Лори Девоти - Unbound

Kara pulled. Even though she couldn’t feel the bands against her skin, her wrists didn’t budge. “Why do I need these? I’m going freely,” she asked the bartender.

“It’s part of the—”

“Rules,” Kara finished for him.

He frowned. “They insure you won’t attack anyone as soon as you arrive.”

Kara spread her fingers and bent back her hands as if she were making a shadow puppet of a bird flying. She could still use her hands, or at least as much as she needed to for magic.

She smiled.

The garm pushed her hands down. “Don’t be getting hopeful. They don’t just hold your wrists. They bind your magic. With these on, you couldn’t light a candle soaked in whale oil.”

Kara’s hands slapped together and her head dropped. She stared at the round toe of the bartender’s black military boot. How would she free Kelly when she found her, if she couldn’t use her magic?

“We doing this?” Narr grumbled, grabbing her by the elbow.

“I’m ready. How about you, witch? You still determined to get through this doorway?” the bartender asked.

Kara looked up. The garm watched her, his blue eyes appraising. Meeting his blue gaze with her own, she replied, “I’m ready.” Access to her power or not, she was going to find Kelly.

“All right.” The bartender stepped behind the bar, fiddled with his computer for a second, then looked up. “They’re expecting you.”

Narr took a step forward, jerking Kara with him.

“Witch,” the bartender called.

She turned her neck to see him.

“Keep your nose down and your ears up. And remember…”

Narr took another step toward the doorway; Kara leaned back to hear the garm’s last words.

“In the other worlds, things aren’t hardly ever what you think they are.”

Narr tightened his grip on her arm. “Gotta go. Them outside’ll be getting restless.”

With a nod, Kara took a deep breath and strode into the murky darkness in front of her.

The sound of water whooshed around Kara. It was dark, hot and humid, like a rainforest at midnight. Only the thin strips around her wrists showed, pearly lines that bounced with her steps.

“They’re near. I can smell ’em. You smell ’em?” Narr whispered in her ear.

With Narr by her side, Kara could smell little else. She bit her lip and lowered her face to her shoulder, wiping a ribbon of sweat away. “Who…what are they?” she whispered back.

“You’ll see soon enough. The drop-off’s up ahead a bit. Just walk fast. I don’t like spending no more time than I have to out here.” With that, he grabbed Kara’s bicep and pulled her along.

Risk materialized in the Guardian Keep’s parking lot. Energy throbbed around him, the air heavy with the scent of greed and desperation.

Something brushed against him, whispering in his ear, “Go home, little doggy.”

He turned, his hands grasping for whatever taunted him. A laugh danced across the icy ground.

A woman dressed in a short green velvet jacket and purple high-top tennis shoes dropped a cigarette butt into the snow and stepped on it. Her gaze fixed on Risk, she muttered a curse and turned to leave, gesturing to something or someone Risk couldn’t see.

“What’s happening here?” Risk called.

She paused, then turned, her head cocked. “Nothing now that you’ve arrived.”

Something trailed over Risk’s face, caressing his torn skin. A cold wind whipped around his body, spraying snow and tiny ice shards into his eyes. The voice he had heard earlier chortled nearby.

Rubbing the ice from his eyes, he looked at the woman. “Is this your doing?”

She shrugged. “My daughter. She’s disappointed you arrived and stopped our quest.”

Risk tilted his head. “What quest would that be?”

The woman pulled a fresh cigarette from her pocket. “Bounty. We hunt bounty. There’s a good one for bringing in witches, but I guess you know that.”

Risk shimmered across the lot, materializing inches from the woman. His fingers flicked out to grab her cigarette and snap it in two. “What witch?”

She looked at him with dead eyes. “Any witch.”

Risk stared at her, still not sure what she was or what powers she held.

“Maybe your witch,” the woman added, a new cigarette appearing in her hand.

Risk reached out, intending on grabbing her, but she stepped back, disappeared for a second then reappeared. “I don’t have to talk to you, hound. We all know what you are. We’ve seen you here panting after that little witch.”

Risk flexed his hand, grasping nothing but air.

She smiled, then pushed his hand down with her own. “But because I have a weakness for lovers, I’ll tell you. Your witch is surely gone. She’s been inside too long and Narr’s in there now. If Kol hasn’t kicked them both out in the snow by this time, he’s let them through.”

An icy band clamped around Risk’s heart. “Through to where?” he demanded.

She raised her finger in a tiny no-no motion. “You’ll have to ask Kol about that. I don’t piss in a garm’s pasture.” Stepping back again, she held up her arm. “Time to go.”

As the wind twirled around her, she stepped off the curb and into the street. A thin bony tail trailed from under her velvet jacket, swaying to and fro with her steps.

Trolls.

Risk rubbed his hand over his face. This bounty on witches must be great, if trolls were out with the sky barely settled into darkness.

He stared at the swaying sign above the door to the Guardian’s Keep. Now he knew he was at the right place — there was a garm inside and it sounded as if he already had Kara.

Not bothering with the niceties of walking or opening a door, Risk shimmered into the bar.

A yellow light shone ahead of them. Kara shuffled along, her fingers gripping Narr’s grimy sweatshirt, sweat streaming down her face into her eyes.

“Ssstop,” a voice hissed.

“I have the toll,” Narr replied, his voice shaking. With one hand he reached behind himself, grabbed Kara and shoved her in front.

Blinded by the sudden light, Kara blinked. Featherlight, something flickered across her face.

“Ssshe looks like the other one,” the voice said.

Kara’s breath caught in her throat. Kelly. He was talking about Kelly. She squinted into the light, willing her eyes to adjust.

Four round yellow spotlights shot out at her from the darkness, a thin black vertical line making them look like cat eyes, but they didn’t blink. They held steady.

A wisp of panic curled inside Kara’s chest. What kind of creatures were they?

“She’s a twin,” Narr’s voice boomed from behind her, causing Kara to jump.

The foul little man was getting bold just as Kara’s bravado was failing her. Maybe because he thought he would escape soon.

His words seemed to excite whatever bore the spotlights. They leaned together, whispering.

Kara glanced around, looking for any clue as to where she was. With her back to the spotlights, she could make out shapes and movement around her. Fluorescent green streaks sped past her on both sides. Kara shivered, but held out her hands toward them.

“Can’t touch them,” Narr whispered in her ear. “They’s on the other side of the tube.”

“The tube? Where are we?” she asked.

“Jormun’s,” Narr replied.

Like that should explain everything.

“Who—?”

An exasperated sputter flew from Narr’s lips. “Garm’s right, got no business hanging out at the Guardian’s Keep, don’t even know who Jormun is.”

Kara waited, sensing the little man wouldn’t be able to resist being the smart one.

“Midgard Sea. That’s where you are. Them streaks are fish.”