Chapter 59.4

After dinner, it only took Tessa and Imani another hour to finish their work on the portal. They first tested it on their leftovers from dinner, just to make sure there weren’t any adverse effects on organic matter, and thankfully the process seemed completely safe.During that same hour, Amara returned home to pack a bag for the coming journey. While she’d briefly talked with Tadhgán about what to expect in the Wilds, and he assured her food wouldn’t be an issue, she didn’t want to take any risks. After a quick trip to the grocery store, she had a backpack full of dried food and water, hopefully ready to tackle whatever challenges awaited her in the Wilds.

When she went to leave, however, she found Vee waiting at the front door with a backpack of her own.

“Vee? What’s going on, is that for Tadhgán?” Amara asked.

“No,” Vee said. She took a deep breath, then looked deep into Amara’s eyes, “I’m coming too.”

Amara stammered for a moment, multiple thoughts tangling together, before she managed to speak up. “In your state? Without any powers? Are you crazy?!”

“I know it’s risky, but… I can’t stand the thought of you being over there by yourself.” Vee stepped closer and grabbed Amara’s hand, gently kissing it before leaning against her. “Yes, Tadhgán is there, but he’s injured. If I’m with you, I can help keep you fed, and I’ll be able to help with diplomacy should the need arise. Didn’t he tell us earlier that faeries are the biggest threat in The Wilds? According to him, they hate fighting, they prefer riddles, word games, politics, things like that.”

Sinking further into the embrace, Vee felt Amara’s tail curl around her waist. “I don’t disagree with that, Vee, but…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Look, this is going to sound shitty no matter how I phrase it, but I feel like I need to ask: are you only coming because you don’t want me to sleep with anyone else?” Amara shuffled uncomfortably as the words left her lips. “I know you said it would be okay in an emergency, but this is the first time that’s been relevant. And, to be clear, I wouldn’t mind if that was the case, I’m just worried about fucking up what we have, because I love you more than anything, and—”

With a passionate kiss, Vee cut off Amara’s nervous rambling. “That’s not it, I promise. If you need to sleep with Tadhgán, go for it. My concern is about everything else. Didn’t he say he has a partner? What if he doesn’t want to sleep with you? What if he has reservations about letting a demon feed on him?”

Amara sighed. “No, yeah, that makes sense. I guess I hadn’t thought about that, I’m so used to everyone wanting to sleep with me all the time.”

Vee cupped the sides of Amara’s face and encouraged her to look up. “I trust you with everything, Amara, and that’s why I feel safe doing this. You’re the daughter of the Firstborn! You’re more than capable of keeping both Tadhgán and myself safe. If I’m with you, there won’t be any need for you to hold back, or try to reserve your strength.”

The two kissed again, then Amara giggled faintly to herself. “Alright, let’s do it. Us against the future, right?”

“Us against the future, Hellspawn.”

After one last kiss, they gathered their things and joined up with everyone else in the facilities underneath Lysander Hall. While the portal to The Wilds wasn’t there, they needed to ferry the wolves to the cafeteria so they could return to their home plane.

As the girls arrived, they found Tadhgán kneeling next to Nick, clasping their hands together as he whispered something in a language neither Vee nor Amara understood. After more than a minute of quiet prayer, Tadhgán removed one of his many necklaces and tied it around Nick’s neck. Once he finished, he cupped the side of Nick’s face and leaned in to kiss his forehead. “I’m so sorry, Nicholas. I’ll make this right; I swear it on everything I am.”

Rising to his feet, Tadhgán turned to look at Vee and Amara. “I’m ready,” he muttered.

Moving the wolves to the cafeteria proved even easier the second time around. Under the light of the newly-waning moon, an unnatural charisma seemed to exude from Tadhgán; his eyes were brighter, his voice deeper and more commanding, and his words drew instant obedience from the wolves around him. Between his skills and Amara’s illusions, it only took the better part of fifteen minutes to arrive at their destination: the magic circle hidden in a storage room underneath the cafeteria.

The circle pulsed with newfound magic, and despite not understanding the runic language used by witches, Vee still noticed differences in its design. The symbols gave her chills; while she trusted Tessa to get them to The Wilds safely, her experience in other planes was limited purely to her brief stranding in Purgatory. In comparison to that bleak, desolate expanse, The Wilds would be teeming with life. Over the many hours they’d spent with Tadhgán watching over Nick, he’d done his best to explain the many potential threats that might await them, and Vee’s imagination now ran amok as she wondered what might be waiting for them on the other side.

Her thoughts were broken by a warm hand grabbing her own. She flinched, then looked over to Amara, her warm amber eyes set with determination. “It’s time, Vee. This is your last chance to change your mind.”

Vee shook her head. “No, I want this.” Looking around, the group silently agreed it was time to say goodbye. One by one, everyone started hugging and muttering a few words.

Tessa approached Vee first, hugging her much more tightly than she needed to. “Don’t let Amara do anything stupid, okay? I know your powers are… y’know, but I can’t deny it’s a little comforting knowing you two are doing this together. You bring out the best in each other, and I know you’re gonna kick that stupid plane’s butt.”

“My abilities aren’t completely gone, Tess,” Vee said with a smile as she returned the hug. “But… thank you.”

Chloé appeared next, tears in her eyes as she pulled Vee into a hug. With the understanding that this hug was just as much for Chloé’s benefit as it was for Vee’s, she let the embrace last as long as was needed.

“I’m really scared for both of you,” Chloé finally muttered. “You’ve both been through so much already, but traveling to other planes is… Ugh, look at me. I’m not the one putting my life on the line, yet I’m the one scared out of my mind. I just wish I could give you some of my powers or something.”

“Don’t forget, Chloé, I’ve been training my whole life for weird shit like this,” Vee whispered back. “But… Thank you. I’m nervous too, and it sucks we can’t all do this together.”

After one last squeeze, Chloé added, “Oh, also… thanks for calling me strong earlier.”

Vee giggled, her laugh filled with more emotion than she’d expected. “You’re more than strong, Chloé, you’re incredible. Knowing that you’ll be here watching over everyone makes it easier for me to head out with Amara.”

One last smile, then Chloé floated away. Next, Imani gave Amara and Vee short hugs of her own, but instead of saying something sentimental or encouraging, she pulled out several sheets of paper. “So, I was digging through some of my Scribe texts that Elijah let me keep, and something hit me. There are a lot of different ways to make the ink used in magic tattoos, but every single option is pretty hard to find. Well, hard to find on Earth. Right now, all my studying has mostly been theoretical, and all my tattoo work has been completely mundane, but we have a golden opportunity here.”

Imani opened up the paper in her hand, showing off several immaculately detailed drawings of colorful, otherworldly flowers. “These flowers should grow in The Wilds, and if you can bring some back, I’ll be able to start crafting my own magic ink. In the best-case scenario, I might be able to start applying more tattoos to Tessa. Heck, I could probably give some to you all, as well, though it would be a bit of a learning curve.”

Vee grabbed one of the papers, studied the image, then folded it up before tucking it in her backpack. “That’s a great idea, Imani. We’ll keep an eye out.”

“Now, importantly,” Imani continued, “make sure you ask permission before picking them up! These flowers aren’t exactly sentient, but they’re still a bit finicky about stuff like that. You’ll know you have permission if the colors twinkle a bit.”

“Permission is a good thing to ask for across the board, honestly,” Tadhgán added. Kneeling next to the four wolves, he scratched them all behind the ears before giving some sort of silent command. At his bidding, the wolves walked up to all the girls present, allowing them to hug, snuggle, and pet them before returning to Tadhgán in the circle. “Time is of the essence. We should leave.”

Walking hand-in-hand with Amara, Vee joined Tadhgán in the magic circle. The wolves shifted to allow them both in, and while they had to stand incredibly close, she was amazed to see they all fit. Tessa gave everyone one final look, then kneeled at the edge of the circle and closed her eyes. The tattoos on the side of her head lit up, and soon after the runes on the floor followed suit. Magic swirled around them, glowing brighter with each passing second, and Vee gripped Amara’s hand as tightly as she could.

The magic grew to a powerful crescendo, and as it reached its zenith, it flashed. The entire world around Vee shifted in an instant. Instead of standing in a quiet, still basement, the space around her now thrummed with exuberance. A calming breeze tossed her hair about, and the sound of rustling leaves filled her ears. She stood in a large clearing, surrounded on all sides by tall trees with multicolored leaves. The patterns on their trunks shifted ever so slightly in the moonlight, which itself was a faint lavender hue. The light pulled Vee’s attention skyward, and as she looked up, she saw three moons, all in different phases, staring back at her from an impossibly vibrant and colorful sky. It was like staring into an aurora, though one so vast it encompassed the entire world. With a quiet gasp, Vee marveled at the wonder of the plane around her.

They’d arrived in The Wilds.