I focused my will on my target, using the human magic I’d learned as a shaman to drive the spirit out of this world. The creature shrieked in rage as it felt the Underworld’s tug, and seconds later, it dissolved into nothing. I immediately set my sights on a second spirit, briefly allowing myself to assess Pagiel and Jasmine’s progress.
To my astonishment, Pagiel had defeated the will-o’-the-wisp elemental already. I hadn’t even seen it happen. I had the power to banish elementals back to the Otherworld as well, but for my two sidekicks, physical confrontation was the only option. Pagiel had used his magic to destroy the elemental outright, obliterating it into nothingness. I’d known he was a strong magic user but had never truly seen him in battle until now. He was stronger than Jasmine, I realized. He immediately joined her side against a water elemental, blasting it with a wind that brought it to a standstill while she used her magic to call on the water of the elemental’s form and rip it to pieces. Meanwhile, I banished a second spirit.
“Eugenie, go!” cried Jasmine, barely sparing me a glance as she and Pagiel sparred with the last elemental. Volusian was down to one spirit. The odds were in our favor now. None of these attackers would have a chance to break away and come after me.
I grimaced but didn’t hesitate. Again, this was part of the plan we’d established. These Otherworldly denizens were here for me. If I was gone, and they weren’t destroyed first, they’d likely leave once they realized only Jasmine and Pagiel (and Volusian) were left. I felt like a coward and had to keep reminding myself, If you die, the twins die.
I took off at that half jog, continuing to use my magic to lighten the storm and make my passage easier. Ahead of me, a ring of bright yellow buttercups stood out in sharp contrast against the park’s green grass. No matter how many times the landscapers mowed them down, the buttercups always returned within a day. They marked the gate.
I was steps away from it when something hit me from my left. The force knocked me over, and I only barely managed to twist my body in a way that minimized the jarring as my knees hit the ground. It had been foolish to think the gate wouldn’t be guarded. My attacker was another elemental, seemingly composed of moss and leaves. They decayed and shifted before my eyes, marking just how weak the elemental really was. It could barely exist in this world. The creature’s chances of survival were slim, yet it had apparently thought it worth the risk to its life to come and take mine.
I struggled to my feet as it came at me. In one leafy hand, the elemental held a copper dagger, honed to a fine point. Copper was the toughest metal gentry could wield, and even if it wasn’t as effective as steel, it could still kill. The elemental’s moves were awkward and lumbering, giving me enough time to get to my feet, even in my addled state. I still held the iron athame and felt some satisfaction that pregnant or not, I was faster than this bumbling creature. It swung at me, and I easily dodged, giving me an opening with my athame. The blade made contact, slashing across the elemental’s green chest. It shrieked in pain, and I made an instant decision not to finish it off. I didn’t have the luxury of playing hero. That injury was more than enough to slow the elemental and let me spring for the gate. I hurried into the ring of buttercups and reached toward the Otherworld. The gate was a strong one that worked at all times of the year and required hardly any effort from someone who knew how to use it. It was another reason we’d selected this area.
The paths between the worlds opened, and I felt a slightly disorienting sensation, like I was being taken apart and reassembled. Within seconds, I found myself standing in the Honeysuckle Land, surrounded by my own soldiers. There was no sign of any foes here, and from the startled looks my guards gave me, my battle-marked state was totally unexpected. They wasted no time in responding, however, and had their weapons drawn the instant the elemental followed me through the gate.
Only, it was no longer an elemental. It wasn’t even an “it.” It was a she, a gentry woman no older than myself with brown hair braided into a high bun. She staggered two steps toward me, still holding the copper blade, before falling to the ground. Blood spilled from her chest, showing the severity of the wound I’d given her. It had been done with iron—the gentry’s bane—and occurred in the human world, where she was at her weakest. Maybe she could have survived a similar injury in this world, but now, it was too late. The blade fell from her hands as she feebly clutched at her bleeding torso. All the while, her eyes never left me.
“Death ... to the prophecy... .” she gasped out, just before death took her. The light left those hate-filled eyes, and soon she saw nothing. I felt ill.
New arrivals from the gate immediately drew my guards to attention, but it was only Jasmine and Pagiel. They looked as if they’d been in a fight but otherwise showed no serious damage. Jasmine looked at me first, and despite her hard face, I knew she was checking me for injury, just as I’d done for her. It was hard to believe we’d once been enemies.
Satisfied I was okay, she then glanced at the dead woman before meeting my gaze. “Well,” Jasmine said, relaxing slightly. “At least you don’t have to go to Ohio anymore.”
Chapter 2
The layout of the Otherworld defies human physics. There are no straight lines from point A to point B, even when you walk along a road that doesn’t seem to curve or fork away. One step forward on a road may take you into a kingdom you thought you’d cleared ten miles back. Most of the kingdoms tended to stay in the same proximity to each other, but there were no guarantees. A road whose quirks you thought you knew by heart might suddenly change without warning.
Fortunately, there were no such surprises today. The road we’d taken to reach the Hudson gate eventually got us back to the Oak Land, with only the expected detours into friendly lands. The Oak Land wasn’t one of my kingdoms. It was ruled by my strongest ally, who was also the one who made me the most nervous. Dorian and I had once been lovers and waged an Otherworldly war together. Things had fallen apart when he’d tricked me into a quest designed to conquer a kingdom I didn’t want. We’d been quite hostile toward each other for a while, but my pregnancy had changed our relationship. He was one of the advocates of the prophecy that said my father’s first grandson would conquer humanity, and so, even though he wasn’t the father, Dorian had vowed to aid and protect my children.
Once he’d ascertained I was alive and well, however, he showed little sympathy upon hearing about our ambush.
“I never understood why you had to go to that Ohoho place anyway,” he said, pouring a glass of wine. “I say good riddance.”
I sighed. “It’s Ohio. And you know why I was there. The twins need medical care.”
“So you claim. They can receive ‘medical care’ here. Ours is just as good as humans’. Do you want a glass?” He held up the wine bottle.
I rolled my eyes. “No. And that’s exactly the point. Medicine here’s not the same at all. Wine’s terrible for babies.”
Dorian swept into the sitting room to join me, elegantly arranging himself on a love seat that displayed his purple velvet robes to best effect. “Well, of course it is. I’d never dream of giving wine to an infant! What do you take me for, a barbarian? But for you ... well, it might go a long way to make you a little less jumpy. You’ve been positively unbearable to live around.”
“I can’t have it either. It affects the babies in utero.”
“Nonsense,” he said, tossing his long auburn hair over one shoulder. Life would be easier if he wasn’t so damned good-looking. “Why, my mother drank wine every day, and I turned out just fine.”