The question wasn’t meant for Hilario, so he kept his lips closed. The wizard might be baiting him. Trying to get him to react with anger.
Ebentov would have to try a lot harder than that.
The old wizard leaned back against his throne. Drummed his fingers on the bloodwood desk.
“I had my doubts,” Ebentov said, “But Jakred kept telling me you were the one. It’s still hard to believe. But time shall tell won’t it?”
Hilario’s heart skipped a beat. Maybe several.
“Sir?” he said.
Ebentov nodded, a thoughtful look in his eye. “Polite. What a concept,” he said.
He leaned forward. Rested his forearms on the desk. His black eyes flickered in the orange light from the caged fire sprites.
“Do you know where you came from?” Ebentov said.
The question took him aback. His chest tightened. He struggled to draw enough breath for a reply.
“Sir? Do you mean where I was birthed?” Hilario asked.
Ebentov shook his head. “The orifice from which you were expelled doesn’t matter,” the old wizard said, “No, I want to know where you came from.”
Hilario wrapped his trembling hands around each other.
“Sir, I’m not sure I understand what you want,” Hilario said, “I was birthed in the realm of the Buell. That is where my first memories are.”
The old wizard stared at him without speaking. Long enough that he began to worry he had offended the wizard. In which case he might as well lie down on the floor and die.
Back to square one.
The wheel was cruel indeed.
Ebentov leaned back against his throne again. Tapped a long, wizened finger against his high planed cheek.
“You’ll do,” Ebentov said.
The wizard stood.
Hilario scrambled to his feet. Kept his head bowed. Waited for the killing spell that was surely coming.
He stood there, trembling, eyes squeezed shut.
This just wasn’t fair.
The door behind him creaked open. The old crone stood there. So hunched over she had to look at him sideway.
“Get yer filthy ass out of the master’s keep,” she said, “Go back to the Gray Realm.”
Hilario straightened up. Ebentov was gone. The bloodwood desk and the ebony throne empty.
But when…?
The crone berated him again. Heart thumping, he followed her out.
The Gray Realm. Back to the coven’s realm.
Had he passed some sort of test?
You’ll do.
What was that supposed to mean?
29
It meant they were well and truly going to die.
Hilario blinked at what lay beyond the van’s windshield.
Blinked again.
When a third blink didn’t make it go away, he resigned himself to dealing with it.
A whistling sound drew his attention. A small hole in the roof of the van. Just above the windshield.
Well that would explain why the protection spell broke.
When Detective Marco’s gun went off it, the bullet perforated the van’s shell. Though given what was outside, it would have almost been preferable the bullet hit him.
“What the fuck is that?” Marco said.
The detective’s eyes were so wide his eyes should have been rolling on the floor. His face was ashen.
As well it should have been.
Hilario had never seen it with his own eyes. But he’d heard it described often enough to know what lay before them.
The realm of the Gem Witches.
“Uh, Hilario,” Larry said, “Shouldn’t you be driving?”
The van was still moving. Rolling smoothly down a narrow lane of black crystal. It picked up speed as they hit a steep downhill grade. Drifted toward a jagged wall of black rock.
Hilario yelped and jumped to the driver’s seat. Took the wheel and hauled the van to the center of the lane.
He pumped the brakes. The van groaned. Brakes squealed.
The van slowed. Slightly.
The tires slipped on the smooth crystal. The rear end wobbled.
For a moment he considered unlocking more of his light energy to steady the van.
But using magic in the Gem Realm could be construed as a hostile act.
Hopefully just arriving unannounced wouldn’t be considered an act of war. Not that he could do any damage to a gem witch even if he wanted to. And he really, really didn’t want to.
He reached down and turned the ignition. The engine rattled to life. A part of him was amazed the engine worked in the Gem Realm. Mechanical things from the normal world didn’t always work in the unseen world. Or were unreliable. Or started talking and got an attitude and didn’t want to work.
He shifted the transmission lever down into low. The engine rattled and chugged. But with some judicious brake application, the van started to slow.
The narrow lane finally flattened out. The black rock on either side fell away into a rough, stoney landscape. He brought the vehicle to a stop. Put it into park. Spent a few moments contemplating the view, such as it was, with his heart hammering like a crazed toddler with two fistfuls of metal pans.
Directly ahead of them stood an enormous complex of jagged, spiny black towers. Silhouetted against a blood red sky. The towers were set back on a thick stump of rock, surrounded by an enormous gorge. Flame licked smoke rose from the gorge. Even with the windows rolled up, he could smell the sulfurous fingerprint of molten rock.
The Gem Keep, an island in the center of the river Phlegethon.
Not anyone’s typical vacation destination.
“What-a is-a this-a place-a?” Larry said.
Hilario threw him a cross look. Which was probably completely lost under his clown makeup. Larry was staring out the windshield anyway. His ghostly form was brighter. The blue glow he emitted almost bright enough to light the inside of the van.
“It’s the Gem Realm,” Hilario said, “It’s where the Sapphire Witch came from.”
Larry gave him a wide-eyed look. “Sapphire? She came from
