“Did you find my daughter?” He didn’t even look at me when he asked.
“I have an idea where she is,” I answered. Truthfully, I’d known exactly where they stashed her this whole time, but I had my own things to deal with.
“We need her back. As long as she’s out there, we’re vulnerable,” he said.
“The entire camp that was causing us so many issues is destroyed. There is no one left to use her.”
“Several got away, and they took her with them. All it would take is their coming back and doing what needs to be done.” He sighed and walked back to his desk. “It’s not that I don’t care for my daughter, but she is a weapon in the wrong hands. You remember the deal.”
“I know the deal,” I snapped. “You’ll have your place in our world.”
“And never die,” he said. “That’s the deal.”
“I told you, I know the deal,” I turned on him and stepped closer. “Your little deal means as much to me as the dirt under my boot.” I cocked my head. “You humans are all the same. Expecting things from beings car more powerful than you will ever be.”
He kept his eyes on me. “We made a deal. I help you defeat the humans that fight back and you give me what you have.”
“What I have is natural to what I am. Do you want to be a demon?” I raised an eyebrow. The idea of making a human one of us was disgusting, but it wasn’t unheard of.
“If that’s what it means to get what I want.”
“You want power.” I sighed. “I’ll give you what you want once all of my brothers are here and Lynn is in my bed.”
“You have a strange obsession with that woman,” he said.
I closed my hands and narrowed my eyes. “That’s my deal.”
He leaned back in his seat. “Just get my daughter back so we can keep this door open. I’m sure you have plenty of witches that can bring more of your brothers here.”
“It doesn’t work that way. They have to be something more than human or even a witch.” I didn’t elaborate. Why would I give him that much information? He was interested only in what he wanted. “I’ll get your daughter, and you’ll have what you want.” I stepped back and left the room. I was lost in my own thoughts and didn’t see Mara come up beside me until she spoke.
“The Necromancer wants to see you,” she said. Her left hand pulled down the sleeve she wore now over the mangled old skin covering her arm. If I could get my hands on the witch who did that, she could be very valuable.
“What the hell does she want?” The last time I’d dealt with one of her kind, she’d made it clear they wouldn’t be working with us again. Necromancers were among those witches that stayed to themselves. They could see into the world of the dead and pull souls into this one and even extend their own life. It made them dangerous, but useful, and this one was seasoned in her craft.
“She wants to talk to you about the human she brought back,” Mara said. “He’s got some reservations and isn’t taking to the re-education well.”
“Of course not. He learned the truth when he died,” I said. “It should never have happened.”
“We had him on our side until that asshole, Ren killed him,” she said, her voice taking a bitter tone.
I stopped suddenly and smiled. We can use that. “I’ll talk to both of them. He’ll move to our side before I leave the room.” I glanced at her. “I have a job for you.” She crossed her arms but listened. “I need you to bring me someone and make sure no one sees him here.”
“Who?”
“An old friend.”

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Sam

New York Three Years Prior

“Are you ready or what?”
I turned to see my brother standing in the doorway, his light brown hair was cut short, like he liked it and he was wearing a long duster he’d stolen from some idiot we’d captured.
“Who’s the target?” I kept my eyes on him. He knew how I felt about doing in anywhere unprepared. When we were given a mark, I wanted to know everything. Even if once I shifted into them, I’d know every memory they’d ever had all the way down to their last orgasm.
“Some old acquaintances of Kalerians. He doesn’t want us to shift into her. He wants her dead.” Liam messed with something on the sleeve of his coat and then looked at me. “We’re both going in case one of us can’t get close enough.”
I slid my shoe on and looked at him from the edge of my fancy bed. One of the good things about being here was that we got nice things. While everyone out there was struggling to eat, we had a place to sleep and all the things we could want. It was part of the deal when we agreed to do this.
“Why wouldn’t one of us be able to get close?” I made a face. “Isn’t that all we do?”
“Beats the hell out of me. I just go where he tells me and kill who he tells me,” he said. “At least we don’t have to haul anyone back this time.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said. “Do you ever wonder if we’re doing the right thing?”
“What are you talking about?” He took a step into my room and watched me. “Do you really want to be one of those grunts out there that struggles for everything?”
“I just…” I sighed. “We do all this shit for them and for what?”
“Safety,” he said simply. “When the rest come up here, we do not want to be on the other side of this.”
“I guess you’re right,” I relented. He was. The fact that everyone who opposed this already had a target on their back was real. The amount of magick Kalerian and the rest of these demons had, no one could stop them. It was either join them and have a chance or die and I was not going to die. Not like this and not for a world that never saw me or cared.
“Come on. We do this mission and then we’re on a break,” he said, holding out his hand. “We’ll go someplace tropical.”
“You always had a thing for islands,” I joked and smacked his hand away.
“You always loved the cold, little sister.” He laughed. “You’re going to love where we’re going.”

***

I followed Cam to the little cabin, keeping Tara between me and Sophie. The last thing we needed was to get ambushed because something went wrong and have her caught in the middle.
Cam signaled for us to wait and slowly approached the door. I watched as he slowly opened it and stepped inside. The immediate burst of flames through the door was all I needed to know Bree was in there. Cam backed out with his hands up and glanced at me.
I stepped up next to him, and Bree’s green eyes slid to me. “Bree, it’s Sam, remember?” I held my hands up, and she blinked before letting her hands down.
“Sorry, I didn’t recognize him. What are you doing here?”
I motioned for Sophie and Tara to come and walked into the cabin. “We need help,” I said. “Lynn and Ren are gone, and we need to figure out how to take back the doorway.”
She glanced at me and then at Sophie and Tara. “That was the shot,” she said with a shrug. “There wasn’t a second one.”
“We can find a way; we just need to know more about how,” Sophie said. “I know the Phoenix and the doorkeepers are the primary ways, but there has to be something we don’t know.”
“Those doors were created with blood and only respond to it,” a woman I didn’t recognize walked into the room. She studied me as if I were a bug. Her dark hair was pulled back, revealing an under-shave. She was wearing dark ripped jeans and a gray t-shirt.
“And you are?” I said, matching her tone.
She raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly. “Lexa, and you’re the people that almost got Bree killed.”
“I wasn’t there. That was all Lynn, but we got her back to you,” I clarified.
“I take it you don’t get along with Lynn,” she countered.
“We have our moments.”
She nodded slowly. “If you’re looking for a door to close, we can’t help you, but if you want one to protect, we could use a hand.”
“That wasn’t the plan,” I said and shrugged.
“That’s all I have to offer.”
I glanced at Sophie and sighed. This was the one thing I was worried about. We needed to find a way to stop these assholes, and all I was being offered was a chance to protect a door we couldn’t close. “What if we helped find a way to close the door you’re protecting?”
She cocked her head. “How?”
“We find the doorkeeper,” I said it without thinking.
“That person would have to die to close the door,” she said. “Are you ready to be responsible for that?” Her eyes drifted to Tara. “You couldn’t the first time.”
“She’s a kid. Maybe this one will be older. Maybe they can make their own choice.”
“And if they aren’t?”
“Then I guess we are still where we started,” I countered. “Does that matter?”
She sighed. “It’s a waste of time. We’ve looked.”
“I can find them,” Sophie said, taking a step forward. “I have a knack for meditation and finding things.”
Lexa glanced at Bree, who shrugged. “They did keep me alive, and I owe Sophie for that.”
“Of course you think you do,” she said with a frown. “Fine. You can try, but we have to talk to the others about your being here.” She glanced at each of us. “They don’t like outsiders. We barely got them to allow us to help.”
“So, we’re not in England?” I looked at Sophie. “I knew it.”
“No, you’re standing almost on top of the door in Iceland,” she smirked. “Couldn’t you tell by the northern lights?”
I shrugged. “I was almost in a firefight five minutes ago. Kind of preoccupied.”
Lexa smiled wider. “Maybe we will get along.”

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Ren

The sword in my hand buzzed with power, but before I could figure out why, Lynn was on one knee next to the tree, her teeth gritted in pain. I turned to see the same fucking big-ass demon coming right for us.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet. “We’ve gotta go now.”
She pulled back from me, and her back hit the tree she was leaning on a minute ago. “Something’s wrong.”
“Yeah, that demon is going to kill us,” I snapped and pulled her away, but the sword in my hand didn’t just buzz, it crackled with power this time. I reached for it, thinking my power was too far, and felt a sliver of it just within reach and grabbed it.
Power pushed through me, into the edges of my fingers and up my arms. I didn’t wait; I let it loose at the demon heading straight for us.
The look of surprise on his face was all I needed to see to make it worth it. The electricity struck dead center, and he fell onto his back with the force, but it wouldn’t keep him down long.
I turned back to Lynn and grabbed her arm, pulling her deeper into the forest.
“How?” was all she could manage while I kept pulling her as far from the demon as I could.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. I was cut off from everything up until the moment we hit that treeline. The only thing I had was that buzz of energy from the sword, but it didn’t hold power as far as I knew. Of course, Lexa rarely told me anything. Maybe this was one of those things.
Lynn was still holding her arm, but the way she looked at me was different. The golden eyes she normally had were darker, and the energy coming off of her was heavy. Dangerous. I decided now wasn’t the time to press her about it. That fucking mark was going to change her, and I’d be stuck watching if I didn’t get her out of here and back home.
She stopped suddenly, and I spun around to see what the hell was going on. Her brows furrowed. “You don’t feel that?”
“What?” I said, glancing behind us.
She held up her hand. “Right here.” She didn’t move her hand, but the black inky tendrils wrapped around her hand and wound up her fingers as I watched.
She held her hand there, and it was like a curtain opened slowly, but it was there. Another place appeared inside the tear, and she looked at me with her eyebrows raised. “Is that?”
“Yep,” I finished. “Get through so we can close it before that demon catches up.”
She hesitated but stepped through the tear, and I followed, watching as she did the same thing and it closed behind us.
I glanced at her hand, and the new marks remained. “Every time you use that, the mark gets bigger.”
“We’ll deal with it once we get out of here. This was the plan, right?” She met my gaze, and I forced a smile.
“Right.” I held it a little too long, and she cocked her head at me.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I can’t handle myself,” she said.
I smiled wide, a genuine smile this time. “I know you can. That’s why I let you go off and make stupid choices and then show up to save you.” I stepped closer, fighting not to push the same stray hair from her eyes that always fell when she was mad. She didn’t move, and neither did I. “Why do you think I do all that?”
“Because my father would kill you if you let me die,” she answered.
“Not even close,” I said and debated whether I should just tell her the truth. Tell her I’ve always loved her and would do anything to keep her alive.
“If my father doesn’t tell you, how do you always know when I need help?” She held my gaze.
I sighed and pulled the necklace with the little Kleenex with her blood on it, in a glass vial from under my shirt. “Because you’re always with me.” I paused for a moment. “Because I never wanted to let you go, even when we were kids.”
“You kept that?”
I tucked it back in my shirt and shrugged. “Yeah.”
A breaking branch caught both of our attention. “We can’t stay here,” she said.
“I know.”

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Sam

I followed Lexa down the hill on the other side of the cabin we’d stayed in with her and Bree for the night. The cool air felt nice, but the energy was unsettling in a weird way. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something off. Maybe it was the doorway blasting energy from about two hundred feet away or the fact we’d ended up in a completely different place than we thought we would.
“Where does this door go?” I glanced at Lexa, but she didn’t bother looking at me.
“We don’t know. There is some debate. It could be a back door of some kind, or it could lead someplace up instead of down,” she said.
“So, you’re protecting it instead of just closing it?”
“I already told you, we tried to find the one that can close it. We don’t have anymore Phoenix’s. Your friend made sure of that.” Her tone went to slight anger.
“I doubt she meant to hurt anyone. Lynn is… complicated,” I said.
“She still led Kalerian right to them, and everyone died.” Lexa finally looked my way. “They were kids.”
“And she has to live with that,” I countered. “Just like you live with every death under your watch.”
“And you have to live with the ones you killed when you worked for them,” she said. I snapped my eyes to her. “Did you think I wouldn’t know who I was working with?”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Only a couple of years.” She eyed me. “What changed?”
“I found a friend,” I said simply. I didn’t want to explain all the shit I went through to find Sophie and Paige. Hell, even Leah believing in me was more than enough to make me believe it. Fuck, Leah. I still didn’t know where she was.
She glanced back at the cabin. “A friend, huh? Does she know that?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Sophie is my business.”
She chuckled and turned her gaze forward. “Don’t worry. The last thing I want to do is get into people’s messes.”
I let it drop. Lexa was just someone I was working with. No point in letting her in on my business. They didn’t need to know how lost I felt or that I had no idea where to turn next. The only thing I could do was try to find a way to close these damn doors, and maybe that would be enough. Maybe I’d finally feel less like the shapeshifter I was and more like the woman Sophie needed me to be.
Or maybe I was kidding myself.
I could see the slope of the hill fading and a large camp coming into view. It was bigger than our Wyoming camp was before Kalerian destroyed it. There were varying-sized tents set up with what looked like a round firepit in the center. People were sat at the fire doing various things, but a tall blond man with long straight hair cleaning a sword caught my attention. I glanced at Lexa and then back.
She laughed slightly as she followed my gaze. “That’s Mykr. He’s not from here either.” His gaze slid to me, and his dark eyes caught me off guard. “Yeah, he’s not exactly human, but Sunna says he’s good, so…”
I swung my head to look at Lexa. “I mean, I get what she sees in him.” Her eyes slid down his body, and I couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
We walked a bit further into the camp itself and were met with eyes everywhere looking our way. I was glad Sophie, and the others stayed behind for this, because it seemed we were going to get less than a warm welcome.
Just beyond the camp was something that took my breath away. A wall of colors mixing in ways they shouldn’t. Greens and purples moving into each other and swirls of soft reds. It was as though the northern lights became a curtain begging us to enter. The energy coming from it was more than I’d ever felt, even when I was right on top of the door in Wyoming.
Lexa took a sharp turn to the left, and I followed along with her until she stopped at the door of a larger tent towards the outskirts of the camp.
“I’ll do the talking unless she asks you something,” Lexa said. “She knows me, and we’ve been in the shit for a minute.”
“Got it,” I said. There wasn’t any point in making waves. I needed help as much as they did, and maybe this Sunna would have the answers we needed to close our own door.
She stepped in and I followed behind her. Standing with her back to me was a tall woman with long light hair. She was messing with something in a drawer and seemingly didn’t know we were there, but Lexa made no effort to let her in on that.
“Who’s the new girl?” Sunna didn’t turn around as she spoke.
“This is Sam. She and her people came to help,” Lexa answered.
“We don’t need more people,” Sunna said before she turned to face us. “We need to close the door.”
“She seems to think she can help with that,” Lexa said, and I took in Sunna for the first time. Her long hair fell over her shoulder. She was young, mid-thirties at most, and wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. That made sense since we were so close to the Arctic Circle. Her eyes were unique, like Mykr’s but instead of being dark, they were a light purple with flecks of gold. Definitely not human.
“How?” This time her question was directed at me.
“My friend Sophie. She can reach places most can’t with her meditations. She can find your doorkeeper.”
“What do you want if she succeeds?” Sunna kept her eyes on me. Her gaze was becoming unnerving.
“We want help to close our own door,” I said. “We have the doorkeeper, but she’s a child. There has to be another way.”
“There are only two ways to close the doors: a Phoenix or the doorkeeper. That’s it,” she said.
“No, I don’t believe that. There has to be a way where someone doesn’t die.”
“Strong magick takes sacrifice. This is the ultimate one. It’s not just about dying; it’s about the people left behind. They get to live,” her eyes screamed that she knew exactly what she was talking about.
“Who are you?” I couldn’t help myself.
She smiled slightly. “I’m someone who already lost their world and doesn’t want to see that happen to someone else’s.”

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Lynn

I closed my hand and inspected the dark lines snaking up my fingers. The mark was getting bigger, and the burn of magick stronger. Something had changed since I’d gotten thrown through the door to hell. Something I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to fight.
The hum of magick felt good under my skin, like a high I couldn’t come down from, but I knew it was a lie. It was something dark and dangerous.
I wasn’t sure I cared anymore.
“Lynn,” Ren said, catching my attention.
I looked up at him and shrugged. “What?”
He furrowed his eyebrows, and we trudged further into the foggy edge of the forest. At least we were leaving the trees behind at this point. I could barely think about what had just happened between us. We were in the middle of a war, and that was the last thing I wanted to think about. I couldn’t let myself get too close. Couldn’t be open to the idea we could be together, not when everything and everyone wanted to either kill me or own me.
I didn’t notice the hole I stepped in until my ankle gave way and I heard a pop. I fell forward and hit my hands on the soggy ground. The pain burned up my leg and I rolled onto my back.
“Are you kidding me?” I bit out.
Ren kneeled beside me and surveyed the damage. “It’s not bad. Probably a bad sprain or light break.”
“Light break?” I spat at him. “That’s going to cause so many problems.” I couldn’t get out the string of curses on my tongue before a tiny arrow hit him in the neck. He reached up and pulled it out, annoyed.
“What the hell?” He managed to say it before his eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground beside me. A second or two later, I felt a sharp pain in my own neck and everything went dark.

***

Japan 1545

I leaned over the edge of the bridge to look at the fish below better. The cherry blossom petals dotted the top of the water as they blew from the trees above me. The sun was down and most of the village was asleep.
I glanced to the edge of the water, still waiting to see if Kalerian was coming or if he’d be like the others, I spoke to. Afraid of my father.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t show?” His voice said from behind me.
I smiled slightly. “My father makes people nervous,” I answered simply.
“I’m not afraid of your father,” he said simply. “He’s just a man.”
“A man that could have your head with a wave of his hand,” I said, turning to face him.
Kalerian laughed, and the air seemed to chill. “Unlikely.”
“You seem rather confident,” I countered.
He cocked his head. “Confidence is easy when it’s true.” He glanced at the bridge and then at the cherry blossom tree and back at me. “Were you waiting to see if I came to kidnap you before going all the way to the tree?”
“You wouldn’t get far if you tried. There are guards everywhere,” I said. “I got distracted with the fish.”
“Do you still want to learn how to hit any target?” He kept his eyes on me.
I bit my lip. This was going to make my father angry, but if I wanted to keep up with the others without my magick, I needed to learn what I could. “Yes.”
He walked past me towards the tree and then turned when I didn’t follow right away. “Come on, then.”
I walked to the edge of the bridge and watched him pull several throwing kunai from his robes. He handed me two when I got close enough and walked to the tree, turning so his back was against it.
“Throw and hit the tree,” he said simply.
“You’re standing in the way,” I countered.
“Make the blade go around me.”
“That’s not possible without magick. I’ll hit you,” I said.
“You can’t hurt me with those.”
I hesitated, my hands growing sweaty with the idea of throwing these with him in the way. I’d never forgive myself if I killed him. My father wouldn’t either.
“You already know what to do. Trust yourself,” he said.
I sighed and glanced at the cold metal in my hand. It was sleek and light. It would have a different throw than the ones I was used to. My eyes flicked back to him, watching me as I threw the first one. It struck the tree next to his head, and he smirked.
“Now the other one,” he said simply.
I took a breath and threw it to the other side, but this one was off. I knew it the moment it left my hand. The blade slammed into his shoulder, striking the tree through his flesh.
I took a sharp breath, and he reached up and pulled the blade out of his shoulder. “You need more practice, it seems.”
I quickly walked up to him and tried to survey the wound, but he stepped to the side. “I’m so sorry.”
He laughed slightly and slipped the blade into his pocket. “I’ve been wounded worse. You’ll learn.”
“Let me at least bandage it for you,” I said.
“I’m fine.”
I held his gaze for a moment longer before looking away.
He stepped forward, letting his fingers run through my loose hair. “We’ll meet again and work on that throw. You’ll need it for what’s coming.”

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Sam

I sat at the edge of the fire pit and let my mind wander as I watched the flames dance in front of me. Everything was so messed up. Why hadn’t I thought about Lynn not getting her part done because Kalerian was so much stronger than her? Why hadn’t I realized how this was going to end? When Paige died, she was depending on me to keep everything going. She said it was up to me, and all I could do was wander around like an idiot and watch others making the choices.
“I know that look.”
I glanced up, my trance of self-pity broken. Mykr’s dark eyes fixed on me.
“I was just in my thoughts,” I said, trying to shake off how eerie it felt with him just standing less than five feet away and his dark orbs instead of eyes looking right through me.
“Yes,” he said simply. “I’ve also been lost in thoughts since coming here.”
“What happened?”
“To my world?” He smiled slightly. “Many things, but someday I may go back and everything will return to what it was.”
“That’s a little cryptic,” I said without thinking.
“Humans don’t understand how these things work. Worlds die and are reborn every day,” he said, taking a step closer. “Yours is now going through its own rebirth. When the pain of that ends, you will remake it.”
“And what will you do?”
“It depends on how this world is born,” he said simply. “I’m only here to help with the pain and maybe guide.”
“So, you don’t fight?”
“I didn’t say that,” he said with a slight smile. “You need all the fight you can get.” I nodded. “You shouldn’t limit yours.”
“What do you know about the way I fight?”
“I can see it in your energy. You don’t fight with guns and knives. You fight with magick, but you’re afraid of what you are.”
“I’m not afraid of what I am,” I snapped. “I’m…”
“You did bad things in your past. So have I,” he said. “Learn.”

***

“Are you good?” Sophie walked to me and took a seat. She glanced at the intimidating Mykr and back at me. “Sam?”
I glanced at her. “I’m okay. This is Mykr. He’s…”
“I’m not from here, but was having a nice conversation with Sam,” he said with a smile that gave me chills.
“Are you a Fae?” I finally just asked. I mean, we all knew they were around, but they didn’t make an appearance much.
He laughed. “No.”
I waited, and Sophie’s gaze drifted from me to him and back.
Mykr smiled at her and then looked back at me. “I’m an elf.”
I cocked my head. That was a being I’d never heard of. “Oh.”
He sighed. “A very long ago, the Fae divided into two courts. The Seelie and the Unseelie. They fought for territory, but neither could win as they were evenly matched.” He glanced past me and at the door, the colors reflecting on his skin. “The UnSeelie moved into Elfland. Destroying everything in their path.”
“You lost your home,” Sophie said. “That must have been devastating.”
He smiled slightly. “It was difficult. Most of the Elves were killed or imprisoned. Sunna and I found each other on this side. We made a life here until the war moved to this world.”
“It’s not the same people, though. The Fae aren’t fighting us,” I said. If we were facing those odds, we wouldn’t have a chance in hell of surviving. It was hard enough with these demon kings on the loose.
“Not yet, but she has alliances that could bring her here,” he said. “That’s why we protect the door. She may choose to use it.”
“She?”
“The UnSeelie Queen,” he clarified. “If she can’t win against the Seelie Court, she may try to take this world or a piece of it.”
I glanced at Sophie. “That changes things. We need to find that person that can close the door now.”

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Lynn

Muffled voices were the first thing I noticed, drifting into the darkness.
“Do you think she can hear us?” A soft male voice said to my left.
“Why did you have to stun her?” another said in the same general area.
“Did you see her arm? She’s one of them,” the first voice said.
I blinked, fighting off the headache threatening to keep me asleep, and tried to focus on anything, but the only thing I could see was the dark sky above me. Then, there was a bare tree trunk with no leaved leaning over.
I took a sharp breath and pulled myself to a sitting position.
“She’s definitely awake,” the moving tree thing said. When I looked a little closer, I could make out what looked like eyes and a faint mouth above some of the lower bare branches. “Don’t try to run. The little ones may be small, but they can take down a deer with those arrows.”
I glanced to the left of me and saw a line of tiny men wearing equally tiny clothing with bows drawn ready to shoot me again with arrows.
“What is this?” I looked at the tree watching me with its unnatural eyes.
“They caught you, demon,” he said. “And we are taking you back.”
“I’m not a demon,” I said. That’s when I realized Ren was nowhere in sight. “My friend, the blond that was with me, where is he?”
“He’s safe from you,” one of the tiny men yelled at me, and I raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not a threat to any of you. I’m trying to get home.”
“Demons stay in the lowest level,” another one said, poking me with a sharp stick.
“I’m a human, from Earth, not a demon,” I said, looking back at the tree.
“That black mark says otherwise,” he countered.
“Ask my friend. He knows me. We grew up together.” The tree glanced at the tiny people, and one of them walked off in a direction behind me. “What are you?”
“That’s a rude question to ask when your life is in my hands,” he said, his mouth angling into a strange frown.
“I didn’t mean any disrespect. I’ve just never seen anything like you before,” I said. Maybe if I framed it in a way that didn’t scream ‘Are you a part of the UnSeelie Court,’ he would be more willing to answer.
“You wouldn’t, little demon,” he said, leaning over me slightly.
“I’m not a demon,” I said again, this time with a slight sigh. “We were running from demons.” He watched me but didn’t speak. “We were thrown through the doorway from Earth.” I looked down at my feet curled under me. The one I’d gotten stuck in the hole was feeling better than ever. “Wait, my foot isn’t hurting.”
“I healed you,” he said simply.
“Why would you heal me if you think I’m a demon?” I watched the conflict on his face.
“You could be a human or you could be a demon. I don’t know. Both are there. It’s very confusing.”
“Tell me about it,” I said. “I didn’t do this.” I pulled my arm up so he could see the rune Kalerian put on me where all of this started. It was nearly engulfed by the dark veins and lines running up and down my arm.
The tree dude looked at it and sighed. “You may not have started as a demon, but you are becoming one.”
I opened my mouth to tell him no, that wasn’t possible, but the words died on my tongue. It was entirely possible Kalerian would want this. That he would want me to have all the power of a demon and not know how to use any of it. That was his way. He manipulated people into thinking they needed him and then controlled them.
“That’s not what you wanted to hear,” he said, cocking his head at a weird angle.
“I don’t want to be a demon,” I said. “But if I gave in to it, I could save my friends, couldn’t I?”
He watched me for a long minute before answering. “You would have immense power, but you wouldn’t be human anymore. You’d be what they made you.”
I dropped my eyes and looked at my hands. One covered in that black magick ink that wrapped around my fingers and wrist and the other, completely human. I curled my hands into a fist and shook my head. “I’m not a demon.” My chest tightened, and filling my lungs with air was hard. Tears stung the edges of my eyes. I’m not a demon.
I heard footsteps coming from behind me and wiped the tears that were threatening to come away.
“She’s my friend, not a demon, you little monster,” Ren said, putting his hands on my shoulders. “We’re trying to get back home.”
“Mmm,” the tree said, looking away from me and to him. “Earth, right?”
“Yes, can you help us or are you going to harass us some more, Elemental?” His tone was firm. I raised my eyebrows at the way he was talking to a Fae.
“An elemental?” I took him in a little more. He was definitely creepy with his bare trunk and barely any leaves on his maybe two branches. His face was set in the center of the trunk about six feet off the ground, and he walked on his roots, reminding me of a spider in the way he moved.
He grumbled and waved the tiny men towards him. “I was on my way to the door. These elves are refugees from the war with the UnSeelie Court.”
“Wait, elves?” Ren said, helping me to my feet. “I didn’t think they were real.” One of the last tiny men stabbed him in the ankle, and Ren flinched. “What the…” the tiny dude stuck his tongue out and hurried away.
“They can be temperamental,” the Elemental said, grabbing him and putting him through a small hole carved in his trunk.
“Can you take us?” Ren rubbed his ankle as he spoke.
The Elemental took a breath. “I can take you, but if there’s trouble, I’m not helping you.”
“Fair enough,” I said.

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Sophie

We walked to the edge of the camp, near a little river. The sound was beautiful compared to the roar of the door. The colors were stronger the closer we got, but here it was like we were sitting on the edge of the world. The water moving downstream was a sweet lullaby to get into meditation with.
“This is the only good place I could find,” Sam said, waving at the water. “I know how water helps you with this kind of thing.”
“We lucked out last time,” I said. “You know, with the ocean so close.”
“It was Japan.” She glanced at me with a slight smile on her face. “Water was everywhere.”
“Do you wish you’d stayed?” I watched her, and she shrugged. “You liked the calm there.”
“I didn’t like feeling useless,” she countered. “I couldn’t fight like the others or use magick that was useful.”
“Your magick is useful,” I said. “I know you don’t want to use it, but it can help.”
“Sophie,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not going there.”
“I know you don’t believe you can keep yourself from going dark again, but I do.”
I sat on the edge of the water, and she took a seat next to me. “You always seem to have faith in me for some reason.”
I chuckled. “I have faith because I know you.” I held my gaze on her. Her light hair fell forward slightly, blocking my view of her face. I reached over and pulled it back behind her shoulder. “I know you can do anything.”
She held my gaze and leaned closer. “I can’t hurt you. I won’t.”
“I know,” I said, and she leaned closer, her lips almost touching mine.
“Sophie, I’m in love with you.”
I closed the gap between us and let my lips push against hers. My eyes closed as I deepened the kiss I’d wanted for ages. Sam wasn’t just one of my best friends; she was everything. She was the reason for keeping fighting when I was tired. The reason I felt safe wherever we went. She was everything.
She pulled back, and I struggled to catch myself. I wanted more than just her lips on mine.
“I want this, but first the door has to be closed,” she said. “I want a future, not just right now.”
I nodded, even though right now would have been just fine with me. “Let’s find them.”
She smiled and reached for my hand. “Let’s find them.”

***

I sat on the edge of the water, letting it hit the bottoms of my feet. “This is a good place.”
“I’ll make sure you’re safe while you’re in meditation,” said with a smile.
“I know.” I smiled wide, still on a high from the kiss earlier, and laid back on the sandy edge. “I’ll find them.”
She sat the candles in a circle around me and lit each one, adding salt between to make a circle.
I felt the energy shift and knew everything was ready. My eyes focused on the greens and pinks dancing in the sky and the sound of the water running past us. The smell of the grass and sand.
And then it was quiet.
I thought about the door and who it was that could close it, searching for them in my mind. I could see them standing there, their backs to me and the colors swirling around them. They were young. Too young. I moved closer and realized it was a boy, probably fourteen, with his mother in what looked like a broken out home.
I tried to see more, but there wasn’t anything to see. Just desert and sand around this little place.
He was looking out the window with his mother, an older woman with graying auburn hair was making a plate on the other side of the kitchen. The walls were lined with family photos and decorations. Wherever they were, they lived there a long time.
I watched as he turned towards me, his light brown hair was cut short, and his blue eyes seemed to stop on me for a moment. It was almost like he knew I was there.
Then I was standing in darkness.
I pushed back at it, but I couldn’t get back to the boy. He was gone, and I was stuck standing in my own mind. Then my surroundings changed, and I was standing in a meadow with a mountain rising up behind it.
“I always liked it here,” Paige’s voice said from my left.
I turned and looked at her. “Why couldn’t I find out where the boy was?”
“Because you didn’t want to.”
“But I do. I want to close the door and have a future,” I countered.
“At the expense of another life?” She glanced at me before looking back at the mountain. “That’s not you.”
“We have to find a way,” I said. “There have to be more than just doorkeepers and the Phoenix’s.”
“There is,” she said, and I turned to look at her.
“How?”
“You will have to find it on your own. It’s not going to be easy,” she said, finally meeting my eyes. “It never is.”

My eyes flew open, and I was looking at that same green and pink sky overhead. I blinked a few times before I sat up and turned towards Sam. She watched me, and I knew she was going to be unhappy with what I had to tell her.
“I saw him, but I don’t know where he is,” I said carefully. The hope in her eyes almost killed me. “He’s a kid.”
And then it faded.“What do you mean you don’t know where he is?” Sam kept her eyes on me. “That was the whole point in this.”
“I know,” I said softly. “I only know he’s in a desert, but that could be anywhere.”
She sat back and stared off towards the running water beside us. “We can’t just leave them open. We’re going to have to make hard choices.”
I furrowed my brow. “Hard choices? Like killing a kid or more than one?” I shook my head. “We’re supposed to be the good guys.”
“Maybe, but the bad guys aren’t playing by the rules, and the only way we get to come out of this is to bend our own.”
“That sounds like something they would say,” I said without thinking.
“I know,” she said, looking back at me. “But we keep losing doing things the right way.”
“Is it worth winning if we’re hurting people? What’s the point of rebuilding the world if it’s built on the death of children?”
“You don’t think children are already dying,” she snapped. “Every time they take a camp that we told people, families, they’d be safe at, children die or worse.”
I turned my gaze to the water. She was right. As much as it hurt me, children were taken, and either turned into more magick slaves for Kalerian and his goons or they were simply killed. Maybe this was the only way to protect them. Maybe this was the only way to stop them for good.
“I saw him. Maybe if I think of him while we use a travel spell, it will take us to him,” I suggested. “But if we do this, then it has to be his choice. Just like it was for Mia and Kate.”
“They died for nothing,” Sam said. “We almost had it. If Lynn could have held it for a minute longer, we’d have one of these things closed.”
“We both know she wasn’t ready to face him on her own. I should have stopped her,” I said. I’d stayed quiet for too long, and now people were dying or missing. Part of this fell on me too.
“Lynn is headstrong and stubborn. That’s why I used it when it came to Kalerian. I just hoped she could hold him longer. That was the mistake I made.” She sighed. “I’ll let this kid decide what happens to him. If he wants to close the door and risk dying or if he wants to stay where he is. But if we can’t close this door, we have to be prepared to fight.”
“Agreed.”

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Cam

I sat with the group of children I’d accidentally collected with the help of Tara near the fire pit, eating some soup one of the others here made. It was a mixture of vegetables they were growing and some kind of broth. Not what I’d choose, but good nonetheless.
“Tell them about the shapeshifter guy,” Tara said with a smile. She turned to the other kids and swung her arms. “He protected me from him well until he got knocked down and the shapeshifter took me and Sophie, but then he came and helped us get away.”
“I think you told the entire story, Tara,” I said with a smile.
“I guess I did,” she said, dropping her eyes. “But you still stay around and keep me safe. And I learned how to hit people with a stick.”
“A practice sword,” I corrected. “But yes, you did learn some moves in Japan.”
“You were in Japan?” A boy a year or two younger than Tara said with so much enthusiasm, I almost laughed.
Tara nodded. “Yep.” Then her face fell. “I wonder if they’re okay.”
“I’m sure Kurayami got them out in time. He knows things, you know.” I wondered if the people there were safe myself, but Tara was the only one I was thinking about at the time. It wasn’t just that she was the only thing that could close the door in Wyoming, but she was also a kid who deserved a life too. She never asked to be dragged into this war, and if I could keep her safe, then I was going to do it.
“Yeah, he knows way too much,” she said, and I secretly wondered the same thing.
“You seem to have a way with kids,” Lexa said, walking up to the group.
“Nah, just Tara bringing her new friends around,” I said with a smile. “Everything okay?”
“I don’t know. Sam just talked to me. She and Sophie are going to get the one that can close this door.”
“She found them,” I said, and raised an eyebrow. “That was fast.”
“Yeah, it was,” Lexa said, crossing her arms.
“You don’t like it.”
“It feels off,” she said. “Like someone wanted her to find them and for them to leave.”
“I trust Sam’s judgment. She wouldn’t go if she didn’t think they could handle it.”
“If you say so.” She sighed. “I don’t know her well enough to make judgment calls like that, but you guys did bring Bree back in one piece.”
“Speaking of Bree, where is she?”
“Probably up on the hill with the tiny elves.” She must have seen the confusion in my face and smiled. “They have little houses up there. Refugees or something.”
“I guess I didn’t think there would be other types of creatures looking for sanctuary. They picked a hell of a time to come to earth.”
“They’ve been here for a while, but sure,” she said and took a seat. The kids had mostly filed away to play a game or do something more interesting than watch an old man eat his soup.
“You need better firearms,” I said, and she looked at me weird.
“What?”
“I took a look at your inventory, and it’s not going to last. They are all at least ten years old and weren’t taken care of. Someone is going to get hurt,” I said, sitting my bowl down next to me.
“It’s not like there’s a gun shop we can go to and get new ones. We use what we have, and that’s starting to get smaller.” She leaned back in the wood chair someone had built. “We’re running out of ammo.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t know. I was hoping we’d be done with this well before that happened, but it seems like we’re going to keep fighting,” she said. “The ones with magick are still good defense, but people like you are going to have to adapt, I guess.”
Adapt, that was one way to put it. I was raised with guns. My family was a military family through and through. The only thing I ever wanted was to enlist. Now I wouldn’t have access to the one thing I knew best.
“Don’t worry just yet. If we can get at least a few of these doors closed, we won’t need to fight so hard,” she said with a smile and stood. “Take care of yourself Cam. I think the kids are growing attached.”

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Lynn

I walked beside Ren and behind the Elemental through the soggy swamp. I’d occasionally watch the tree dude walked on its roots like a strange wood spider. It was fascinating but also really weird.
“He said there was a door to Earth, but this should be the Fae realm, right?” I leaned closer to Ren as I spoke.
“I thought it was. I didn’t know they were two separate places. I thought they were in the same one,” Ren said simply.
“That’s weird, right?”
“I guess. I only know about where I’ve been,” he said simply.
“The Seelie court,” I finished, and he watched me.
“It’s complicated.”
“Tell me,” I pushed. When the war started six years ago, he was the one who came to get me out. He knew where to go and how to stay alive, but after that, he came and went until I sent him away.
He sighed. “I ended up in the Fae world for a bit before the door was closed. That’s where I met Hope. She’s friends with Bree and Lexa and her father is part of the Seelie Court.”
“So, you met the entire court and then came back to help Bree?” I bit my lip. I didn’t know anything about this Hope person. Of course, I’d heard her name a lot from Bree and Ren, but that didn’t mean a lot when I’d never met her. Was she pretty? Fae were known for looking more beautiful than any human. Was that what kept him away for so long?
“The wheels are turning,” Ren said, watching me.
I glanced at him. “Stop that.”
He smirked, and I wanted to punch him.
“Hope’s dad had an issue with the UnSeelie Court, and I was trying to help. Instead, I pissed off the Queen,” he said simply. “And Fae are not known for giving up grudges.”
“So now she wants to kill you,” I said. “You are really good at making enemies.”
He snorted. “Takes one to know one.”
Smart ass.

***

The door wasn’t what I was expecting, but then again, I didn’t know what I was expecting. The only other door I’d had any involvement with was the one in Wyoming that was a literal pit to hell.
It was simple. A tear between worlds, with the Aurora leaking through. The sky here was dark, but the greens and pinks of the door moved against it, pushing a way into this one.
“That’s it?” I glanced at the Elemental, and he rolled his eyes.
“Did you think it was a literal door?”
I opened my mouth to answer but closed it when I saw the three almost human looking guards in front of the door.
“How do we get past?” Ren reached for his sword, and the Elemental slapped his hand with a branch.
“Don’t start a fight here,” he chastised. “We go around to the back.” He started walking around, using the few trees as camouflage. I followed Ren and the Elemental around to the back of the door, and he stopped. The tiny guys jumped from his branches and the hole in his trunk and headed for the green swirls of light in front of us.
“They didn’t think to guard both sides?” I stared at him as I spoke.
“They don’t think anyone is stupid enough to try,” he said. “Go.”
I glanced at Ren, and he shrugged. “Thank you.”
He made a humph noise. “Eó Rossa ,” he said.
“What?”
“That’s my name, Eó Rossa.” He rolled his eyes and walked away. “Stupid humans.”
“He sounds fun,” Ren said and grabbed my hand. “Guess we’re doing this again.”
“At least I don’t have to fall this time,” I mumbled.
“At least I’m not getting stabbed this time,” Ren countered, and we walked through the door.
It felt like getting pulled apart and put back together, only worse. I shut my eyes, but each step was like walking through another degree of horrible. Finally, my hand felt cool and normal, and I stepped out of the door.
I took a breath, cold air filled my lungs, and I opened my eyes. Standing there, ready for a fight, was one familiar face, Cam.
His eyes widened in shock, and I smiled.
Finally, I’m back.
And then a blade went straight through Cam’s chest.

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