Storm Born Page 0,48

part of me noted how Kiyo slipped in and out of fox and human forms as Aeson used fire magic against him.

"Eugenie," gasped Kiyo, "get out of here. Now."

"Jasmine - " I began.

"The girl is gone, mistress," said Volusian. "The kitsune is right. We need to get out of here. Cut your losses."

"No." I stuck my head out the door. Jasmine was not in sight. Over a dozen or so guards running down the hall were, however.

"Eugenie!" It was Kiyo again. "Run!"

"Yes, Storm Daughter," laughed Aeson, blood running out of his nose. "Run home. Ask Roland Markham who your father is."

"You bastard - " I wanted to lunge at him, to help Kiyo, but Finn grabbed me.

"Jump now. Back to your world."

The pounding boots in the hall were almost upon us.

"I can't. Not from here. I don't have an anchor."

"Yes, you do."

He glanced over at Wil, who hung there, translucent and utterly useless. If it had been up to me, I would have left Wil and his betraying ass here to be destroyed, but suddenly he had a purpose.

Seeing my uncertain look, Kiyo said, "I'll go as soon as you do. They're here!"

And they were. Men pouring into the room. I probably shouldn't have cared what happened to Kiyo, but I did. I wanted him to get out of this alive. I wanted to find Jasmine and bring her away. But the best I could do now was save my own skin.

Invoking Hecate, I shifted my senses away from this world, reaching out to my own. While doing so, my will grabbed ahold of a startled Wil, dragging his spirit with me. A hard transition like that, without a crossroads or thin spot, theoretically could have dumped me anywhere in the human world. But I had Wil's spirit in tow. It had no choice but to snap back to his physical body, out in the Sonora Desert. If I was strong enough.

"Follow!" I yelled to the minions. Or maybe it was to Kiyo. I didn't really know.

The world shifted, my senses blurring. Crossing worlds in a convenient spot was like crossing through a wall made out of plastic sheeting. It was thin, and it took some struggling and clawing, but you could eventually get through. Jumping without a normal crossover spot, however?

Well, that was like breaking through a brick wall.

Chapter Eleven

Someone was screaming in the desert, and I didn't realize it was me until Tim raced over and grabbed my shoulders.

"Jesus! Eugenie, what's wrong?"

I broke from him, dropped to my knees, and threw up into a convenient shrub. That soon gave way to endless dry heaves, my body's distress too strong to stop. When I finally finished - it seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes - I ran my hands over my face. It felt like I had shoved my head through a window, cutting my skin to shreds. Yet, when I pulled my hands back, there was no blood.

Apparently convinced I was done bringing up everything in my stomach, Tim carefully handed me a bottle of water. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and then drank greedily. When I started to hand the bottle back, he shook his head. "Keep it. What happened?"

"Transition shock," came Volusian's flat voice. "You came through the worlds too hard and too fast, mistress."

"You should be dead," added Nandi. "Or at least segmented."

"Segmented?" asked Tim.

I nodded and drank again. "If you're not strong enough to make it work, only your spirit will get back here. The body stays in the Otherworld."

He stared. "Will that kill you?"

"Worse."

"What's worse than death?" asked a new voice. Or not so new.

Wil. I'd forgotten about Wil.

I leapt to my feet and spun toward him, gun drawn. Some part of me wondered if I even had bullets left. I'd changed the cartridge once in the Otherworld but couldn't recall how many times I'd fired at Aeson's men.

Tim's mouth dropped open. "Eugenie, put that away!"

"You don't know what he's done. He's a fucking backstabber."

Wil, sitting on the blanket he'd gone into trance on, froze, too afraid to move. But not too afraid to speak.

"I had to. It was the only way to get Jasmine."

"Yeah, it worked pretty well, huh?"

He sounded near tears. "I'd gone a year without any chance of getting her. Then that sprite cut me the deal. Said if I got you to go over, they'd give me Jasmine back. I'm sorry."

I didn't move the gun. "I was your only