Shadows Before the Sun (7 page)

I glanced over my shoulder. The agent was setting all my clips on the counter. If he decided to count every one, we’d be here forever.

“Going on a little excursion?” I asked, taking a seat. “Family visit?”

Her smile hiked at the corners as she angled in her seat to face me, her veil dropping in a slow fall of fabric to her shoulders. “Trying to discover my background, are we?”

I shrugged, glaring at the gate agent. “Thought I’d give it a try.” He began to dig through my shower bag. “So what’s with all the secrecy, anyway?”

“Not secrecy. There are those who have been around since my emergence. My past is not hidden. But it is mine. Mine to share if I choose.”

The Adonai jerkwad held up my bra with two fingers like it was radioactive. I crossed my arms over my chest as my cheeks grew warm. “Is that really necessary?” I griped loudly, but he simply ignored me. “There’s a blue one, too.”

I wanted to sink my fist into the superior expression he gave me. My teeth clenched.

Sandra tsked. “You always rise to the bait, Charlie. You’re so predictable.”

I snorted. “Everything is predictable to you.” Others would say I was the opposite—they never knew what I’d do next.

“Not everything.”

It was something in her voice, a resignation, a worry, that got my attention. Her eyes swam with something I’d never seen from her before. Fear, I realized. And then it was gone. Before I could digest that, her next words completely bowled me over. “I’m not visiting anyone in Ithonia, Charlie. I am here to escort you into Fiallan to find your siren.”

I blinked, frowned, then frowned some more . . . And then I scanned the terminal for a hidden camera because the Oracle of All Oracles showing up here, to help me—me of all people, who made it a point to give Alessandra as good as she gave—was just a little too bizarre to comprehend.

She stared with one eyebrow cocked as I grappled. Finally I found my voice, but she cut me off. “I know what you’re going to say, of course. And I don’t need to be an oracle to know that much. I’m going with
you. I don’t like it. But I’m going. So you might as well get over it.” She glanced at the gate agent and gathered her things. “He’s done. You ready?”

Then a thought occurred to me and I hurried after her. “Wait. Are you saying Hank is alive?”

“Oracle,” the agent greeted her, making a respectful bow. She nodded serenely and took the small disposable earplugs he offered her. “Please proceed through the sphere without stopping. May your journey be safe and prosperous.”

Alessandra was honored; I would never be, even though I was law enforcement, even though I put my ass on the line for the beings of all three worlds.

Prosperous, my ass.

The gate agent tossed a pair of earplugs onto the counter. I grabbed the small plastic bag and returned his glare before catching up to Sandra. “Damn it, Sandra, wait.”

She finally stopped at the steps, her head tilting up as she stared at the sphere hovering less than an inch above the copper alloy platform. It dwarfed her, making her look so small, like a child. The giant ball of pink and orange energy swirled and changed like a shifting sea of colors, and the drone coming from it pulsed through my entire body. As awe-inspiring as it was, it didn’t hold my attention long.

“Did you see him? Did you see Hank in one of your visions? Sandra.” I grabbed her arm, tugging it so she’d look at me. “Do you know where he is? Just tell me; I can move quicker by myself and—”

“No, Charlie, I must go. And as for your siren . . . I don’t know.”

“You know everything. What do you mean, you don’t know?”

There was that look again, the flash of fear, and it made me cold. “I can’t see the future. Yours. Hank’s.” Tears pricked her eyes. “I can’t see any of it.” Alessandra fled up the steps and disappeared into the sphere.

I picked my jaw off the floor, inserted the earplugs, grabbed my stuff, and hurried after her.

I’d passed through a sphere before. I knew to keep walking. I knew not to stop. But Sandra’s bombshell left me completely off-kilter and I forgot to prepare myself. The portal’s intense energy field hit me like a sledgehammer. I stumbled to a stop.

You’re not supposed to stop
.

The ends of my hair lifted and the fine hairs on my skin stood straight. The earplugs prevented my eardrums from bursting, but it did nothing to ease the heartbeatlike drone of thick energy pulsating through every molecule of my being, so strong and overwhelming that my teeth clinked together in time.

Keep walking.

Disorientation crept in. I tried to move, to put one foot in front of the other, but I felt so sluggish. The
drone encompassed all until it seemed as though I’d become a part of it, part of the energy, part of—

Warm fingers wrapped tightly around my wrist and yanked me forward so hard that my neck snapped back.

The next thing I knew I was tumbling down the steps, coming to a stop flat on my back, blinking up at a high marble ceiling where fuzzy marble sea creatures stretched out and then snapped into sharp focus.

I had arrived. And in style no less.

Deep muttering curses filtered into the ear where the plug had come partway out. I groaned and pulled them both from my ears as my gut rolled sickly.

“Of all the stupid . . . Human. I should’ve known.”

A face moved into my line of sight. A highly annoyed Adonai glared down at me. “I should let you wallow in IDT sickness.” But he placed his palm over my forehead and muttered some disgruntled words. Heat spread over my skin. The fuzz began to clear from my mind and the intense nausea in my gut eased.

Most humans experienced a minor level of Inter-Dimensional Travel Sickness, but prolonged exposure in the spheres or taking an illegal form of travel was like having a hangover while still drunk.

A small crowd had formed. Alessandra peered over the agent’s shoulder with an expression of relief, amusement, and contrition. The gate agent ran his fingers through his hair and let out a heavy sigh, then looked up at the crowd. “And that is why we tell you
not to stop in the portal. Never stop in the portal. Ever.”

With that lesson delivered, he stood, reached inside of my jacket to get my ID and papers, and then went back to his desk.

Alessandra offered me a slim hand. “Really, Charlie, I thought you knew better.”

“I did. Next time save the bombshells for after we jump worlds.” I slid my hand into hers and got to my feet, my bags sliding off my shoulders to remain on the floor. “Ugh. Dizzy.”

“Nasty things, those gates.” Sandra patted me awkwardly on the shoulder. “I remember the old way of travel,” she said wistfully.

“The old way?”

“Preparation, ritual, communing with primal gods, becoming one with nature . . .”

“Stop, you’re making me want to hug a tree.”

“Ha ha. The dizziness will go away in a minute. You’re lucky you escaped.”

I didn’t say anything as I dragged my bags to the agent’s desk and hefted them onto the counter. He refolded my papers and slid them to the edge. “You’re lucky to escape.”

“So I hear.” I shoved my papers back inside of my jacket. The thing was, I did know better and it embarrassed me to the point that my cheeks got hot. I drew in a deep breath and looked at him. “Thank you.”

He stared at me for a long moment and then nodded. “Just doing my job.”

“Not something you have to do very often, I’m sure.”

He shrugged. “A few times a month, but if it makes you feel any better, never had a repeat from those who’ve gotten . . . stuck.”

“Yeah, definitely a lesson one never forgets.”

After he completed a cursory inspection of my bags, he handed my ID back and set me on my way. “Stay out of trouble.”

I let out a soft laugh. “Would be a first.” Trouble and I had a way of finding each other.

His lips twitched. He shook his head as a couple came through the sphere and his attention went back to work.

“You need to sit for a minute?” Sandra asked as I caught up with her.

“No, I’m fine. Let’s go.” I glanced back at the Adonai. He wasn’t so bad. Definitely not a jerk like the other one. Maybe people were just in a better mood on this side of the gate, being in paradise and all.

Sandra followed my gaze and my train of thought apparently. “They’re still full of themselves,” she said as we continued on, walking past high marble columns that lined each side of the terminal. “The Adonai’s arrogance is somewhat justifiable, I suppose. They are, after all, the most powerful race in Elysia.”

“Yes, but there are others . . . just as powerful or more so.”

“True. But as a group, as a whole, they are stronger, more organized and disciplined. Their power
shows in every facet of their existence. Once we clear those doors, you’ll see what I mean.”

She swept ahead of me toward a shaft of golden light that spilled through two-story-tall double doors, which were held open by two giant statues of armored warriors.

It was like walking toward the gates of Saint Peter. My pulse picked up. What existed outside of those doors was the model for heaven.
Heaven.

I wasn’t deeply religious, but I did believe there existed a higher power—undefined and beyond our understanding. I was well aware the land beyond the golden light wasn’t a place of eternal rest, a place where souls found peace and reward. I knew all that, but it didn’t stop me from experiencing a profound sense of wonder as we drew closer to the wide shaft of light.

People passed in and out of the light, not even noting the beauty of it. And when I did the same, when I passed through that golden light, I came out onto a scene that took my breath away.

My first view of Ithonia was framed by massive white columns, part of a long colonnade stretching to the left and right. I moved to the marble railing built between each column and stood there taking it all in. From our higher vantage point, the city of Ithonia sprawled out in a gentle slope below us. In the distance, far beyond the city, a sun hovered just above green mountains. The white marble walls, streets, and buildings glowed.

I thought of Emma and Rex, of Bryn and my
parents—if only they could see what I was seeing. I thought of Will and wondered if the Afterlife was as beautiful as this, and I prayed that it was.

“Ithonia.” Admiration filled Alessandra’s soft whisper.

“I never thought I’d see this. Never thought it’d live up to the hype, to the picture I had in my mind, but it does.”
A hundred times over, it does
.

“For once, we are in agreement,” she said with a genuine smile. “Many of the ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean—the Minoans, the ancient Greeks, the Etruscans—were influenced mostly by the Adonai and sirens who visited your world in ancient times. The architecture here will seem familiar to you because of this.”

For so long the mystery existed of how early humans jumped so quickly from being hunter gatherers to building monumental cities with cultures rich in art, religion, writing . . . For so long historians wondered about gods, Star People, the Annunaki, fallen angels; those ancient myths of beings who arrived from another world to teach mankind. Those beings turned out to be the Elysians and Charbydons. The nobles had inspired the Mesopotamians and early Central Americans. The nymphs and fae inspired much of the Celtic pantheon, and so on . . .

It made one wonder what mankind would have been like had they
not
come.

“This was the model for the mythical Mount Olympus, the Elysian Fields, heaven . . .” Sandra added.

I dragged my gaze away from the splendor of Ithonia and stared at the oracle. She was smaller than me by almost a head, but her presence well made up for her size. Granted, I didn’t know much about her personally, and she liked it that way, but I did know the oracle never did anything without a price.

“Why are you here, Sandra? So you can’t see my future or Hank’s; it doesn’t explain why you felt the need to come.”

“I told you already.” She moved back from the view and began walking down the long colonnade, so tall and colossal it made us look like ants. “The mages’ league isn’t far from here. We should head straight to Fiallan. We’ll be detained outside of the inner walls until we’re cleared for admittance, so we might as well wait there instead of wasting time here.”

“No, you didn’t tell me already. Not really.” Her steps had gone swifter, until I was almost jogging to keep up. “Sandra. Slow down.” And still she went. “Will you just stop for a minute?”

Several passersby stopped—at least they listened—appalled by my raised voice. Guess that didn’t happen too much in paradise. But Sandra had stopped, too, so I ignored the curious looks thrown our way and edged us over to one of the columns, lowering my voice. “My partner is missing, dead if you want to believe the Circe, and right now he’s probably wishing he was. This isn’t a game or an adventure or whatever it is to you . . . and you can’t keep running away from giving me a straight answer.
There’s too much at stake not to know your intentions. I won’t be going in blind like this.”

Frustration ballooned inside of me. Alessandra was two thousand years old. Did she even appreciate how precious time was for those of us whose life span was so small? Did she understand loyalty and love and family? Before we went further, I had to know her objective.