Page 146 of Demon's Bluff
“Ta na shay,”I whispered, and Scott stared, frozen where he stood as I called on the elven Goddess.“Ta na shay, Scott. Pacta sunt servanda, Silvus. Regressus, Sandearo. Stet.”
Scott gasped, unmoving as the mystics darted from me, enveloping him in a burst of silver that danced at his extremities until they soaked in. His lips parted, and his eyes found mine. Gulping, he tried to breathe.
My confidence faltered. “Scott?” I stood, head inches from brushing the top of my bubble.
And then I fell into myself as if pulled out of time itself. For a moment, I floundered. It was like being in a line. Or being a line. Or nothing like a ley line at all.
Mystics wreathed me, became me, wrapped me in a glow to keep me from flying apart as the Goddess focused one eye upon me. “S-stop,” I stuttered, overwhelmed as the ley lines hummed in me, all of them, all at once. Their energies tangled as the now, the present, and the future became one and a shape rose.
It was the Goddess, and I watched in awe as the interweaving energies settled into an image of Newt. She had come to personally see to the curse. Swell.
“Oh, it’s you,” I said stupidly, blinking fast to clear the stardust from my eyes. I wasn’t in Piscary’s anymore. I was…somewhere else.
You,the Goddess said, and I felt her lift my chin.You are more than mass with will. I know you. You give me this image, this vision of being. I remember it.
I felt myself nod, though I doubted I had a head at the moment. “I needyour help. Can you fix this?” I coughed, the mystics I had taken in with my words lighting through my lungs. “He twisted a curse to go through time and it went awry because of me.”
I saw what happened,she thought, her fingers tracing the glow of a ley line, plucking it.My eyes were there.
“Can you—”
She let go of my chin, and I jumped at the reverberating twang echoing like whispers of forgotten conversations. “Obviously,” she said aloud, and I blinked as I felt her sifting my thoughts, playing with a memory of Ivy, then Trent, then Jenks. Bis, she lingered over, mystics pulling through me to find every last moment I’d been with him, streaming like fire.
“Will you?” I gasped, pained by the sudden rush of emotions, even if they were all mine.
Her fingers within my thoughts vanished, and I sagged. “Will you?” she echoed.
I could have just taken the book. I didn’t owe Scott anything, and yet here I was. “What do you want?” I whispered, scared.
The Goddess Newt sent a swirl of mystics carrying a memory of laughter to play about my hair. “It’s not what I want. It’s what you want,” she said in typical delphic fashion. “When all is at an end and everything you love is gone. When all you have are memories, I will come. That is when you will close the loop. Promise it.”
I had no idea what she meant, but it sounded like a long time from now, and if I broke Scott’s curse, I could hold it over the coven and force them to leave me alone. That’s all I wanted. The future would take care of itself. “Will it hurt?” I asked, and a warm hand lifted my chin.
“In every way that one can be hurt,” she said. “But you will relish every sting. I guarantee it.” Her touch slipped from me, mystics swirling wildly as she laughed. “You agree to close the loop if I untangle your thoughtless application?”
Thoughtless application?I wondered. “I do.” Otherwise, why would I have called her?
She bent close, flooding me with the biting scent of stars. “As we willit,” she said, and then I jumped, hunching over the book in my arms, cowering when the mystics burst from Scott in a silent, glowing wave to break my circle and vanish.
She was gone, and I was back in reality.
What have I done?I thought as thethump-thump-thumpfrom downstairs resumed. But a very naked, very sixty-year-old man lay on the floor, slumped against the couch. As I had thought, his clothes had been magic based, not real at all. An ugly stubble covered his face, and seeing me staring, he reached for a pillow to cover himself.
It had worked. But what had it cost?Close the loop?
“You okay?” I said, and he fumbled for my scrying mirror, still out on the table.
A soft cry of relief escaped him as he saw his hands and then his reflection. “Is it permanent?” he said, voice cracking. “It won’t break with the sun?”
What did I give the Goddess for this piece of shit?“It will hold.” I exhaled, thinking the scent of moonlit nights and dancing had grown stronger.Trent,I thought. Had he seen? Had I sacrificed our future or ensured it?
Scott levered himself back up onto the chair, pillow in place as he stared at his reflection. “Take your handsoffmy mirror,” I demanded, and his attention flicked to me. Silent, he gave it to me, and I tucked it under my book. I could smell cinnamon and wine, and I flicked a glance at the bar. Mystics had gathered over something, their glow fading as my brush with the Goddess moved deeper into the past. “Get out. Stay out,” I added.
“Uh, can I borrow—”
“Now,” I demanded, and he stood, pillow held tight. “Leave.”
He hesitated for a moment as if wondering at my mood. Then, head high and pillow before him, he walked to the stairs, bare feet slapping the old wood. Awkward and stiff, he managed the stairs in an odd, almost sideways gait. There was no reaction from the waitstaff. But then again, the sun was up and I think everyone had joined Brad outside as he remembered the sky.