Таня Хафф - Long Hot Summoning

Carefully brushing aside broken glass, Claire sat down cross-legged on the floor. It wasn’t quite a collapse. “I don’t know. I guess she didn’t want you to die.”

“Yeah, but it’s part of the whole ‘saving the world’ thing. It’s in my job description. Our job description.”

“And it seems that saving you was in hers.”

“I didn’t want her to.”

“She didn’t ask you.” Claire reached out and wiped away a tear with her thumb. “We’ll get her back.”

“Because you promised?”

“Because it’s part of our job description.”

“Right.” Diana dragged her sleeve under her nose, leaving a smear of darker pink across one cheek. “Time to sit around and sob about things later! Let’s get Sam and…” She paused, half standing, and cocked her head. “Is there a reason you’re flipping me the finger?”

Swelling had moved the second finger on her left hand out from the rest. “It’s broken.”

“It’s what ?”

“Broken.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“When?”

“Before!”

“During our copious amounts of spare time? While we were running for our lives, saving Jack, or trying not to be julienned?”

“Yeah, then.”

“Sorry, next time. Don’t touch it!” She leaned back away from Diana’s questing fingers. “I’ll fix it as soon as we cross back.”

“Does it hurt?” Jack wondered, coming out to the front of the glass.

Did it hurt? There were a number of things Keepers weren’t permitted to say to Bystanders. But since Jack was a metaphysical construct…

“Diana!”

Claire closed her mouth, words unsaid, watched Sam race toward them, and sighed. Probably for the best.

* * *

“…and then, he just vanished!”

“You accepted a challenge from the Shadowlord?”

Sam squirmed around in Diana’s arms. “For the three hundredth time, I’m fine.”

“You could have been killed.”

“For the five hundredth time, I wasn’t!”

Continuing to ignore the post-fight metaphysical analysis going on around her, Diana buried her face in Sam’s fur and held on tight.

“Ow, that was a rib.”

“Sorry.” She loosened her hold just a little and drew in a deep breath of warm cat. He smelled like safety and comfort. Okay, scraping the clump of shed cat hair off her soft palate wasn’t exactly comfortable, but still…She didn’t know what she would have done if she’d lost him, too.

Too.

Right.

As they reached the stairs, the whole procession moving at the snail-like pace of the most seriously wounded elves, she tucked Sam back under one arm and grabbed Claire’s sleeve. “Let’s go.”

“Diana, you have no idea how much I wish we could. While you were gone, I found out that Dean is in danger of…”

“Overfeeding the cat? Stepping on a hairball? Austin’s with him, how much danger can he be in?”

They were facing off at the bottom of the stairs, Arthur’s army breaking into two streams around them. The two elves carrying Jack set him down and leaned on the top of his frame.

“There’s a three-thousand-year-old life-sucking mummy staying at the guest house.”

“A three-thousand-year-old life-sucking mummy?”

“Say that three thousand times fast,” Sam muttered.

“No.” Diana absently stroked a marmalade shoulder and frowned at her sister. “Since when?”

“Impossible to tell with the time distortions.”

“How did you…”

“Claire!”

Claire nodded toward the sunburned blond starting down through the climbing elves, her pack in one hand and Diana’s in the other, declaiming apologies with every step. “He told me.”

“Who’s he?”

“Lance.”

“A lot?”

Arthur stopped beside them and visibly shuddered. “Fortunately, no.”

“While you were gone,” Claire explained, “I went on a little tour of the Othersides and…”

“The Otherside’s what?”

“The Othersides plural. Long story.”

“Then skip it. You found him…?”

“At our beach.”

“The one in the guest house?”

“Yes. Longer story.”

“Skip it, too.”

“He’s not Australian,” Sam announced as Lance reached the lower concourse and set the packs down.

Diana looked confused. “Why would he be?”

The cat shrugged as well as his current position allowed. “I have no idea.”

“He’s a Bystander. Wait.” She raised a hand cutting off Lance and Claire together. “I don’t care why he’s here, but as he obviously can’t stay, we’ve got even more reason to leave immediately. He’s got to go back, Dean’s in danger, Kris is in Hell —three strikes, let’s motor!”

Without the time to count to ten, Claire counted to three. “Believe me, Diana, I want to, but the injured elves are our responsibility.”

“No, they aren’t.” Diana nodded toward the Immortal King. “They’re his responsibility. We did our bit. The hole’s closed. The segue’s been disrupted, and without an anchor the two malls will continue to drift farther and farther apart. Street kids looking for a place to belong will have to look somewhere else—not necessarily a good thing but a thing. Our work here is done.”

Claire sighed, cradling her left hand in her right. The pain in her broken finger—which was now hurting up her arm, across her shoulders and into her right ear for reasons she wasn’t entirely clear on—made it difficult to concentrate, but Arthur was alive, Hell had been defeated, and the world had been saved from a shopping mall where midnight madness sales meant exactly that. However, while Diana had a point, she’d missed one as well. “Diana, Kris…”

“ Now, Claire! Or are you tired of Dean already?”

Even the ambient noise of bells in elvish hair quieted. Lance opened his mouth. Arthur shook his head. He closed it again.

There were also a number of things Keepers didn’t say to other Keepers. Claire made a mental note to say most of them to her younger sister at a later time. “I’m going to allow for the stress you’re under,” she said quietly. “Pick a door.” Any door would take them back to the access corridor in the actual mall. The point of departure remained the point of return regardless. “Let’s go home.”

“Fine!” Pivoting on one heel, shifting Sam’s weight against her hip, ignoring the little voice that told her she’d gone too far, Diana scanned the lower concourse stores. “There, that kid’s store, the Rainbow Wardrobe. Nothing bad should come out of it.”

“How responsible of you.”

“Don’t patronize me!”

“Fine.” Claire turned toward Arthur. “The mall is no longer a segue, so we can come and go the same way we can from any other place on the Otherside. I’ll be back to check on things.”

The Immortal King glanced at Diana, his blue eyes sympathetic, then turned his gaze back to her. Less sympathy, more understanding, Claire noticed. “When?”

Her watch appeared to be keeping time to a rhumba beat. “Unfortunately, I have no idea.”

“Claire! Now, or I’m going without you!”

Under no circumstances was Claire allowing Diana back into the world unsupervised. Even standing right beside her, it would be hard enough to keep her from making a foolish attempt to rescue Kris the moment she could manipulate the possibilities—on the other side of reality, it would be impossible. Claire picked up her pack, wrapped her good hand around Lance’s arm, and hurried to join Diana at the store.

When the door flew open on its own, they stepped back together. Jumped back together. Fortunately, Lance was in hiking boots.

A sound spilled out first—like a terrified chicken being chased by a snake.