Demon's Cradle (Devany Miller Book 3) (37 page)

“It will take some time but it will be worth it, Devany. This I promise you. Come. Take us home.”

Home. Without my kids, it wasn’t. We to the Dreaming Caves and Lizzie was there, waiting. She took our hands and led us down a tunnel I’d never seen before. After a few minutes’ worth of walking, we had to let go our hands and walk single file. The cool, damp air brushed against my skin, aggravating me. I shouldn’t be down here doing whatever this was. I should be out looking for my daughter.

Krosh’s hand on my shoulder reminded me to take a breath. The tension eased from my muscles and I began counting the in and out of my lungs. That helped to ground me, and by the time we spilled into a small cavern, I was almost calm.

This room was oblong, with nooks at intervals all around the room. Each nook held a small stone statue. There were ravens, wolves, hyenas, lions and animals I didn’t have names for. A pool shimmered in the middle, sunk into the floor and filled with vivid blue water. Light filtered in through holes in the ceiling, transforming the water into a large, gleaming jewel.

“What are we doing here, Dream Mother?”

“I thought we should talk with the Old Ones before we finished the binding ceremony. Just in case I’d been misinterpreting the Dreams.”

Krosh looked worried that this was even a possibility.

“What is it we’re going to do?” I asked, my imagination running wild at the idea of speaking to Old Ones … whatever they were.

“We are going to speak to our ancestors.” She gestured to the statues, then shrugged out of her robe without any embarrassment at all. Krosh did the same and I slowly followed suit, not sure I wanted to get into the tub. Lizzie slipped into the water with Krosh’s help, then he held out his hand for me.

“Come,” he said, and I finally climbed in, settling against him. Almost immediately my eyes slid shut. I tried prying them open to no avail. Fine then.

The Dream came almost immediately. Lizzie, Krosh, and I were standing on a vast plain, cracked, dried ground all around. In the middle was a basin colored the same brilliant blue as the water in which we sat. A tornado raged in the distance—the goddess’ caldera.

“There is darkness surrounding your son. Despair. I cannot tell whether it is the parasite that drapes such sorrow around him or something worse.”

No, no, no. I couldn’t think such horrible thoughts about my son’s fate. He would be fine. He would have to be fine. I forced myself away from the subject and asked, “What about Bethany?”

“Her fate is tied to the Omphalos.”

I waited but nothing more was forthcoming. “What does that mean? Lizzie?” She said nothing and I wanted to scream in frustration. Krosh’s hand settled lightly on the back of my neck. I took a breath. “Did I do wrong in fixing the Omphalos?”

“It is not for me to say. I wish I could see more,” she said. “I see them linked. I don’t see why.” She was silent for a moment and I listened to the drip, drip of water somewhere back in the cavern, my mind drifting into a Dream.

A bird flew into view and settled on the branch of a barren tree. It spread its wings and went up in a sudden, brilliant flame. Ash fell to the earth below it. Hours passed—at least in the Dream—and then a breeze kicked up, blowing the grey powder away to reveal an egg. It had my name on it. When it cracked open, blood spilled, puddling beneath it. A shivering, naked baby spilled out, its featherless wings beating ineffectually at the air. It struggled, bloody and wet, to one of the fallen feathers of its past self. The feather ignited and burned and as it did, the chick grew in its warmth.

“Devany?”

A hand scooped up the bird, a familiar hand, a hand engulfed in fire of its own. Ty lifted the baby bird to eye level, his sensuous lips curling up into that smile of his, punctuated by dimples. “A strange pastime for you, isn’t it?”

I woke with a gasp. Lizzie was gone. Krosh was behind me, holding me out of the water so I wouldn’t slip under and drown. I covered Krosh’s hands with my own and tried to calm my breathing.

“He’s tied to you whether you like it or not. He’s important to your future.”

I shook my head. “I’m not tied to a demon. No matter how cute he makes himself out to be.”

“He might be the only way to get your family back together.”

I turned around in the water so I was straddling him. His face was strong and calm, no censure still. “If that’s true, then I’ll make sure he helps. But I refuse to think of us tied together. It would be the last thing before my destruction, to be involved with Ty like that.”

Krosh’s strong hands ran up my back, kneading the tight muscles there. “Why do you think I knew you would be mine?”

I raised an eyebrow. He had come on rather strong when I’d first met him. “Why?”

“You are strong and capable. You fiercely protect your own.”

“Not very well. My kids are gone.” Again, I added in my head.

He pulled me in and kissed me. I confess, I lost myself for a while there. The grief was still knotted up tight in my stomach but the kiss eased the fire of it for a while. “You will get them back. I will help, as will your Skriven.” He kissed me again. “Come. We will meet the Elders and you will become a member of the Meat Clan. Then we will go get your daughter back.”

***

I drank a milky potion handed to me by Caterpillar Eyebrows and my thoughts floated up to the ceiling with the smoke from the herb-scented fire. As I floated, more of the Meat Clan filed in, each taking their own drinks, joining me on the cavern floor as their spirits flew upward. My thoughts spiraled away to the Goddess, Liam, and Ty, the bowl of heaven above them all in spectacular majesty. I flitted toward the Council’s seat, searching for my daughter, but all I could see was the powerful throb of the Omphalos.

The wind caught me and I flew, silently, over the Wilds. I saw a giant black tower that spiraled up into the sky. A mighty presence lurked in the shadows and smaller things skittered in the dark. The pealing sound of a child’s laughter in that ominous black made me shy away. I thumped into my body and saw that Krosh had changed. His hyena body danced in and out of the smoke. More of the Meat Clan jumped and danced in both their animal and human forms. I wanted to join them, to change, but Neutria sat hard on the back of my mind and wouldn’t let me. Weird that she was passing up the chance to be out in her true form.

As they danced, I saw the phoenix again in the middle of the fire. I reached for it but it disappeared when my fingers warmed near the flames.

“Devany Miller,” Lizzie said. “We want you to open up your mind to your People. See us open up our minds to you. Join us. Take up the strands woven by the Great Spider herself in the first days. Join us in weaving our futures. Making our world stronger, our lives connected, our souls bright for the new ones to find their ways home.”

I took her hand and let her draw a pattern on my palm with a blackened stick from the fire. The picture was of an egg in flames. How she’d known, I had no idea. She kissed me on the forehead, then she pressed something hard and cold into my palm. Chills ran over my body as I opened my fingers.

A crystal heart. Not the one that Arsinua had given me, not the thing that I’d thought was inside me. This was fire itself trapped in the shape of a heart. Frozen. As I held it, it warmed and melted into the picture she’d drawn on my hand. Fire sank into my skin but it didn’t hurt.

“As you are one of the People, you belong on this world as much as you belong on yours. You will always have a home with the Meat Clan.”

My cheeks were warm and wet. I hugged her in gratitude and felt hope for the first time that I would get Bethany back. Surely I couldn’t fail with the entire Meat Clan behind me. Right?

As I floated, as they danced, I saw another presence, one I almost cried to see. ‘Tom?’ His golden light shimmered before me.

‘Let me go, Devany.’

He disappeared into golden sparks of fire and I felt him inside me once more.

The ritual didn’t last as long as the Meat Clan’s celebrations but it lasted well into the night. Finally, when everyone was spent, I picked my way to the entrance to the cave and stared up at the night sky. “I’m going to get you back, Bethany. I promise.”

Krosh joined me at the entrance.

“I have to go see if I can find my daughter. I’ll be back.”

He nodded. “Would you like me to come?”

I shook my head. “No.” If I had to do some killing, I didn’t want him to see me do it, didn’t want to taint his perception of me, stupid as that was.

“Be careful,” he said, the memory dancing on his lips as he smiled.

“Be careful,” I returned, and then I hooked away.

***

The city wasn’t asleep. Perhaps it was the power thrumming through the Omphalos. I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure I’d been here at night before. People chattered and danced, walking to and fro in the big square before the Council Hall.

I couldn’t get anywhere near it, though I’d tried hooking inside. Even on foot, I couldn’t get in. I wasn’t even sure how to get anyone’s attention in there. So I stopped the first person I saw and asked. “How do I get an audience with the Council?”

She looked at me like I was tetched in the head. “Just go in.”

“I can’t.” I nudged a toe at the protection barrier and it sparked.

Her eyes widened. “Don’t hurt me!” She shrank back, almost tripping in her haste to get away.

“I’m not going to hurt you. I just want—” A poster fluttered on a pole to my left. I stomped over and ripped it down. My face, badly drawn, and a warning that I was dangerous. Eager to kill. Power mad. “Assholes!” I ripped the paper into tiny bits and whirled on the Council building. “Give me back my daughter or I will tear your city apart brick by brick!”

More people scattered, and the festive atmosphere died. I yanked Skriven power, more and more, and concentrated all of it on the invisible dome in front of me. The magic thundered and roared ... and did absolutely nothing but cause a fireworks display of sparks to shower me. “Give me my daughter!”

From the building, a tall, slender form walked. The Anforsa, looking smug as she strolled toward me. “I must thank you for healing the Omphalos. We never would have kept you out otherwise.”

“Give me my daughter.”

“What makes you think we have her?”

I stalked as close as I dared to the protection bubble. “Arsinua brought her here.”

“Wasn’t she someone you considered friend? Shame.”

I held up my palm where the flame had settled. “I am a member of the Meat Clan. My mother was Raven Clan and my father was a witch. I don’t need to register. I’m Midian.”

Her lips twitched, her nostrils flared. She gave me one of those raking looks that assessed and dismissed me in one sweep. “We do not recognize Wydlings as citizens. And now that the Omphalos is at full power, we can enforce our borders with impunity.”

“You bitch.”

“Call me what you like. You will never gain entrance to the Council Hall again.”

“Give me my daughter and I will gladly stay away.”

She sneered. “Your daughter is not here. She wouldn’t be welcome anyway, not with you as a mother.”

Terror, sharp and all-consuming, filled me. I’d been so sure Bethany was here, I hadn’t considered anything else. And if she wasn’t here, then where the hell had Arsinua taken her? Without saying another word, I hooked to Marantha’s house, needing answers, unsure of where else to turn to find them.

She jumped a bit when I appeared near her table but otherwise did nothing but make a gesture that shut all her curtains. “I was hoping you’d come here next.”

“Arsinua took my daughter.”

She nodded and reached into the drawer of the table beside her couch. The paper was covered in writing and I sat, my knees weak as I took it.

Devany,

You are certainly angry with me and I don’t blame you. I can only beg you for understanding. Your daughter’s magic has grown exponentially stronger in the few days we’ve been actively practicing. Her accident almost killed your father. He’s strong and she knocked him out without much effort.

Her power, Devany, is strong like yours, but with a child’s sense of control. I had to take her before she hurt your father or her brother. I did not come to this decision lightly. I knew if I took this action you would probably never forgive me. I can only hope that you understand why I did what I did. I didn’t want your daughter to live with the agony of taking another person’s life. I didn’t want her to lose control and become someone she despised. Mostly, I didn’t want her to attract the wrong kind of attention.

Yesterday I caught sight of one of the Anforsa’s enforcers. They were watching the house and I knew it was only a matter of time before they took her. I couldn’t tell you. You are doing what you must to keep things in balance.

Please forgive me.

Please don’t follow us. I’ll send you word when Bethany has gotten control of her—

I wrinkled up the paper and breathed deeply in order not to flip out. When I thought I could speak without yelling, I asked, “Where is she?”

Marantha shook her head. “I don’t know.” She lifted her hair and turned her head. A dark, purple bruise stained her cheek and jaw.