Part 34 (1/2)

d.a.m.n. When I'd first seen Rianna under the Blood Moon, when she'd still been Coleman's bound and subservient Shadow Girl, she'd worn a gray cloak. No. I couldn't suspect my childhood friend of being a heartless murderer.

Or could I?

I'd felt the killer's hope, her joy in that circle by the river. Tiddlywinx had said the witch wanted to be with her love. If the ritual was opening a way to be with true love, that might cause a lot of hope and joy. Love can cause great and terrible things.

I sank down on my heels, falling away from Holly as I clutched my own knees.

The pieces fit. The timing fit. Rianna knew what I could do. She'd asked me for help around the same time this started. She'd also returned my dagger, which was now following me around and had a tendency to tear holes in reality when used. It fit.

”Alex, what is it?” Falin asked, staring down at me.

I looked around. This room might be in my own castle. It couldn't be Rianna. But it all fit.

No, not all. What about Desmond? I suspected that he loved her, and there was nothing keeping them apart. And if Rianna was the accomplice and already hunting me when I came to Faerie, why didn't she trap me then?

So it doesn't all fit. I breathed out a sigh as that little bit of hope created enough room in my chest for me to breathe. But not much. The sick, dread-laced feeling still gripped me hard.

I stood and turned toward Kyran. ”You said you can get us to Nekros without pa.s.sing through the winter court?”

He flashed me a grin. ”My dear, I can most likely find the shadow of the witch you seek, but I believe we must hurry. Time is running out.” He peered into his hourgla.s.s again.

I stared at the rus.h.i.+ng sand and again asked, ”What happens when it runs out?”

”A moment in time, nothing more. But one I do not wish to miss.”

Right. ”Let's go.” We had a shadow to find and a ritual to stop.

”This would be the one,” the nightmare kingling said as the shadows in the nightmare realm separated to show the one, or really, the shadows, that he meant.

The shadows danced, leaping and twisting against the pale sand. Not just one or two shadows either, but more than a dozen, all in constant motion. I stared at it. This can't be right. There was too much movement. Too many people. It looked more like a party.

”Perhaps a little farther from the action.” Kyran lifted his arms and the shadows slid across the sand. The shapes that replaced them were large and too formless for me to decipher what had cast them, but at least they were still. ”This, I think, shall do nicely,” he said.

I nodded. As long as we ended up safely in the city we had a better chance of finding the accomplice-not Rianna, please not Rianna-than if we were stuck in Faerie. I waited, but Kyran made no move to lead us through the shadow.

”I have a confession,” he said, turning toward me. ”This is the door you need, but I can't open it.”

What did he mean he couldn't open it? Falin's hand on my waist twitched.

I swallowed around the lump suddenly lodged in my throat, but tried to keep my voice level as I asked, ”Do we need another shadow?”

Kyran shook his head. ”My power does not let me open doors into the mortal realm. But yours will.”

d.a.m.n. And this would be the catch. ”What happens if I open a door?”

”You can freely walk from the nightmare realm to the mortal realm until dawn moves the shadows and the realms no longer touch.”

No wiggle room in that statement, so it had to be true. What does he stand to gain? It hit me suddenly. ”If we can walk through, the nightmares can, too.”

”Very good,” he said with a smile, genuinely pleased.

”Alex, what is he talking about?” Holly whispered, stepping closer to me. I hadn't told her anything about the whole feykin planeweaver thing. Looked like I'd have some explaining to do-if we survived this. But not now.

I shook my head. ”Later, Holl.” I focused on Kyran again. He stood with his hands in his pockets, all his weight on one leg, the other knee slack, as if whatever decision I came to made no difference to him. ”What will the nightmares do in the mortal realm?”

He shrugged. ”The same thing they do here. Cause terror. Fear nourishes them.” He glanced at the hourgla.s.s. Only a thin line of sand remained in the top globe. ”You are running out of time.”

I looked at the hourgla.s.s. ”What happens when the sand runs out?”

He smirked. ”Ah, finally, you've asked three times,” he said, and I remembered too late that three was often significant. A weight stretched between us. It wasn't quite the same feeling as when a debt opened, but it was the same sort of magic. ”The hourgla.s.s counts the moments until all doors open when the planes merge-or the moment in which that is prevented. Hard to say which, but one way or the other, it will happen soon.”

d.a.m.n. He really had been s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with me this whole time. I glanced at the hourgla.s.s. At the rate the sand was falling, it had maybe twenty minutes until the top globe ran out of sand. And then the world as we know it will change. Or someone will stop the ritual.

I swallowed the bitter taste in my throat and stared at the shadows surrounding me. A few hours of nightmares, or a world where all known and unknown realities converge. Or maybe I was overestimating my evolvement. Maybe the collectors would stop this all on their own. Or the cops. Or some random good citizen who just happened to stumble by. But can I take that gamble?

I looked at Falin. ”What do I do?”

He shook his head. ”I would say the lesser harm for the greater good, but I cannot make this choice for you.”

”I'm voting for stopping the bad guys,” Holly said. She was a DA-her life was all about putting the bad guys away. She wiped her palms on her silk PJ bottoms. Nervous sweat? ”I guess this will be a little more hands-on than my normal approach,” she said, flas.h.i.+ng me a weak smile. ”But someone deserves a hefty serving of revenge.”

Nightmares it is. Except one problem. ”I don't know how to open a door.” I'd tried before; it hadn't worked.

”Yes, I did see your attempt in the shadow court,” the kingling said as he circled the hourgla.s.s.

”You saw?” That meant he'd been watching me long before I'd fallen through that nightmare. For all I knew, he'd sent my bad dreams.

He clasped his hands behind his head so his elbows framed his face. ”The planebender bent Faerie-hence the name. He took two places that normally don't touch and shoved them until they collided and a door could be opened between them. Very messy and very forceful. Your power is not. It is not your nature to shove realities around. Your power is to weave planes together.”

”And why do you know so much about planeweavers?” Kyran only smiled. ”This shadow exists both here and in the mortal realm. They sit directly on top of each other. All you need to do is tie them together so you can walk between them.”

Oh, yeah, real easy.

But I had to try.

I handed PC to Holly. I didn't want to be holding him while I tried to manipulate unfamiliar magic. If something went horribly wrong, I didn't want him caught in the side effects.

Then I lowered my s.h.i.+elds and focused on the shadow closest to me. I mentally reached for it, touching it with my power and trying to concentrate on the fact that it not only existed here but also was being cast by something in the mortal realm. At first all I saw was a shadow over sand. Then the shadow deepened, darkened, and I could tell it was being cast by a tree. Actually, more than one tree. I could see them. It worked?

A chattering sounded in the dark around me. Then the darkness surged forward. Somewhere behind me Holly screamed, but the nightmares weren't after us. They were aiming for the door and there was no stopping them. The nightmares poured through the door I'd opened-dozens, hundreds. Maybe thousands.

I swallowed, watching the monsters I'd released escape into the unsuspecting mortal realm. Let this have been the right choice. Then the nightmares were gone, the darkness strangely empty without them.

”What were those?” Holly asked, still breathless from screaming.

No one answered. Falin scowled at the opening, and I wondered if he still thought the reaper and accomplice's threat was more dangerous than what I'd released. But it was done now.