Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

ALAN

T he taste of Jason made me wild. I pushed up on my toes, melding my lips to his, thrusting my tongue into his welcoming mouth. He cupped my ass in strong hands, supporting me, parting his lips to accept whatever I chose to do.

"Ten minutes," he panted when I broke the kiss. "Maybe nine now. Your choice."

I slid to my knees, there in the dirt of some alien world, and yanked his jeans open.

"Oh, yeah, okay. I thought you'd want…" His words trailed off in a groan as I tugged his jeans and underwear to his thighs and sank my mouth deep over his cock. He was still partly soft, but he hardened quickly against my tongue. I sucked and licked, desperate for the salt-sweet of his precum and the musk of his pubes against my nose.

"Easy, easy." Jason carded his fingers through my hair. "So good."

Another deep plunge. Another tight suck. He tasted wonderful, and yet my own cock hung soft and uninterested. I tugged at my waistband and stuffed my hand in, stroking my slow dick as I took Jason's cock deeper in my throat and choked on his size.

"Hey. Hey, Alan." Jason cradled my head and eased me off him. "What's wrong?"

I was going to say " Nothing, " till I realized there were tears on my cheeks. "I don't know. I'm a mess."

"We get to take turns, then. I was a mess earlier. Here." Jason slid down the booth till he was sitting in front of me, then pulled me into his lap. "Just kiss me, even if that's all we do for the next ten minutes."

"Gonna be embarrassing to wake up with our dicks hanging out," I said.

"As long as we're embarrassed together, I don't care. Now kiss me." Jason steadied my head between his big hands and lowered his mouth to mine.

I closed my eyes and tried to just feel. I was so addicted to this, the way Jason kissed me like I was the only important thing in the universe. No, not addicted. That was a cheap word for how I felt. I loved him in all his moods and in all the ways we touched, but never more than when he kissed me deep and slow. I can't lose him. I won't. Soon, this will be over and we'll go home. I slowed the kiss and eased back. "When we get home, I've been thinking. Maybe we should stop living in sin and get married. Then I can put the photo of our wedding on my desk at school and tell everyone, ‘That's my husband.' Sic the teachers' union on them if they don't like it."

Jason smiled down at me. "Did you just propose to me to irritate the school board?"

"No!" A laugh fluttered in my chest and I nipped him lightly under the chin. "That's a side benefit. I want… I want everything with you. Life, love, marriage, the works."

Jason ran a hand over my hair. "You are so fucking beautiful, inside and out. I'll marry you or live in sin with you or whatever you like."

"What do you want?"

Jason lifted my left hand and kissed my ring finger. "I grew up traditional, watching my siblings find their spouses and get married. Thinking I'd never be able to do that without living a lie. Hurting for what I'd never have. I want to marry you. Whenever you're ready."

We grinned at each other, giddy in the faint torchlight. Then we fell on each other in a desperate kiss, Jason's palm on the back of my head, my fingers tangled in his hair. Starlight found us, crowning Jason's blond head with light, pushing back the darkness so I could see the column of his neck and the glint of stubble where he needed a shave. I nipped his jaw, sucked on his throat, and returned to his mouth.

Jason moaned. I realized I was humping against him. My dick had no defense against the hot hard ridge of Jason's erection alongside. I wasn't hard but I was getting there fast.

"Here, let me." Jason turned his head to lick his hand, then wrapped his fingers around both of us together. His grip wasn't slick enough, and there was a rock under my knee. My lips were chapped and my underwear was trying to strangle my balls. None of that mattered. Nothing had ever felt this good. Our cocks bumped and dragged in the tunnel of his long fingers as Jason Miller kissed me like I was air and he was a drowning man.

Heat rose through me, cock to balls to ass and chest and mouth and heart. The need to come was a race I had to win, driving me forward. Jason's grunts and moans were a reward, a spur onward. I rocked harder, faster, stroking roughly against him.

"Yeah, yeah, okay, God!" Jason threw his head back with a groan. "Jesus fucking Christ!" His dick pulsed against mine and his grip grew sticky and sloppy with cum. Three more strokes, then he let go of himself and pumped me hard in that slick fist, sucking on my throat as he drove me higher, higher?—

"Ah!" Climax overwhelmed me. I thrust into Jason's hand over and over, shuddering, gripping his shoulders for balance as my vision whited out. My pulse roared in my ears. Cum jetted out of me, each spurt catching my breath. So good, so good, so good. Gradually, my thrusts became a gentle rocking until I stilled at last. I dropped my forehead to Jason's shoulder and gasped against his chest.

Jason pressed a kiss on my temple. "Keeps getting better."

"Must be magic," I muttered.

He raised my hips to ease out from under me, then pulled off his shirt and wiped his hand, then his neck. "Here. Clean up." He held it out to me.

"You don't have another shirt."

He smiled fondly. "The time to remember that was before you jizzed all over it. I can wash it out later. Go on."

I wiped up enough to not feel totally gross when I pulled up sweatpants and underwear and tugged down my T-shirt. Jason took his dirty shirt back from me and balled it in one hand. Standing, he reached down with the other. "Come on. We have a curfew."

I clasped his fingers and let him haul me to my feet. "I never had one."

"I did. Although I also lied about how early I had to be home as an excuse to ditch, when I was dating girls."

I looped my arm through his and tugged him close. "No more dating girls."

"No more anyone but you."

Overhead, the star field brightened, pulsed. "Come on." I let go of him and took off running. "I want to be in a bed when I fall asleep."

"Me too. With you."

It was a close thing, but when the dark softness of Errante Ame's midnight came over us, we were collapsed on one of those narrow beds in the green tent, our friends drowsing around us, and my head perfectly pillowed on Jason's wide, bare chest.

I woke with a crick in my neck. Struggling out of Jason's embrace, I accidentally elbowed him in the stomach. He grunted and cursed, twisting so I landed on the floor on my ass.

Jason peered over the edge of the narrow mattress. "Sorry. Hi there."

I craned my neck for a kiss, lips closed against morning breath. "Hi."

Across the tent, Zahira pushed onto one elbow in bed and yawned. "Morning." Then she bolted upright. "Shit, are we here? Everyone okay?" She glanced at Erin, who was untangling herself from her blanket.

"I'm good." Erin smiled at her. "Just clumsy."

"You're not."

We all scrambled to our feet and hurried to the tent door flap to look out. Sunny launched with a fast beat of his wings, climbing to circle high in the sky. "Looks like Earth," he called down. "Could be Alaska. There are mountains and lots of trees."

At my shoulder, Jason shivered. "Nip in the air, too."

"We should wash up," Erin said. "Drink water, at least. Eat if we can. I'm betting it's going to be a long day."

A passing blond-haired giant of a man, dressed only in a loincloth, called, "Morning, all. There's breakfast at the food booths before you head wherever you're going." He beckoned and headed off down the row of tents. If I hadn't been so tense, I'd have spent more time watching those massive, bare thighs and shoulders receding, but urgency beat inside my head.

"Sounds good to me," Coal told Zahira. "Fuel up. Always a good philosophy."

"I don't want to wait." The sense of impending disaster loomed over me. "What if we're already late?"

Errante strolled toward us, white shirt impeccable, boots shined to a mirror gloss. I wondered if his clothes cleaned themselves overnight or if he had a dozen identical outfits. In my four-days-grubby clothes, I'd have taken either one.

Irrelevant. Unimportant. I stuffed my feet into my unlaced shoes where I'd left them by the door flap. Jason's large sneakers sat beside mine, while the others had left theirs by their beds, and I took a moment to appreciate that he'd remembered I hated shoes in the house, even when the house was a tent. Last night, stumbling in with seconds to spare, tired and distracted, Jason still cared about what mattered to me.

As Errante reached us, he said, "You have time to prepare yourselves and eat breakfast. The gates open at ten and you may leave as the local patrons enter."

"Why not go now?" I asked.

"There are rhythms and rules to the Carnival, and no strong reason to break any rules today. You will need a ride, and he's not here yet."

"A ride?" Jason folded his arms, muscles rippling despite the goosebumps raising his hair. "What kind of ride? I thought you were taking us where we need to be."

"We have arrived outside a small town near Denali," Errante said. "We will put on a show here for folks who never get the chance to see one. Children of this village will talk about us for years to come. But you are headed that way." He waved what I thought was north. "Alan, your destination is there, but the region is closed to the Carnival. You will need a lift. Leave the gates at ten, head off to the right. May fortune smile on you." He turned away.

"Will we see you again?" Dale called after him.

Errante glanced over his shoulder. "Perhaps? Even Persephone only sees probabilities in the eternal kaleidoscope. I would be pleased to meet you again one day." He strolled away down the grassy sward between the tents.

"We should've thanked him," I realized. Without his help, I'd have been on that bus, or dead.

Sunny landed on my shoulder and murmured, "I believe he knows we're grateful."

"Right," Zahira said. "If we can't head out till ten, then we should use the time to get as prepared as we can. Jason, you need a damned shirt. Save the peepshow for your boyfriend."

"You think any of the booths sell clothing?" Jason asked.

"Probably. In your size?" She wobbled her hand back and forth.

I nudged Jason. "Hey, you saw the guy who just walked past. You're puny compared to him."

Jason grinned and flexed. "Who're you calling puny?"

Sunny squawked. "Truth hurts, does it?"

"You're plenty large enough," Erin sighed. "First dibs on the bathroom."

Two hours later, we were clean, fed, and as ready as we were going to be. Jason and I wore matching billowy woolen shirts in dark green, a color Jase had suggested would stand out less like a sore thumb in the Alaska woods than the teal I'd liked. I'd snugly laced my sneakers with cord donated from one of the game booths.

Kevin had located his bulletproof vest, but when we asked about his guns, we got only blank looks and shakes of the head. He'd tried to give Dale the vest, but it didn't fit over Dale's much broader back, so Kevin wore it now. Between the vest and the deep frown, he looked more like the guard who'd brought me meals and less like the boy who'd leaned against a unicorn at Dale's side. But Dale still stuck like glue beside him.

As the hum of the Carnival rose and the first notes of the calliope echoed in the crisp morning air, Jason shouldered his pack. He looked at all of us, then bumped my shoulder with his. "Let's do this thing."

Sunny began singing "Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba in my ear, mangling the lyrics about getting up to fight again.

"That's twenty-five years old, bird," I told him. "And you can't sing."

"Win the damned fight and I promise not to sing it again."

Fight. That sobered me. No matter what I hoped, or imagined, Sunny was right. This was going to come down to a fight. And being on the good side never kept the tanks from rolling over you, or the guns from firing. The Cabal with all their vicious use of power in the Upheavals still lost to human weapons. Well, and the Weaver. I wished Darien was with us now. I was no kind of leader.

Jason laid a hand on my back like he knew what I was thinking. "Through the gates and turn right. One step at a time."

One step at a time. I thought Erin or Zahira might lead off, but they hung back side by side, eyes on me. "Right," I said. "Last one out is a rotten egg." I sprinted for the gate with the others behind me.

A thin translucent barrier shimmered across the archway, fading to nothing as we approached. We passed through the gate onto a tufted, weedy patch of ground. A few dozen people were lined up at the ticket booth, and they stared as we jogged by, but then the music swelled behind us and Errante's voice boomed out, "Welcome, Travelers, to our show full of wonders and delights beyond your imagination…" The attention of the crowd was drawn back to the glitter and the sounds and the rising scents. Seven people jogging past couldn't compare.

A dirt road led away from the Carnival, and a hundred yards along, a small track led off to the right, while the main road curved left. I took the smaller path.

Jason trotted up to my shoulder. "Doing okay?"

"Keep an eye on the others. Sylvester and Dale aren't runners." I didn't know how far we needed to go, but once through the gates, that sense of urgency had redoubled. Now. Need you now! A pull, almost a voice, familiar in some undefinable way that spurred me on. I wondered if somehow the bastards had captured Jasper or even Darien. I couldn't think of another sorcerer who might call on me like this. But the plea in my head didn't sound like anyone I knew.

The track ran through a patch of evergreen forest and then dead-ended at a small building on the edge of a wide-open field. A sign over the building said, "Royal Aviation." A battered pickup stood parked alongside the building, and a small private plane sat in the field nearby, draped with tarps and tied down. If that was our ride, it didn't look ready to go.

"Hello!" I called as we approached. "Anybody here?"

Silence answered me. We came to a ragged halt outside the front door. Sylvester bent over, hands on his knees. Erin touched his shoulder and I suspected she was giving him an energy boost. Dale looked red-faced and out of breath, while Kevin beside him just seemed jumpy.

Jason put his hands around his face and peered in the windows on either side of the door. "Don't see anyone." He rattled the doorknob. "Locked."

Erin eyed the small plane. "Zahira, I don't suppose you have a secret pilot license to go with the knife throwing?"

"Sorry, not one of my talents."

"I flew a plane once," Sylvester said. "Long, long time ago. Landed it too. Well, kind of landed. You know what they say— any landing you walk away from is a good one."

"We'll save that for a last resort," Jason told him.

Sunny and Coal flew higher in widening circles, then Sunny closed his wings and dropped to land on my shoulder. "The town's the other way. I don't see anyone nearby."

I tugged at my hair in frustration. The " help, now " pulled me forward with no way to respond. "Ideas, anyone?"

Jason said, "Perhaps someone in the village can fly that plane—" He cut off as a low humming sound reached our ears.

Coal swooped down to land on the edge of the low roof near Zahira. "Chopper coming. Big one."

I scanned the sky and soon spotted the helicopter approaching. It swung in an arc above us and came in to rest on the weedy ground thirty feet from the building. The two rotors, on top and in the tail, spun down and stopped. In the echoing silence, the cabin door opened and a man jumped out. He wore a parka over coveralls with headphones perched on the bushy mass of his red hair. He eyed us all, putting his back to the helicopter.

"Hey," Jason said. "Good to see you. We need transportation."

The man's stance relaxed a fraction, but he still didn't come nearer. "I book in advance and I need a deposit."

"It's urgent," Erin said. Then she added, "Sorcerers' business."

Surprised, I dropped into Othersight, and yes, the pilot's aura shone with a soft red light. A sorcerer, though not a powerful one.

He jerked his bearded chin up. "Why should I care?"

"That's too long of a story. We can pay you, if that's what matters."

"I stay out of magic business and you lot stay out of mine."

I asked, "What lot do you think we are?"

"NSEP." He gestured with a thumb-jerk at Kevin. "He's got the uniform. If you're trying to go incognito, it's a crappy effort."

"We're not NSEP," I told him. "Anything but. We're trying to stop them. He's a defector to the good side."

The guy began shaking his head before I got done. "I don't work for them but I don't take them on. I have nothing to do with them."

"You may not have a choice. They're up to something, not far from here, something that may spill over the rest of the country. And you're sitting here first in the line of fire."

"Up to what?"

"Liberating an evil," I said, though that was more than we knew for sure. "Do you know a place, north of here, with a circle on the ground? A rim and a pit? With dark water at the center?"

That made the pilot freeze, staring at me. "Devil's Pond? NSEP is there?"

"If that's a round ridge and a deep pit, then yeah, that's probably where they are."

"They shouldn't be messing with that." He shook his head slowly. "That place was here long before the white men. The tribes have legends and they're not pretty. We locals avoid the place. A geology team came to study the Pond, oh, ten years back. There's a track from the north that leads in, but it's still a bad idea. They left in a hurry and I haven't seen them since. I don't go there."

"We need a ride up there, today, now." I shifted from foot to foot, finding it hard to stay still. "It's life and death."

The pilot rubbed the back of his neck, frowning at us.

Sunny said, "My word as a familiar. We need your help."

"And mine," Coal added from where he perched on the roof.

The pilot's gaze whipped to Coal as if realizing for the first time he was more than just a crow. "I haven't met a familiar in a long time."

"Human NSEP still doesn't know we exist," Sunny told him. "They're going to regret that oversight."

"Okay, so you're not NSEP. At least not the enforcement arm." The pilot took off his headphones and dragged a hand through his curly hair. "I still don't see why I should help you."

I told him, "Because NSEP's about to feed a bunch of sorcerers to your Devil's Pond, and I don't think any of us wants to find out what happens after they do that."

"Fuck!" He stared at me. "Seriously?"

"On my word. I was meant to be one of them."

He muttered, "Fuck," again, down low, paced a couple of steps, turned. "Okay, look, I have to unload the chopper first. Put stuff away in the shed. Town's pretty isolated. We can't afford to lose this run and anyhow, we'll need the space. And I have to refuel. Then I'll give you a ride out that way and if what you say is true… well, then we'll see."

"I'm Jason." My boyfriend held out his hand, then converted to a wave as if remembering sorcerers don't shake. "And we'd be grateful."

"You're human."

"Yeah. Bringing up the bottom of the magic curve. Well, other than Kevin." He gestured with his thumb, a wry grin on his face. "But if you need shit unloaded, I'm your man."

The pilot looked him up and down, and I saw the moment when he succumbed to Jason's open-faced charm. "I'm Royal, like it says on the sign." The pilot gestured at the top of the building. "Right. If we're going to do this, let's move. All the cargo goes into the warehouse. Then I gotta pee and eat something, before we go where people got no right to go and see what's happening."

Royal went to the back of the building, rolled up a loading door, and we unloaded the cargo hold. He hooked the helicopter up to a fuel pump while Jason handled the biggest boxes and the rest of us toted the smaller stuff. Royal grinned when we had it all stowed away. "I could get used to having help with that. Right, tanks are full. Quick piss. Energy bar. Any of you need the john before we go? No facilities of any kind in my chopper."

"We're fine," Erin told him.

"Five minutes." He ducked into the office.

I took the moment to ask, "Does anyone else feel a pull to the north? Someone asking for help?"

I got headshakes from everyone and a worried look from Jason.

Just me, then. Peachy.

Royal was back out in three minutes, munching on an energy bar. "There are seats that install in the chopper. She sits eight, so you'd all fit. Takes time to bolt them all back in, though. Or you can ride like cargo. It's not safe, but it'll be a hell of a lot faster."

"Cargo," I said before anyone else could weigh in. "Speed matters." The sense of urgency had me fidgeting, half wishing I could run there.

Erin frowned my way but didn't contradict me.

"Okay. Come on." Royal locked up behind us and jogged out toward the helicopter. We followed in a ragged bunch. Kevin said something to Dale, who stared, then laughed. I gave the NSEP kid one more credit in my book for making Dale smile at this moment.

The hold of the helicopter had a bunch of eye-bolts set into the floor. Royal passed out rope tie-downs and suggested we each create ourselves a handhold. "I'll try not to bounce you around, but I can't keep her level all the time. Hang on tight, brace yourselves, and if you feel like you're sliding forward, sing out. Anyone hits me, and we're going down in a wilderness where phones don't work."

"Try not to do that," Zahira suggested, dead dry.

"No shit." Royal picked up his headset and a second one from the copilot seat. "One person can ride up here. Who's it going to be?"

"Alan." Erin gestured my way. "He's calling the shots."

"Wait, since when?" I asked. This was a team effort or we were doomed.

"Since you keep saying, ‘We have to go now !' like you sense things we don't."

"You really don't feel like something's about to explode?"

"Only my nerves from watching you. But whatever you're feeling, I'd bet it's real. You don't trust your magic, but I do."

Zahira waved me onward. "Go on, Alan. Grab your seat and let's go."

My inclination to argue ran up against that beat of now, now, now in my head. I took the headphones, climbed into the seat, and buckled up.

Royal twisted toward the back. "I'm going to start the rotors. You don't have headphones because they plug into the seats, so it's going to be loud and I won't hear you. If you need us to pay attention, tap Alan on the shoulder, not me. Got it? Hold on tight, people. Thirty minutes to the Devil's Pond."

Even with the headphones, the beat of the rotors built to a level that vibrated through my chest. Royal waved an arm, then we lifted off the ground, swaying a little as we rose. Once above the treetops, Royal sped us forward, skimming over the ridges and hills. The sight of the land slipping away beneath us with the impressive snow-capped mountains ahead would've thrilled me if I hadn't been halfway to throwing up, imagining every kind of disaster to come.

A thought occurred to me and I turned and gestured to Jason with the symbol for phone, pinky and thumb spread by my ear. He got his out and worked his way behind my seat to hand it over. "Darien," I shouted against the sound of the chopper. "Someone should know what we're doing."

Jason gave me a thumbs up. I hunched over the phone, sending brief texts.

~Denali wilderness Alaska NSEP trying to release magic eater thing

~Feeding it sorcerers

~26 captured

~Trying to stop them

~Underhill Poe soldiers

When I tried to send ~They're afraid of you the phone said, "Signal lost." I had zero bars.

I muttered a curse and Royal looked my way. "We got a tower in town, but the signal's crap. We'll be out of range from now on."

I nodded and passed the phone back to Jason, letting my fingers brush his. He clasped my hand until a bounce to avoid a rise in the ground made him grab for a better hold. Straightening, I stared back out the window.

After perhaps fifteen minutes, Royal asked, "How do you want to do this? There's an open meadow right by the Pond where I can set her down, but I can't do it secretly. They'll see and hear you coming. Or there's a bigger meadow about two miles off behind a ridge. They'll still hear us, but distantly and this bird's pretty quiet compared to a Chinook or a Huey. Might not ping their alarm bells. Except two miles is quite a hike through this kind of forest."

I don't know! I wanted to have a discussion, take a vote, let Zahira decide, or even Sylvester with his fighting experience, whoever. But a glance back showed the others huddled, braced against the motion and the noise. The choice was clearly mine. "Farther away," I said, despite the urgency. If they shot us out of the sky or mowed us down as we got out of the helicopter, we'd be doomed from the start.

"You got it."

We flew on, skimming the treetops. A jumble of thoughts raced around in my head and I drummed my fingers on my knees. I had no idea what was coming, couldn't make a plan, and while I was used to improv in the classroom, the worst nine-year-olds ever did was throw up on me. "What's your talent?" I asked Royal. "If you don't mind my asking."

"Nothing much. What's yours?"

I choked a laugh. "Growing plants. Want the tallest tree you ever saw? Want a bunch of seedlings to become an orchard in a week? I'm your man." I didn't mention my tendency to turn that orchard into a mutant mass of embracing branches reaching to the sky. I'd improved a lot this year.

"Plants, huh? Not sure how that works against NSEP."

"I took down a wall with tree roots," I told him. Come to think of it, that piece of magic had been almost elegant.

Royal nodded slowly. "I guess there's strength in plants. Just usually slow."

"I can speed it up."

"Fast enough to stop a bullet?"

"Um. No. Probably not."

We banked slightly around a stand of small trees. I looked back to make sure everyone was braced okay. Sylvester threw me a wild, happy grin and let go of his rope for a thumbs up and a wave, forcing Jason to grab him as he began sliding. I turned away. Better I didn't encourage his recklessness, but I was glad he was having fun.

Pain clenched around my heart every time Sylvester forgot what we were doing, every time he hesitated on who we were, called Dale "boy," spoke of the firedrake like a lost pet. He'd started fumbling for words, and there'd been times recently I'd come across him just staring into space with a blank look, not responding to my greeting, as if no one was home in his head. My powerful mentor, my second father, was losing himself, bit by bit, day by day. And I couldn't do anything to help him, but perhaps it meant he could take this desperate ride as an adventure to enjoy. I probably should be grateful for any tiny compensation. I blinked hard and stared out the window at the passing landscape, trying not to think.

The helicopter slowed as we topped a ridge and swung down into a valley. There, a small marshy pond sat at the center of a meadow of tufted grasses and weeds. Royal lined us up with the open space and took the chopper down in a smooth, steady descent, sinking below the tops of the trees. Lower, still lower. The left skid touched the dirt with a tiny lurch, then the right and we steadied. The helicopter settled into place. Royal switched off the rotors.

In the quiet after the blades spun down and stopped, birds and insects made themselves heard. Royal reached into a compartment. "Time to put bug spray on. Unless you can do insect-proof shields, because it's April in Alaska. Watch out for the wet spots too. The ground's still thawing." He tilted a bottle of maximum-strength mosquito spray at me.

"Thanks." I unbuckled, slid out of the seat, and landed on the peaty ground. A buzz by my ear told me to hurry with the repellant. I smothered myself in a tangy cloud, then passed the bottle to Jason as he appeared by my side.

Royal came around the nose of the helicopter and looked us all over as we handed the spray around. "The Devil's Pond is that way." He waved to our left. "About two miles as the chopper flies. A bit longer to get around the far side of the ridge on foot." He hesitated. "You do have someone who knows how to move through the woods to lead you, right?"

Jason said, "I'm a small-town firefighter. I know something about woods. And I've done a lot of camping."

The rest of us shrugged when Royal turned his attention on us.

"Ah. Right. Got a compass? Ain't no GPS out here."

"In my pack in the chopper," Jason said. "Also rope, knife, matches."

"At least one of you isn't a fucking amateur. 'Course, it had to be the human. If you get in a firefight with NSEP, he's going to be the easiest to take out."

I thought, Don't say that. Royal was right, though. Jason had no shields at all and he was no use to NSEP alive.

"Hey!" Jason protested.

"No offense, man. Just telling it like it is." Royal scrubbed at his hair. "Fuck. It's a bad idea to hike in the wilderness with only one guy who knows how to get where you're going, and better yet, back home again. Or how to get out of any mess you get into. I'll come with you. Just as a guide, mind you."

"You're forgetting us," Coal said, returning to Zahira's shoulder that he'd left when she started with the bug spray.

Sunny swooped down to mine, the prickle of his claws a comfort. "Birds don't get lost."

"And how much woodcraft do you have?" Royal eyed Sunny's brilliant plumage.

I heard Sunny begin a cocky, "Well—" Then his tone changed. "Not much, truthfully, and Coal's seen more desert than forest. If you're willing to come, we'd be grateful."

"Right, that's settled. Got to admit I'm curious. Just to watch."

"Let me fetch my pack." Jason followed Royal to the back door.

Sunny whispered into my ear, "I know more than that sorcerer's forgotten, but having another ally along won't be a bad thing. If only to babysit Sylvester out of the fight."

"We could get Sylvester to stay here," I murmured back.

Sunny barked a laugh. "You try and convince him." Launching from my shoulder, wings beating, he called down, "I'll check out the situation and report back. Get a move on, wingless ones."

"I'm with you." Coal flew after him.

Don't be seen. Don't get hurt. Sunny would tell me not to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, a ridiculous phrase he loved. And he was right about Sylvester. Unless we tied him up, he'd follow us. I knelt and tied my sneakers tighter, then scrubbed ruefully at the damp spot on the knee of my sweatpants. "Let's go."

I had no doubt that slog through the wild woods would come back to me in nightmares. Despite the bug spray, insects swarmed in clouds every time we passed a wet hollow. The ground underfoot varied between soggy marsh and ankle-twisting rocks. We climbed the first ridge, and the steep ascent had Dale, Erin, and Sylvester breathing hard.

At the top of the rise, the land sloped away into a narrow valley with a second lower ridge crossing our route. The forest climbed again in the distance, hopefully marking the rim of the pit ahead. We couldn't see over the rim into the depression beyond, even with the binoculars Jason had packed, but sunlight flashed off metal somewhere in the distance and I caught movement through the trees. Sunny and Coal descended and perched in the branches as we stopped for a breather and a drink of water.

"This is the place, all right," Sunny said. "NSEP's there, three SUVs and a big truck, a crowd of sorcerers. We counted nine armed guards, plus Poe, Underhill, and some skinny guy I don't recognize who seemed to be helping them. And in the pit at the center…" Sunny's voice trailed off.

"Power," Coal said. "Deep and dark and hungry. Spell or creature, they're messing with something they can't possibly understand in that Pond. It wants out, and that's clearly one fucking bad idea."

Sylvester said from where he'd sat down on a log, "Someone should stop them. If Alan was here, he could grow the forest over them."

"I'm here, sir," I said. "And that's on my list of options."

Sylvester peered up at me, blinking. "You? When did you get so tall, boy? Tried a spell on yourself, did you? Bad idea. My girl Erin would tell you."

I'd been a spindly five-foot-two teen the first time I saw Sylvester. Five-seven wasn't much taller, and I'd been this height for years. He's way back in time. "Maybe you should wait here while I go do that."

"Wait? Hah!" He jumped to his feet, waving. "I'm fit as a fiddle, ready to go."

"Quietly, sir," Erin said. "Stay by me." We exchanged looks and shrugged as Sylvester put a finger to his lips and said, "Shhhh." There was clearly no leaving him behind.

Erin reached for his wrist. "I'll take off the bracelet, Syl, but no magic. Just shields. Got it?"

"Just shields," he repeated as the cuff slipped free. He rubbed his arm and grinned, seeming to stand taller. "I have good shields."

Erin turned the cuff in her fingers, then slid it into her pocket. "And stay close to me, sir."

I interrupted, "Time to go." The pulse of magic ahead throbbed against my shields, which kept raising of their own accord. At times, I heard two voices no one else seemed to notice, a deep sound and its reply, but neither one made sense. "If they're already there, who knows when—" The air far ahead rippled, a shift I felt rather than saw. Against my shields, magic rose, oily and dark, then ebbed.

Zahira said, "Fuck. Anyone else feel that?"

A ragged chorus of yesses answered her, excluding only Jason and Kevin.

"I don't think we have much time," I said. "Let's move."

"Go on ahead," Erin said. "Dale and I and Syl are more cleanup than fighting strength. Don't wait for us. But be careful. I don't want bullet holes to fix when we catch up to you."

"I'll guide the stragglers safely. Coal will go with you," Sunny told me.

I wanted to say something, to hug my almost-sister, my more-than-father, my younger sibling. Instead, I nodded and plunged down the deer path ahead. Royal passed me and took the lead, for all that he had to be two decades older.

Zahira called back to Erin, "You folks watch your step, right?" Then I heard her closing in at my heels. I threw a look over my shoulder and saw Kevin behind her, and Jason bringing up the rear as we ran.

Sweat dripped into my eyes, despite the chill of the day. Royal set a steady pace, dodging obstacles and finding our way forward with uncanny ease. I wondered absently what his magic was as I strained to keep up with him. Twice, as we scrambled through the brush, we felt the surge and pulse of power ahead, a little stronger each time. I gritted my teeth and ran through the gut-dropping sensation. Whatever they were doing— and my chest hurt at the idea someone might have lost their life to the Pond— all I could do was run.

After ten minutes or so, Royal slowed and threw up a hand. The rest of us panted up to him.

"We're close now," he murmured. "That ridge ahead is the rim of the valley with the Pond below. I'll lead you to the top and then you're on your own."

"Thanks," Jason told him. "Truly."

To my surprise, Royal flushed and looked away. "Yeah, well, come on."

We scaled the ridge more slowly, making as little noise as we could, and came over the lip in a belly creep to look down. The depression in the earth was larger than I thought, a good eight hundred feet across. A big panel truck was parked on the slope, and the NSEP guards held the crowd of sorcerers pinned up against it, rifles out and aimed. I didn't count the sorcerers, didn't want to know if twenty-six was now twenty-three.

At the center of the shallow bowl, the Pond sat like a pool of inky water, but no reflection of the sky lightened its surface. Magic emanated from it, an ebb and flow of ravenous hunger that was somehow both demanding and impersonal.

Zahira murmured, "Holy fuck," and Royal looked nauseous. Kevin muttered, "The pool's bigger than last time."

Jason peered intently at the gathering below, his eyes on the humans, not the Pond. "Lots of guns," he noted softly. "Lots of hostages."

"You bring any weapons in your pack?" Royal asked.

"Knife." He slipped the pack off and dug through it.

"To a gunfight."

"I had guns, but they're back in Washington. We're not going to win this with guns against those guys, regardless, with all the hostages they have."

"What's the plan, then?"

We all stared silently down the slope. I eyed the terrain of the crater, noting the plants growing under the guards' feet. Mostly stunted grasses, scraggly weeds, and a few small bushes nearer the rim. I didn't dare send a rune down questing, but I had a feeling the trees around the perimeter had drawn their roots back from that dark pool. Not much there for me to work with. I might raise a tangle of brush to trap the guards' feet, but I didn't know if I could do much more.

Plan? After a few minutes of frantic thought, I said, "No clue. Zahira, you see any metal you can work with?"

"The truck, especially if I could get a rune on it. Might be able to flip the top and shield the hostages some, but the rifles the guards are carrying will pierce a single layer unless I reinforce it."

"Can you warp the guns?"

"One at a time, maybe. They have… integrity that wants to hold its shape. More than a body panel does. I'd need a rune on each one, for sure."

"I might land on the truck and write a rune," Coal said. "No guard's going to let a bird land on their weapon."

"What about other attacks? Battle magic?" I'd never had to think about this shit before. Didn't want to now. Can I kill someone if it comes to that?

To my surprise, Royal answered. "Magic aims at another sorcerer's magic, at their core. A battle between sorcerers involves shields and magical strikes, taking down power with power. Humans don't have that core. So magic has to act on the physical world around them. Toss them in the air, fell a tree on their heads, set something on fire." He paused. "Fire as a last resort. We're two miles from our escape route."

"Yeah," Jason said. "It's wetter here than at home, but I still wouldn't want to see this forest light up."

"And there's two dozen hostages," Coal noted. "Well, twenty-three now."

Shit. I clenched my teeth against a scream of rage. What about Oscar? We were too fucking late for someone, but I selfishly hoped he was among the living.

Down below, Underhill and Poe conferred, ten feet from the edge of the Pond, pacing back and forth, shoulder to shoulder. Off to one side, a skinny middle-aged guy in gray held a globe of something in one palm— like Madame Persephone's crystal ball, but a quarter as large and swirling with power. He seemed very casual about the globe, though he sometimes threw a glance at the dark liquid of the Pond. Him, I had pegged for a sorcerer, the treacherous bastard.

Royal asked Zahira and me, "Can either of you shield well enough to block bullets? Could you run on down there and push the leader guys into the Devil's Pond? Let whatever's in there taste them instead?"

"Not me." When pushed, my shields tended to blow up big and fritz out, like most of my magic usually had. "And I'm not sure that Pond wants ordinary humans." Assuming Underhill's ordinary. The hunger emanating from the Pond tugged directly at my power. I let my shields thicken slightly, just below my skin, and the pull eased.

"I might block a few shots with shields," Zahira said. "Bullets are metal and making them deflect should be possible. But there's still force, still impact. All those guards have guns. If they hit me with a dozen rounds, they're going to knock me over, at least. And if I lose concentration, I'm dead."

"Don't do it, Z." Erin crawled up next to us, breathing hard, damp hair clinging to her forehead. "Even I can't fix dead."

Dale moved up alongside Kevin. "Hey, you okay?"

Kevin jolted, taking his eyes off his father. "Yeah. I guess. It's unreal, right? If I hadn't chased you into the Carnival, I'd be one of the guys down there, pointing a weapon at those poor schmoes in bracelets."

"Watch who you're calling a schmo," I muttered, only half joking.

"Sorry. Just, I don't know what to think. I want this not to be real."

"There were twenty-six sorcerers unconscious in the prison, waiting to be loaded onto that bus, when Alan escaped," Coal told him. "There are twenty-three now."

Kevin's eyes widened. "You mean Dad and Poe…?" He turned back to the hollow, a fist pressed to his mouth.

Dale glared at Coal and knelt by Kevin's shoulder. "It's not your fault. Nothing he does is your fault."

Down below, two hostages took a stride forward and shouted something at the guards, but only unintelligible sound reached us. A guard prodded them back with her rifle.

"I'm going to do the truck runes," Coal said. "Can't hurt, and if the hostages see me, they'll be ready for something to go down."

"What if they give you away?" Dale asked.

"Calculated risk, kid. You want the warp and bend runes, Z?"

"Plus release and strength ," she said. Digging in a pocket, she held a tiny marker out to him. "Be careful."

"Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs." The crow lifted on a current of air and sailed high.

"Do all familiars say that?" I asked Sunny.

"A favorite phrase of an instructor in the Voyagers' Institute," he murmured back, his eyes on Coal as the crow circled and then descended.

A couple of guards noticed the bird landing on the truck, but clearly Coal didn't ping their radar as a threat, despite the "twig" in his beak. After a glance, they turned away. Coal strutted along the edge of the roof, pausing as if to peck while he wrote Zahira's runes. One of the sorcerers in the crowd looked Coal's way for a moment, then pointedly turned his back and nudged his neighbor. They bent closer together, then the woman took a step the other way, head turned to the woman on her left.

I hoped they were spreading the word. With the cuffs on their wrists, the sorcerers were down to fists and fingernails, but that might count for something.

Royal turned to the left, then frowned. "Where's he going?"

"Who?"

"The old guy." He pointed with his chin.

I spotted Sylvester heading down the slope, fading from sight as he went. "Shit. Invisibility's something he's good at, but he's not supposed to use it on himself."

Jason beat me to the punch, crawling downslope after Sylvester, holding to the low cover of the bushes. Kevin followed him and I scrambled in their wake. Keeping my head down made it hard to see what was happening, but I heard the rumble of voices, clearer with each step, suddenly turn to multiple shouts. "No!" "Stop!" I hugged a bush and poked my head up.

Underhill was gesturing to two of the guards who had an older woman by the arms. She fought them, kicking and yanking, but the taller guard put a gun to her head and someone back at the truck fired a shot into the ground. The hostages went silent as the woman was marched forward toward the edge of the Pond.

Shout? Stand up? Attack? I dithered, aware that one wrong move might send a bullet through the woman's head, and the others as well. Would that be worse than the Pond?

Underhill gestured to the skinny guy in gray who'd been staring at the black water, then at the two guards. The guards pushed the woman to her knees. One stepped back, gun still aimed at her head. The other yanked her arm high and keyed the cuff off her wrist. An instant blast of power from her toward Underhill met a shield in a casual one-handed gesture from the motherfucking traitor in gray. With his other hand, the sorcerer beckoned to the Pond. The dark liquid rose. The globe cupped in the sorcerer's palm pulsed with a sullen light.

Before I could decide what to do, I heard a rebel yell and Sylvester appeared, almost at the feet of the nearest guard. He rose, shoving the man off balance, shields bright, and grabbed for the woman. Their hands met, shields flaring against each other, as he pulled her up with wiry strength and flung her away from the Pond's edge.

The sorcerer in gray stared at Sylvester. Power flashed in his free hand and splashed off Sylvester's shield. Sylvester lunged instead of fighting back with magic, and the force of his leap in the collision of their shields knocked the globe from the sorcerer's hold and sent them both staggering to the water's edge?—

A wave of inky liquid rose high overhead from the pond and swept down on them. When it receded, both men were gone.

Sylvester! "No!" I screamed, my throat raw, but the loudest shout came from Kevin who bolted to his feet.

"Dad! Stop!" Kevin sprinted down the hillside waving his arms. "Wait. Dad! Don't do this!"

"Hold!" Underhill barked loudly. "Hold your fire! Kevin. Where have you been?"

"Dad, you have to stop," Kevin gasped, coming to a halt in front of his father.

Erin scrambled down the slope past me, heading for the Pond, and I grabbed her arm.

"Let me go to him," she snarled, trying to yank free.

"He's not there." I wanted to plunge down there with her, drag Sylvester free of that dark abyss, but I'd felt the surge of power as the Pond consumed him and the other sorcerer. Felt its horrible, delighted satisfaction as its strength grew. Felt the ripples of light fading as their magic fed that thing and they were lost. "Sylvester's gone." I gasped as my own words hit me.

"Fuck them all!" she screamed.

Heads turned as the guards spotted us, and I dragged her down into the underbrush as Kevin shouted in his father's face, "You're killing people. Stop!"

"Not people. Sorcerers." Underhill's lip curled as he picked up the sullenly pulsing globe his sorcerer had dropped. "For good reasons. Get over there with the rest of my men. We'll talk later."

"No. I won't let you." Kevin planted himself in front of Underhill, his arms crossed. "I'll stop you."

A couple of the guards took aim at Kevin, but he only had eyes for his father.

"You will obey orders, boy! Get up there." Underhill pointed.

"That old guy was my friend." Kevin pulled a ragged breath. "I'm going to do everything in my power?—"

"You have no power here, you stupid runt. You think because you're my son, I won't have you arrested for disobeying orders? Disciplined?" He gestured at the guards who'd dragged the woman down and they stepped forward.

"Illegal orders!" Kevin shouted. "You can't order murder. You're not God." He lunged and snatched the globe from his father's hand.

Quick as a flash, Underhill had his pistol drawn and pressed to Kevin's head. "Give that back, son. You don't know what you're messing with."

"No!" Kevin held the globe away from Underhill.

Poe moved to grab it, and Kevin threw it, wildly and without looking. The globe bounced toward the edge of the pond. Underhill lunged toward the orb and Kevin clung to his arm. One more small hop, and the globe vanished into the dark Pond. The hunger changed, grew?—

Underhill snarled, his face a mask of fury. A gunshot rang out and white light flared against Kevin's head. The kid staggered back. "Jesus! You shot me!"

A knife flashed across the open space to bury deep in Underhill's shoulder, and he screamed, dropping the gun to clutch at his wound. With a rrrrrip like thunder, the entire back of the truck on the hillside tore loose, flipped high above the truck bed, and came down like a tent over the cluster of sorcerers.

I heard more gunfire, screams, shouts, but I couldn't pay attention because the Pond rose from where the globe had vanished. Hard, flinty, smoky magic climbed like a tidal wave, towering over us, thick and needy and gleeful.

Free!

I leaped up and sprinted toward the edge of that dark pool, summoning every ounce of shielding I could.

No! Stop! Flinging my hands high, though I had no clue what I was doing, I scrabbled for power. Help! To me! There was life around me, so much life, the Denali wilderness where no concrete or metal suppressed that growth. My magic reached down through my feet into the earth, seeking power to press up against the dark.

Where my shields met the wave, it froze, towering. Red and green sparks ran across the interface. A deafening voice raged in my head, words I couldn't understand but that spoke of fire and rock and unending hunger. The weight pressed down on me.

I went to one knee. Somehow that helped. There were no big roots in the soil beneath me, but a smaller web grew there, a chain of life reaching deep and wide in all directions. Where the damp soaked through to my skin, power followed. I pressed both hands to the ground. More. I need…

Distantly, like an echo in my hands as much as my ears, I sensed another voice. Life . I remembered that barren planet somewhere in the universe, the tiny hints of life overlying magma and stone. This tasted the same but far larger, a well of strength. I called to it. Help! Here.

The power of the living earth surged up toward me, wrapping against my shields, wild and green. Oh! You are my perfect child. Let me in.

The overwhelming strength of that power scared me as much as the Pond, and the darkness laughed. My own magic delighted, though, flaring at my core. This, this is us, who we are, what we need, the answer, yes. I thought about Sylvester vanishing into the black water, about Jason somewhere outside this darkness, of Erin, Dale, and the Pond's steadily growing hunger.

I always wondered what my magic was really for. Maybe I was meant to die here, holding back the dark tide. Or live and be changed.

I resisted one more moment, as Life pressed me from below and the Pond pressed down from above. Then I let Life in.

Power I would never understand surged through me. I was an amoeba, a dust mote, crushed between growth and destruction. The force of Life was as strong and inexorable as the weight of stone and fire. Neither cared about me at all. I was ground between them as their strengths met and grappled.

"They are mine," I thought I heard the newer green voice say. "Balance gives them to me."

And the darker one, "Too long…"

But I couldn't be sure. Roaring filled my ears. Damp earth under me pressed against my hands, my chest, my cheek. I must've fallen. The mote of life that was " me " floated away, tossed on a vast ocean, and the swirling maelstrom closed around me.