The last thing I heard before I popped out of existence completely was a small voice that cried, “Bye-bye, wolf.”
3
The pressure inside the vortex was so intense it felt like a vise was clamped around my entire body. While the crushing force came from outside, my insides felt like they were going to bust out of my skin.
As I fell, I tumbled in circles, my wolf emitting a low, continuous keening howl.
I tried to calm her. We have to focus on sending the magic back up to Tally. I’m sure the travel time will be short and I really need you to focus. This is not a great time to lose your mind. Her ears were still pinned back, her eyes unfocused, and she didn’t respond at all.
Shitsocks. Landing us in the right place was going to be up to me. The air was weighty and it gave the strangest feeling—like experiencing g-force in a cloud. I pulled on my power and immediately realized my wolf had pushed it all outward instinctively like a shield. I had to give her credit. She’d obviously prepared us the best she could before she checked out. I couldn’t bring my arms down, but her focusing our magic outward might have been the only thing keeping our vital parts inside my body. Tally had told us a supe had to be strong enough to make the trip; maybe this was what she’d been talking about. Without enough power, this vortex would rip you apart.
The problem was I had no idea how to send magic up when we were using it to protect us. I grabbed a single strand of muddy gold in my mind and unraveled it from the outside as quickly as I could. A small portion was going to have to be enough. Can you get it together and help me? We need the witches’ help and this is all we can spare. I’m going to shove it outward and hope we reach them. Without it, we risk landing in the middle of the demon city hall. My wolf blinked and shook her head. Snap out of it! I yelled. If we arrive in their most populated place, we lose our only chance to find cover. She clicked her jaws at me and growled. Good, glad you’re back, now help me with this.
Together we shoved power into the strand and sent it out into the vortex. We were still spinning, so it was almost impossible to know which way was up.
After a moment, a small tug pulled along our senses. Did you feel that? In the next instant a grid spread out in my mind with a yellow blinking dot in one spot. The witches were scary good. We’re going to have to home in on that one spot. Any idea how to do that? My wolf rose and took a step forward, her nose lifted, scenting.
The air current began to change.
Strange smells and sounds started to creep into my consciousness. We’re getting close. We need to pinpoint a landing place quickly. The pressure pushing on my head made it hard to stay focused. My wolf’s ears perked up and she growled. We needed to send more magic into the vortex to get a better read on the grid. The only choice we have is to weaken the magic shield protecting us. My wolf had shaken off her fear of falling and was now on high alert as we both gathered magic by reeling it back into us, and as we did it, the shield diminished and the crush of the vortex pressed down like an anvil on our chest. My wolf took over as I struggled to breathe. Don’t take too much more, I gasped, or we won’t be able to take in any more air.
Passing out now was not an option.
In one heave, she shot all the magic we could spare forward in a rush.
It plunged into the vortex, seeking a clue to our destination. Concentrate on the dot in our mind. We need to link the two together. The witches’ directions were still clear, glowing like a three-dimensional hologram in my mind. I had no idea if we were linked to them through magic or if they’d burned the map into my mind with a spell. It didn’t matter. We had what we needed.
It’s working. The dot in my mind turned a brilliant blue once my magic connected with it on the plane below us. Can you see that? We found it. It’s to the left. We have to force ourselves to fall that way. I willed us to move that way with everything I had and the beacon miraculously came closer.
With a snap of power, our magic fully engaged with our destination and a tether formed in the air between us, the magic connection guiding us. The witches were brilliant and I owed Tally my life for this.
We were closing in on the destination fast.
Smells, sounds, and lights started to whip by us as we flew at high speed into the demon atmosphere. The demons must know how to slow down, I told my wolf. We don’t. We’re going to crash hard. Try to brace—
We hit a pile of something with the force of a canon ball.
Large chunks of what appeared to be some kind of plastic flew in an arc around us as we plunged all the way to the bottom of the stack, hitting the ground so hard starbursts of light erupted in my vision and my brain felt like it had been scrambled. If the trash hadn’t slowed us down, we would’ve splattered all over the ground.
I was just happy we hadn’t lost consciousness.
I took in a few breaths and tried to steady myself. What is this stuff? We were covered from head to toe. It was impossible to know how much was on top of us, but the stuff surrounding us was oddly shaped and smelled strange. I moved my hand to grasp an edge of the plastic and a chain reaction of movement followed, causing a tinkling like dominoes. Are these TV trays?
Luckily for us, the trash was lightweight and angular and resembled some kind of cafeteria tray, which made pockets of space around me. There was an odd light filtering in from above. Judging by the awful pungent stench radiating from around us, there used to be something alive on these trays. On closer inspection, some of the trays also had bite marks out of the ends and residue that was bloodlike.
We had indeed landed in a trash heap. It also appeared that every demon here ate the same thing. And it didn’t smell at all appealing. I gave an inward shudder. Time to move.
A sharp growl erupted from somewhere outside the pile.
Another joined it.
Those must be the chupacabras, I told my wolf. But she was way ahead of me. She’d already contained the magic that had been outside us during the vortex ride, and had begun to fortify a shield. They must eat the leftover crap on the trays. I wasn’t looking forward to my first introduction a chupacabra. Let’s sit tight for a minute and see if they leave on their own. Fighting a hell beast when my body was healing from the landing was not on my top ten list of things I wanted to do at the moment.
But of course that was wishful thinking. In less than a minute, there must’ve been twenty of them growling and pacing out there.
Okay, we need to rethink. I believe the best thing we can do is try and outrun them. Judging by the light, we’re in some kind of building. The demons must keep them locked up in here, but if we can get out of the building we may have a chance to lose them.