Soulceress (The Mythean Arcana 2) - Page 79

Aurora’s familiar lounged on the island counter in the middle of the kitchen, graceful and sleek under the hanging glass lamps. When the Chairman’s ears perked up and he stood a little straighter, she realized that the other familiar was definitely female. She watched in disbelief as the Chairman sauntered toward the lady cat.

Good luck, dude.

Aurora popped up from behind the island counter, headphones on her head and a big grin on her face. Her skin gleamed golden in the white kitchen, and she was dressed in a bikini with a sarong tied around her waist. The shadows still swirled around her like black smoke, but they were calm. She gripped a shiny steel toaster in her hand.

There were two different Auroras, that was certain. Goofy Aurora with a toaster, and deadly Aurora who came out to play occasionally. Esha hoped that it would be goofy Aurora in residence tonight.

“Esha!” she cried, yanking the headphones off her ears. The faint pounding beat of rock music drifted across the kitchen. “You’re back. Do you know what this thing does?”

“Um, it makes toasted bread. Just stick the slices in.”

“Huh. Okay, then.” She put it on the counter and pointed to another appliance. “What about that thing?”

Esha stared at it, her brow scrunched. She wasn’t much of a cook, but hadn’t she seen one of those on an infomercial? “I think that one pops corn kernels into popcorn.”

“What the hell is that?”

“It’s a snack. Light and airy. Are you fond of cooking?” She gestured to the myriad appliances.

“Nay. No’ if I doona have to.

But I freaking love electricity. All the things you can do with it! And all these strange things for making food. Did you know there is a fire that bursts into flame in my bedroom? All I have to do is push a button on a little box and poof! Fire!”

“Yeah, it’s pretty nice.” Aurora would really get along with Ana, Esha thought. They were equally entranced by technology—Aurora because she’d lived in a time without it, and Ana because she’d spent the last few thousand years stuck in Otherworld, where nothing had changed since the time of the Celts.

“Gods, I’m starving. Do you know how to make any food with this stuff?” Aurora said.

“Sorry, not much of a cook myself. Unless you’ve got frozen pizza in the freezer, we’re out of luck.”

“Pizza?”

“It’s some fabulous food.” Which gave Esha an idea. She wanted Aurora on her side, after all, and she really didn’t want Aurora’s shadows freaking out the way they had before. Esha was more convinced than ever that they were making Aurora crazy.

Food would be a good distraction. Because she was in the aether, it wouldn’t take much energy to aetherwalk to get some. Distances weren’t applicable in the here and nowhere, so she’d save her much needed power. She called the Chairman to her. He gave her a disgruntled look, but with one last longing glance at the female familiar, he came to her.

“Hang on. I’ll bring some back,” Esha said before they disappeared.

In the haze of sleep, Warren reached out for Esha and found only cold sheets. He snapped awake, his eyes taking an interminable time to focus on the dim room lit only by a single torch in the corner. She wasn’t here.

His heart pounded a staccato beat as he leapt up, threw on trousers, and grabbed a flashlight from the floor near the bed. A frantic search of the three floors of the house revealed that his dire feeling had been correct. She wasn’t here.

Damn it. She’d gone back to Aurora.

Fear made his chest feel too tight. He raced up to the bedroom and threw on a shirt and shoes, grabbed his sword and the dagger he’d taken from the museum, then charged down the stairs and out the front door.

The disorientation hit him immediately, a false confusion cast by the magic that protected the place. “Fuck!”

He looked from side to side down the narrow street. In the darkness cut only by a moon that was beginning to set, they looked identical, but he was almost certain that they’d gone left when they’d sought out the temple before. He stepped into the street and his certainty vanished. Every memory he had of traversing these streets was gone, and he knew as soon as he got out of sight he wouldn’t know how to get back to the house. He could be wandering the labyrinthine city streets until he collapsed.

Bloody hell. Didn’t have much choice, did he?

He stepped onto the street and turned left. He hadn’t made it a dozen feet from the house before the shade that had followed them earlier appeared at his side. He glanced at it, realizing that it was more solid than he’d ever seen it, as if its strength surged and waned like Esha’s. Perhaps it was the soul of a soulceress.

“Can you get me to the temple?” he asked.

The vaguely human shaped shadow didn’t nod—he didn’t think it could—but it drifted ahead of him as if to lead. He followed.

Twenty minutes later, Esha returned from London with her favorite pizza and some beer. Thank gods the place served so late or she’d have been out of luck.

Tags: Linsey Hall The Mythean Arcana Paranormal
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