Erica watched a creature that she could only describe as an oversized orange cylinder rising up out of the pink sands, high enough to block the sun and cast them in deep shadows. The shade did not compensate for the overwhelming fear that tore through her.
Whatever the creature was, it was huge. It had a circular mouth filled with teeth. And it was entirely too close to their cover under the palm tree. A palm tree that was their gateway home.
Erica watched the thing hover above them, and beyond being eaten in that giant mouth, another terrifying thought occurred to her. “What if it smashes the tree?”
“Harder to do that you might think,” Galahad said. “But if it managed it, we’d be trapped here.”
“We should get back now, then. Before…that.”
“Through the tree,” Jilly ordered, her voice snapping out. “Now!”
The creature stopped rising and suddenly started falling, slamming into the sand hard enough to make the ground shake. Erica grabbed Galahad for balance, though he was still holding on to her. The ground rumbled and the sands shifted and a deep vibration moved through her feet.
She exchanged a look with Galahad. Then everyone was moving. Fast. Into the tree gate.
Jilly and Memnon made all the other guards go through first, and Erica echoed Jilly’s insistence when Nimue wanted to stay and make sure Erica got through. Nester had to practically carry the young cat to make her go first. When only the four of them remained, Erica still refused to go until Jilly was through. And Galahad wouldn’t go until Memnon had.
As they watched Memnon disappear into the tree trunk, the ground behind them shivered and shook again. Erica could feel the sand moving, hear the dunes rumbling. The air filled with a spicy, salty scent she could taste. Deeper shade rose up over them.
Erica and Galahad looked over their shoulders as the body of one of the creatures rose up so close, she couldn’t see around it. So close that if it dropped down, it was going to fall right on top of them. And that was if it didn’t open that mouth full of teeth and devour them.
“Go! Now!” Galahad grabbed her around the waist again and lunged toward the tree.
She was already jumping at the palm’s trunk when he did.
Their momentum sent them tumbling into the portal just as she heard a thumping sound behind her. Then the darkness closed around her and the weird, whooshing journey took her.
When they exited the portal through the cat tree inside the temple, Erica tripped out, stumbling as if she was still moving from her jump to get away from whatever the hell that creature had been. Galahad caught her and kept her from hitting the ground, though they both had to take a few extra steps to catch their balance.
She blinked up at him, knowing her eyes were wide and her pulse was still pounding from the fear. “Thanks,” she said.
“You’re welcome.” His voice was very deep.
“Bit scary, that, huh?” She tried to smile.
He didn’t smile back.
“You okay? After…” She waved a hand. He’d been caught in the spell or whatever it was that Jilly had had to break. Had it left any residual effects?
“Been better.” He glanced away. “I nearly failed you.”
“No.” She forced his face around with a hand to his jaw. The muscles under her fingertips jumped. “No,” she said firmly. “That spell or whatever was specifically made for you and the other cats. There was nothing you could have done.”
“Memnon wasn’t affected.”
“He’s been at this longer, right? But even Nester got overwhelmed. They all did.” She lowered her voice and nodded to the others.
Jilly and Memnon were at the table in the center of the temple floor, looking at the book they’d retrieved, their heads bent together as they talked too quietly to be heard. The other guard-cats were sitting on some of the cushions scattered around the temple or had collapsed onto the ground. Nester spoke softly with Nimue who looked as upset as Galahad did. All of Jilly’s guard-cats looked exhausted.
“Would you blame any of them for getting caught?” she asked him quietly. “Nimue? She got caught first. Do you blame her?”
“Of course not,” he said, his voice gruff. “But she’s also young and new to this.”
“And you’re new to being the librarian and my guard,” she murmured. She lowered her voice even more when she said, “And Memnon raced off to save his son. You realize he left Jilly to save you, right? And he’s in love with her. He still raced off to save you. You weren’t the only one that didn’t…stick to a schedule of duty.” She frowned a little at that turn of phrase and hoped he understood what she was trying to say. “What I mean is, you can stop beating yourself up. We’re all fine now.” She tried a little smile. “In hindsight, that’ll probably have been fun, right?”
He just stared at her.
“Okay. Yeah, you’re right. Not fun. Not fun at all. What was that creature? Was that a sand-dragon?”
“That was a worm.”
Her stomach bottomed out and her knees wobbled. Galahad tightened his hold on her, keeping her from falling.
They both seemed to realize at the exact same moment that she was still just wearing her bra and had her shirt clenched in her hand. His arms were very warm against her bare skin.
“Why don’t you have a shirt on?” he asked, keeping his gaze very carefully on hers.
“Was using it for shade, so we could see the book.” She nodded, pursed her lips, tried to ignore the heat crawling across her cheeks.
“Did it work?”
“Mmhmm,” she said. “Mostly.”
“Good.” There was a distinct twitch to his mouth that might have been a smile.
She narrowed her eyes at him in warning. That only made the almost-smile worse.
“You probably got a sunburn, you know,” he said. “You’re going to need to put something on that.”
“Sure. Sure. I’ll…uh. Yeah. I’ll do that when we get home.”
“You have after-sun lotion at home? In Chicago?”
“There are stores,” she said defensively. Until she realized he was trying to joke. To tease. And he so rarely did that, so rarely relaxed around her enough to joke with her, she laughed.
It was a normal laugh. A natural laugh. Not that weird giggle caused by the book. And it felt good.
“Pretty exciting for your first retrieval,” Galahad said as he slowly loosened his hold on her and she stepped away from him.
“Exciting. Yeah. That’s what that was. Exciting.” She dragged her shirt back over her head before she had time to think about the fact that she’d been running around in just her bra for a while now. Good thing it was a pretty bra and not one of her ratty ones.
“You did good,” Jilly called from the table. “Both of you.” She gestured at the book. “This is one of the dangerous ones. If you hadn’t noticed.”
There was a general murmuring and groaning from the cats.
“And now we can keep it here safely, study it.”
“You sure you want to study it?” Erica asked, approaching the table, and the book, cautiously. “That weird unnatural laughing…”
“The sound of bells…” Galahad added.
“None of it was good. You really want to risk that happening again?”
“We’ll take precautions,” Jilly said. She exchanged a look with Memnon. “And…maybe wait on the study part for a bit. It’s just good to have the book safely here in the temple.”
She looked around at all the exhausted cats, most of whom were in their human forms. At Erica and Galahad. Then she and Memnon exchanged another looked and he raised his brows. Jilly did a little shoulder dip of a shrug. Memnon smiled.
“Anyone want a drink?” he asked.
A general chorus of cheers went up, echoing off the high roof of the pyramid.
As Memnon and Nester went to a chest near the back wall, Jilly joined Erica where Erica was taking off her scabbard belt and gently laying her sword aside. She’d pretty much forgotten she’d had the sword, except for shoving it out of the way when she’d dropped into the sand.
She gave it a look, then looked at Jilly. “Would this have helped against one of those worms?” She nodded at Jilly’s sword, now laying gently on the table, still inside its scabbard. “Would yours?”
“Alendrial is a very good sword. But nothing can penetrate the hide of one of those worms. Running was our only option.”
Erica tried not to shiver. “Good to know. Good to know.”
“You okay after all that?”
“I think so.” She leaned against a shelf stacked with rolled papyrus documents. “Is it always like that? Always so… So close to potential disaster?”
“Always? No.” Jilly shrugged. “Often enough? Yes. And no, it doesn’t get any easier.”
“How have you done this over and over again for all these years?”
“It’s my duty. My destiny. One I accepted decades ago.” She frowned a little and pushed a strand of hair off Erica’s forehead. “But I remember the first retrieval. Not quite as dramatic as yours. But not easy either. It would have been easy to quit at that stage.”
“I can’t quit, though, can I? If I fail…disaster.” A war between the Wraiths and the Elders that would destroy all the realms. That was why they did what they did.
“Doesn’t mean quitting doesn’t cross your mind.” Jilly ducked her head a little to meet Erica’s gaze. “Do you want to quit?”
Erica glanced around the room, smiling a little at the cats as they passed around a few bottles of what she suspected was fermented milk because they had weird taste in what they considered alcoholic drinks. There’d be wine somewhere over there for her and Jilly.
Erica’s gaze landed on Galahad. And Nimue. And Nester. The two older cats had gathered around Nimue and were giving her reassuring pats and bumps. And for the first time since they’d walked through the portal, Nimue was smiling.
She was new too, Erica thought. Both of them so new to this. But this was so important.
Her gaze danced over Galahad again, and he caught her look. His small smile came and went quickly. But it was enough.
“I was absolutely terrified out there,” Erica said, turning back to Jilly. “But I don’t want to quit. I can do this.”
Jilly grinned and pulled her into a hug. “I know you can. It’s why you were chosen.” She pulled back and patted Erica on the shoulders. “Now. Let’s get drunk and come up with all the demands you’re going to put to your department head at your rescheduled meeting.”
Erica snort-laughed at that, but let her aunt pull her to the guards. And the waiting bottles of wine.
As they passed the table, Erica swore she heard a very faint jingling from the book. Almost too quiet for her to hear. She glanced back at it, but it was exactly where Jilly had left it. And the claw marks in the front of the book looked a lot less red now.
A moment later the sound died away completely. Erica let out a long breath and hurried to take one of the offered bottles of wine.
That was one book she could definitely wait to study.
In fact, that was one book she might never want to read again.