"Shit, that's Viv." I had to fight not to step away from her. Viv, the false mother goddess. The one who was causing so much trouble in our own time. I shouldn't have been surprised to see her at the center of the problems in the past, too.
"You sure?" Raven stared after her. "She looks like-"
"I know who she looks like. Now hurry, she's getting away." I scrambled after Viv, and Raven was right there with me. Even in those few seconds, we were put far enough behind that we had to run to catch up to her.
And when I did, I placed myself to her right so I could hear what she was saying. "Idiots, they have no idea who they are playing with. This world will kneel at my feet."
I kept half an eye on where we were going and the other half on Viv. I didn't want to touch her. For all I knew, she would recognize me. I knew that wasn't truly possible because in this reality, she hadn't met me yet. But I wasn't taking any chances either.
She strode to the end of the Rim, spun and snapped her fingers. Coils of pink rose around her arms, and then just like that, she was gone-just like Raven, Talan, and Pamela could do-and I stood there staring at the image. "What the hell?"
"Keep walking," Raven said. "Maybe the images will follow her."
He was right. I took a step and we were no longer at the edge of the Rim, but back in the center where four men stood talking in front of several small saplings of many kinds of trees. They looked to be brothers, so close as they were in both looks and build. Long brown hair, sand-colored eyes and strong jaws. There were hints of my own father in them and I wondered if we were related. I didn't have long to mull over that thought. One of them wore the crown of the Rim, the crown that even now rested on Belladonna's head in our time.
We approached them carefully, each step taken as though an explosion waited for us under our feet.
"Vivica is losing her mind to the madness of Spirit." This from the king. "She thinks she should be queen. This is why the in-breeding between families is forbidden. Too much power in one elemental is dangerous not only for the world, but for the elemental's mind."
"Why don't you just bed her to shut her up?" one of the others asked.
The king snorted. "You know I tried that, and even gave her a child. But that isn't enough. She wants to rule. She is all that is wrong with those who carry Spirit no matter the amount in their blood." He rubbed a hand over his face.
"Well, she's gone now," one of his brothers said. I wasn't looking to see who spoke, though, I was far more interested in the king's response. He looked down the length of the Rim to where Viv had stalked.
"Somehow, I doubt we've seen the end of her. Which is why we need to be prepared. Help me, brothers. Let us build a seat of power that will give us a place of protection from whatever she brings."
They turned together toward the different saplings at their feet. The small trees began to sprout and grow, flowers and leaves bursting then falling off their limbs as they were forced through season after season at a rapid pace. The smell of green living things filled the air, the sweet call of spring blossoms, the harvest of autumn fruit, the bite of winter pine and the heat of a tree trunk and hot sap under the summer sun.
"The start of the Spiral," Raven breathed, and we both took a step forward. I could not speak for Raven, but the desire to see the beginning of the first home I'd ever known was strong and I wanted to stay. Between one step and the next, though, the image in front of us shifted and we were no longer in the Rim.
For a moment, the world swirled in a blend of colors from green and brown to a dusty, dry sand that filled my vision until I could see nothing but the dull brown tones I knew all too well.
We stood on the outskirts of a desert with tumbleweeds and cactus the only things breaking up the horizon. I shivered, unable to catch the movement and stop it. "This is Death Valley."
Raven looked around. "You sure?"
I twisted to glare at him. "Seriously?"
I'd lived in Death Valley for over twenty years, alone, cut off from my family and Peta. All for a perceived indiscretion. One that had ultimately helped to save the world, but I'd not known that until I'd served almost my entire sentence there.
Images in the distance shimmered and danced in the heat waves that rolled up from the valley floor. A group of people from what I could see. Were they humans or elementals? My bet was on elementals.
I took a step and then another. As the landscape stayed the same, I hurried, breaking into a run. Whatever was going to happen next was not going to be good. I could feel it in my bones like the ache before a storm broke overhead-