I couldn’t argue with that. The faerie genes in Felicity’s body had only been activated because she’d been on the earthly plane, and separated from a background dose of faerie magic. If she’d been here, that wouldn’t have happened.

  He found what he was looking for and put two Traveler Eggs on the desk. “One to get us there and one to get us back,” he explained. “I just need to calibrate this one to get us to Leon’s house.” He started adjusting the rune-inscribed, metal ring which ran around the egg’s circumference.

  “Why don’t we just get Cathy to open a portal?” I said when it became obvious the calibration was going to take some time.

  “She’s got a lot of work ahead of her. Now that the Apocalypse has begun, we need to go back and forth to collect our students. That’s going to take a lot out of Cathy. We can’t overwork her.”

  “Speaking of the Apocalypse,” I said as he tinkered with the egg, “what do you know about the Four Horsemen?”

  “The same things everyone knows. They’re in the Bible.”

  “So you haven’t heard of the Dwellers of the Outer Darkness?”

  He looked up at me with a quizzical look on his face. “Who?”

  “How about the People of the Circle?”

  He shook his head. “Should I know who they are?”

  “Probably, considering they’re protectors of humanity and were around before the druids.”

  “Oh, they sound interesting. What happened to them?”

  “Cathy is showing one of them around this building right now. Although, he’s more interested in watching TV.”

  “Feenan?”

  “Yeah, Feenan. He’s one of the four People of the Circle. They protect humanity from disaster.”

  “And the Four Horsemen?”

  “Yeah, from them, too. They’re the Dwellers of the Outer Darkness. Their goal is to destroy humanity.”

  “So a magical war has raged between the forces of good and evil for millennia. Fascinating.”

  “And now it’s going to rage again. The tearing of the veil opens the way for the Dwellers to get to Earth.”

  He frowned. “Then it is worse than I feared. We have our work cut out for us.”

  “That’s another thing I need to tell you, Dad?”

  “What?”

  “I’m not going to be around for much longer. There’s a penalty for using the Spear the way I did to open the realms. There are Purgatory Hounds on my trail.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I’m going to be taken to Purgatory.”

  “Well, we have to make sure you aren’t.”

  “I don’t think it’s that easy. Feenan seems to think it’s something that can’t be avoided.”

  “Does Feenan know everything?” He sounded angry, but I knew the emotion he felt was more than that.

  “On this subject, he does.”

  His shoulders sagged for a moment and his face fell. “We’ll sort it out. Don’t worry, Alec. Somehow, we’ll sort it out.”

  I was sure there was nothing he could do, but I wasn’t going to labor the point.

  He made the final adjustments to the egg and grabbed his tweed jacket from a coat stand by the door. He put the jacket on and slid the eggs into the pockets.

  “Right, let’s go and get some weapons.”

  We went downstairs to the Armory and I chose a sword. It felt good to hold an enchanted weapon again.

  Dad put a couple of magical grenades into a leather satchel and slung it across his chest. He picked up a sword similar to mine and said, “Ready?”

  I nodded. I wasn’t expecting us to run into any trouble at Leon’s house, but with the realms open, who knew what we’d find on Earth?

  When we reached the building’s foyer, a voice said, “Alec, it is you!”

  I turned and saw the Blackwell sisters coming out of one of the side rooms. They were dressed in black Victorian style dresses, as always, and each also wore a smile.

  “Victoria. Devon. How are you?”

  They pulled me into a hug and then stepped back to inspect me like two mothers about to send their child to school.

  “You’re looking well,” Victoria said.

  “Very well indeed,” Devon added. “Running the bookshop must suit you.”

  “We can catch up later, ladies,” Dad said. “Alec and I are on our way to get Felicity.”

  “Oh, wonderful!” Victoria said. “How is she?”

  “Not well,” I said. “Not well at all.”

  Their smiles disappeared and both sisters looked concerned. “Oh no, what happened?”

  “It’s a long story. Right now, we need to go get her.”

  “All right. You’ll be back soon, I hope,” said Devon.

  “Yes, we should be.”

  “Safe journey.”

  My dad and I went outside and he placed the Traveler Egg on the ground. A portal appeared and I could see Leon’s house beneath a dark sky.

  We both stepped through and found ourselves on the front lawn. The portal closed behind us.

  The front door opened and Leon peered out. “Alec?”

  “It’s me,” I said.

  “Why aren’t you at the cabin?”

  “I’ll explain later. We’ve come to get Felicity.”

  He saw my dad. “Hey, Mr Harbinger.”

  “Hello, Leon. I trust you’ve been taking good care of Felicity but we’re here to take her to the academy realm.”

  “Sure, come in. Do you think you can help her?”

  “We’re going to bloody well try.”

  Leon let us into the house. I could hear a TV in another room. The news was on and the anchorman was saying, “We’ll be staying with this story throughout the day. No one knows where the black holes have come from, or what they mean.”

  “Black holes?” I said to Leon as we went upstairs.

  “There are portals appearing all over the world,” he said. “Nothing has come through them yet.”

  In the guest bedroom, Felicity lay sleeping on the bed. Michael sat in the chair in the corner of the room.

  “You carry her, Alec, and I’ll open the portal,” Dad said.

  I scooped Felicity into my arms while he placed the Traveler Egg in the hallway outside the room.

  “Hey, can we come with you?” Leon said. “I don’t think I could bear not knowing what happens to her.”

  “Of course,” I said.

  The portal opened and we all stepped through onto the gravel in front of the main academy building.

  My dad led the way into the building and upstairs. “I’d rather have her here in the main building than in her own house,” he said. “We can keep an eye on her better if she’s in here.”

  He opened a door to a bedroom and I placed Felicity gently on the bed. She didn’t stir.

  “What now?” I asked.

  “We’re going to visit the Coven,” he said. “If anyone can help Felicity, it’s them.”

  Chapter 18

  We went down the stone steps that spiraled into the ground beneath the academy building and, at some point, entered the dimension where the Coven resided.

  A green glow emanated from the stone walls and the steps themselves as we descended.

  No words passed between us. I was sure that my father was thinking about Felicity and wondering if the Coven could help her. I was thinking the same thing.

  We reached the bottom of the steps and the bone-curtained archway that led to the witches’ cavern.

  Dad pushed through the curtain of tiny bones and I followed.

  Every time I’d come to this immense cavern, the place had been dimly lit and shadowy, but now it was even darker. The ceiling and the upper reaches of the walls were lost to an inky blackness and I wondered if it was like this because the cavern somehow reflected the darkness that currently enveloped the earthly plane.

  The hooded witches, kneeling around the dark pool on their rocky dais were lit by a gray glow that surrounded them like a luminescent sphere.

  Dad and I approached the pool but stopped when a voice drifted from the black liquid.

  “Two Harbingers seeking assistance.”

  “For one who is beyond help,” said another voice.

  “Things must take their course.”

  “The wheels are set in motion.”

  “What once was shall no longer be.”

  “What once was not soon shall be.”

  “Everything changes.”

  “Yet some things stay the same.”

  “No one knows the answers.”

  “For all prophecies are now dead.”

  I whispered to my dad, “Do they talk in anything other than riddles?”

  “Sometimes,” he said patiently. “They usually need to get the riddles out of their system, first.”

  “Much has changed,” said a voice from the pool.

  “And much is still changing,” said another.

  “We want to know if you can help Felicity,” I said.

  “That is the wrong question, Alec Harbinger.”

  “Do not ask if we can help her.”

  “Ask if we will.”

  I sighed. “All right. Will you help Felicity?”

  “We will not.”

  It was a direct answer, but not the one I wanted to hear.

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “In the world that is coming, some things are more useful than others.”

  “We need useful things.”

  “And useful warriors.”

  “Who will fight with tooth and nail.”

  “Fang and claw.”

  “This is getting us nowhere,” I said to Dad. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait, we’re not finished here.” To the witches, he said, “What do you know of the People of the Circle?”

  The Coven became silent. Just when I thought they weren’t going to answer, a voice floated out of the pool.

  “The key.”

  “The spear.”

  “The flame.”

  “The tear.”

  “These things will bring the new dawn.”

  “The sword.”

  “The scythe.”

  “The whip.”

  “The flail.”

  “These will bring the destruction of man.”

  “We know there’s some kind of cosmic battle going on,” Dad said. “Can you tell us what’s going to happen?”

  “The academy must gather its students and prepare for the battle ahead.”

  “Yes, we know that, but what about the battle itself. Is there a prophecy? Anything that indicates what the outcome will be?”

  “The Spear’s power has torn the veil.”

  “A new world is upon us.”

  There was a pause, and then a thin voice rose from the pool and said, “This is the point at which all prophecies end.”

  They said nothing more. An almost tangible silence fell over the cavern.

  “It’s time we went,” Dad said.

  We went back through the curtain and up the steps to his office.

  “Well, that was pointless,” I said as he closed the door to the tunnel. “They won’t help Felicity.”

  “I’m sure they have good reason, Alec.”

  “Really? So, what is it? What possible reason can they have to let Felicity turn into a faerie creature?”

  He sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “I’m going to her room. At least when she changes she’ll see a familiar face. Maybe it won’t be so scary for her.” I left him in his office and went to the room where Felicity lay on the bed.

  She looked serene, her chest rising and falling steadily as she slept. The changes that were going on at a cellular level inside her hadn’t affected her outward appearance yet.

  She was the same Felicity who’d appeared in my office when I’d first come to Dearmont and told me she was my new assistant.

  The same woman who’d fought demons on a plane, cracked ancient codes, and brought homemade baked goods to the office.

  The same woman who’d said she loved me.

  I loved her too, of course. I’d loved her almost since the day we’d met.

  And now it was too late for us. She was going to become something else and I was going to Purgatory.

  Leon poked his head around the door. “Hey, Alec, Christina and Cathy have made food for us. We’re in the cafeteria if you want to join.”

  “Yeah, I’ll be there in a moment.”

  “Okay, man.”

  I stayed with Felicity for a few more minutes, then left the room and closed the door.

  In the cafeteria, everyone was sitting around a long table. The smell of tomatoes, onions, and herbs hung in the air. Dishes of spaghetti and tomato sauce sat on the table.

  “Sit here, Alec,” Dad said, indicating a seat at the head of the table.

  I sat and looked around at my friends as they helped themselves to food.

  My dad was seated at the far end of the table, waiting for everyone else to get their food before he got his.

  Christina, the ex-PI, and Cathy, the Walker of Worlds were already eating, pushing forkfuls of spaghetti into their mouths and chatting with Lucy, who sat opposite them. She was picking at her food with the tines of her fork and seemed to be reflecting on something even as she spoke to the others. Probably her next horror novel.

  Feenan was digging into his food with gusto, his ancient taste buds seemingly adapting well to modern food.

  Leon and Michael were seated close to me. Michael had a modest amount of spaghetti on his plate while Leon was making a Mount Everest of pasta and topping it with a generous drizzle of sauce.

  He saw me and looking at him and said, “Come on, Alec. Dig in, man.”

  “Where are Victoria and Devon?” I said, noticing two empty chairs.

  Leon shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they don’t like spaghetti.”

  I piled some pasta onto my plate and added some sauce. It tasted delicious.

  We were halfway through our meal when the Blackwell sisters entered the cafeteria. They both looked worried.

  “What’s wrong, ladies?” Dad asked when he saw their faces.

  “We went to check on Felicity,” Victoria said. “We thought we might be able to do something to help her.”

  “Can you?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “No, I’m afraid we can’t. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” he said. “Even the Coven can’t help her.”

  “You mean they won’t help her,” I said.

  “Not being able to help Felicity isn’t the only reason we’re a little worried,” Victoria said. “When we were coming downstairs, Devon had one of her visions.”

  “What was it?” Dad asked. “Something we should all be concerned about?”

  Devon looked at me and said, “You’re in great danger, Alec. In my vision, you were lost in a dark forest. And something was chasing you.”

  “You probably saw a vision of the Purgatory Hounds. They’re hunting me.”

  “No, I don’t think it was that. The forest wasn’t here, or on our home realm. It was somewhere else. And there was a city. A strange city.”

  “Was it in Purgatory?”

  “I don’t know.” She reached behind her neck and unclasped one of the chains she wore. She pulled the gold amulet attached to the chain from beneath her dress and held it out to me. “You should wear this. If you are…taken…this may allow us to find you again.”

  The amulet consisted of a gold disc inscribed with two interlocking circles and a triangle.

  “Thanks,” I said, taking the chain and fixing it around my neck.

  The witches sat at the table and each took a meagre portion of spaghetti.

  As we ate, I heard a noise outside. It sounded like it was coming from the woods. It was hard to make out out above the chatter and sounds of clinking cutlery, so I got up and went to the window.

  Beyond the campus, the woods stretched all the way to the horizon.

  I heard it again. A howling in the distance.

  “Are you all right, Alec?” my dad asked.

  “Do you hear that?” I listened for the sound again as everyone at the table became quiet.

  The howl sounded again.

  “There,” I said. “You all heard that, right?”

  My dad shook his head and looked at the others. Everyone said, “No,” or shook their heads.

  “It’s the Hounds,” I said. “They’re here.”

  “Are you sure?” Dad said, getting up and coming over to the window.

  “It has to be.”

  We listened again but there was only silence now. Then my phone rang.

  “What the hell?” I said, pulling it from my pocket. “How can someone call me in this realm?”

  “The Coven did some magical hocus pocus and now we have cell reception,” he said. “We get cable TV, as well.”

  I looked at the screen on my phone. Where the caller’s number should be, the display showed a line of runes. I showed it to my dad.

  “There are still some bugs,” he said.

  I answered the call. It was Jillian Duval.

  “Alec, I have to hand it to you. I knew you’d fix the problem somehow, but your speed surpassed even my expectations.”

  “What do you want, Jillian?”

  “Is that any way to speak to me when I’m congratulating you?”

  “You wouldn’t call me just for that. What do you want?”

  “No, Alec, this is about what you want. What you asked me for when we met.”

  “Remind me.”

  “You asked me for an antidote, remember? For your secretary, I believe.”

  “Felicity isn’t my secretary.”

  “Secretary, assistant, colleague. Whatever. It’s all the same to me. The point is, I may have told a little white lie when I said the Cabal doesn’t have an antidote.”

  “What?” My grip on the phone tightened.

  “She killed three of my men. I wanted her to die. I know it’s wrong of me, but it is what it is. However, the good news for you is that I’ve had time to think about it and I’ve decided that I don’t want you to hate me, Alec. It’s fun making deals with you. I never know what to expect next. And you did deliver on opening the realms, so I’ll give you one dose of the antidote.”

  “What’s the catch?”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16