come after them. Trap.” She unwound the bandage from her left hand.
“How?”
“How else? Maeve. We gave her a way in.”
“So maybe it wasn’t either of them.”
Callie shook her head. “She couldn’t have done it without someone coming to her to make a Crossroads bargain. And you said it yourself. This is the most powerful Crossroads in the city.” Bandaging and gauze fluttered to the ground. All that was left of the cut on her hand was a thin, pink line. She pulled the knife from her boot and traced the cut open again with the blade’s point. She closed her fist over it until the blood welled between her clenched fingers. “If this doesn’t work,” she told Liam, sounding a little breathless, “go to Sulie. She knew about Eva. She knows about me. She’ll know what to do.”
“Callie—”
She shook her head again. “There’s too much at stake. I’m sorry.” Her voice was as clenched as her fist. She told herself the tears pricking her eyes like acid were due to the pain in her hand. For a bright, shining moment it had almost worked, being with him.
Before he could respond, she dripped blood on the obsidian, malevolent black in the soft shadows of moss. Her hand shook. “There’s your heart’s blood,” she whispered. “Now open up, you bastard.”
Sensation not unlike what she experienced in Sulie’s humfor, the ground moving beneath her like the deck of a ship, shifting around her. She replaced her glove and knife with forced calm. Then she drew her sword, its familiar weight grounding her in reality as nothing else could. There was something reassuringly direct about the length of a steel blade in her hand, an anchor to what was real and true. She grabbed Liam by the coat with her bleeding hand and pulled him to her for a rough kiss as the Square spun crazily about them.
Then she turned away. The world snapped into place, and her hand was empty.
As though she’d held nothing at all.
Callie swiveled to face a dream, one that threatened to morph into nightmare. Black silhouettes blurred against an indigo sky, the ground beneath her feet hardly discernible other than the indisputable fact she was standing on it. She was still in Jackson Square, though not in the one she had just left. This was something else, something Other.
Something between .
She took a few careful steps, breath harsh in her throat, heart beating hard against her chest. There was no texture here. No sound, though trees and grass clearly rustled in a silent wind. Her sword was a heavy weight in her right fist. A cloaked figure beneath a wild oak bled in and out of shadow, until Callie wasn’t certain it was there at all. Her head spun if she tried to focus on it, her stomach turning. Her nerve endings pulsed and throbbed against her skin.
Ahead of her, a few thread-thin veins of glittering red gold teased her eyes. She walked toward it, one foot at a time. She kept having to pull her mind away from Liam, waiting for her beyond the boundaries of this place. The luxuriant feel of his mouth on hers, his strength pressed against her, equal but giving. She was tall, but he was taller. She liked that.
Fire flared with a sound that destroyed the silence. She shielded her eyes painfully against the sudden light. She should have been able to feel its heat from here, but she only felt colder.
The fire stretched higher, gathering in intensity, then exploded in four directions, following what would have been the gravel paths of the Square. Callie staggered back as it rushed past her.
The red gold veins began to slither and twist, to grow and move. Callie realized this was the demon she had come here to face, evolving from churning, gathering shadow. It reared against the moonless, starless sky. She had just time enough to marvel at its size, and to realize the fiery crossroads meant the life was now draining from the obsidian in the other Jackson Square. There was only one way out now, and that was forward.
So she
“How?”
“How else? Maeve. We gave her a way in.”
“So maybe it wasn’t either of them.”
Callie shook her head. “She couldn’t have done it without someone coming to her to make a Crossroads bargain. And you said it yourself. This is the most powerful Crossroads in the city.” Bandaging and gauze fluttered to the ground. All that was left of the cut on her hand was a thin, pink line. She pulled the knife from her boot and traced the cut open again with the blade’s point. She closed her fist over it until the blood welled between her clenched fingers. “If this doesn’t work,” she told Liam, sounding a little breathless, “go to Sulie. She knew about Eva. She knows about me. She’ll know what to do.”
“Callie—”
She shook her head again. “There’s too much at stake. I’m sorry.” Her voice was as clenched as her fist. She told herself the tears pricking her eyes like acid were due to the pain in her hand. For a bright, shining moment it had almost worked, being with him.
Before he could respond, she dripped blood on the obsidian, malevolent black in the soft shadows of moss. Her hand shook. “There’s your heart’s blood,” she whispered. “Now open up, you bastard.”
Sensation not unlike what she experienced in Sulie’s humfor, the ground moving beneath her like the deck of a ship, shifting around her. She replaced her glove and knife with forced calm. Then she drew her sword, its familiar weight grounding her in reality as nothing else could. There was something reassuringly direct about the length of a steel blade in her hand, an anchor to what was real and true. She grabbed Liam by the coat with her bleeding hand and pulled him to her for a rough kiss as the Square spun crazily about them.
Then she turned away. The world snapped into place, and her hand was empty.
As though she’d held nothing at all.
Callie swiveled to face a dream, one that threatened to morph into nightmare. Black silhouettes blurred against an indigo sky, the ground beneath her feet hardly discernible other than the indisputable fact she was standing on it. She was still in Jackson Square, though not in the one she had just left. This was something else, something Other.
Something between .
She took a few careful steps, breath harsh in her throat, heart beating hard against her chest. There was no texture here. No sound, though trees and grass clearly rustled in a silent wind. Her sword was a heavy weight in her right fist. A cloaked figure beneath a wild oak bled in and out of shadow, until Callie wasn’t certain it was there at all. Her head spun if she tried to focus on it, her stomach turning. Her nerve endings pulsed and throbbed against her skin.
Ahead of her, a few thread-thin veins of glittering red gold teased her eyes. She walked toward it, one foot at a time. She kept having to pull her mind away from Liam, waiting for her beyond the boundaries of this place. The luxuriant feel of his mouth on hers, his strength pressed against her, equal but giving. She was tall, but he was taller. She liked that.
Fire flared with a sound that destroyed the silence. She shielded her eyes painfully against the sudden light. She should have been able to feel its heat from here, but she only felt colder.
The fire stretched higher, gathering in intensity, then exploded in four directions, following what would have been the gravel paths of the Square. Callie staggered back as it rushed past her.
The red gold veins began to slither and twist, to grow and move. Callie realized this was the demon she had come here to face, evolving from churning, gathering shadow. It reared against the moonless, starless sky. She had just time enough to marvel at its size, and to realize the fiery crossroads meant the life was now draining from the obsidian in the other Jackson Square. There was only one way out now, and that was forward.
So she
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