimmering energy obscured his entire body, except for the arm I clutched to my breast.
I shut my eyes and prayed, like I never had before. I infused my silent prayers with every ounce of anguish and hope I harbored inside me.
Nevan's hand warmed in mine.
The snapping energy dissipated.
I cracked my eyelids to peek out through my lashes. Nevan rested on the ground as before, but his bronze coloring had returned. His hand in mine had grown warmer, feeding into me that precious, intoxicating heat.
My tears flowed, unfettered.
Tris cleared his throat. "Seeing how my job's done, I'm gonna split. He can get you wherever you need to be."
Without looking away from Nevan, I said, "Okay. Thank you."
"For crying out loud, lady. Gratitude too? You better keep up your end, 'cause if he comes after me, I'm calling in your debt."
He vanished.
Nevan's fingers twitched. I lifted them to my lips and kissed them one by one.
A moan emanated from him.
Was he still injured? Damn that leprechaun. I spread my palms on his chest, running them over his skin in broad circles. The wound was gone. Only the old scar over his heart remained.
My tears splattered onto his chest.
"Why are you crying, love?"
At his words, I burst into a fit of weeping.
Nevan sat up, folding his arms around me, and pulled me onto his lap. I hugged my hands to my chest, burying my face in his neck, and let his heat banish the chill. He stroked my hair and rocked me as he murmured soothing sounds. Gradually, my weeping subsided. He kept rocking me, his arms firm but gentle around my shoulders.
His body squashed my arms to my chest. I wrestled my hands free to hold his face in my palms. "You're alive."
"Was I dead? Didn't feel like it."
"Not quite, but — " His hands traveled down to my hips. I couldn't move my hands, his skin felt too good under them. "It took so long to get you here, to this vortex. I got us away from Brennus, but then I had to find Tris and he needed copper and — "
His fingers kneading my flesh scattered my thoughts.
"It's all right." His voice was a low rumble, unbelievably sexy. "I'm quite impressed you got me here without Skeiron beheading us both." He ran his hands over my shoulders and down my arms — searching for wounds, I supposed. "Did he or Brennus hurt you in any way?"
"I'm fine." I raked my hands up the back of his neck and into his hair, my fingers splayed over his scalp. "How are you?"
"I feel quite well, very alive."
The way he accentuated the last word flashed heat through me, from my lips straight down between my thighs. I wriggled on his lap, relishing the sensation of hard muscle as it rubbed against my aching core. An impulse hit me and I had no willpower left to resist.
I drew his head down to mine and crushed my lips to his. He yielded to me without hesitation, his lips parting for me. I forged deep inside, lost to the sensations of his tongue, his mouth, his hands anchoring my waist. He groaned into my mouth. I devoured him as if our essences could merge through our lips joining and our tongues tangling. I kissed him like nothing else in the universe mattered to me, nothing except him and this heady passion.
He broke the kiss, his flaming eyes locked on mine.
Dazed, I couldn't prevent the words from spilling out unbidden, hushed enough he couldn't have heard. "Rein it in, Lindsey."
He leaped to his feet, carrying me up with him. I landed flat on my feet.
The flashlight's beam sprayed across the ground in a wedge of illumination, aimed right at Nevan. I backed away, bereft from the loss of contact, but I needed to see him, all of him, to be sure.
The flashlight flickered and extinguished. I snatched it up, shook it, thumped the heel of my hand against it. Nothing. I made an unladylike, disgusted noise.
"What is the matter, my sweet mortal morsel?"
"Flashlight's dead. I can't see a thing."
"I can see you." The statement, his teasing but sensual tone, tickled me in the most intimate way.
"You might still be injured. I need to… " How could I phrase this without sounding salacious? Oh hell, who cared. "I need to get a good look at you. Please."
"If you insist."
Balls of light popped into existence in his palms. They swelled into softball-size orbs, bluish and sparkling with the purest white.
Fairy lights.
He tossed them into the air, where they floated above our heads. He conjured a half dozen more, tossing them into the air so we were immersed in the shimmering glow.
And I saw him. All of him.
"Here I am, love," he said, devouring me with his hot gaze. "What will you do with me now?"