CHAPTER#33

"Sorry about that, I ran into some trouble." Mike stepped aside, gesturing at the centaur behind him. "Naia, this is Zel. I found her living in the woods of the greenhouse. She asked if she could move in, and I said I would have to check with you."

"It's your call, lover, but we have some more important problems to deal with. You need to go see Cecilia, right away!" Naia performed a curtsy for Zel. "It's very nice to meet you, but we'll have time for proper introductions later. You can stay back here - in fact, I insist on it."

Puzzled, Mike waved farewell to Zel and walked in the back door. "Tink? I'm home!" Surprised when the goblin didn't emerge, he walked through the front door, stepping onto the porch.

"It's about time," Cecilia hissed, appearing next to him. The air was immediately cold, but that wasn't what Mike noticed. Standing in the middle of his yard was a black woman in a bright white suit..

"What the actual fuck?" Mike started to walk forward, but Cecilia placed a hand on his chest.

"She's been standing out here all day," Cecilia said. "She's one of them."

"Mr. Radley." The woman's voice was deep and soulful. "Such a pleasure to meet you. My name is Kali. I am a member of the Society, and I have come to you with a very limited time offer."

"Zero fucks given lady. This is private property and I insist - " Mike's foot was almost on the ground beneath his porch when it erupted. Dozens of snakes broke through the soil, fangs bared at him. He backpedaled onto the porch, staring at the writhing bodies in his front yard. His hand went to the bag on his belt. "Sweet facing Jesus!"

"The Geas of this home is quite strong, the strongest I have ever encountered," Kali informed him, waving her hands slowly through the air. Shadows trailed behind her fingertips, shadows that fell to the ground and squirmed beneath her. "I will learn much by finding a way to break it. Unless, of course, you would like to discuss terms?"

"You need to find Tink," Cecilia said, helping him to stand. "She knows how to activate the defenses, she used to do it for Emily when she wasn't home."

"The house has defenses?" Staring out at the half-naked woman on his lawn, he shivered. She was chanting quietly in a language he didn't understand, more shadows dripping from her fingers to encircle the house. "And where is Tink? Or Abella?" Mike imagined the gargoyle could crush Kali easily beneath her weight.

Cecilia fixed him with a scowl. "Sofia gave you a fool's errand. She convinced Tink and Abella to help her in the Labyrinth while you were gone in order to keep you safe. They left shortly after you did. I wanted to come after you, but this bitch showed up."

"They what?!?" Mike cast a glance in Kali's direction. The shadows and snakes were gone, but the woman's sinister smile remained, sending a chill up his spine.

"The offer is only good until I find a way in," Kali informed him. "Make no mistake. I will tear your entire world apart when I do." Raising her fist, she pantomimed knocking on a door. Mike watched in astonishment as green light rippled away from her, traveling along a giant invisible sphere that surrounded the home.

Mike contemplated the woman on his front lawn for several moments. Without the others, how could he hope to protect the house? To protect them? Storming back inside, he did his best not to slam the door behind him.

"What should we do?" Cecilia asked, passing through the front wall, lines of worry on her face.

Mike ignored her, stamping his way up the stairs. He walked into the room at the end of the hall, the room with the closet door that opened to another world. He could see the scuff marks in the wood from Abella's careful footsteps, saw that the door of the closet was still open. Reaching into the bag, he grabbed the knife tightly as he rounded the corner and promptly smashed his face against the back of the closet wall.

"Fuck!" Mike's nose was gushing blood all over his shirt. He had expected the portal to still be open. Stumbling back out of the room, he ran past Cecilia at the bottom of the stairs and into the kitchen. The maps had all been taken, and there were no instructions left behind for how to open the portal to the cave.

"Fuck!" Mike screamed at the table, spraying blood everywhere. Cecilia was where he had left her in the front room, waiting patiently for him. He beckoned her to follow, stepping onto the back patio. Zel and Naia were deep in conversation when they saw Mike's face.

"It's bad," Naia said, reading the look on his face.

"Yeah, it is." Mike approached the fountain, one hand pinching his nostrils shut. Zel stepped forward, applying a powder to his face that stung like a faceful of bees, but stopped the bleeding.

"What do we do?" Naia asked. Zel, who had no idea what was going on, stood quietly to the side.

"If they aren't back by morning, then something must have happened. They were going down there to fight a fucking Minotaur, and that shouldn't have taken them all afternoon. What was Sofia thinking?" Mike looked at the bedroom window of the second floor. "What were any of them thinking?"

"They were thinking of protecting you," Naia told him, summoning a sphere of water to clean his face. "But that's not what is important. If they aren't back by morning, what then?"

"Then I go after them," Mike said, a dark look crossing his face.

"But you don't know how to open the cave," Naia told him.

"You're right, I don't." Mike pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing gently up and down. "But I know someone who does."