After the Fall

  Jared had stepped out from behind the tree, his hands held up in front of him. "Hello. We do not mean you any harm, and we don't want to fight. We're just trying to return to our realm."

  "Which realm would that be?" she asked, a mocking smile playing across her lips.

  "The Here and Now."

  "Perhaps if you had wanted to be in that realm, you should have stayed there."

  She had a point. I was really, really wishing that we had at this particular moment.

  Finn came out next, also with his hands up. "Ma'am, I'm sorry if we upset you by bein' here, but we promise to leave A-S-A-on the double P, if you'll just step aside."

  "I have a better idea," she said slyly, taking a step towards Finn. "How about I put your head on a pike and stick it on the edge of this field?"

  Finn swallowed hard. "Uh, no thank you, ma'am. I'd appreciate it if we could just keep my head where it belongs on my shoulders."

  She took one more menacing step towards Finn and Jared, and that was all it took to piss me off beyond reason. I left the safety of the tree and strode over to stand by my friends, realizing once I got there that Samantha had done the same thing, coming from the other side. Recklessness obviously ran in the family.

  The angel stopped walking, now about twenty feet away from us. She smiled evilly. "Isn't this sweet. Friends."

  I felt a glimmer of hope, like maybe she was second-guessing her attack plan. Until, of course, she finished her thought.

  "Your heads will look nice for my collection."

  "No one's losing any heads today," said Samantha.

  "At least none of us," I added. In my head I started calling in the troops. Beau! We're ready to go back now! Come get us and this angry demon bitch who's here to chop our heads off! Beau! Shayla! Chase! Hello! I hope you're out there!

  I heard a movement behind me and turned to see Niles, and Tony behind us. Spike took up a position next to me.

  "Come to get a closer look?" I asked him, looking up at his face. I was surprised to see him looking at me and not the angel.

  "No. I've come to keep you from doing anything ... unwise."

  "You mean stupid."

  He shrugged. "I prefer my word."

  I smiled, turning back to the angel, feeling only slightly more comfortable about our situation now that we had our whole group here. I was the only one with a weapon of any kind, but it wasn't going to do anything against that sword she had lifted and pointed in our direction.

  "Who shall be first?" she asked, slowly moving her sword over the group, maybe trying the blade on our necks for size, I wasn't sure. But it was creepy as hell when the thing was pointed at me, that was a definite.

  "None of us," said Samantha.

  And then I felt something in The Green. An energy signature pulling from the source at our feet. I looked over at Samantha and noticed the look of concentration on her face. Uh-oh. Magic in the Overworld. This probably isn't going to go well.

  No sooner had the thought left my mind than a bolt of some sick shit came out of Samantha's raised hand. I smiled and almost yelled, Hey! I remember that trick! but thought better of it and resisted. It was the same bolt of lightning or white laser or whatever that had kicked Becky's ass when Samantha had tried to get into our compound.

  It should have hit the angel square in the chest, but she was too fast for us, lifting her sword and using it to deflect the beam. Thank the Overworld, it didn't ricochet the damn thing towards us or it probably would have taken at least one of us out permanently. Instead it just fizzled and kind of melted down the blade of the sword, eventually disappearing into the air as smoke.

  The angel smiled. "An excellent choice. I shall take the witch's head first."

  "Moriah!" boomed a voice from above our heads.

  I ducked involuntarily, recognizing the voice but not the volume.

  "What in the sam hill?" asked Finn from his position on the ground. He'd gone down to his belly, his hands flapping around as if searching for arrows to grab and put in a bow he didn't have.

  "It's Beau," I said. "I called him in. Shayla too."

  The angel, Moriah apparently, had turned to face her opponent. Beau landed on the ground in front of us, effectively blocking her access to our heads. He was soon followed by Shayla, who landed next to him, her giant sword out now and held up in challenge at the black-winged angel.

  "Moriah. What an unpleasant surprise," said Shayla in a saccharine-sweet voice.

  "Come to protect your food supply?" Moriah asked.

  "We don't eat fae, as you well know, Moriah. We have not lost touch with humanity as you have."

  She shrugged. "A wise choice. More food for me. Now step aside so I can dine."

  "She wants to eat us?" asked Spike. "I thought she just wanted to chop our heads off."

  "I think that's just for her personal entertainment," I said, speculating that this demon was one that fed off fae energy, but also one that had zero interest in ever getting a second chance in the Here and Now. She was an Underworld lifer.

  "Not today, Moriah. It's time for you to go back where you belong."

  She grinned. "But I prefer it here. I think I'll stay a while longer." She raised her sword.

  Shayla raised hers in return, speaking to Beau without taking her eyes off the black-winged crazy bitch. "Take them back to their realm. I'll handle her."

  "Are you sure?" he asked.

  Shayla nodded once. "Absolutely." She took a step closer to Moriah. "Last chance to return unscathed, demon wench. Deny this very generous offer, and you will feel the bite of my steel once more."

  "I deny your offer now as I have on every occasion before. You do not decide for me where I go and who I dine with."

  "Don't you mean dine on?"

  Moriah shrugged. "Semantics."

  I wasn't sure who moved first, but a split second after their verbal debate ended, the battle began. We all stepped back together, trying to give them room to do their thing. None of us wanted one of our necks to get in the way of their swords.

  Beau was gesturing for us to join him out in the field, away from where the two women fought. It was hard to pay attention to him because it required that we tear our gaze away from the most amazing sword fight I'd ever seen, even in a movie with matrix effects. Nothing in the world of cinema could even come close to the sounds of those magic-enhanced blades clanging together. The sound waves hit my ears and made me think the battle was happening inside my own head. I could see the sweat beading up on Shayla's forehead and dripping down by her temples. Drops of the salty stuff flew off both of them and ran down their arms and hands, making their sword-handles slippery. They each had white-knuckle grips on their weapons, their muscles bulging with the effort of not only just holding them up but swinging them side-to-side and in wide arcs up and down and all around, each blow delivered with the goal of severing an arm or a leg or a head, or maybe an artery. It was a deadly dance, and one I knew I'd never be able to learn the steps of. It was part art and part science. I could see a certain geometry to it, a certain grace. I had skills in neither area.

  Beau broke into my reverie by grabbing my arm and jerking me towards him. "Pay attention, Jayne!"

  "What? Oh. Sorry." I stared up into his face, so incredibly gorgeous. So worried. So, so, so ....

  "It's happening to her again, isn't it?" asked Spike.

  "Take her. Don't let her go," said the angel, passing my arm over to Spike who took it gently in hand.

  Spike was much nicer than the harsh angel. I stuck my tongue out at Beau and gave him a raspberry. "Meanie," I said, pouting as Spike took me into a hug, patting my back but making sure not to squish the baby pixie still hanging from my neck in a sling.

  "Everyone hold hands or connect in some physical way. Now!" demanded Beau.

  I tried to see over Spike's shoulder to watch the angel-fight, but he was too tall. I leaned to the side to watch, but Finn was in my way. "Move, Finn! I can't see."

  "You don't nee
d to see that, girl. Just pay attention to the angel over here. He's tryin' to get us home."

  I was straining against Spike, trying to get away so I could see better. "I don't want to go home yet. I'm not done here."

  "Oh, yes you are," said Spike, laughter in his voice.

  "What's she doing?" asked Ben.

  "She's going loopy. This happened last time."

  "Shut up, Spike!" I yelled, suddenly angry for some reason. "You don't know what you're talking about!" I was annoyed that they were talking about me like that when there was a very important battle happening just on the other side of Finn. If I could just get over there ...

  Beau was talking again, and I tried to block out the sound of his voice, but I still heard, "Samantha, I need you to cast that spell you used to come over. Tony, you get ready to pull them into the Gray when the veil opens."

  I looked over at my friends in a panic. Both of them were nodding their heads, as if Beau wasn't trying to kill us. "We have to go!" I yelled, trying to get away from Spike. "He's evil! He's a demon angel!" As soon as I said it, Beau's wings went from white to black. I looked around Spike's arm and Shayla's wings had done the same. Everyone was turning into a demon around me, and I couldn't handle it. I had a baby pixie to protect.

  "Lemme go!" I yelled, stomping down on Spike's foot hard enough that he let me go in shock.

  I ran. I ran and ran and ran as fast as I could. I had to get away from all those terrible demons who wanted to eat the tiny pixie in my baby sling. I couldn't let that happen. Tim and Abby would never forgive me.

  I had almost reached the safety of the trees when I felt something grab me under the armpits. I struggled to get free, not caring who it was, but when I felt the pokey fingers jabbing into my flesh I turned to look at my captor. It sure didn't feel like the last time I'd been picked up and carried through the air.

  I nearly had a heart attack when I saw who it was.

  "Hello, elemental," said the black-winged wench who should have been sword fighting in the field below us.

  "Moriah!" I screamed. "Let me go!"

  "As you wish," she said, laughing maniacally.

  Suddenly I was free, no more Miss Grabby Fingers digging her claws into my sensitive armpits. My happiness disappeared in the split second it took me to realize I was now falling to the earth from very high up, to what was definitely going to be a very painful end. One long, drawn-out scream erupted from my lungs, splitting the air around me. I closed my eyes, waiting for death to take me and wondering if I'd have wings when it was all over and whether they'd be black or white.

  But the end felt more like a bounce than a splat, so I opened my eyes to see what was happening. I was now flying sideways, headed right for my group of friends. Every one of them, save Samantha, had a look of utter shock on their faces, and none of them had the presence of mind to get the hell out of the way.

  I was going too fast to do anything but hold my arms out in front of me and hope for the best. I barreled into them like a friggin bowling ball into a group of fae pins, hitting Niles dead center and blasting his sorry little dwarf butt over like a turbo-charged tumbleweed.

  I finally came to rest about fifteen feet away, my entire body aching from the impact. I thought in my dazed state that the ground here was a lot lumpier than I would have expected.

  "Geph moff!" yelled someone.

  "What?" I asked, still unable to move.

  "Geph off!" he yelled again.

  Niles. I looked down at my chest and saw a tuft of gray hair there. Holy shit! Did I just grow a wad of gray chest hair from the shock of almost dying! How disgusting! I'm going to need a new razor.

  The ground beneath me wiggled. The gray hair moved. "Get off!" came a growl from under me.

  I rolled to the side, releasing a very cranky dwarf from his elemental boob-prison.

  Niles stood, half bent over, holding a crick in his lower back and brushing himself off as best he could with his other hand, while also scowling at me. "Of all the ... what is it with you and ... get away from me before I think better of my current decision not to clobber you!" he growled.

  I scooted away from him like a crab, still kind of on my butt. "Yes, sir. Geez. It's not my fault you didn't get out of the way."

  He looked at me with disgust and then limped away to join the others again. I surveyed the group and saw that the ones who had recovered their feet were standing there staring at me in shock. The others were still trying to get up.

  I wasn't much of a bowler, but that had to be some kind of record. I held up my finger in the number-one symbol and smiled at my friends. "Strike!"

  Spike shook his head as he came over to get me. He put his hand down to help me up. "Can we go home now?" he asked, his arm going around my waist as he walked me back to the group.

  "Sure. If you want." I looked down at my sling, noticing it looked pretty beat up. I stopped walking, now in a panic that I'd killed the baby. I opened it up a little at the edge and saw him still in there. Pulling down the material, I could see that he was still breathing, but that one of his wings was broken. "Oh, fuck a duck."

  "What?" asked Spike, trying to look inside.

  "He's hurt. His wing is broken."

  "Damn. Well, we'll get him to the clinic as soon as we get back. And that can be now if you're ready."

  I nodded, unable to speak. The reality of the pain that Willy was going to be in when he got up from either the nap or the friggin coma he was in snapped me out of whatever haze I was in and sobered me up good. I walked up to Beau and said, "Take me home or lose me forever."

  He nodded once and then opened his wings, wrapping them around all of us. "Jayne, connect into your Earth element. Samantha, begin your spell. Tony, prepare to enter the Gray."

  We all nodded. I felt the magic surround us, amplified by The Green. It was wonderful and scary all at the same time. And then, in the blink of an eye, it was over. I felt myself yanked into the cold of the Gray and then dumped unceremoniously onto my back into the Infinity Meadow of the Here and Now.

  I opened my eyes and saw my friends around me, most of them lying on their faces. Only Tony was standing. He walked over and helped me to my feet, making sure the sling that held my little pixie friend was straight and doing the best it could at supporting his unconscious body.

  "Come on. Let's get Willy to the healers."

  "What about the others?" I asked, looking back at them over my shoulder.

  "They'll be fine. They'll come find us when they've recovered."

  I nodded, plodding along like a condemned criminal to the hangman's gallows. I was going to pay for this one. Big time.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I LEFT THE UNCONSCIOUS, BROKEN-winged baby pixie in the care of the Light and Dark fae healers who now worked together in a much updated clinic. They assured me he was going to be fine, so I left to go face the music in my room - the music of two pixies telling me what a shithead I was for accidentally taking their child into battle with me and then being stupid enough to get him hurt by turning him into a bowling ball.

  Much as I wanted to avoid the whole confrontation, I also realized how worried they must be, so I picked up the pace until I was nearly running. I reached my door and threw it open, searching first their table and then out in the garden for them.

  "Tim! Abby!" I yelled. "Where are you guys?! I have news about Willy!" I was standing in the entrance to the garden, but no answer came to my ears. I was just about to leave the area completely when I realized something was off. I turned back around and took in the scenery.

  The flowers were dying. Very few blossoms remained on the bushes, and there were dead leaves and branches everywhere. Empty snail shells littered the path and weeds were growing in every bed.

  "Oh. My. Effing. G," I said out into the air, my voice barely a whisper.

  I heard a noise behind me and spun around. Céline was standing there, looking sadder than I'd ever seen her look before.

  Tears sprang to my eyes
at the sight, and my throat began to ache instantly. "Where are they, Céline?"

  She shook her head, saying nothing.

  I took five long strides in her direction, stopping only when I was a foot away from her. "Where are they?! Tell me, dammit!" I reached out and grabbed her upper arms, shaking her for all I was worth, trying to force an answer out of her, but she just let me do it in silence.

  I finally let her go, and as soon as we broke contact my anger just disappeared into the empty wind that blew in from the garden. My voice was cold. Hard. I stared her right in the eye. "Tell me now where they are, or I'm going to leave and find them."

  "They're gone," she whispered. "They left the same day you did to find their son. You've been gone for weeks."

  "But he was with us!" I said, punching the air between us and crying through the words. "He snuck into my backpack!"

  "We know that now. We did not know that then."

  "So where'd they go?" I asked, feeling deflated, the most pitiful voice ever issuing from my mouth.

  "No one knows. They're out in the realm, searching. That's all I can say."

  A spark of memory - things said to me by Samantha in our cage - had me redirecting my anger. "You did this, Céline," I accused advancing on her.

  She took several steps back. "What? What are you talking about? I had nothing to do with his disappearance." She looked left and right, as if seeking a way out, away from the crazy elemental who'd seemingly lost it.

  "You're the one behind all of this crap. All of it! I've been comparing notes with Samantha. And Maggie. And Torrie."

  Céline's face went whiter than white. She looked like a corpse.

  "Yeah, that's right, silver elf. You did something. You did something horrible that tilted this fucking planet off its axis, and we're all paying the price now, aren't we? Aren't we?!" I screeched, grabbing her by the upper arms again. I pulled The Green into me, letting its pure, warm light fill me to the brim. I felt The Ancient One there too, and for once I didn't deny its desire to share the darkness it had within. I accepted every last drop of it.

  "Jayne, don't! You need to power down! You're going to hurt yourself!"