Elemental Flame (16 page)

I
did eat
a bowl of the best oatmeal I'd ever had, with chopped apples and cinnamon. Ben formally introduced me to a few of the wolves lounging in the dining hall over coffee. The way they looked at me made me think I had something weird on my face.

After my third cup of coffee and a trip to the bathroom, we went back by the cabin I'd slept in and grabbed the staff. It felt weird in my hand. Not a bad weird, just…weird. Like it held a strange familiarity to it. The wood vibrated against my skin and made a humming noise in my head. I could feel power coursing through it as I followed Ben back into the woods.

The sun was up, promising to be a beautiful day, but it made the air muggy in the swamp. I still wore the clothes I had on yesterday and they were getting ripe. They were also covered in dirt and soot.

My thoughts returned to Ivan as I walked. I didn't know if Dharma had told Kyle what happened, or if Blackwood would tell Arden. If he did, then Kyle would find out that way and I'd rather be the one to tell him. Despite the fight I'd walked in on yesterday morning, I believed he and Ivan had grown close, and I suspected Kyle looked at Ivan like a little brother.

I plowed into the back of Ben when he abruptly stopped walking and then muttered a "Sorry," before I looked around us. Moving out from behind him, I took a few uncertain steps into what looked like a natural clearing. "Where is this?"

His smile unnerved me. "This is where the Cairn was. Where the Magician attacked."

I blinked at him before I took another look around. That…just wasn't possible. I had a very clear memory of scorched earth and dead Boggarts littering the area. But the clearing I was looking at—"This is not the same place."

"I'm afraid it is."

"What the hell happened?"

He pointed at me. "You. You don't remember? When you made that staff?"

I held the staff out in front of me as if it had ants crawling all over it. "I remember the staff. I remember dreaming of making a staff, but," I looked back to the area around us. I did what I'm sure looked like a comical one-eighty turn as my gaze darted around. "This is not the same spot."

Ben came closer and held out his hand. "Give me the staff."

I handed it to him.

"Now kneel down and put your hands on the ground."

Giving him a weird look, I followed his command. I saw what it looked like before the second my hands touched the ground. The traumatic memory was still fresh in the earth but it was…healed.

I stood back up and looked at my hands. "Ben…I did this?"

"Yes. You, your Elementals and something I'm not familiar with. We heard the Goddess's song through the trees while treating our wounded. Those that could move came to this clearing in time to watch as you healed…everything," he put his hand on his hip, the one not holding the staff. "It was pretty impressive. Bastien was proud."

This…did this really happen? I held out my hand for the staff and he gave it to me. The vibration returned, as did the hum in my head. "Ben…I don't know what I did."

-We righted a tremendous wrong.-

I closed my eyes.
What are you talking about?

-We
—
your Elementals, you and I. We healed the Earth and used the sacrifices to create the key.-

Key?

-The staff can open a Cairn to wherever you want to go. The gateway will remain stable as long as you wish.-

I didn't quite understand.
This is a Coyote Flame…but it's a staff?

-Yes.-

And Coyote Flames that are stable are made with souls.

-Yes.-

Lady…Darksome. I sat down so hard I bruised my tailbone. But I was too stunned to care. Ben knelt down in front of me and leaned in. "Sam?"

"I…I built a Coyote Staff," I set the staff on the ground between us. "I used the Boggarts' souls to create…oh Sweet Goddess, Ben. What the hell did I do?"

I thought he'd react with revulsion and go all righteous and get in my face. But apparently that's not the way Lycans reacted to forbidden magic.

Instead, Ben settled himself on the ground and pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "Do you know why I was made?"

"No. I just met you."

"True. My bad. I was made because I was born a God Mother's child, Sam."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. But I was just Dianic. You know how that goes. If you don't have an Elemental friend, you can't go to the big boy birthday parties. I was born with the gift of sight. A Seer. But nothing else. So I worked hard with the local council to make myself useful, to be the best Seer they had," he sighed. "Unfortunately, no matter how good I got at it, their opinion of me never changed."

I knew exactly what he meant. The prejudice against the Dianics was something that irritated me to no end. Just seeing the way Cromwell looked down at Ivan just because we chose to make him believe he…

Ivan.

I must've showed my emotions on my face because Ben reached out and lifted my chin with his finger. "One day I saw my future. And I knew it wasn't with the Witches. I saw the man that would turn me and when we met, he chose me because his pack needed a Seer. When I changed, my power increased, Sam. What I see is always accurate," he moved his finger. "Depending on the interpretation."

I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand. "What? Did you see something with me?"

"Yes. That staff has a purpose. And that purpose is to aid a greater purpose." Now he lowered his legs and sat with them folded in front of him. "You haven't lost everything you believe you have. But you do have a limited time to find them."

Oh. No. "I hate riddles, Ben," I sniffed.

"You're not bad, Sam. You're not good either. You are who you are. We don't choose whom our hearts love or want," he picked up the staff and handed it to me. "Stand up and shove this staff into the ground."

Lost. I was completely lost. If there was a lesson in this, I was probably his worst student. But I stood and wiped off my backside before I raised the staff with two hands and shoved it into the ground.

The fallout from the impact was instantaneous. A visible vibration sent a wave extending out in a circle and stopped once it reached a nine-foot circumference, the correct size of a working Circle. Sparkling purple lights ringed the edge of the Circle, just visible in the morning light. The pack came running from the compound and stopped on the edge of the purple.

Ben put his hand on the top of the staff. "I didn't expect that."

"Neither did I. Now what?"

-Put your hand on his. On the staff.-

I did and got a shock of power that almost made me let go, but I didn't.

-Think of a place in
Alfheim
that you've been before.-

Alfheim
? I had some pretty vivid memories of that place, but the most visceral had been the grotto where Hob the Urisk had lived. I thought of that grotto, pictured it clearly in my mind.

-Ready?-

"What's happening?" Ben asked.

I saw Dharma's face on the edge of the Circle seconds before the world warped like some weird special effect. My boots landed on a thick bed of grass, and I almost let go of the staff. I would have if Ben hadn't been holding onto my hand.

-Don't let go or you run the risk of pushing time.-

"What?" I blinked a lot and looked around. I recognized the place, but we weren't in Hob's grotto. We were on the outside of it. Just past the iron gate separating it from the rest of
Alfheim
. I saw the gnarled trees, the strange flowers and plants, and I could hear the waterfall on the other side.

"Where is this?" Ben asked.

"
Alfheim
." I smelled smoke and looked out over the wastes and saw towers of black smoke. Plumes of destruction in the distance. "Oh no."

"Uh, I vote we get outta here."

Something caught my eye when I looked at the thick grass around my boots. It was white and long, and when I slid my hand down the staff to kneel, I plucked a pair of white earbuds out of the grass.

I only knew one person who constantly wore white earbuds. My hand shook as I searched the buds for the familiar letter "I" scrawled on the side with a thin marker.

Ivan.

He was alive. He hadn't died! He'd been transported here through an active—whatever this thing was! Maybe the jolt of the rowan's magic had activated the existing Cairn and he'd been tossed through?

"Sam…there's something coming."

I stood and looked out over the wastes. Ben wasn't kidding. I thought I saw things on horses, or a close facsimile. Yeah it was time to go home.

Home. Oh no! I looked back at Ben. "But…time runs differently here. We might go back two weeks later."

"Can you choose when to get home?"

"I—I don't know."

"Did you choose to come here?"

I glanced at the approaching soldiers. Light glinted off silver armor. "Yeah."

Ben glanced at them too. "Then try it. Now!"

I thought about the exact moment we left, the way the trees were and the look on Dharma's face. The world vanished again and we landed right where we'd been, the staff protruding from the ground where I'd stuck it. I looked for Dharma's face—she stood right there next to Bastien. He stomped through the sparkling purple glitter and reared his fist back.

I reached up and put my hand on his chest. "Don't you
dare
!"

I saw rage in Bastien's face, but behind that I saw fear. We'd frightened him, disappearing so abruptly. Bastien looked from me to Ben, and Ben bowed his head to Bastien. "I am sorry, sir," Ben said.

I put a hand on his raised fist. "Bastien, relax. We're fine. How long were we gone?"

"Seconds," Bastien answered, still glaring at Ben.

Ben said, "I saw what the staff could do in a dream. I knew what she intended to do and I didn't want her to go alone."

"Pour quoi?"
Bastien looked at me.

"I'll tell you why." I was smiling ear to ear and motioned for Grey and Dharma to join us. Dharma's face was red and swollen from crying hard. "Put out your hand."

She frowned but did as I asked, palm up. And when I placed Ivan's headphones in her hand, she looked up at me with wide, tear-stained eyes. "Where—"

"I found those in
Alfheim
. He's
there
." I let go of the staff and felt a slight disorientation but I wasn't sick. And I'd been able to bring us back right when we left.

"
Chérie
?" Bastien held my arm. "What does this mean?"

"It means we have a way in and out of
Alfheim
without having to rely on finding a Cairn. We have our own. We can bring them home!"

I
was
way too excited about the staff. More than I should have been. But let's face it—without the staff, I was dependent on finding a Cairn that Blackwood hadn't destroyed and then my entrance into
Alfheim
would have two consequences if I got out of there alive.

One, I would return at some distant point because time moved differently in
Alfheim
than it did here. What might be a day on the other side could be a month in this world.

Two, there was the problem of Cairn sickness. There were protocols in place (I don't know who set them up, so don't ask) to prevent a free for all back and forth, though creatures such as Boggarts were apparently immune to them. The safeguards prevented the Faerie themselves from entering this world without turning to ash if the sun touched their flesh or they touched the earth with their feet. Which was why most times the Wild Hunt was cushioned with a thick layering of Faerie mist.

The opposite of turning to ash was the sickness or the shakes and fever that came with humans moving through a Cairn into Faerie. I'd seen someone suffer through this and knew it was not a nice experience. Nor was it something I wanted myself or anyone else to suffer. But the only thing I noticed after Ben and I returned was a slight disorientation. No nausea. No shakes. Nothing.

I had somehow created—no, let's get real, the Arcane had somehow created—a staff with the ability to move back and forth. I had no idea how long it would last, or if the magic of it would last. As far as I knew, that one trip could be it, and Ben and I had wasted it.

No, it wasn't wasted. Just knowing Ivan had stood there was enough. Knowing he could still be alive and not blown into ash improved my outlook on the situation. All of these things ran through my brain as I waited on Bastien to finish a meeting with his pack Beta and Gamma. He insisted vehemently he would go with me into
Alfheim
to retrieve Ivan and Crwys. Which I thought was very noble of him since he believed Crwys wasn't good for me.

I'd just placed the staff in the back seat of the Gremlin when my phone rang. I looked around me because I had once again forgotten I had it. Dharma came from the back of the car and held it out for me. "Here. I took it out of your jeans last night when Bastien brought you into the nursery."

I took the phone and looked at the caller ID. Arden? Maybe it was Kyle. "Hello?"

"Please tell me you are not at
Bell, Book and Candle
." Kyle's tone immediately put me on the defensive.

"No, why?"

"Because Arden just got a heads up from her people in the police force that Prescott is on her way there to arrest you."

Bastien walked toward us at that moment, dressed in some obscenely tight jeans, boots, a blue t-shirt and he had damp hair. "Arrest me?" I looked up at him. "What the hell for?"

"Sam, you're not going to believe this, but they found Ina's body in the garden."

I opened my mouth, and then closed it. The world spun around me as I leaned against the side of the Gremlin and tried not to hyperventilate. "Wh-what?"

"They haven't positively ID'd the body, but she had her driver's license, her purse, and her credit cards all with her in the shallow grave. Arden's source says they're pretty sure it's her and you are their person of interest."

I reached out—I don't know why. It just felt like I was falling and there wasn't anything for me to grab a hold of. Bastien took my hand and stayed close as Dharma came to my other side. Grey bounded out of the woods and stood in front of me.

Sam?

"How did she die?"

"They don't know cause of death yet. But Sam…you know what this means, right?"

"Yeah, it means Dionysus is already in another body. How—how long had she been buried there?" And most importantly, why hadn't her body risen when Circe cast her spell last month?

"I don't know. We're getting the information piecemeal. Hold on." I could hear Kyle's deep voice and then someone else. "Where are you now?"

"We're with the Aces. Dharma, me and Grey."

"Where's Ivan? If he's there, he needs to get out."

That answered the question as to whether or not Blackwood had contacted Arden. Kyle didn't know. "Ivan's…not here."

"Well call him. I've been trying to get a hold of him all morning to see if he could maybe hack in and get a full report as it's filed," he paused. "Sam? What is it?"

Should I tell him? There was too much to say over the phone. I looked at Dharma, who seemed to know what I was thinking and shook her head. "It's…I have a way into
Alfheim
. But I need a place to use it. A place the police won't interrupt."

"What do you mean you have a way in? You're not going
into
Alfheim
, are you? You've been telling me for months how you'd never go back there."

"I have to. There's no choice anymore." This was true. There might have been a way to lure Brendi here, but not with Ivan there. I had no idea where he was in the whole of the Faerie kingdoms. Finding Crwys would be easy. Finding Ivan would probably be harder.

"Come to Gypsy Gardens. Arden and I are the only ones here."

That seemed like the perfect place to use the staff. The police would have no reason to interfere there. And it was close to where we were. "We'll be there in about an hour."

I disconnected and put my hands to my face before I filled the others in on what Kyle told me.

"I don't understand," Dharma said. "Ivan said there was a Leviathan inside of Ina."

"That's the problem," I said. "His name is Dionysus. If Ina's body's been in that grave since October, it means he could be anywhere, in any body because he got that soul. And whoever's body he's using might not even realize they've got a monster inside of them."

Bastien remained oddly silent up until Ben brought the Alpha's motorcycle forward. I saw a few dents I didn't notice before and wondered if those were from the fall the night before. Bastien took the bike and straddled it. Ben handed me my pack and I checked inside to make sure I had the book. I set the pack on the hood of the Gremlin and retrieved the drawstring bag. I knew the book was inside, but I felt compelled to touch it. This book could be the key to getting Crwys back. When I put my hand inside the bag and touched the book, I got a jolt of electricity and a huge transparent sign appeared in front of my eyes.

It was one of Ivan's text messages.

COME AND GET ME!

Everyone saw it until I let go of the book. I guess in some weird way Ivan could send a message through something he created? Like this copy? Eh…I had no idea. Ivan's was a magic I could not put together well enough for it to make sense to me. But that was okay. As long as he was alive.

Grey jumped in the car with Dharma and Bastien handed me the spare helmet. I pushed it back at him. "I'll ride in the car."

"You don't trust me?"

"To be honest? No." I gave him a sweet smile and slipped into the passenger side of the Gremlin.

The sun beat down on the morning as Dharma and I sat in silence on the way to Gypsy Gardens. I felt bad about not liking her at first. Looking at her face, sensing the utter despair radiating off of her, it was apparent she really did care for Ivan. And his disappearance was probably wearing the same hole in her heart as the one Crwys's loss was wearing in mine.

"The Lycan is in love with you."

Well…I didn't really want to have that conversation. I glanced at her. "No, he's just like any other dude. He wants what he can't have." That might have been my original opinion of Bastien, but after that kiss before all hell broke loose…I wasn't so sure. "Look, Bastien seems like a nice guy. But I'm not interested in him."

"Does it make it easier?" She glanced at me as I started watching passing cars to make sure none of them were police cruisers. Knowing the police wanted to arrest me brought the paranoia. I didn't want anything preventing me from getting to Crwys and Ivan.

"Make what easier?"

"Being without Cryws? By having Bastien here?"

I wasn't sure if I wanted to be mad at her or if I even understood what she was asking. I think she sensed that because she said, "I mean, having Bastien there has to…"

"Ease the pain?" I sighed as I shook my head. "No. All it does is make me feel guilty."

"Guilty?"

"Even though there's nothing between Bastien and I—I don't know. Relationships, at least my relationships, have always been complicated."

"Mine haven't been cut and dry either," Dharma said. She glanced in the rearview mirror. I looked as well and saw Bastien on his bike. "As a Cleric, I'm not supposed to have a romantic relationship throughout my contract."

I looked at her. "Say that again? You can't have a relationship? What kind of bullshit rule is that?"

"It's not really a rule, but it's implied. And I could understand it for a while, until I met Ivan. The moment I saw him—" she smiled, but sadness lingered in her eyes. "I realized that there were more important things than being a Cleric."

I watched her as she talked, and I was very aware of Grey's head popping up from the back seat, watching me.
I told you she loved him
.

Okay, okay. "And you've kept his secret? About his magic?"

She glanced at me. "Are you kidding? The last group of people I would ever want to tell about Ivan's magic is the Hive, and especially not Cromwell. He has a…strange interest in rare magic."

"I'm not surprised. What was said about Circe…they're experimenting on her?"

"Yes."

"And they'd do that to Ivan."

"Yes. And you. Since you seem to be doing just fine with Arcane." Dharma slowed the car and turned down the long, winding dirt road that led to Gypsy Gardens, the Vervain estate.

I returned my attention to the view in front of me and smiled as the sunlight dimmed. The entire plantation was covered in a canopy of magnolias and oaks. Spanish moss swayed in the breeze beneath the leaves as the house became visible in the distance. The only car in the parking area was a black Cadillac. To the right in the distance, I saw the barn where Arden usually kept her Mercedes.

Kyle came out the front door and waved us to the right, in the direction of the barn. Dharma parked in front of it as Bastien brought his bike up alongside. I got out and let Grey out so she could stretch her legs as the Lycan removed his helmet and lowered his kickstand.

"You mind telling me where Ivan is?" Kyle said as he neared. I saw the look on his face. He knew something and he wasn't happy.

"Blackwood contact Arden?"

"He called her. Told her the rogues were down by one. It took a bit more coaxing to get the meaning of that out of my aunt, but she's weak and in pain. Apparently we have a reputation, Sam. Where is Ivan?"

Bastien moved to the barn and unlocked the front doors. I was only peripherally paying attention to him as Dharma got out of the car and slammed the door.

I didn't know where to start. I really didn't know exactly what happened. I had the staff in my hand and then it was taken away from me. And no one else had seen anything because of the light.

"
Chérie
," Bastien said. "You should see this."

The barn doors rested on slides, so they didn't have to swing in or out. Bastien pushed the left door aside and I put my hands to my face when I recognized the dusty back end of a '64 Mustang Fastback.

It was Crwys's missing car.

"Kyle, come with me and I'll fill you in," Dharma said as she motioned for him to follow her, away from the barn.

Bastien stood to the side and watched me as I stumbled to the Mustang. Here it was…the first real piece of evidence that Crwys was in trouble. He would never abandon his car. Never.

I put a shaking hand on the passenger side of the car and felt the dust on the polished surface. The door was open and when I inhaled the interior, I smelled him. Crwys Holliard.

Trying hard not to lose it in front of Bastien, I climbed inside and spotted something red in the back seat. Pushing myself up on the shoulders of the seats, I leaned between them and retrieved a long, gold box wrapped in a red ribbon. With shaking hands, I removed the ribbon and pulled off the lid to reveal a bouquet of roses. The petals were long gone, just husks, their bases bare on long stems.

I wiped at my face when I couldn't see and brought the delicate bouquet to the front with me. A card fell out and landed outside on the floor of the barn. Bastien knelt down and retrieved it for me.

His face was unreadable as I took it from his hand. My name was scrawled on the outside, in the man's less than legible handwriting.

Samantha.

I sniffed and wiped at my face again as I unfold the card and read the handwritten message inside.

I hope today you will know the truth, and still accept me for who I am now, and not what I was, just as I accept you. I love you. Azazel Apollo.

Azazel Apollo.

"Samantha?"

I blinked at my name. I hadn't heard Bastien use it that often. I wiped at my face again and nodded, but I didn't want him to see the tears. "Yeah…"

"Look at me,
chérie
."

With the box still tucked in my left arm and the card in my right hand, I turned to look at the stunning Lycan as he filled the space of the car door. "He told me his name. He really was going to tell me."

"
Oui
. We will find him. We will bring him home."

"Bastien, you don't have to go—"

But he put his hand against my cheek and stroked it with his thumb. "It breaks my heart to see you in pain. And if bringing that bastard back to you will fill it with joy again," he smiled as a ray of light broke just over his shoulder. "Then I will fight to the death to bring him home."

I was just about to lose it when I heard my name again. Kyle was calling for me.

Bastien carefully took the gold box and the card as I climbed out of the Mustang. Kyle and Dharma approached and he looked genuinely confused when he saw the car, the box and the card. "Oh sweet Lord, Sam. I saw the car but I didn't realize it was Crwys's," he pointed to the dead roses in Bastien's hand. "Those were in there?"