Frost & Bothered (26 page)

Not far, just out of sight of camp. I’d decided to take it in stages, in case something went wrong. Maybe then, I wouldn’t end up bouncing wherever, but actually land somewhere relatively familiar.

My second teleport did land me somewhere familiar: At the edge of the yeti challenge. “How did you pass him?”

“
The yeti ignored us, mistress
.”

“Huh. Hey, do you love me?”

My hound gazed up, his ears perked. “
Yes
.”

“I love you too. How about you call me Cordi instead of mistress?”

Leglin’s tail began to slowly sweep side-to-side. “
You will allow me to use your name?
”

“That is what names are for. Plus we’re family and pack.”

Faster wagging. “
Thank you...Cordi
.”

I bent down to hug his neck. “You’re welcome. Ready for another jump?”

“
Yes
.”

A
bout three jumps later, I stared at the mountains, wondering if we’d make it over them, or bounce off and land God knew where. “All right. Here’s our moment of truth.”

Tucking my fingers under Leglin’s collar again, I hesitated. Had our cavalry made it through yet? I didn’t really want to be stuck over in the buffer zone for a long time. “Quit procrastinating, Cordi.”

My hound looked up. “
What is that?
”

“Procrastinating? It’s putting off doing something you need to. Which I’m going to stop doing right now. Here we go.” I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and visualized the cave we’d spent the night in. My stomach flip-flopped as we hit something, but it gave way instead of bouncing us. A stale odor of smoke told me the last teleport had been successful before I opened my eyes. “Yay, we’re here.”

I knew the way from cave to tree line, and that we needed to travel left from there. Once out in the open, just out from under the trees, I concentrated on making short hops. Teleportation was much faster than slogging through ankle deep snow, though I had to be careful not to overdo it.

Didn’t matter which ability I used, they all took energy. I didn’t want to be too tired to make it back as quickly as possible. A rest would be necessary anyway, before trying to transport as many people as there were supposed to be coming to save our bacon.

Mm, bacon. It and coffee were two items Kethyrdryll didn’t have in his invisible kitchen.

My plan to stick close to the trees seemed to be working. We hadn’t seen any snow gremlins or the ice golem. The only problem I had was that I’d been out of it for part of the way, and didn’t know exactly how far to go.

Which was why we were making short hops. Probably why, after about an hour, I saw some figures not too far ahead. “I hope that’s our cavalry and not bad guys.”

“
Do you wish me to scout ahead?
”

I scratched Leglin’s neck. “Not yet. Let’s get a little closer, see what we can see first.”

Two more hops, and I knew it was the expected arrivals, because Dane was running toward us. He grabbed me into a bear hug, smooshing all my air out. “Ungh.”

“Sorry. Where’s Logan? Did you find Connor or any of the others? Don’t worry about your dogs, and I’ve kept the boss, Terra, and Sunny updated. I knew you’d call for Leglin sooner or later.” Dane finally released me, stepping back with a huge smile on his face. “So?”

I sucked in air, holding my finger up for him to wait. “Logan’s safe, we found Connor, Leglin told me, and I’m glad to see you too.”

"Y
ou're not planning to camp here, are you? Because there's a oh, you met the golem." One of the elves dropped the golem's head into a leather bag as Dane, Leglin, and I walked up. "But there's snow gremlins too."

"We've spelled the ground." Kate waved. "Hello, Jones. Strange choice for a vacation."

"Unfriendly too."

Thorandryll stepped out of the wine-red pavilion they'd set up. "Miss Jones. I'm pleased to discover you're well."

"Thank you."

"Now that I'm aware of the issue, your services are no longer required."

"Maybe you don't require them, but I am working for another client whose case involves your issue."

He shook his head. "We'll find the missing and return them safely home."

"It's like he doesn't know you at all," Dane said.

"The missing are now a matter of police business." Damian had come over from helping bag golem pieces. "And Cordi is one of our valued civilian experts."

"Basically, you're not allowed to blow me off." I gave Thorandryll my brightest smile. "Sorry, dude."

"I'll remember to keep my concern for your safety private from now on."

"Right." Like he really cared. If he did, Thorandryll would've been honest about his stolen grimoire. However, I did want to speak to him privately. My personal opinion of him being a total jerk aside, people deserved privacy when being given certain information.

Our discovery of his long-lost brother was that sort of information. "I need to talk to you alone."

Thorandryll's normal, arrogant expression faded. His lips tightened, and faint lines appeared on either side of his mouth. "Of course. Please come inside."

I followed him into the pavilion, working hard to keep a straight face. He obviously expected bad news. "Ooh, is that coffee?"

"Yes. Please take a seat." Thorandryll poured a cup and placed it before me. He then sat down next to me. "You found something."

I did consider drawing it out, but noticed how white the corners of his mouth were. "Kethyrdryll is alive."

His eyes closed, and his entire body sagged as his face softened. I had to smile. It was good to see his brother meant a lot to him.

Opening his eyes, Thorandryll smiled too, right before leaning and planting a kiss on my lips. "Dude."

"Thank you for bearing such welcome news to me."

I decided to let the kiss slide this time. “You’re welcome. Now it’s time for the bad news.”

“T
hat’s what we know so far,” I said, reaching for my coffee cup.

“You would have to fall into a mess hundreds of elves couldn’t handle.” Kate’s brow creased. “Is it hundreds? Or thousands?”

None of the elves bothered to answer her, too busy trading meaningful glances and touching their weapons. More than one wore smiles. Life in the real world must’ve been boring them, judging by the flickers of excitement tapping against the walls of my mental maze.

Great, all we needed were some trigger-happy elves to round things out.

“If you’re correct about this frequency idea, how are you going to teleport all of us into the Unseelie realm?” Damian patted Illusion’s back. The husky was gazing at me with his head cocked. “Wouldn’t this many people operating at a different frequency cause a problem?”

“No problem.” Startled, we all looked at Percy, who was perched on the back of an empty chair. The parrot stretched his wings wide. “Make bubble. Cordi’s aura.”

“What?”

Thorandryll nodded. “Yes, that’s possible.”

“What’s possible?”

“You have a strong aura, Miss Jones. With the right encouragement, it should be possible to cause it to expand enough to encompass all of us.”

“A Cordi aura bubble.” Damian smiled. “Yes, that would insulate us and prevent interference.”

I looked around. There were nine elves, each partnered with a hound, my three friends, Leglin, Percy and Illy. What would expanding my aura to allow all of them inside of it do? Would there be side effects, like elf residue smeared all over it? “I don’t know if I like this plan.”

“Me neither.” Dane frowned. “It sounds invasive.”

“Our auras touch all the time,” Kate said. “They’re not static second skins. They spin, pulse, and trail tendrils constantly. There’s no danger to Jones in this idea.”

That made me feel better. She’d been careful to keep Thorandryll from getting hold of my hair and blood, so the elf couldn’t use them for any nefarious purposes.

“Nefarious” meaning things I didn’t want to think about most of the time. The golden-haired prince had snuck a macking in on me once, while I was caught in a porno vision starring him. I suspected him of using glamour on me a few times as well, and knew he had a problem being truthful.

He was well over a thousand years old, maybe even over two thousand. A little up there to be sincerely interested in an often immature, twenty-three-year-old human for romance.

“Are you sure?” I didn’t know enough about auras. “It won’t break or crack or something?”

“Auras are elastic, Jones. Yours will return to normal once we’re done,” she assured me.

Dane still wore a frown, but I nodded. “Okay. What do I need to do?”

I
should’ve realized my witch buddies had no intention of allowing Thorandryll or any other elf to handle the aura stretching. It actually required two spells: One to make my aura visible, the other to allow them to reshape it.

Having never seen my aura before, I was dismayed to discover it wasn’t a single color, or even a pretty rainbow of bright ones. Instead, it was a swirling mess of fifty-fifty, bright and dark. “Is it supposed to look like this? That much black isn’t good, right?”

With Damian and Kate busy pinching and pulling at my aura, Thorandryll answered. “Each color represents different experiences, emotions, and bonds. Yes, black is typically considered negative, but no one travels through life without encountering situations that affect them negatively.”

“Oh.”

“The green, brown, and orange represent your bonds to the earth and your clan.”

“Neat.” There were healthy amounts of each. “What about the red?”

“Violence and/or passion.”

Way too much red, and I was certain most of it was due to violence. I wondered how red my aura would be if I lived to be eighty. “I should work on that.”

The elf chuckled. “Our auras are the history of our lives.”

“Mine’s hard to read.” I could pick out hints of gold, silver, purple, blue, and even rose. There were lesser amounts of other colors present, but it became difficult to see them as the witches stretched my aura thinner.

Damian stopped pulling to ask, “Any discomfort, Cordi?”

“Kind of beginning to feel a little itchy.”

He nodded. “This is far enough. Everyone inside.”