“We won’t be in your way, Trev. We will be your extra arms. We can help. I know it.” She put her hand to her che
st. “I know it in here—” Her hand then went to her stomach. “—and I know it in my gut. Call it a woman’s instinct, Trev. Please, take us with you.”
“I have to go into their lair, Jazmine Decker. They won’t be expecting me, but it will still be very dangerous. I have to stop what they are doing, for they are attempting to warp the curvature of the universe and open a time portal.”
“How can they do that? How?”
“It cannot be done without peril to the earth. What they are doing is attempting to create a bridge between now and the future. They are going about it the wrong way and not taking the necessary precautions. I must stop them. If you come, you will be a distraction.”
“We will be a distraction for you to use against them,” she answered with excitement. “You could deposit us where we could catch their attention, while you do what you have to do. We can hold our own—I know we can—and then you shift in, grab us, and off we go,” Jazmine said, now sounding feverish to stay with him.
She had a point, and Trevor was quite used to fighting side by side with female warriors, but the thought of his mortal Jazmine Decker and the mortal Fios child being in danger made him feel nearly sick with concern.
“Frankie can use her fireball on Hordly, and perhaps I can distract Baudali, play on his ego? All you would need is a moment …” she added
His mind, usually so pragmatic, was now in a frenzy of indecision. Suddenly, he knew she was right. If this was to succeed, he would need their help.
“Well, then, get ready, my sweet girls,” he said softly.
“Yes!” she made a victory fist and then immediately demanded, “How—what are we going to do? What do you want us to do?”
He touched her face and looked long into her blue eyes, such exquisite eyes. They seemed to glow and draw him inside her. He wanted to be inside her—
He abruptly stopped that line of thinking and stepped away. “You should know a little about the spell I am about to invoke. It is an ancient Danu spell, created by our Queen Bridget before she and the Dark King separated and went to war, before he inadvertently caused her death. We were taught how to draw on the best of the elements and use them. All Royals were taught to perfect this skill, a skill practiced repeatedly until maturity. I was taught to wield the elements, all the elements, as soon as I was able to walk.” He eyed his Jazmine Decker and added, “Baudali and Hordly are using the elements to warp the curvature of the universe. They believe if they are successful it will open a portal to our future. The danger is Baudali lives in the Human Realm. He is, to all practical purposes, immortal and has survived the centuries and has a life in our century, Jazmine Decker. So, you see, he cannot be allowed to occupy a space that his future self occupies. He must know that but doesn’t care … and one can only speculate why.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
Although he’d said they could help, he wanted to tell them he’d decided against it, to insist they stay safely in Breslyn’s castle. However, he knew her, knew she would do whatever it took, which would mean she would not stay behind the warded lines. She could get herself hurt—or worse.
Better to have her and the child where he could protect them. He didn’t seem to have a choice. He took her hand. She already had Frankie’s hand in hers, and so he shifted them off.
* * *
They emerged at a distance from the barn. They were hidden in the dark of the woods, but a great fissure had opened up and swallowed the earth just a few feet away, leaving a jagged, gaping hole.
Trevor scooped her and Frankie up and did something—she had no idea what—that left them floating a few feet off the ground as he scanned their surroundings.
“What are we doing?” she whispered.
“Hovering—now quiet,” he answered.
She held Frankie tightly to her, and they hovered. It felt very strange, but they were able to watch Baudali, who stood in the field just outside the barn with his legs spread wide beneath his black robe, his arms outward, palms held up to the sky.
At his side was the Dark Prince.
They were both reciting ancient words, and then Hordly said with great disdain, “Well, Wizard, it doesn’t seem to be quite working.”
Baudali ignored him and kept on chanting.
And suddenly Jazz knew. Her Trevor had one advantage that she knew of. Hordly hated Baudali. She sensed it, saw it, was sure of it.
They could play one against the other. Both had huge egos.
“I have to wait for just the right moment …” Trevor gritted his teeth.
“Set me in the field … near enough so that I can slam Hordly,” Jazz said.
“No, he will recover and kill you with a thought,” Trevor said, “but I do have another idea.”