Unfamiliar Territory, page 25
Gilva let out a chuckle at my question. “Truthfully? Only once. Your relative from about a hundred and twenty years ago. Her name was Mildred.”
“Glad I didn’t get saddled with that moniker,” I muttered. “What happened to her?”
“Nothing bad, compared to what you’re dealing with. She fell out of a tree.”
“As a cat?” Tree-related clumsiness while in cat form was a true crime.
She smiled. “Yes. She was not the most graceful thing ever. Or the brightest, for that matter.”
I laughed in surprise. Gilva returned my reaction with a shoulder shrug and a cheeky smile. “What? I’m allowed to choose favorites.”
I sobered slightly. “Do I make the cut?”
She grinned and patted my hand. “My dear, let me fill you in on a little secret.” She leaned in toward me in mock confidence. “Even though we look nothing alike, you remind me of, well, me. And I like me a lot. You have got spunk, drive, and a strong will. All of these are excellent qualities to have when you are facing off against you-know-who.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” I responded with a sigh.
Gilva straightened back up beside me. “Now for the second thing I can do during this intervention. I am going to give you a little boost. It will be enough to refresh you temporarily, but time is of the essence once you awaken.”
“But what am I supposed to do?” Now that Gilva was talking about sending me back, the old panic was starting to creep back in.
“Do?” Gilva creased her brow at me.
I huffed a breath. “All my life, I’ve known that it may one day be my destiny to defeat Annie Coddle, but never once have I ever heard how. How can I possibly stop her plan? What do I do?”
“Oh.” Gilva shrugged dismissively. “Child, most of what you do must come from you. I, unfortunately, can’t give you all of the answers.”
I let out a little grumble.
“But,” my ancestor continued, “I can give you a little leg up. Do you know the transition phase between cat and human?”
I scrunched up my face. “You mean the shimmer?”
“The shimmer?” Gilva looked thoughtfully at me. “I suppose that is an excellent name for it. Yes. Do you know what it is?”
“Not really. I always figured it was just the in-between stage of transforming.” I had never even given it much thought, truthfully.
“It is, but also, the shimmer is a phase that most closely resembles my familiar state. You no longer have a corporeal body when you shimmer. But I imagine it only lasts a split second for you.”
“Well, yes, although the last time I tried to change, it was ... harder. It felt, well, sticky.”
Gilva nodded as if this made sense. But she didn’t elaborate. Instead, she forged on. “My advice? If your life is threatened again, do not just change forms. Surrender to the shimmer. Be the shimmer.”
“Be the shimmer?” I parroted back with confusion. “What kind of advice is that?”
She smiled and leaned forward to plant a tender kiss on my hair. “The best I can do,” she replied softly. “Stay safe, Cressida. And remember, the universe never gives us more than we can handle. You were born to do this. I have faith in you.”
Before I could get another word out, my vision washed out with whiteness before everything went dark.
“Cressida? Cressida!”
I slowly registered that my name was being called rather urgently. My body twitched in response, but this sent a pang of pain throughout, from head to legs. I groaned.
Oh good. I was still alive.
Cautiously, I peeled my eyelids apart. Dunisha’s frenzied face appeared before me. When she saw me stir, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness! I thought you had died!”
I grimaced as my head let out a twinge. “I think I might have, just a little,” I replied, as I strained to sit upright. “How long was I out?”
“Not long, just a few minutes.” She reached a hand around my back to help me into a sitting position.
I thought about her words. While Gilva’s domain seemed a bit timeless, it still felt like I was gone for much longer. Interesting.
Also interesting: I still felt like death, even though Gilva had given me a boost. Apparently, she wasn’t joking when she told me it was temporary. Which meant that time was a-wasting.
I struggled to stand. Dunisha lent me her arm for support as I hobbled to my unsteady feet. Once I was more or less vertical, I tugged on the arm that was helping me remain upright. “C’mon, let’s get going.”
“Where?” Confusion laced her reply.
“Time to kick some ass. We have to get to the throne room.”
“Now?” Her face was incredulous. “No offense, but I don’t see you doing much ass kicking. You can barely stand.”
“Yeah, it’s a problem.” I rubbed my forehead, trying to massage away the headache. It did not work. “But if I don’t do it now, chances are good I’m going to die again really soon. And this time it might be more permanent. So, it’s now or never.”
Dunisha gave me a once-over as she continued to hold onto me. “If you say so.”
“Excellent.” I waved a hand at the tunnel we were in. “Lead the way.”
And so, with Dunisha helping to support my still unsteady body, we made our way slowly up the tunnel incline. It would appear that we had finally found the correct path out of the underground maze. As we progressed, I felt a little better. I surmised that my boost was perhaps simply slow acting, and had taken a while to fully kick in. By the time the tunnel ended in front of a pair of familiar wide double doors, I was well enough to fully stand on my own without any shooting pains.
We both paused on the outside of the doors. I shot a glance at Dunisha, who returned the look.
“Are you ready?” I asked her.
She nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”
I began to count softly, nodding my head at each number. “One ... two…”
“Three!” That last number we proclaimed quietly in unison. We each grasped a door handle and pushed our respective doors wide open before we marched in with determination.
I’m sure it felt cooler than it looked.
Our forced entry was only seen by one person. And she had been standing on her throne, fondling the mounted antlers lovingly. I grimaced at the odd scene, but Annie had turned swiftly at the intrusion, even as she kept one hand rubbing a tine. She did not look guilty, just extremely annoyed at the interruption.
“You!” she shouted at us as we approached.
“Us!” I yelled back.
We stopped a few feet from her throne. Annie smirked menacingly, swiveling her fleshy body around and carefully maneuvering down from the stone seat. Once back on the ground, she sat with confidence.
“Any cleverness I’d grant you on your escape is forfeit by your complete stupidity for coming here.” She grinned mockingly. “As a matter of fact, I was just about to call you in here anyway.”
“Oh really? I just bet,” I bluffed with exaggerated swagger. I narrowed my eyes at the witch. “How convenient for you.”
“Truly, it is.” Annie sighed as she lounged on her throne. She smacked her lips together, making a wet popping sound that made me cringe. “I even planned to have a bit of a reunion. Guards!”
This last word was yelled shrilly by her rusty voice. It made me wince. Through a smaller side door that I hadn’t noticed until now, two more of her offspring walked in, carrying a limp figure between them. The form weakly raised her head. Though her hair hung down in her face, I knew who she was.
“Wren, are you okay?” I called.
“Of course she is, you silly cat!” Annie admonished me. “She is the key to my freedom. Once I get rid of you, that is.”
At my side, Dunisha nudged me and whispered, “Is that the dimension hopper?” I nodded as imperceptibly as possible. The Fae woman whispered to me again, “Then this is our chance to get out of here!”
Before I could react, Dunisha yelled and charged at Annie. Flabbergasted, I watched as she reached a hand out, already unhooking her lower jaw.
Ah, the good old bite-your-enemy’s-head-off routine.
Except it didn’t go as my Fae companion had planned. Despite Annie’s slothful demeanor, the moment Dunisha was within reach, the witch whipped out a hand like a cobra and grabbed the woman around her neck before her jaw grew too wide. Dunisha let out a choked gasp.
With a bored expression, Annie swirled her free fingers over the Fae. Instantly, a golden haze lifted through Dunisha’s skull and siphoned over to the clear crystal I had noticed earlier. The crystal sucked the shimmering mist up like a sponge. Within seconds, Dunisha had stopped emitting the haze, and every particle had been vacuumed up by the crystal, which had taken on a warm tint, like a lightbulb, but now looked clear again.
Speaking of lightbulbs, one clicked on in my brain. The crystal was the source of Annie’s power. Somehow, she had taken one of the natural crystals, the ones that already sucked up magic, but had perverted it to her own use.
Dunisha’s magic fully drained, Annie cast her off to the floor. The Fae woman hit the ground and bounced once, like a rag doll. She stayed prone on the ground, just a couple of feet from me.
I glanced at Annie, who had gone back to lounging as if nothing had happened. Risking her wrath, I rushed to my companion. Her eyes were closed, but they cracked open when I put a hand on her cheek.
“Dunisha?” I asked tentatively.
She smiled wanly. “I tried,” she whispered. She had no energy. “Sorry I botched it.”
“No, it’s okay,” I soothed, wracking my brain for a way to save her.
She could not even shake her head, but I could sense that she was telling me not to bother.
“I was living on borrowed time anyway.” Her voice was strained. “At least now you know where the magic is stored. In the end, I did help you out.”
I let out a tiny sob. Dunisha was rapidly fading before me.
“Thank you,” I told her with a watery smile.
She gave me a hint of a smile back. “Thank you for having the best of intentions.”
It was the last thing she said before closing her eyes. She did not open them again.
I straightened my body back up, wiping the tears away with an angry fist. My mind was in turmoil. I hadn’t known the green-skinned woman for very long, but damn me if she hadn’t already wriggled into my heart. Plus, I had never lost someone on my watch, friend or otherwise. I was furious at Annie for breaking my streak. My ass-kicking urge was back with a vengeance.
Annie glanced at the murderous look on my face. “Tut, kitty-cat,” she rasped out mockingly. “Keep your claws in. You are in no position to threaten me.”
I glared at her. “I think I’m in a fine position, thank you very much.”
“Oh?” Annie turned her head toward Wren, who was still being held up by the two guards. “I think you are forgetting about our little friend over there.”
My heart lurched. But my face did not show my fear. “I think you’re bluffing. You need Wren to live for your own needs. You said so yourself.”
Annie threw her head back and laughed raucously. My right eye twitched. The witch stopped laughing just as quickly as she started, her changing mood giving me mental whiplash.
“Are you really that stupid?” she taunted me. She waved a fleshy hand at Dunisha’s corpse. “You were in a better position before this thing gave me her magic essence. But now, I’m free no matter what.”
I said nothing, only stared.
Annie did not need prompting, however. “You see, I can either leave with Wren now, but only after you die, or I can kill you both and make my own portal, since you two will have given me just enough magical oomph to get the job done.”
“So, I’m to die either way?” I clarified.
“Yes.” Annie smacked her lips again as she smirked at me. “Your death is necessary. After all, you are the only one that can stop me. I have to get you out of the way first.”
“Makes sense, I suppose,” I agreed grudgingly. “But what makes you think I’m going to go so easily?”
She waved a hand in Wren’s direction but didn’t bother looking at her. “Because you are too soft-hearted to doom an innocent little girl.” Annie then took said hand and pierced her fingertip on the sharp point of her magic crystal. A tiny drop of blood oozed down the crystalline side. She withdrew something from the folds of her dress, muttered something I didn’t understand over it, and dropped the object.
It was Hail Mary.
Hail Mary floated in the air again. It turned a lazy half-circle, pointing its blade directly at Wren. Annie wiggled her bloody finger, and the knife took a small leap forward, like a rabid dog on a leash.
My heart dropped. Annie undoubtedly knew that because the blade had already tasted Wren’s blood, the knife’s next move would most likely be fatal. I had been outmaneuvered by my own weapon.
Annie wriggled her hand questioningly in the air, like a dead fish, and raised a barely-there eyebrow at me.
I panicked. “Okay, you’re right!”
Annie lowered her bloody hand with a satisfied smile on her lips. “Well, then, get on with it.”
She wasn’t going to kill me herself? “What am I supposed to do?”
Annie huffed in frustration. “Are you so dense that you forgot your little problem? All you have to do is turn into a cat. I do believe electrocution is a pretty quick way to go. I could have made this so much harder for you.”
“Oh, well, thank you for that favor,” I muttered.
Wren’s voice rose weakly from her spot. “No, Cressida! Don’t!”
I turned to her in sadness. “I promised your brother.”
She let out a small sob and lowered her head.
Annie harrumphed. “Tick-tock, time’s a-wasting.”
I glowered at her. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes. I recalled what Gilva said. “Surrender,” I breathed quietly to myself.
“I will not.” Annie must have heard, and thought I was talking to her.
I ignored her. Taking one last cleansing breath, I started the shimmer. As before, it was difficult to transition through it, but I pushed at the stickiness, willing it to let me in.
Be the shimmer.
After two seconds, much longer than it usually took, I opened my eyes with an odd mixture of relief at being a cat again, and dread at the knowledge that I was about to be killed.
Unless …
I could already feel the mounting energy around me. The static in the air made my fur stand up. Annie cackled with glee, anticipating the moment she got to watch me be snuffed out of existence.
I had to time this perfectly.
“Be the shimmer, be the shimmer,” I chanted to myself, aware that no one would understand me.
The roiling static coalesced around my feline form. The impending doom came to a resounding head.
I had no clue what I was doing. But in that moment, I gave myself up, either for success or failure. I surrendered.
Just as I felt the power of the spell coalesce and materialize into the lightning bolt, I shimmered.
Chapter 27
I shimmered, giving in to the sensation.
I used the stickiness and held on to it.
I had no eyes, but I saw all.
I had no body, but I simultaneously felt nothing and everything at once.
I was nothing.
I was everything.
I became the shimmer.
The lightning bolt struck the shimmer and continued to hammer pure energy into it.
But, as a being of pure energy myself, it did not consume me. I consumed it.
In my new state of consciousness, I saw and heard Annie shriek in fury as she rose from her throne. Instinctively, I knew it was a bad idea to let her do much else. So, I threw some of my extra energy her way in the form of a mini lightning bolt.
Simultaneously, I made sure to throw bolts at the guards holding Wren. I had tremendous precision with my throws.
Lastly, I hurled a big bolt of energy at Annie’s beloved crystal.
Annie screamed in pain and crumpled in front of her throne, clutching at her chest where I had zapped her. Both guards also fell, releasing Wren, who fell to her knees but looked in wonder at my new state of being. And the clear crystal, the reason for Annie’s success in this damned dimension, exploded into a million pieces, blowing debris all the way across the room.
And through it all, I continued to suck in the magically made lightning, consuming every last bit.
Until the spell Annie had put on me ran out, that is.
Once the last of the loose energy had been devoured by me, I let go of the stickiness and finished my transformation into my human body. It was that simple.
Feeling amazingly refreshed, I rushed to Wren’s side. She grasped my hand and got to her feet shakily.
“How?” she asked me with wonder.
I shrugged. “New trick,” I hazarded. I glanced at the two downed guards. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, also giving her guards a glance with distaste. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait,” I dislodged myself from her grasp. There was one more thing to do.
I meandered over toward Annie, tiny pieces of exploded crystal crunching beneath my boots. She had gone completely still, lying prostrate on her back with her legs at odd angles beneath her. Her arm and face on one side had been nicked by countless crystal shards, and many of the cuts bled freely. The pallor under her skin, however, was quite pale. I couldn’t tell if she was dead, although I assumed she wasn’t. After all, an immortal being might be impossible to kill.
Cautiously, I approached her body. There, around her neck, lay the locket, which glinted lavender through the cracks. Wren’s soul was still inside, waiting to be freed from its prison.
When the witch stayed unmoving at my approach, I grew braver. Reaching a hand down, I grasped the locket and readied myself to tug it off her neck.
Annie’s hand shot out and grabbed me by the wrist in an iron hold. I gasped and tried to wrench my arm back, but I couldn’t budge from her grip. Annie opened her eyes and stared deep into mine, her blood-pocked face a furious mask.
