Nephilius - A Walker Saga Book 5 (6 page)

And Lucy and
I were still pretending we knew what was happening, hands on hips
and expressions calm. We were rocking our, I’m-a-badass vibe. I
almost had myself convinced that nothing could shock me, when from
the shadows steppe
d out one of the
scariest freaking things I’d ever seen.

It was shaped like a dog … or maybe a wolf …
shit, no it was something even scarier but definitely in the canine
family. Wait, what the hell was I doing trying to classify it? The
important point I was missing was the fact it had two heads. Two
massive, growling, drooling, filled-with-razor-sharp teeth
heads.

Dragging my
eyes from those heads, I studied the rest of him … yep, he was
definitely a male. Built like a black bear, he was huge with four
powerful legs, the muscled sinew visible under his short and shiny
black fur. The paws were tipped with lethal looking claws. Moving
my gaze upwards, I met two pairs of dark eyes and they were
studying me. I paused. There was something familiar about what I
was seeing. But there was no way I’d forget meeting a
t
wo-headed beast. Wait a
minute…

“Damn, it’s like that dog from Greek
mythology.” Lucy clicked on at the same time as me. “The one who
guarded the gates of hell.”

“Cerberus,” I murmured, having always
enjoyed mythology, but never truly believing in gods until the
Walkers. “But he had three heads.”

“
Incorrect,
Cerberus always had two heads,” said Refis. “
He’s not one of us but was captured when we were trapped in
here. He is fond of Malisna, our queen.”

I raised my brows so high I swear I could
feel them hitting my hairline. “Are you saying this is the actual
underworld creature that was legend on Earth?”

Refis was giving me that
‘are-you-deaf-or-stupid look’ but still answered. “Yes, stories say
that Walkers took him to Earth long ago. Some of the pixies tagged
along on the adventures. We were a mischievous creatures and didn’t
follow rule or order very well.”

Cerberus continued to growl and drool, his
double heads, which were joined at the base of his necks, seemed to
be mostly focused on me.

“I wonder why the stories gave him three
heads?” Lucy said.

The growls increased then, which had her
taking a step back.

“Oh, you know humans, two heads probably
wasn’t scary enough,” I said as I rubbed my hands up and down my
jacket.

“
Oh, yeah,
of course, nothing’s
ever
enough for humans.” Lucy
snorted.

I gripped my coat hem in an attempt to stop
myself lurching forward. Unlike Lucy and Refis – who were
retreating – I was getting a strong urge to move closer. And since
I wasn’t currently entertaining any suicidal thoughts, I had no
idea what was happening. My energy surged and rolled inside me,
pushing me forward. And before I could stop myself, my feet were
moving.

“
A
bby,” Lucy screamed, “what the
effing hell are you doing?”

Refis captured my wrist, stilling my
movements. His smaller hand was quite green against my ivory
skin.

“I can’t protect you from Cerberus. He does
not follow any command but his own,” he said.

Turning away from the pixie, I faced the
hound again; I had the strangest feeling about him. I shook off
Refis, striding forward until I was under the animal. The top of my
head did not even reach the underside of his heads. My heart rate
increased, but I wasn’t really afraid. Acting on simple gut
instinct, I sent my energy toward him, keeping it calm and
friendly. And from Cerberus’ depths a reciprocating power mingled
with mine.

Letting out a mournful howl, he dropped down
at my feet, laying both of his huge skulls before my shoes. I
pressed my hands to my cheeks as spontaneous laughter fell from my
lips.

“Walkers,” I gasped. “Cerberus is born of
Walker energy.”

Four dark brown eyes were watching me and I
could feel his loneliness; he’d been missing his own kind. Reaching
out – hesitating for only a second – I placed a hand on both heads.
The ominous rumble slowly morphed into a gentle purr.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Lucy said. “Abby’s
the demon dog slayer.”

Refis snorted but didn’t drop his little
sword. Had he been prepared to jump in to defend me, despite his
previous words? Then I noticed where his focus was. All on Lucy.
Yep, on second thoughts, he wasn’t worried about me at all, he’d
been protecting her. Interesting.

“I know men fall at your feet, Abbs, but
this is a little … extra, don’t you think?” Lucy moved, as if to
approach me, but Refis blocked her path. “What ya doing, green
man?” she said, her hands on her hips.

“It’s not safe, you must be protected,
Lucy.”

He stood like a warrior, despite the fact
Cerberus could cut him in two with one well-placed swipe of those
massive claws. I lifted my hands from where they had been
scratching Cerberus behind the ears and moved to lend my support to
Lucy, but I’d only taken two steps when the distinct scent and feel
of hot doggy breath washed over me; I was not alone. Lifting my
head and looking back over my shoulder, I was rewarded with a lick
up the side of my face from Cerberus’ right head.

I laughed; I had always wanted a dog.

“He’s claimed you,” Refis said, his tone
disgruntled. His flower eyes were narrowed on me, as if he was
trying to determine my inner secrets. “The queen will find this
both a joyful and frustrating visit from you outsiders.”

“Why has Cere never left?” I hoped he liked
nicknames. A second lick indicated he was a fan.

“No one ever leaves the pixie realms,” Refis
said brusquely.

My chest
clenched at his words. Lucy shifted her newly transformed
blue-and-yellow flower eyes to me, and I could read the panic
there. Her face was pale and her lips trembled as she looked around
agitatedly. Refis clearly knew about Walkers, which probably
meant the doorways wouldn’t be accessible, but
my tracing power was ancient. I had to hope it would trump whatever
energies were working here.

“
What
happens to
the other First Worlders
who’ve stumble in here?” I asked.

Refis shrugged. His petite but lithely
muscled body moved gracefully like a dancer. “No concern of the
pixies. Most were killed by the magicks in our land. A few who were
saved in time serve our queen.”

I clenched my fists at my sides. Uncaring
little asshat. Pixies were as arrogant as Walkers, but I doubted
they had the same power to back it up.

“If you tell your pet to heel, we must move
forward.” Refis pointed toward the lake and the path that led
around the side. “That’s the way to the castle.”

“He’s not a pet,” I growled, liking the
pixie less and less. “Cere, we need to find the queen, can you lead
us?” I took away some of Refis’ power over us.

Cerberus’ dark eyes seemed to brighten. I
detected a real twinkle there. His huge body was more agile than
I’d expected as he turned and led us along the path. As we followed
along, my eyes widened when his massive bulk started to shrink.
Within a few minutes he was the size of a medium horse, his heads
now level with my own.

“Um, did he just get smaller?” Lucy
croaked.

I nodded, and at the same time Refis spoke.
“Cerberus can change his size, a very useful skill in battle.”

Useful indeed.

As we walked, the lake finally came into
focus and I realized there were beings everywhere. Swimming, lazing
and playing around the huge stretch of sparkling blue water. The
majority bore a vast resemblance to Refis – definitely pixies –
both male and female. All of the pixies seemed to have Refis’ pale
green skin.

The females were small, standing only around
four feet tall, and all of them had sweeping hair in varying colors
that reached their ankles. It was the same with their eyes. Many
shades of flowered two- or three-colored eyes were turned in our
direction as we walked past. Their laughter and play died off as we
became the focus.

“Finally a world where I’m tall.” Lucy
waggled her brows up and down at me.

I grinned
briefly before my gaze was
drawn back to
the lake.

The confidence of their stance told me that
pixies ruled this land, but there were other creatures here also. A
tiny fluff-ball, which looked like a rabbit-hamster; a small breed
of horse or donkey; and a few others which I didn’t get a good look
at. Mainly because the moment they saw Cerberus they scampered for
the hills.

Both of his doggy heads looked a tad pleased
as he marched along, tongues lolling from the sides of his mouths.
When I’d first looked into his large, dark eyes, I’d seen a trapped
sadness, but already he seemed to be happier. He was so scary to
look at that most wouldn’t have seen past the double heads, massive
sharp teeth and monstrous body, to the pain beneath. But the
intermingling of our energy had told me how intelligent and
powerful he was. And I was pretty sure I was already in love with
his huge, hairy butt.

“Stick to the path; don’t drink from the
lake,” Refis ordered as we skimmed the body of water.

Thousands of eyes continued to follow our
path, giving me that prickly feeling on the back of my neck.

“This is similar to the land of fey and
strangers should not partake of the food and water.”

“Fey?” Lucy said, jerking her head back to
find his eyes. “As in faerie?”

Refis looked confused as he scratched his
chin in a jagged manner. “There are many creatures that fall under
the title of ‘fey’. Faeries and pixie are fey; we separated from
their land almost twenty years ago.”

“Where is the land of fey?” I said, my lips
slightly parted.

Refis bared his teeth at me. I was starting
to think that was his version of a smile. “Most of the fey are in
the emerald isles, a realm close to the Emperor’s castle.”

I wondered if Lucas knew that. Something
told me he wouldn’t like them so close.

I was really interested in hearing these
stories. I wanted to know why First World’s inhabitants featured so
heavily in the folklore and myths of Earth. Had they all somehow
visited Earth over the last few thousand years or had Walkers
spread the stories? And if pixies and faeries and all of the rest
had visited Earth, how did they get there? Did they know a Walker
and use the doorways? Or were there other powers to travel between
the worlds? Similar to the way the pixies lived in this dimension
of First World.

Our
conversation died off as we rounded the far left side of the lake.
Refis came to an abrupt halt before pulling out his sword and
starting to perform a complicated cutting motion in the air. Lucy
and I stopped close by, outside of slashing range,
w
atching and waiting; I had no idea what
pixie man was doing. Cerberus sat on his haunches next to
me.

The third stroke of the weapon had a split
forming in thin air, and I coughed to cover my gasp. Refis was
creating an air-pocket, like the one he’d first emerged from near
the portal. And then with a half-grin thrown in our direction he
stepped into it.

His look had been a challenge, daring us to
trust him and follow. I didn’t trust one hair on his head, but we
didn’t have many other choices right then. Inside we were
going.

Lucy and I linked hands tightly and I may
have briefly shut my eyes as we stepped forward. I’d expected the
opening to be small, as if we had to squeeze through a sliver of
space, but instead we simply moved through to the other side.

And then we
were somewhere else. I felt as if the lake vision had been an
illusion, and Refis had
just changed the
background. The scene now was vastly different. We stood in the
shadows of a massive castle, a hundred yards in the distance. My
eyes alighted on it, noting the dark gray stone, turrets and wooden
accents. It was surrounded on all sides by a moat, with no visible
bridge or place of entry.

A thunderous rumble had me spinning to find
Cerberus beside me again. He was yet to leave my side.

“
I will
fetch the queen, none are
allowed to
enter her home without her permission.” With these words Refis
bowed low and left us.

We watched as he flew across the moat and
into the castle grounds. No wonder they had no bridge; pixies
didn’t need one.

As soon as Refis was out of sight Lucy
clutched my arm. “Can you trace from here, Abbs?” Her voice
trembled.

I met her wide, shiny eyes. They were
showcasing full-blown panic. And to be honest I wasn’t far behind
her.

Reaching for my energy, I pictured my room
in Angelisian. The image appeared no problem, but there were no
glittering tethers. I let go of the energy and tried again but with
a different image. The front door of our Angelisian house. Again,
no tethers.

Shit, looked as if tracing was out.

Okay, even though I figured it wouldn’t work
I searched for the links or doorways that Walker could access
between worlds. There was nothing. Great, no doorways existed here
in pixie land either. Last resort; I’d try the old-fashioned way:
weaving energy to create a doorway, a skill Josian had shown me
originally to walk between the worlds.

Gathering my energy, I wrapped the circle a
few extra times for strength. Before releasing it. But instead of
forming into a doorway it fell away, and was absorbed into the
ground below us. I sucked in a deep breath, unconsciously working
my bottom lip between my teeth.

Lucy whimpered as I faced her again. She
already knew what I was about to say.