Devil in Disguise (Kai Parker)

Chapter Twenty-Five: The First Time

‘Ready?’ Kai said, the words fuzzy and full of static in Meg’s ears. She was starting to hyperventilate.

She gave a weak smile in response, and touched the Ascendant with as little skin as possible. Maybe she’d get left behind if she wasn’t touching enough of it. Kai noticed though, and frowned. He grabbed her hand, not gently, and oriented it so her entire palm was touching the Ascendant. So much for a grand plan.

It was the next day. They had been way too late to catch the eclipse yesterday, and had to wait overnight and through the morning for the time to be right. Meg hadn’t been able to sleep. She had been too busy thinking about what they were going to do, and what was going to happen to her afterwards.

Once she crossed over, the barrier between her and her magic would collapse. It would break down, completely. This was something she hadn’t considered the last two times the Ascendant had been spelled, but it was terrifying her now. Last time it had only been opened a crack. It would be just a small ripple compared to the tsunami that would come once they went back to the real world. Yes, she had Kai, but she had the awful feeling he would never be able to take enough.

He started to chant, voice echoing through the cave. Meg watched stiffly as that damn contraption started to move, the pieces shifting. The rust had all gone, now – it was a testimony to how many times it had been used.

‘Here we go…’ Kai muttered, as the shadow fell over the sun and everything started to darken.

‘We're going back home…’

***

The ride wasn’t pleasant. It began with a burst of bright white light, blinding after the perpetual twilight the eclipse had stuck them in. Then, a peculiar, sucking, tingling sensation all over her skin, like every cell was being electrified and then turned into jelly. It all happened in the blink of an eye, but that didn’t make it any less painful. Suddenly there was a large spike of light, like a fork of lightening, and then they were being hurtled through nothingness, falling back to the real world.

Meg grunted as she hit the floor, the impact making her bones shudder. The musty smell of the cave was gone, replaced by fresh air and green woodland. Her eyes were closed again, but they sprang open upon smelling that mixture. She recognised that smell. They were back in Portland.

It was the woods. The place she died, and the place Kai got sent to the prison world. All throughout her time in the Other Side, she had been brooding over this place. She had forgotten how pretty it looked in the daytime.

‘Ah…’ Kai groaned, and Meg felt his chest vibrate. Oh, yeah. That was where she had fallen. She sat up quickly, nearly giving herself whiplash, and got to her feet. Everything was stiff, rigid. An aftereffect of being sent through a metaphorical portal, she guessed.

‘We’re… back.’ she got out, tongue strangely thick. Indeed, it rather felt like something was blocking her oesophagus, a burning, disgusting taste –

She doubled up and vomited blood onto the ground.

Oh, no… she thought desperately, clutching her writhing stomach. Her insides felt like they were re-arranging themselves, wriggling about as worms. A splitting headache made her clutch her skull in agony as she screamed. There was so much, far too much, in there. It was like a water balloon, she thought madly, if you put too much in at once, it’ll go pop.

She was vaguely aware of Kai standing up, but now her vision was succumbing to the tidal wave of pure, undiluted magic, concentrated over twenty years into something truly fearsome. Dancing scarlet and burgundy spots covered everything, exploding and shattering in the noon light. There was a ringing in her ears… her eyes were burning… she was going down…