Page 51 of Call of the Ride
“I changed my fate…” I murmured, and Mokosh proudly nodded.
“You did. Clever girl...” the goddess slyly grinned, although I didn’t fully understand how this new development helped my dire situation. If I was now a divine being, then Ididhave to play by their rules, and every sign pointed to Koschei having bested me.
I turned back to face my mother, crying out as I saw she was already flickering from sight. Just as when she’d appeared during my spirit journey in the Nav, I reached for her, only to have my fingers pass through as if she were a ghost. Blinded by tears, I helplessly watched as she slowly vanished once again, before noticing that I was fading as well.
As I was yanked back through the ether, I heard a powerful voice that sounded like both my mother and Mokosh speaking at once. “Remember daughter…remember who you were, who you are, and who you are meant to be.”
Chapter 39
Taneer
Waking up with Vasi missing from the bed—instinctively knowing she was in danger, but unable to do anything about it—was the closest thing to hell I’d ever experienced. I’d never had sleep paralysis before, yet that’s what it felt like as I couldn’t move a muscle, couldn’t reach my witch as she faced down that deathless nightmare in her own backyard.
We’re supposed to keep her safe!
I noticed Ace and Nox were trapped beside me, our shared bond alive with fury as we struggled against our invisible restraints. Desperately reaching out to Vasi through our tether, I felt her faint tug before the line went completely slack. An inhuman roar echoed through the woods outside the hut the same instant we were freed. Scrambling over each other in our haste, we all threw ourselves off the bed and raced to the window.
She’s gone.
“No!” Nox bellowed, launching his enormous body through the open window before I could stop him. To my surprise, he landed quite gracefully for being such a behemoth, so Asa and I followed suit.
My suspicions that Koschei was involved were confirmed by the signature stench of rotting flesh he’d left behind. Blasting light outward from my palms, I harshly illuminated the clearing and surrounding woods, but there was no sign of Vasi or her attacker. Regardless, I kept searching for any evidence that hehadn’tspirited away my witch to his lair, because I was not prepared to accept that outcome.
“Here!” Ace shouted, and Nox and I ran to where he was standing, holding a bottle. To my surprise, I saw it was the rose oil Ulysses had given us for our solstice orgy, only now it was completely empty.
Hmph, I was saving that…
I suddenly remembered when I’d consumed blue roses in the Nav and ended up in the cave system with Ace. “Vasi must have used it to teleport herself away from Koschei!” I gasped, beyond relieved to realize she’d escaped. “But where would she have gone?”
“Here I am, my Riders!” Vasi’s clear voice rang out, and we all spun to find her waving from the window of her hut, which had now settled to the ground. “I’m so sorry to have worried you…” she abruptly stopped, frowning in annoyance as Nox stalked to the front door and nearly tore it from the frame before stomping inside.
“Oh, thank the Goddess,” Asa exhaled, looking so destroyed that I immediately cupped his pretty face in my hands and captured his lips with mine to ease his pain. Of course, I immediately hardened, which immediately made me try tugging him down to the ground. Instead of humoring me, Ace laughed against my mouth, gently pushing me away. “Not now, suge. Let’s go save our witch from an angry Russian on the warpath.”
Fine...
Unfortunately, Nox had already Hulked out by the time we made it inside, and I had to duck as a flying plate crashed against the wall next to my head.
“Throwing shit doesn’t change the fact that you did the exact fucking thing you said you wouldn’t do again!” Nox boomed, darkness pouring off of him like squid ink, obscuring the action.
I quickly countered with a blast of light, literally clearing the air between them as Asa verbally intervened. “Everybody calm the fuck down! Vasi, you sit over there. Nox, on the opposite end of the table. I want to actually hear what happenedbeforewe all jump to conclusions!”
Ooh, Dominant Ace is hot.
Vasi exhaled, gently setting down the plate she’d been about to launch at Nox’s oversized head. “I had no choice. You weren’t coming to save me, and Koschei claimed you weren’t allowed to, anyway.”
Even Nox quieted at that bit of news, but I cut in, hating to think she thought we’d abandoned her. “We couldn’tmove,doll...wait. What do you mean we’re not allowed to save you?”
She sank into the wooden chair and dropped her head into her hands. “He said since the deal was only between me and him, I couldn’t involve you—and that includes using your powers as my own.”
Pure panic started building in my core. If Vasi was unable to get out of this deal...there was no way she could fight off that monster with just her claws. He’d take her back to his cave and he would…he would…
I’m going to throw up.
“Breathe, Tan,” Ace was whispering in my ear as he forced me to sit as well. “The four of us have a bond that is unbreakable.Wewill solve this, even without Vasi using our powers.” I allowed myGueneshem’swords to anchor me as he turned his attention back to theotherlight of my entire world. “Where did you go just now, Vasi?”
“To the Great Womb,” she replied, eyeing me with concern. “I wanted to ask MokoshhowI was blessed at birth. My mother was there as well, so I talked to both of them,” she faltered, and we all instinctively moved closer, to comfort her in her grief. She blessed us with a tight smile before resolutely continuing. “Although I still don’t completely understand why this blessing made me the way I am—where my power to stop time came from.”
Nox frowned, deep concern darkening his gaze. “I thought that power came from being Baba Yaga…”
