Chapter 1
Grandmother never was one
for softening the blow. “Your aunt and
brother are trapped in the Shadow realm.
If they do not return to their bodies before the Shadows find them, their
souls will be lost there forever. If the
Shadows find a way to get to their bodies and infiltrate your realm,
destruction and chaos will ensue.” Vivid
imagery she presents but a touch extreme in my opinion.
Xandra’s face is a
combination of shock, anger and fear. I wish
I could wrap her in my arms and make this all go away. She has had so much thrown at her recently
that it is hard to believe she is still sane.
As for her aunt, I would like to shake some sense into her for playing
with things she does not understand.
“How do I get them back?”
Xandra asks Grandmother.
Grandmother’s explanation
does not do anything to erase the worry lines from Xandra’s forehead. She wants her to go into the Shadow realm. Did I hear her correctly? Yes, I did.
I believe she may have gone mad. “Grandmother,
from the little I know of the Shadow realm that would be impossible. How is Xandra supposed to enter the realm
without immediately being killed so her body can be used as a vessel?” Fear is starting to eclipse the other
emotions on Xandra’s face. Everything
except her determination. Great. She had better rescue her aunt simply so that
I may kill the Cowan. This is
ridiculous.
“It has never been done
before. I am not sure.” Reassuring.
Yes, she has gone mad.
“What do you mean it’s never
been done before?” Xandra asks.
Grandmother sighs. “No one has ever wanted to travel to the Shadow realm before.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“Yes.”
Grandmother explains the
Shadow world to Xandra as thoughts scramble through my brain searching for
another way. I would never suggest to
Xandra that she not save her family members, but there has to be a better way
than this. Unfortunately, I am drawing a
blank as to what that could be. The only
thing I know for certain is that she is not doing anything without my help.
I am brought out of my
thoughts when Xandra says, “You mean, if I have a lot of darkness on my soul, I
could come back as a dog or something?”
I cannot help but tease
her. Maybe I can make her laugh a
little. “Or a toad,” I say. She shoots a dirty look at me but I hardly
notice because of the sharp pain that suddenly radiates in from the back of my
head. “Ow!” Sure, my pain makes Xandra smile. I am not sure I like that. The conversation moves on while I rub the
back of my head making sure Tabitha did not actually dent it.
“That is correct,” Tabitha
nods ignoring my statement and answering Xandra’s question.
“So, these pieces of souls
with darkness on them, they can still think and move around and stuff?” Xandra asks.
“They combine their energies
and grow into fearsome entities of pure evil,” Grandmother explains. One of the stories she used to tell Kegan and
me as children was about evil entities waiting to absorb the darkness on our
souls if we did not behave. Kegan still
likes to sleep with his closet door open.
“So, the Shadow realm is
basically hell.”
Xandra is finally coming to
grips with what she is facing. I expect
her fear to increase but instead, resignation sets in. She also leans forward and bangs her forehead
on the table and her head remains there.
I am not sure what to say about this.
Maybe Grandmother is not the only one who has gone mad.
“Xandra?” I finally say
after a moment. “What are you doing?”
“Pondering my life.”
“And you have to bang your
head on the table to do that?”
“Yes.”
I try not to laugh because I
know how stressed she is. “Okay. Do you think you will be joining us again anytime
soon?”
Sitting up with a sigh, she
says, “What do I do first?”
I do not like the fact that
she said ‘I’ instead of ‘we’. “Xandra…”
She cuts me off before I can
say any more. “I’m going, Kallen.”
I chuckle. I am smart enough to know that nothing is
going to stop her from saving her family.
“I know you are. I was simply
going to say that you are not going without me.”
She smiles shyly. “You don’t have to.”
As if I could resist doing
anything for her when she looks at me like that. Instead of admitting that, I say, “Alright, I
will lounge back here soaking up rays on the beach while you go off alone to
fight evil in the depths of hell.” Pain
reverberates through my head again. Rubbing
it, I give Tabitha a sour look. “I was
teasing her.”
“This is no time for
teasing,” she retorts with way too much amusement in her voice.
Grandmother ignores us and
moves the conversation forward. “The
first thing we need to do is contact your parents and then figure out a way to
get them, and the bodies of your aunt and brother, through to this realm.”
Guilt breaks out on Xandra’s
face. I close my eyes and shake my
head. This is not going to be
pretty. Grandmother’s eyes become stormy
as Xandra explains that she and I can still pass through to the Cowan
realm. As well as Cowans. Her sealing the gateways was only in one
direction and only affects Fairies. I
believe I will get out of firing range.
I push my stool back from the counter with a grin.
“That is quite the little
detail you forgot to mention,” Grandmother says evenly.
Kegan chooses this moment to
come into the kitchen. “What are you all
doing up? I thought you went to bed a couple
of hours ago.”
Xandra pats the stool next
to her and says, “Have a seat and I’ll fill you in.”
Kegan looks from Xandra, to Grandmother,
and back to Xandra. I may tell him he is
stupid from time to time, but he is too smart to take Xandra up on her offer. Instead of sitting on the stool next to her,
he picks it up and moves it next to me. Sitting
down, he asks, “Does she know that the more teeth you can see, the madder
Grandmother is? What did she do?” And then he starts laughing. “Do not tell me you already have to move from
being left hand-fasted to right hand-fasted.”
“I wish,” I mumble with a
grin.
Perhaps I should have not
responded so loudly because Xandra has pulled magic and it is coming towards
Kegan and me. I try to move but I am not
fast enough. Both Kegan and I find
ourselves on our backs on the floor. It
is a good thing I have a thick scull considering the abuse it is taking.
I am no longer amused. “Was that necessary?” I ask her as I stand up
and pick up my stool.
She smiles. “Yes.
Yes, it was.”
Grandmother clears her
throat, bringing our attention back to her.
Her cheeks are now flushed in anger.
“Getting back to the topic at hand, since it is possible for Witches and
Cowans to transverse realms, perhaps we should proceed with contacting your
parents.”
Kegan sits back on the stool
he just put upright. “Witches and
Cowans? I thought Xandra…”
“We all did,” Grandmother
practically growls. Kegan moves his
stool even farther back from the counter.
I may have to stop telling him he is stupid altogether.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell
you. I just wanted my family to be able
to come here if they wanted. You know,
in case there’s ever a reason…” Xandra
hesitates and bites her bottom lip. I am
extremely curious as to what she was about to say.
Grandmother’s eyebrows
travel up her forehead and she looks at Xandra expectantly. Xandra’s cheeks are redder than I have ever
seen them. Realizing that Grandmother is
not going to say another word until she finishes her sentence, Xandra finally
says, “Fine, in case Kallen and I do get right hand-fasted.” A warm glow spreads through me as I catch her
eye. This is definitely in our future.
“Aw, that is so disgustingly
sweet,” Kegan says. Without hesitation,
I punch him hard in the arm. He glares
at me as he rubs the spot that I hit.
“Xandra,” I have rarely
heard Grandmother use this tone of voice.
It is her voice that says I am counting to a thousand in my head and
then I will decide if I am still going to kill you or not. There were a few times when we were younger
that Kegan and I prompted the use of this voice. The most memorable being the time we blew up
an entire wing of the house because we tried magic we were too young to perform. If Grandmother had not been so tired after
restoring it, we would have been killed way before she reached a thousand.
“After you.” Grandmother does a sweeping motion with her
hand. Xandra looks leery to walk in
front of her but after a moment she relents.
She has nothing to worry about.
Grandmother would never attack someone’s back. She would want to make sure her target knew
it was her.
Kegan and I follow the two
of them. At a safe distance. We do not want to get caught in a backlash of
anger. Kegan slaps my arm with the back
of his hand and asks, “Is she really going to open a gateway?”
His awe of Xandra gets on my
nerves. I still have not forgotten his
attempt to steal her away. “Yes, with
the sole purpose being to send you through it,” I smirk. Now it is me rubbing my arm. Kegan has a mean punch when he is really
pissed.
I am about to make a
scathing comment when Tabitha says, “Boys, you behave or I will shove you both
through and let you stew there for a few years.” Out of fear of her smacking us
in the back of the head more than anything, Kegan and I put on our best
innocent faces. This earns us an eye
roll and a chuckle from Tabitha.
Grandmother on the other hand
is not nearly as amused. “Shall we get
on with this?” she says impatiently. I
am definitely keeping my distance from her today.
Xandra nods and closes her
eyes. Reaching her hand out and then
back, she tears the fabrics of the realms until her childhood home is visible. It will never stop amazing me that she can do
this. Kegan, seeing it for the first
time, is dumbstruck.
“Mom, Dad!” Xandra calls out
and in seconds her parents are in front of her in their transparent glory. I think Kegan may pass out. I am tempted to prop him up against the
terrace just in case.
“Xandra, thank god! Zac and Aunt Barb aren’t waking up,” her
mother says. That terrified look in her
eyes is about to get worse when she finds out where her son truly is.
“I know. Aunt Barb came to me a little while ago. They’re trapped in the Shadow realm and
Kallen and I are going in after them.
But, Mom, we need to bring Zac and Aunt Barb’s bodies here. You and Dad, too.”
Completely ignoring her
daughter, Xandra’s mother says to Grandmother, “What is she talking about? I’m not bringing my son’s body anywhere. Or Barb’s.”
I barely withhold an eye roll.
How does she think she will be able to protect them in her non-corporeal
form?
Xandra tries again. “Mom, the Fairies can better protect their
bodies while Kallen and I look for their spirits.”
I want to groan out
loud. Her mother is prideful and stubborn. She does not want to hear that she cannot
protect her child. I know this from
experience.
Grandmother shoots Xandra a
dirty look before turning back to her mother.
“What your daughter is trying to say is there are many Fairies here to
watch over them. You will be here to
make sure that they are fine, but if the Shadows escape, it will take more than
a couple of magical beings to stop them.
Letting them loose in a Cowan dominated realm is too dangerous.”
Xandra gives her mother a
pleading look. “Please, Mom. I know you’re worried, but wouldn’t you feel
better knowing that a bunch of people are helping you look out for them?”
With less effort than I thought
it would take, Xandra’s mother relents. The
next hiccup is her father’s concerns about Dagda. Well founded concerns unfortunately. He will be just as displeased to have her
parents here as they are to come. Tabitha
assures them that Dagda will not be a problem but that may be a difficult
promise to keep. Dagda is not easily
tamed and he is King of the realm.
When it is finally settled, I
follow Xandra through the gateway and into the cold Cowan winter of her realm. The snow is knee deep so my shorts and
t-shirt are not quite compatible with the weather. I do not plan to be here long enough to
bother changing though.
Xandra opens the front door
and leads me to the far end of the house where the garage and her aunt’s lab
is. I had not been in this part of the
house during my brief stay. Mostly out
of lack of interest but also to respect her aunt’s work space. Assessing the room, I have to say that her
aunt has some rather clever looking machines.
I have no idea what they do nor do I care enough to ask. All I know is that they helped make this mess
that Xandra now has to fix. I am tempted
to take my frustration out on them but I somehow refrain. Mostly because I believe it would anger
Xandra.
Her brother and aunt are
sitting peacefully on reclining chairs.
It is hard to imagine that their bodies are just empty shells right
now. They are still breathing on their
own and they do not seem to be in any physical distress. There are simply no souls in their bodies.
“I can’t believe Aunt Barb
let Zac be in here when she tried this,” Xandra says shaking her head.
Her father, whom we did not
know followed us in here, startles us when he says, “We thought the same thing,
but I believe she was tinkering and it just sort of happened. She hadn’t said a word to your mother or me
about doing any experimentation today.” She
should not have been doing any type of experiments at all on things she does
not understand. I wisely keep that
thought to myself.
Xandra looks up at me. “I’ll take Zac if you’ll carry Aunt Barb.”
That is already a
given. I smile to myself at the thought
of Xandra carrying a woman taller and a bit stockier than herself. Scooping her aunt up into my arms, I wait for
Xandra to lift her brother. It takes her
several attempts to find a position where she can carry his unconscious
weight. I keep my face schooled the
entire time. With the way her nerves are
stretched at the moment, she would probably draw enough magic to toss me over
the mountain if I laughed at her expense.
I walk slowly to make sure
that she can keep up with me. I wait
outside the front door for her to pass and then I pull the door closed after
us. Xandra and her parents would be
greatly displeased to have their house invaded by animals seeking shelter from
the cold. I use magic to turn the door
lock as well.
Stepping back through the
gateway, I gesture to Kegan with my head and he takes Zac from Xandra’s
arms. With a quick nod to Xandra, Kegan
and I bring her aunt and brother into the house. We carry them upstairs to one of
Grandmother’s many guest rooms and set them both down on the large bed. Neither of their bodies has shown any sign of
life this whole time other than their soft, shallow breaths. Eerie is the best word to describe them at
the moment. Their skin is deathly pale
which is emphasized by the forest green comforter underneath them. That is definitely going to up the worry
quotient for Xandra and her parents.