The Darkest Touch
Page 37

Clearly fighting a smile, she pivoted and stretched out her hand. Crackles of electricity shot from the tips of her fingers and hovered in the air, growing wider, longer, creating cracks in the atmosphere, each pulsing with a vibrant array of colors.
A single burst of bright light expanded through the colors like a bullet, causing them to widen...before being sucked back inside, leaving—
A doorway!
While he could still see the black nothingness around its edges and the accompanying rain, he could see a new world in the door’s center. One without rain.
“Your key,” Keeley said, motioning to the doorway.
Though he didn’t like the idea of using the All-key in front of another person, considering the number of people who had tried to kill Cronus to possess it, he strode forward. Seeing no knob and not knowing what else to do, he flattened his palm against the center of the door. It was solid to the touch...at first. Soon the grain beneath his hand began to shimmer, waves rippling from top to bottom. Then, as easily as that, the block vanished and there was only air between him and the next realm.
“So. You have the All-key,” she said. “Taken from Cronus just before he died, I’m guessing. No wonder you were able to escape the prison.”
No comment. No reason to promote a conversation that would invariably lead to Mari. “What’s next?”
“This might seem a little wild, but...walk through.”
Smart-ass. He entered the dry land and nearly howled with relief.
Keeley remained close to his heels. Too close for comfort.
He looked around, seeing another forest, this one straight out of a nightmare. The trees were black from trunk to tip, with twisted vines slithering along the branches like snakes. Small fire pits blazed in every direction. Smoke billowed, thickening the air.
“Welcome to the Realm of Lost and Found,” Keeley said, holding out her arms to encompass the ruined landscape.
As she moved, she...changed. Sapphire hair darkened to a deep, rich red, several thick locks of chocolate woven throughout. Iced skin took on a peaches-and-cream glow, and her eyes...those darkened to a luscious amber-gold.
He’d thought her beautiful before. But this was...
Breathtaking.
“What the hell just happened to you?” he demanded, furious. How was he supposed to resist her now?
She blanched, and he didn’t need a change in the weather to tell him that he once again had the distinct honor of hurting her feelings.
“Must be fall here,” she said coolly.
He sighed. “I’m sorry I was rude.”
She hmphed and started forward. “Come on. There’s a cabin just over the anthill.”
The ends of her red hair reached her waist and curled, and he wondered if they would tickle his stomach when she straddled and rode him, hard and fast, and—
Torin moaned.
Disease protested. Loudly.
Shut up! Torin still found it odd that the demon wanted to escape the girl, and yet the fiend hadn’t hesitated to strike her with illness when the opportunity arose. Or maybe not so odd. Like a rabid dog backed into a corner, Disease had attacked.
Rabid dogs need to be put down.
A welcome thought. “If this is an anthill,” Torin muttered, “I don’t want to see the ants.”
“Wise.”
After a few minutes of silence, he said, “How’d you change colors like that? You never told me.”
“Actually, I did. The change happens naturally. I am the season around me.”
Okay. That made sense. He wondered what she would look like in the spring and summer—and hardened.
A vine stretched out, stopping to hover near her as if sniffing her, preparing to strike. Torin reached for it. Without turning her head, Keeley grabbed it before he could make contact. A high-pitched shriek echoed as the vine withered to ash.
“Impressive,” he said.
“Obviously.”
Don’t smile. It would only encourage her. “You once asked my age. It’s my turn to ask yours. How old are you?”
“Far older than you. I’ve been growing old disgracefully since the beginning of time. Which means I’m far wiser than you, too. I know things your small mind could not even begin to understand.”
Probably true. “Insulting the beauty of my brain when you haven’t even seen it naked? Bad form, princess. Bad form.”
She stiffened, then sighed. “You speak true. My apologies.”
His little stick of dynamite had gotten better at controlling her temper. Before, his statement would have sent her into a tirade about queens never being wrong.
His mind seized on a thought. As smart as she was, as much as she seemed to know and as long as she’d been around, she might be able to find Cameo and Viola...and Pandora’s box.
Been searching so long. Had almost given up.
But could he trust this woman with such critical tasks?
Actually...yes. If she said she’d do something, she’d do it. Her sense of honor would allow nothing less.
In war, he’d never had any real honor of his own. He’d always fought dirty. Filthy, even. He’d had no qualms about striking a target from behind. No qualms about kicking someone while they were down.
With her, everything had been flipped upside down and inside out.
At the top of the mountain, he got his first look at the “cabin,” a ginormous log structure capable of housing an entire football team plus the field. Smoke rose from the chimney, and the scent of roasted something delicious fragranced the air, making his mouth water. Torin had been living off twigs, leaves and mushrooms—bugs would never be on the menu—and that just wasn’t good enough anymore.