Forged by Greed (15 page)

***

Human World, November 16,
late afternoon.

There was a delicate, milky light coming from a ground-level source.
It graced a hefty three-tier fountain. Dusk fell like a quiet ghost. The wolf
moved cautiously, staying close to the center of the path. A group of Summer
teenagers sat on the stairs to the mansion. A few of them were in their animal
forms and growled almost inaudibly, keeping a watchful eye on the wolf. A
couple others glared at him. But Jasmira had warned them to let the wolf pass.
She was expecting him.

The wolf didn’t seem to follow any scent. He walked slowly with his
head straight and his eyes darting from side to side. He didn’t look back.
Instead, he kept going forward, toward the red brick
mansion
sprawled out at the end of the path
.

His eyes were fixed
on the immense, chocolate-brown double doors.
Four sulky-looking warriors were carved into the wood of the doors. They bore
the signs of the sun on their shields, chest plates, and fronts of their
helmets.

           
Snarling quietly,
the wolf trotted up the long flight of stairs. He stopped half way up and his
snarl got louder. He
drew his upper lip back. His canines were long
and sharp.
Two leopards leapt to the sides of the stairs, hissing. A
few teenagers slowly moved away from the doors. The door opened, and Penelope
stood there, casually gazing over the whole scene.

“Long time no see, stranger. And in your mighty wolf form, my, my.”

           
“Whatever, Pen.”
The wolf growled. “Is she in?”

           
Penelope inspected
her nails. She yawned, stretched, and turned around, walking slowly inside.

           
“Are you coming in,
or do you need a special invitation?” She looked at him from over her shoulder.

The wolf followed inside the house and looked around, as if seeing
the massive foyer for the first time. A wide cast-iron staircase seemed
inviting, just like it always had in the past, to trot up the stairs
and straight to Jasmira’s bedroom.

Several steps past the doors
, a large marble inlay
decorated the floor
. It
depicted a bright-yellow, round sun face with male features and a disk of rays
surrounding it.
A massive crystal
chandelier hung directly over the sun face, illuminating it in such a way that the
light seemed to breathe life
into it.

The wolf stopped over the image. He stared at the sun face’s large
eyes, casting an enormous shadow over it. He remained like that for a few
seconds.

           
When he lifted his
head, he saw four Summer kids and Jasmira in the large room past the foyer. His
heart leaped to his throat. All he wanted now was to hold her close.

She stood by the window, behind a heavy wooden chair, resting her
hands on the back of it. The late November sun illuminated her dark, smooth
skin and her long black, curly hair. Jasmira wore a pair of distressed Gucci jean
shorts over dark tights, and a body-hugging, long sleeve t-shirt with a silver
guitar silk-screened on the front.

“Why did you take it?” she heard Jatred’s voice in her head. He
sounded composed, tired even and definitely not angry, as if her presence
calmed his previous anxiety.

She moved to the side of the chair, away from the window. “I only
borrowed—” she started to explain.

“Give it back,
please
,” Jatred
interrupted. He inhaled, smelling the air around her, and closing his eyes for
a moment.

Jasmira bit her lip and took a few steps back. With no warning, the
wolf jumped, changing midair into his human form. The speed swept Jatred’s
black hair away from his face. Lean muscles bulged under his skin.

He landed and grabbed Jasmira by the shoulders. She gasped and tried
to push him away. But Jatred was stronger and determined to pin her down. They
both landed on the stone floor—Jasmira on her back, and Jatred on his feet, crouching
over her and holding onto her. His grip was solid and prevented her from
hitting the floor hard. He hovered over Jasmira with his legs on each side of
her, knees bent.

“Where is it?” he whispered.

By now, all the teens had already abandoned the front
stairs and come inside. They started changing into their human forms, backing
away from the pair. The air around each of them pulsed, as if from an overload
of some suddenly released energy.

Jatred lifted Jasmira and didn’t let go of her
shoulders. Their faces almost touched, and his eyes bored into hers. His facial
expression softened when she looked into his eyes, pleading.

Jatred whispered with his mind, keeping the mental
shield up so only Jasmira could hear him, “J, you don’t understand how powerful
the Amulet is. But you know well enough how dangerous my Goddess can be.
Remember? She’ll summon me to the Winter Realm, and it won’t be pretty. Last
time she threatened to hurt not only me, but others too, most likely my uncle.
Is that what you want? What have you done with it?”

Jasmira’s heart thumped in her chest. She kept
thinking of the Summer Goddess and she was scared. What will Amber do when she
finds out that Jatred took back the Amulet? Jasmira couldn’t fail her. The
Goddess promised to help them, to fix everything that Crystal had broken. But
this was Jatred! How could she do this to him?
What’s happening to me?
Her mind spun, and she tried to get control
over it, but failed. Amber’s powers were too strong.

Jasmira shifted her gaze to the right. Jatred’s eyes
followed hers to a white door. He walked over, gently pulling her by her elbow.
He pressed the handle with his free hand. Behind the door, a dim light came
from the intricate wall-mounted lights. They gently illuminated a stone
staircase. The stairs curved to the left and disappeared in the darkness.

“Lead the way,” he said to Jasmira, letting her through
and holding the door for her.

She shot him a quick glance, and then raced down the
stairs to a long dark hallway. He swore and took after her, but lost his
balance, and staggered on the stairs, his hand on the wall.

Jasmira sprinted through the passage, blurring as she
moved with a Shifter’s speed. There were four closed doors on each side of the
hallway. Big niches on both sides were occupied by white marble statues of frowning
warriors. At the end of the passage, a large indoor pool was surrounded by
small pieces of furniture.

 
Without
slowing down, Jasmira jumped into the water. She swam parallel to the pool
wall, under the surface. Jatred was only a few paces away from the end of the
hallway when he heard the splash of the water.

She’s in the
pool? What the hell?
Jatred dashed into the room.
He stopped and turned from side to side, scanning the water. He ran around the
perimeter of the pool, trying to figure out what had happened to Jasmira. She
wasn’t in the water. For a moment Jatred considered that she threw something
into the pool to distract him, and then hid somewhere, most likely upstairs.
This made sense, especially because there was another staircase, leading to the
upper floor. But there was nothing in the pool, although the water seemed
disturbed, as if someone had jumped in a moment ago.

He swore quietly and shook his head. He tried to see
some logic in the situation. His deep, angry growl echoed in the room,
multiplied by the walls and ceilings. “Damn!” Jatred pounded his fist on his
thigh. “She fooled me again.”

                                                            
CHAPTER 17
                

Human World, November 16,
late afternoon.

Hushed voices carried through the
hallway. The Summer kids were coming to the pool room. A long string of
profanity left Jatred’s lips. He walked to the opposite staircase, and, taking
two steps at a time, he rushed upstairs.

“Where did she go? There must be another way out of here.”

“Jasmira!” Penelope shouted.
“Jatred! Where the heck are you, guys? This isn’t funny.”

As soon as Jatred put his foot on
the second floor landing, he saw something astounding.

                                   
                           
***

Summer Realm.

Jatred looked around in confusion.
The second floor was a green, grassy area, and the building around him was gone.
The sun was high in the sky, the birds were singing, and a nearby forest stood,
ancient and still.

Where am I?
What happened to the mansion and the Summer kids?

Jatred shielded his eyes from the
bright sun. It was getting unbearably hot, and his skin felt as if it was on
fire. He scurried toward the trees to get into the shade. Despite running, the
distance to the trees didn’t get any shorter. Jatred got a weird feeling that
he was running in place. Without slowing down, he looked around, panting.
Everything seemed normal—he actually passed points of reference on the way to
the trees: a thick, red-leaf bush on the right, a group of thorn-covered trees
on the left, and huge, strange looking orange flowers between the boulders. But
right after he passed it all, the same scenery appeared there again, in the
same order and distance. Only the forest wall in the background seemed unmoved.

An illusion? Is there a way to use the Amulet to make this? It’s way
too hot in here.
Even those Winter Shifters who
were well-adapted to the warm climates wouldn’t be able to withstand such heat.

Jatred collapsed in the meadow.
The grass cooled his skin, and there was a breeze. He heard the soothing,
sleepy sound of ocean waves. The wind prickled his skin with hundreds of tiny
sand grains. When he opened his eyes, the meadow was gone, and he lay on a
sandy beach. The sun poked from behind small clouds, and the temperature
dropped down many degrees. The ocean looked boundless and calm. Jatred felt
relaxed. He blinked his eyes and stared at the puffy clouds, lazily moving
through the sky. His blinks grew longer, and his breathing slowed.

 
“Jasmira,” he whispered.

He saw her walking on the waves,
swinging the Amulet in her hand. She wore a tight crimson dress that came down
to her feet. Long sleeves snugly covered her lean arms. The dress was cut low
up front and stretched so taut around her chest that there was little left to the
imagination. She stepped onto the sand, her pose seductive and playful. A
breeze played with her hair, twirling the curly strands around her face. The
bottom of her dress floated in the wind, stretching the fabric even further
around her slim legs.

“Come and get it, J,” she teased.

“You are an illusion,” Jatred
answered calmly.

“Am I?”

“You just walked on the water, but
your dress is dry,” he snorted.

“Clever.” She inclined her head
toward him, a tiny smile playing on her lips.

“I need to get the Amulet back.”

Jasmira looked from Jatred to the
Amulet. “I know, but what price are you ready to pay?” She was shocked at her
own words. Something strong inside and around her made her feel like someone she
wasn’t—seductive, calculated, and selfish. She tried to fight it, but this
strange energy pushed back, and her resistance was gone, forgotten. She was a
puppet again. The Summer Goddess controlled her, using the powers of the
Amulet.

Jasmira gathered her hair up with
both hands, stretching her arms above and behind her head. She closed her eyes
and inhaled deeply. A pang of yearning spread through Jatred’s body.