CHAPTER 16
DAHLIA
J ust as we were preparing to stop them (you know, normal party prep talk), the Lost Legends decided to kick things up a notch. And not in the fun Emeril Lagasse way. No, they went full eldritch horror. They manifested bodies that looked like someone had tried to build people out of distorted Legos. Our concentration was disrupted and our plan to attack paused.
"Well," I said as I watched one materialize through a rift, "that's definitely not an improvement on their previous look."
Their bodies flickered between states of matter. Energy crackled around them like corrupted lightning. The crystal's power had given them physical form in our time. They weren't pretty. Imagine if abstract expressionism had a baby with a behemoth demon turned inside out, then dressed it in black robes. Actually, don't imagine that. You'll sleep better.
"Incoming!" Dre shouted. “Or maybe not. I don’t think they can manifest here yet.” It did look like they were having problems breaching our wards. Sometimes.
"They're manifesting all over the Quarter!" Dani shouted as she looked up from her phone.
The second she issued the warning, my phone started blowing up with alerts from our supernatural network. Word was spreading faster than a gossip chain at a church social. The crystal's chaos was growing. And parts of the city were already being evacuated. Trying to evacuate New Orleans during a supernatural crisis was like trying to herd cats. Drunk ones, with strong opinions about where they wanted to be.
"The crystal's drain is also affecting our magic," Phi reported as her scientific equipment sparked ominously. "It's like they're using it as a power source for their manifestation."
She wasn't kidding. I could feel my magic flickering like a bad WiFi connection. All our powers were going spotty. That was exactly what you don't want when facing interdimensional horrors with a grudge. "The city's supernatural task force is mobilizing," a new voice announced. Terrence strode onto our property like he owned it, his supernatural police force fell into formation behind him. They looked professional and capable. It was a nice change from our usual ‘making it up as we go along’ approach.
"Nice of you to join us," I said as I dodged another Legend that materialized nearby. "We were just discussing how we could sacrifice ourselves to stop this bullshit."
"We've got their location," Phi announced suddenly. Her detection equipment was having what looked like a small seizure. "The ritual site is in the old Ursuline Convent. They've converted the entire building into some kind of temporal amplification chamber."
"Of course they have," I muttered. "Why use a nice, accessible location when you can set up shop in a historical landmark with terrible parking?"
Dre snorted and gestured to Terrence. “Get out to the French Quarter and start helping with mundie memories. You’ll need to erase any evidence they have captured of the disturbances.”
Terrence nodded as Lucas appeared at my side. My mate looked way too attractive for someone who'd just fought his way through temporal chaos. "Ricky reported the evacuation of the area is not going well," he informed us. "People are either refusing to leave or getting lost in eddies."
"Temporal eddies?" Terrence asked sharply.
"Yeah, you know, those fun little time loops where you keep experiencing the same five minutes over and over? We thought we’d stopped them, but they're popping up all over again. "
"We’re going to stop this at the source," Dani said. "We need to get to that ritual site and end this before they fully corrupt the crystal while you guys handle the rest."
“We can handle that,” Terrence agreed.
“I’ll stay and hold down the fort with the shifters here,” Steve offered as we headed for the parking lot.
The exodus from the plantation happened in waves of controlled chaos. Lucas and Noah peeled away first. Their headlights cut through the darkness as they disappeared down the winding road. Me and my sisters moved as one unit. Our months of responding to crises were evident in our swift exodus. Terrence and his men brought up the rear. Their tactical precision was a stark contrast to the supernatural elements at play.
The rendezvous point in the pack parking lot located in the French Quarter was a patchwork of shadows and streetlights. Engines idled, voices were kept low, and the air thrummed with anticipation as everyone regrouped. Despite the late hour, the distant sounds of Bourbon Street's revelry provided an oddly fitting backdrop to our war council.
"We're going to stop this at the source," Dani said. "We need to get to that ritual site and end this before they fully corrupt the crystal while you guys handle the rest."
That's when everything went sideways. More sideways. Look, at this point we were operating on so many different angles of sideways that geometry was getting confused. A massive reality tear opened right in our midst. Before anyone could react, something lashed out like a whip and wrapped around Dea. She had just enough time to shout "Oh shi—" before being yanked through the rift.
"DEA!" we all screamed in unison. The tear was already closing. The loss of her hit us like a physical blow. Our sister-bond screamed in protest. My heart felt like it was going to burst from my chest at the same time something squeezed it tightly.
Our heads were on a swivel as we searched for any sign of her. “There,” Terrence yelled as he pointed to a rift right over his shoulder. Dea had been taken to the ritual site. The Lost Legends were using the crystal's corrupted power to hold her in some kind of stasis field. The sight made my blood boil. Nobody messed with my family. Nobody.
"They're using her connection to the crystal," Phi realized in a voice that was tight with fear and anger. "They needed one of us to complete their manifestation."
"Over my dead body," I snarled, already moving toward the Ursuline Convent.
"Lia, wait," Lucas caught my arm. "We need a plan. Running in there half-cocked?—"
"Is exactly what they'll expect," I finished. "We're going to do it anyway. With style. And possibly excessive property damage. We cannot leave Dea."
"They’ll have backup," Terrence added. His men were waiting for an order. "We'll set up a perimeter around the convent and try to contain whatever temporal chaos they're generating."
My remaining sisters gathered around me. Our magic might be flickering, but our determination was stronger than ever. Everything we'd just learned from the plantation guardians about real power and willing sacrifice was a lot to take in. We watched the Lost Legends force our sister's connection. It made me want to introduce them to some very creative uses of my magic.
"They want to use our connection to the crystal?" Dani said as her magic crackled around her like a sparkler. "Let's show them exactly what that connection can do."
"With extreme prejudice," Kota added grimly.
"And possibly some property damage," Dre agreed.
"Definitely some property damage," Phi corrected.
"Chief," I said to Lucas, trying to ignore how his concerned look made my heart do funny things, "I need you and Noah to coordinate with Terrence's teams. Keep the mundies from accidentally wandering into displacement zones. The last thing we need is tourists from 2024 swapping places with people from 1824."
"And what are you going to do?" he asked, though his tone suggested he already knew and wasn't happy about it.
"Oh, you know," I grinned. "Just going to crash a ritual, save Dea, prevent reality from completely unraveling, and maybe blow up a historical landmark in the process. The usual." He gave me a grim nod, and we set off.
Getting to the Ursuline Convent was like playing the world's most dangerous game of temporal Frogger. Rifts opened randomly across our path. One moment, we were dodging French colonists. The next, we were avoiding Confederate soldiers. Then, we were swerving around jazz musicians from six different decades simultaneously.
"Look out!" Dani shouted as another Legend materialized in front of us. Based on the curves, I swear it was a woman. She rippled between states of matter. Her robes were made of pure energy. And her face... well, let's just say Picasso would have said it was a bit too abstract.
I swerved around her and dropped a magical bomb in the process. "Anyone else notice our powers are getting weaker the closer we get to the convent?"
"The crystal's drain is strongest near their nexus," Phi confirmed. "They're using our connection to power their manifestation."
The French Quarter was in beautiful chaos. More so than it had been hours before, which was saying something. Every once in a while, we caught a glimpse of Dea suspended in their stasis field. Her energy was being forcibly channeled into the crystal. The corruption was spreading faster now and turning the pure light we'd learned about from Hannah and the guardians into something dark and twisted.
"Terrence's teams are in position," Dani reported as she checked her phone. "They've got the perimeter secured, but they're having trouble with displacement zones."
Kota quirked a brow as we passed a group of tourists who were stuck in a loop of taking selfies with a street performer. "Yeah, those areas where people keep experiencing the same moments over and over are getting worse."
Jackson Square was a masterpiece of mayhem. Andrew Jackson's statue was now leading an army of pigeons in military drills. Street artists were painting portraits that aged backward. And I'm pretty sure I saw one version of Marie Laveau giving tarot readings to herself from three different centuries.
"The evacuation's not going well," Dre observed as we passed. "Most people think it's just another street festival."
"To be fair," I said, dodging an eddy that tried to send us to the gods knew when, "it does look a bit like Mardi Gras had a baby with Doctor Who."
We finally reached the convent and encountered Terrence's men. Looking at the convent through the reality tears was like trying to watch a 3D movie without glasses while high and hallucinating. The building's original construction, various renovations throughout history, and several versions that definitely violated both architectural principles and basic geometry were on display simultaneously.
"They've got guards," Kota pointed out the individuals who patrolled the grounds. Their bodies were mostly solid, with very little flickering. Of course. They were powered by the crystal's stolen energy and our sister's forced connection. The sight made my hands itch to introduce them to my fist. I wasn’t sure my magic would cooperate.
"And traps," Dani added. "They've set up fields that will trap us in time loops if we trigger them."
"Okay," I said, gathering what remained of my magic. I was trying not to think about how Hannah and the other guardians would be disappointed. We just couldn’t manage to let the situation go sideways. "We need a plan."
"Since when?" Dre asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Since our powers are about as reliable as a politician's promises and reality is having a breakdown," I replied. "We can't just go in guns blazing."
"Why not?" Kota grinned. "It's worked before."
"Name one time it's worked," Dani challenged.
"That thing with the alligator shifters? We didn’t have a well-thought-out plan then," Kota replied.
"We had access to all of our magic then," I reminded her.
"Focus," Phi interrupted. "I think I've found a way through their defenses. The distortions are creating blind spots. Moments when reality is too unstable for their traps to function properly."
"We time our approach with these unstable moments?" I asked, already seeing where this was going. "Use their own temporal chaos against them?" It was better than nothing, which is what I had.
"Exactly. But our timing will have to be perfect." She paused, adjusting something on her equipment. "And by perfect, I mean we'll need to coordinate our movements through multiple versions of reality simultaneously."
"Of course we will," I sighed.
Kota smiled at me. "Nothing in our lives can ever be simple. You should know that by now." I laughed at that and nodded in agreement.
"Remember," Phi warned as we prepared to move, "our powers will get weaker the closer we get to the crystal. They're using our connection to fuel their manifestation, so we'll have to rely more on skill than magic." She glanced pointedly at my purse. "And no, Lia, chugging another energy drink doesn't count as a skill ."
"Rude," I muttered with an exaggerated huff.
We moved in sync with the temporal disturbances, using Phi's calculations to slip through reality's blind spots. Each step had to be precisely timed. One wrong move and we'd end up trapped in a loop, possibly reliving the same moment until someone figured out how to unstick us. The manifested Legends didn't see us coming. Their mistake.
When we reached the chapel, everything went wrong. The inside was worse than the outside. Reality was shredded, pulped, and possibly put through a metaphysical blender for good measure in the room. The darkened crystal floated above an altar. My heart stuttered when I caught sight of Dea struggling in her cage. Rage filled me and I stepped forward.
"Hey!" I shouted because sometimes the direct approach is best. "Nobody gets to use our sister as a magical battery except us!"
Not my best line, but it got their attention. The Lost Legends turned toward us. Their bodies rippled with stolen power. They smiled. All of them. With faces that weren't quite faces. "Thank you for coming," one said. "We were hoping you would."
The temporal stasis field around Dea pulsed. While we watched in horror, she was pulled somewhere else. "DEA!" I screamed and lunged forward to grab her. Reality warped around us. The Lost Legends had been counting on our arrival. They were using our connection to Dea and our presence to fuel something bigger.
"The crystal!" Phi shouted over the temporal chaos. "They're using it as a gateway!"
Rage took over, and we fought. But our magic was weaker there. They'd had time to prepare. Each time we got close to the crystal or Dea when she reappeared, reality would twist again and move both just out of reach. It was like trying to catch smoke with a broken net while riding a rollercoaster designed by M.C. Escher.
When our collective anger reached a boiling point and blew out of us, the Legends retreated. They took Dea with them. One second, she was flickering in and out, and the next, she was gone. The rift they went through sealed itself behind them.
The magic of our anger collided with the Legends’. The backlash sent us all flying. When my vision cleared, the chapel was empty except for us and the lingering corruption. No Lost Legends. No, Dea. Just the sick feeling in my stomach that we'd just played right into their hands.
"Phi?" I asked, my voice shaking. "Tell me you can track her."
My brilliant sister was already working on her equipment, but the sounds it made weren't encouraging. "They pulled her between realities. Into the spaces between moments."
"What does that mean?" Dre demanded.
"It means," a new voice said, and we turned to see Maeve standing in what was left of the doorway, "that finding her just got a lot more complicated. They're definitely trying to break down the barriers between all realities."
"And they got what they needed to do it," Kota said grimly with a pale face. "They needed our connection to the crystal."
"More specifically," Maeve corrected, "they needed to force that connection through multiple dimensional barriers at once. And now they have exactly what they wanted. One of the Six trapped between realities."
"How do we get her back?" I asked. That was the only question that mattered.
Maeve's expression turned grim. "That depends on how much you're willing to risk to save her. Because reaching into the spaces between realities? That's going to require breaking a few fundamental laws of existence."
"Good thing we've got experience with that," I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. "So where do we start?" We had to figure out how to break into the space between realities first. No pressure. How hard could it be? ...I really needed another energy drink.