The Inner Circle, Book 3 of the Glass Wall ( A YA Urban Fantasy Romance ) (13 page)

And then Jerry’s wheel squeaked.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the tiny
mouse sitting on his haunches. His little black eyes, always so
wise, were riveted upon mine.

And somehow, that was enough. Enough for me
to desperately start recalling Jareth’s numbers.

Slowly.

One by one.

It was torturous. I could hardly breathe. I
was so consumed with all-encompassing fear that I could scarcely
remember the next number in the sequence. But I focused my gaze on
Jerry’s pink little nose and ignored the mutant tulpa as it began
to descend from the ceiling.

The tulpa was only inches away from me when I
remembered the last number.

And then I squeezed my eyes tightly shut. If
Jareth didn’t come, I didn’t want to see the tulpa as it ate
me.

But Jareth
did
come.

Instantly.

One moment, I was lying on the bed, preparing
to be assimilated, and the next I heard Jareth swearing, and then
he’d shifted me away. Suddenly, the heavy weight of fear was gone,
and I could breathe again.

I heard Ajax barking loudly. If you could
call his vicious combination of snarling, growling, and roaring
that. It jolted me out of my lethargic state.

Opening my eyes, I shot upright, bumping my
forehead directly into Jareth’s nose, but he hardly seemed to
notice.

Savoring the ability to simply breathe again,
I glanced around, recognizing at once that I was sitting on the
floor in Rafael’s living room.

Ajax was staring out of the window in the
direction of Al and Betty’s house. He was on the alert; every
muscle in his lean body was rigid as he savagely screamed at the
top of his lungs.

Over our heads, Jareth’s white pigeon,
Galahad, was flying in circles and making noises I didn’t know
pigeons could make. A chilling sort of squawking shriek.

And then Jareth rose from my side, and his
eyes focused to something on the other side of the living room.

“Who told
you
to come?” he asked
acidly.

Scrambling to my feet, I whirled to see
Rafael step into the room.

He was pale, and his face was filled with
concern. Ignoring Jareth, he was at my side in an instant, pulling
me to his chest in a comforting embrace.

I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t stop
myself from holding onto him tightly. I was just glad he was there.
It felt so right to be cradled in his arms. The touch of his skin
was warm and comforting, and for a time, I didn’t care about
anything but staying there.

And then, he kissed me lightly on the top of
the head and stepped away.

He turned on Jareth then. And he wasn’t
pleased.

“They almost succeeded,” he said in clipped
tones. “You’re not keeping a close enough eye on this!” He struck
his fist against the wall.

“What?” Jareth asked, astounded. “How can
you—”

But Rafael ignored him and turned back to me.
Gently cupping my chin in his hand, he forced my eyes to look into
his. “Your fear is only making them stronger. You must learn to
control it, Sydney. You have to.”

I just stared at him, unable to see how I’d
ever be able to control
anything
when utterly terrified.

And then his expression softened. “Take Ajax
with you. Please.”

I managed a nod.

His hand dropped, and his eyes slid from mine
back to Jareth. “They let that tulpa loose again, and they’ll make
another move soon,” he warned. “They know their time is running
out.”

“I’ve heard. It’s all they chatter about,”
Jareth replied, folding his arms and appraising Rafael with a wary
eye. “They keep talking about the portal. Do you know where it
is?”

Rafael’s jaw clenched. “I had hoped
you
would know.”

They stared at each other, untrusting.

And then Rafael tilted his head to the side.
“Melody is coming. Leave. At once.”

Jareth didn’t need to be told twice. But he
did mutter, “It’s uncanny how you know that, especially since the
Queens banished your light.”

And then Jareth and I were standing back in
my room, along with Ajax and Galahad.

Jerry was sitting in his wheel, giving
himself a bath. He looked up when we arrived. I ran to his cage and
rested my cheek against it, glad the little mouse was safe.

Holding his hand up for silence, Jareth
lifted his trion, and a spark of light shot out to form an
expanding bubble that eventually encompassed the entire room.

“There,” he said with a nod of satisfaction.
“It’s safe to talk now. No one can hear us.”

I licked my dry lips. I didn’t like being
back in my room. I scanned the ceiling for signs of the evil tulpa
as Ajax began to sniff the area, and Galahad flew to perch on the
curtain rod.

Suddenly, Jareth turned on me and ordered,
“Say something, Sydney. It’s scary when you’re quiet.”

I swallowed. And then finally, in a hollow
voice, scarce above a whisper, I said, “I’ll never be able to sleep
in here again.”

Never.

That tulpa had tried to kill me twice in that
room.

Jareth’s gaze swept the ceiling. “It isn’t
the room, Sydney,” he replied. “It’s you. It’ll find you
anywhere.”

That response was the worst I could‘ve
imagined. I dug my nails into my palms to keep myself from
screaming out in terror.

“What were you doing?” he asked. “Whatever it
was, it was practically an invitation.”

“I was just sleeping …” I began, and then my
voice trailed off as I recalled the overwhelming depression I’d
felt before falling asleep. The loss of having to walk away from
Rafael. And the pain of having to hurt him so that
he would
walk away.

Jareth’s dark eyes widened, and I knew he was
half-reading my mind.

Gripping my arm, he led me to sit at the foot
of the bed and then sat down next to me. “You know, it won’t work,
Sydney,” he commented conversationally. “You can’t fool fate.”

I didn’t feel like having this talk, so I
stole a page from Rafael’s book and just switched subjects.

“How do we stop this thing from coming back?”
I asked, suppressing a shudder. Grabbing my pillow, I hugged it to
my stomach for comfort.

Jareth just looked at me grimly. “I don’t
really know, Sydney. I’m not sure it
can
be stopped.”

I scowled at him. He hadn’t said one hopeful
thing
yet
.

And then Jerry’s wheel squeaked, and we both
glanced up at the sudden sound. But it wasn’t the tiny gray mouse
that caught my attention.

It was Galahad.

The pigeon had descended from the curtain rod
to perch on top of Jerry’s cage. His head was twisted to one side,
and his eyes were glued upon the mouse.

“What is it, Galahad?” Jareth asked
curiously.

The bird ruffled its feathers and then sailed
over to lightly land on Jareth’s shoulder.

Jareth frowned and whistled under his
breath.

“What is it?” I asked uneasily. I’d always
found Galahad to be a little creepy.

“Jerry’s not an ordinary mouse,” Jareth
murmured, advancing upon the cage.

I leapt to my feet and rushed to his defense.
“He’s not evil.”

“Psht.” Jareth made a disgusted sound at me.
“That’s obvious. But he’s not normal. Galahad says he’s old—older
than time.”

I frowned and turned to look into Jerry’s
wise black eyes. It was odd. I’d felt that he was ancient and wise
myself often enough.

But then Jareth shrugged. “Galahad’s been
wrong before,” he said.

Galahad apparently understood that because he
reached over and nipped Jareth’s ear. Jareth responded with a dark
look and flicked the bird’s beak with his finger.

A little edgy, I returned to sit cross-legged
on the bed. “What’s this portal you were talking about with …” I
let my voice trail away. I couldn’t even say Rafael’s name. It was
too painful.

Jareth frowned, but he did answer. “It’s the
only thing the Brotherhood talks about. Continually. They’re
coming, Sydney. This portal will let them come from the second
dimension back to Earth.”

I shuddered. “Then we’ve got to destroy
it!”

Jareth expelled a long breath. “No kidding.
What do you think I’ve been trying to do?” He looked at Ajax still
sniffing around the room and added softly, “And it looks like
Rafael has been trying to do it, too.”

I glanced up at him. “You’re saying Rafael is
on our side for sure, then?” I asked.

Jareth grimaced. “Oh, he’s definitely walking
his own path, apart from the Inner Circle,” he admitted somewhat
reluctantly. “A path Melody’s not pleased with.”

At the mention of Melody’s name, I recalled
the video on my phone.

Jareth easily followed my thoughts. He
scowled. “No, I haven’t discovered what she’s doing to me or how
she’s doing it,” he answered my unspoken question. “She’s not easy
to spy on. And what you did was exceedingly dangerous. Don’t do it
again. She wouldn’t think twice about killing you, despite
Rafael.”

Suddenly unable to sit, I sprang to my feet.
“Why are we just sitting here?” I asked, wringing my hands. “We
should be out fighting or investigating or something.”

Jareth snorted. “I
am
investigating,”
he said, rolling his eyes. “Why else do you think I’m here?”
Pointing to the ceiling where the tulpa had first appeared, he
said, “This is where it came in and that is where it left.” He
nodded at the window.

I just watched him as he moved about my room
for a time, and then my thoughts wandered to what he’d said about
me having invited the tulpa.

The emotions of losing Rafael had been
powerful. Had those been the invitation? Emotions?

I wondered in what ways the tulpa might
respond to other types of emotions. Perhaps it was possible there
were emotions which could be used to
fight
them. I was
thinking of what they might be when Jareth suddenly whirled upon
me.

“What are you thinking, Sydney?” he gasped,
startled. “Tell me!”

I blinked, surprised.

His hands flew to his temples, and he fell to
his knees. The color of his skin had gone deathly white.

“What is it?” I gulped, rushing to his side.
“Are you ok?”

And then he collapsed completely.

Ajax leapt to stand guard over him, a mass of
rigid muscle as Galahad took flight and began to circle the
perimeter of the room.

But I didn’t really have much time to panic
because Jareth’s dark lashes fluttered, and he looked up at me in
confusion.

“What happened?” he asked in a weak
voice.

“I don’t know,” I answered in a chocked
voice.

I glanced around for any sign of the tulpa,
but there was none.

Galahad then fluttered back to the curtain
rod and began to preen his feathers, and Ajax jumped onto the bed,
laid his head down on his paws, and stared out the window.

Apparently, they no longer sensed a
threat.

Jareth sat up, wiping his face with his
forearm. “You were doing something, Sydney. Weren’t you?” he
panted, wincing as if in pain. “The Brotherhood… the Brother…”

His skin began to turn white again.

It was almost as if they were controlling him
somehow, torturing him to prevent him from hearing what I had to
say.

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” I lied
quickly.

His frown deepened, but the color in his face
began to return.

I wouldn’t let myself think about it. I
couldn’t. Not until I could figure out how to prevent the
Brotherhood from reading my thoughts.

And then an idea sprang across my mind.

The chicken coop.

Al had lined the inside of the shed with
chicken coop wire. It was the perfect Faraday cage, all ready to
try!

“Let’s get out of here,” I said, yanking
Jareth’s hand.

He was clearly rattled. He didn’t resist as I
pulled him out of my room. Ajax and Galahad followed closely
behind.

The bubble Jareth had created traveled with
us. Rushing through the family room, I pushed Jareth out the
backdoor and across the yard towards the chickens. Unlatching the
door to the coop, I shoved Jareth inside and then closed the door
firmly behind us. The bubble brightened a little to illuminate the
interior. I could see the chickens still asleep in their nests and
in the rafters.

Galahad flew around the coop several times
before settling in the corner and giving me a baleful glare. I
didn’t understand what the look was for. He seemed to hate me just
on principle.

Crossing my fingers and hoping my idea would
work, I hissed uncertainly, “Jareth? Do you want to know what I was
thinking?”

I searched his face.

He didn’t flinch. In fact, he was looking
more like himself by the moment.

Lifting his nostrils, he glanced around.
“What are we doing out here?” he asked, suddenly irritated. And
then a look of confusion crossed his face, and he patted his
sleeves before looking at me in astonishment. “How did I get out
here? It’s nasty.”

“You walked,” I said, gaining confidence in
my Faraday cage theory. “You turned deathly white, asked me what I
was thinking, and then started acting strange.”

“Thinking?” He was clearly puzzled. And then
his lip lifted into an arrogant sneer. “Why would I care what
you
were thinking?”

I folded my arms and tapped my fingers
thoughtfully. I must have been on the right track. Otherwise, the
Brotherhood would never have done whatever it was they had done to
Jareth.

And for the first time, I felt a real
honest-to-goodness thrill of hope. Maybe it meant I could destroy
the evil tulpa after all. Destroy it with a simple emotion!

I bit my lip and looked around
apprehensively, half expecting the coop to be torn down around us
by the Mesmers.

But nothing happened.

Jareth was watching me, his brows furrowed
into a frown.