Page 69 of Witchbane
Nick drew a large circle on the floor in chalk.
“I don’t know the symbols specific to home. Maybe that’s why they are opening to random places?” The few times I’d opened a portal thinking of home, I’d ended up back in Underhill.
“What happens if we go through a portal that leads to the other fae?” Liam asked Kiran. “If that is where these portals are going?”
Kiran shrugged. “Depends on the fae. Best to consider all fae hostile. If you invade a sanctuary they’ve built in the mortal world, they aren’t likely to look on you kindly. I used to hear lots of talk about the spread of the corruption. How they feared it would spill from Underhill into the mortal realm leaving them no place to run.”
“The fae sent theWild Huntafter me,” I said. “After I left here the last time. If it didn’t come from here, inside Underhill, then where?”
Kiran stared at me, his expression thoughtful. “They must have power in the mortal world. And you told Nick you saw the white stag.”
“My brother? Maybe cousin? I don’t know. He said he was my brother. But he turned into a white stag. Led theHuntaway. He said his name was Wesley.” Had he come through here?
“There is only ever one white stag per generation. I’ve not seen one in Underhill since before my mother set me in ice,” Kiran said. “Brother… the fae use that term a bit loosely.”
“I don’t know if he was really my brother. But he used it as an excuse to get access to me in the hospital. I opened some portals when theHuntwas chasing me, andApawent through, fighting one of theHuntwolves. Wesley led the others on a chase until they vanished too, and he followed them.”
“You thought the portal went here?” Nick wondered. “I can’t recall a time I’ve seenHuntwolves outside of a book. Or the stag.”
“Different portals to different places then,” Liam said.
“But I’ve not really been trying to open portals to anything other than home,” I reminded him.
“I have ideas about that,” Liam added. “I think Underhill is drawing you back. Which is why you keep opening portals that bring you back here.”
“It wants his power,” Kiran agreed.
Liam opened a book and flipped toward the back, then leaned close to show me. “I think we need to find a way to overrule Underhill’s direction. This looks familiar, right?”
Very similar to the symbol I used for home in alchemy. Neither of which was the chemical makeup of a home, as that wasn’t a physical thing. It was more a collection of things. This fae symbol was much the same. “I’m willing to try if you think it’s safe.”
Nick activated the circle, and I felt a barrier hum to life around it. The crawling ants sensation wriggled through my nerves around the edges of my vision. I gritted my teeth at the intensity of it, more defined now that my kitsune could feel it. Someone else’s magic.
Liam stepped up behind me, put his arm around my waist and pulled me close. “We got this. Focus with me.”
Opening up to Liam soothed the fluttering pulse of magic beating against me. He seemed to fill my senses, flooding through me in a warm wave of heat and emotion. I frowned at him since it instantly made me hard. A smile tugged his lips. “Later,” he promised. “Let’s do this.”
Consciously creating the circle within the spelled ward was a bit odd. More like finding a hidden door in a wall than activating a spell. I could feel something I could only describe as a rift. Like an opening between worlds, only it wasn’t really there. The warded circle wasn’t the best spot for it. My power stretched out into the distance and trickled over a handful of much better spots. None nearby.
Pushing an opening into Underhill was like pulling taffy. The rift moved, stretching until it slid into place, remaining closed tightly like a fist.
“I can feel it there,” Liam said. “We need to open it.”
Easier said than done. I tried to will it to open, but nothing happened. Liam held up the book and reminded me of the symbol. I traced that symbol with my mind, and my fingertips, trying to roll it all together, filling the lines with power, even if they weren’t really written anywhere.
The portal opened, slowly widening with an echoing buzz of flutters. My magic to open it, but the portals weren’t mine. Rifts between worlds perhaps. Or even breaks in Underhill’s magic, but not mine. I gasped at the strength it took to hold it steady. The brightness of the symbol seemed to be burned in the back of my eyelids. It was like the weave of threads I’d seen lacing through Kiran and Nick’s magic which created the castle; the doorway built with trailing string of a thousand colors vanishing into the distance. Thankfully everything seemed contained within the barrier Nick had set up.
Through the open portal, the world looked different. More like the ice palace I’d first found Kiran, only more barren. Trees and surrounding area doused in a bitter chill that began to freeze the edges of the portal as though it were water frosting over.
Kiran approached, staring into it, frown deep and thoughtful on his face. Nick stayed close to the barrier, like he’d jump to add another spell if the wards broke.
“It looks like the old unseelie court,” Kiran remarked.
“Is that still here in Underhill?” Liam asked.
“No,” Nick said.
“Not for a long time,” Kiran agreed. “This should be filled with theSlaughand theHunt. The trees look real. Like they could come to life and devour us at any second. A first line of defense for those who stumble into the dark.”