Two of the other horsemen didn’t so much as move, but one of them, the one dressed in black, slid his gaze toward me.
“Look closer, Finneas. She’s a spirit walker,” he said to the dude in red.
Red dude whipped his head in my direction, his eyebrows bunched together. “Why did you bring your human form here? Are you offering yourself to him?”
Rage growled, and I nudged him lightly. “No, I got tricked, okay? But I do have a gift for the Keeper of Souls.” I patted my back pocket. “Now, please, take us to him.”
He narrowed his eyes, seeming to regard me for a moment, and then he straightened. “Very well. You may enter, but it’s at your own risk.”
That sounded ominous, but I trusted my grandfather. We’d get out of here.
The red horseman snapped his fingers, and I felt a tug at my navel.
What the what?
Instead of looking up at the four horsemen, we now stared up at thick ornate loops and scrolls of the twenty-foot wrought-iron gates outside of a pathway to the glimmering white castle. Said castle had been—only a heartbeat ago—way up on a hill, at least a half-mile away.
“Did he just…?” I gaped, looking down the hill toward the orchards. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and clouds of dust rolled over the landscape as the riders galloped away over the horizon.
“Yeah.” Rage’s eyes were wide, and his skin a sickly shade of green. “That’s … a little unnerving.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant the horsemen or the fact that we’d just been … I don’t know what … transported across a massive space within a fraction of a second.
“Hello,” a woman said in a soft voice next to me.
Both Rage and I whirled on her. No way had she been there when we arrived.
The young woman, a willowy brunette, who looked like she might be twenty, smiled at us and then looked down at a clipboard in her hand. Behind her, the gates were now open, no longer blocking the pathway to the ginormous glittering castle.
Was it made of diamond, or did the light from the sky make it look that way?
She tapped her finger against the board in a staccato rhythm, and her smile disappeared. She raised her chin and, with her brow furrowed, asked, “Do you have an appointment to see the Keeper?”
“Uh…” I cleared my throat. “The uh … horseman dressed in red said we could.” Somehow, my statement sounded more like a question, so I gestured down the hill where I’d last seen the dude.
“Oh.” She frowned. “A walk-in. If you’ll just…” She glanced over her shoulder and then, turning back to me, held up her index finger. “One moment please.”
She disappeared. Like, she didn’t walk away, she just … vanished.
“This place is freaking me out,” I muttered.
Rage slipped his hand into mine, but he wasn’t looking so good. His skin was ashy again, and beads of sweat dotted his forehead. But he was still standing, so that was a plus.
The woman reappeared, no more than two inches from Rage.
“Geeze!” He stumbled back, bumping into me.
“Sorry, dear.” The brunette woman offered him a small smile before shifting her attention to me. “Follow me. The Keeper will see you now.”
She walked through the gateway, and we followed. As we approached the castle, I realized there was a second, albeit smaller set of gates just outside the actual structure. She clapped twice in quick succession, and the second set of gates opened.
Why would the Keeper of Souls need two sets of gates? That kind of security among the living, I could understand, but here, surrounded by spirits? Rage and I shared a look and followed her inside.
“Whoa,” I breathed, turning right then left, not wanting to miss a single thing. This was beyond any opulence I’d ever seen. It was like pictures of a Vegas hotel pool with award-winning gardens multiplied by a million. Golden columns lined the peacock-blue opal walkway with an infinity pool that poured over the end of an… azurite stone waterfall. All of the crystals and minerals had me gaping. The view was insane. Over the hill, we could see the castle gardens, which overlooked a giant lake the color of sapphires with rolling emerald grass hills. In the distance, a black onyx wall rose from the ground, the last thing I could see on the horizon.
Something moved, and only then did I notice the thousands of ghostly forms milling about. The dead apparently played tennis, and some were water skiing on the lake while others sunbathed. I spotted more in the gardens and others enjoying a spectral picnic.
Was Honor out there?
I nudged Rage. “Okay, not gonna lie. This is not what I expected.”
He nodded, his eyes wide with shock as well.
The woman looked back over her shoulder at me. “Oh, this is the inner circle. Only those who lived honorably get to enjoy this area within the Realm of the Dead. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to be on the outer circle”—she tilted her head at the horizon—“beyond the dark wall.”
She winked as if that would make what she’d said any less terrifying.
“Live mortals!” a deep voice bellowed from over by the pool, and Rage and I both froze.
Pivoting, my gaze fell upon a giant of a man stepping out from between two columns. He dropped the black cloak he’d been wearing, and my jaw dropped.
The dude was an Adonis. The man looked like he was chiseled from stone. Rock hard muscles strained under his tan skin. He wore a shimmering gold speedo and nothing else. His dark hair feathered out, just kissing his shoulders.
I swallowed hard.
“Technically, we’re shifters,” Rage growled.
I hadn’t known my mate long, but his tone reeked of jealousy. He probably didn’t like the speedo-check I’d just done. Oops. This wouldn’t be the best time to get technical and mention I wasn’t just a shifter but apparently a half high mage as well. Best to keep the conversation brief.
The Keeper, at least I assumed this dude was the Keeper of Souls, grinned at Rage. “Whatever, you’re alive. I haven’t had live bodies here in ages! Whom do I owe for this wonderful gift?”
That could be taken in a lot of ways—a lot of creepy ways.
I gulped. “Surlama said you guys were friends—”
As I spoke, his upper lip pulled back into a sneer. “Surlama is a con artist and a hag. She’s screwed me out of a lot of souls over the years. I refuse to owe her a debt of gratitude.”
Wonderful. Of course they weren’t friends.
“Well, I brought you something.” I pulled the jewel Grandpa had given me and held it up. “A trade.”
The Keeper dude went very, very still. “Who gave you that?”
He was practically drooling, and I wondered what made this gem so special. Judging by the wealth all around us, he didn’t need more stones or crystals. He crossed the space, and as he drew closer, I shifted my weight from foot to foot.
After forcing a swallow, I replied, “The Mage Master of Spirit. Honor Midnight died like … an hour and a half ago, and we want him back. I’ve come to bargain for him and—”
Plucking it from my grasp, he shivered and popped it into his mouth and then swallowed it! “Deal,” he said with a grin. “When you get back to the surface, you may call for Honor, and I’ll let him go.”