Page 39 of Witchbane

“How long has it been for you?” I wanted to know. Years? Decades?

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter much right now. Let’s get you behind some more powerful wards. Underhill won’t be happy you’re here. And kitsunes are messy power.” Nick helped Liam to his feet.

“What does that mean?” Liam asked.

“I’ll explain once we’re settled. This is a bit far on the outskirts of a safety zone. I’d rather us not linger long. The fire will soon burst this ward. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Is it a long trek?” Liam asked. “I’m not sure he’s strong enough.”

“I can walk,” I protested. My muscles felt like jelly, so a hike was out of the question, but I could walk… a little.

“Outside the sanctuary where I can open a door.”

“Like a portal?” I asked.

“Portal?” Nick asked and was silent for a minute like he was hearing someone else talk to him, but then he nodded. “Okay. But no, not a portal. Not exactly. It’s not an exit from Underhill, but a door within. I think Sebastian is the only being alive right now that can open a portal to the other worlds at will.”

I stood, and the burning fizz of awakening nerves filled my legs with dancing ants of pain. Liam held me up. “I hope we don’t have to go far.”

“I can carry you if I have to,” Liam reminded me. He wrapped his arms around me, and we both hobbled toward the door. We followed Nick out of the hut, and I saw what Liam meant about the difference of the forest. At least, what little remained visible in the giant billow of smoke. It was more like a new forest, or one that grew too fast with too little water to let the trees grow big, because we could see for miles around. There was nothing but the sort of bush-like trees, the hut, surrounded by a ring of giant mushrooms, and a sign near the only entrance to the ring. Everything else was overgrown brush.

Nick stepped out of the ring first, walking a few feet away, but into the smoke. It billowed away from him as though he had some invisible barrier, creating a bubble of clear space. Liam hesitated right on the edge. When he crossed that line of the barrier, putting us outside the wards, I could feel the tension in him. The smoke instantly converging. Liam tried to stay in step with Nick’s bubble. But Liam coughed and gagged. The veins in his neck and face seemed to pop up, like he was fighting poison or something. Meanwhile, I felt nothing, not even the smoke.

“Liam,” I whispered, putting my hand on his face.

“I’m okay,” he promised.

Nick drew a symbol in the air. It shimmered for a moment, looking a little like alchemy. But not a symbol I recognized, and then there was literally a door. A giant wooden one, like some gnome house made human-sized. He turned the handle and opened it. The inside was dark, not giving any clue where it led.

Liam’s grip on me tightened. I could feel his anxiety rising now. Was it safe? He didn’t know how to protect me when he was human.

Nick must have sensed Liam’s hesitation because he stepped through the door first, disappearing into the darkness. The door remained open.

“It’s okay,” I promised Liam.

“We don’t know if he is safe,” Liam said. “If whatever is in there is safe. What if it’s a trap?”

“What other choice do we have?” I asked.

“Fuck,” my mate swore like he never did, and we entered the doorway together.

Chapter 10

The transition was odd, a bit like walking through cobwebs, and it lasted only a few seconds. We emerged through a door inside a castle. There was no other way to describe it. The walls were carved from pale bricks adorned with torches flickering a dance of magical intensity on the walls every few feet.

Nick led us down a hallway wide enough to fit a dragon. Only a handful of doors decorated the walls, and they were all closed. Unlike the winter palace I’d been to before, this place was warm, although not in character because the gray brick felt as sterile as any rock would, but in life perhaps? That was it. The palace felt alive, not like it was frozen in time with a battle half raged around it.

We stepped into a large hall of some sort, a meeting hall maybe. The ceiling towered stories above us, and several high windows let in a stream of bright light, with no real indication of what the sky outside looked like. A handful of pillars scattered across the space seemed to be holding up the roof, and for a few seconds I felt like we’d walked into some ancient church without all the statues and paintings.

Nick led us through an entryway and down a narrow hallway filled with doors. All the doors were open, revealing a giant library on one side, while the other side seemed to be a handful of empty bedrooms.

“The one on the end is facing the center courtyard, probably the best warded in the castle.” Nick opened the door and entered the room. It was huge, but furnished like I thought a castle should be: a four-poster bed, linens fit for a king, and a lot of chairs and tables. I wondered how many people normally stayed in a room like this.

“I’ll bring some blankets. Are you both warm enough?”

Liam hugged me tight. I reached up to grip his hair. “Are you cold?”

“Only a little.”