Wickedly Dangerous (Baba Yaga, #1)(94)
She shook her head, dislodging a lingering cobweb, and glanced around them with a sigh. “No. Not at all. What you’re seeing is the effect of Maya’s overuse of a doorway that wasn’t supposed to exist in the first place. There is a reason that such things are closely monitored and controlled. Magic has its own rules, and when you break them, well . . . bad things happen.”
She gestured at the grim destruction around them. “This is why the queen was so adamant about finding Maya and the doorway and putting a stop to the imbalance. If it goes on long enough, it could destroy the entire Otherworld, or turn it into something even more unpredictable than it already is.”
An odd rustling noise in the underbrush made Liam jump. He glanced over his shoulder, but didn’t see anything besides straggly brown bushes that dangled with dayglow orange berries, as if someone had glued the contents of a package of Cheetos to a shrubbery. He shuddered, feeling the hairs go up on the back of his neck.
“I think something may be following us,” he said to Baba in a low voice. “Or a bunch of somethings.”
Her full lips compressed into a thin line. “Yep, they’ve been out there for a while. I don’t know if they work for Maya, or are just some curious locals trying to figure out if we’re edible.” At Liam’s startled glance, she waved her sword menacingly. “Don’t worry, they’re not likely to bother us. For some reason, the creatures of the Otherworld find me a bit threatening.” An evil smirk lit her eyes from within.
“Huh,” Liam said, not feeling at all reassured. He tightened his grip on his gun, just in case.
*
THE TRAIL LED them to a huge, crooked house like a great mansion built of enormous white boulders and roughly hewn trees, lopsided and misshapen, yet still impressive in its own way. Baba swung the sword to and fro, but it stubbornly insisted on pointing toward the shambling wreck of a dwelling.
“Well, shit,” Baba said with feeling. This was not good. Not good at all.
Liam turned to her, startled. “What’s the matter, did we lose her? Did the hair stop working?”
“Sadly, no,” Baba said, plucking the hair from the sword and tucking it back in her pouch. “Maya is definitely in there. But I know whose house this is, and she’s not going to be happy to see us.” She sheathed her sword, and gestured for Liam to put his gun back in its holster.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “The place looks pretty creepy.”
“You have no idea,” Baba said. “But I assure you, if I can’t talk our way out of this, weapons probably won’t do us any good.”
She led the way up to the massive front door, considered knocking, then shrugged and just walked in, Liam on her heels. Once inside, the entire house revealed itself to be one sprawling, filthy room, lit mainly by the reddish glow of a fire laid in a hearth big enough to roast an entire ox with space to spare. Faint additional light slipped apologetically through smudged windows, as if it knew it had no business being there.
Liam smothered a gasp as his eyes adjusted to the murky dimness, and Baba put out a reassuring hand. Not that she felt all that reassured herself.
Maya was there, all right, along with a frightened, crying boy wearing a blue Yankees cap, a yellow shirt, and denim shorts, now torn and dirty, as if he’d been dragged through mud and brambles. Behind the two of them stood a gigantic woman with one filmy eye in the middle of her forehead and a necklace of bones around her neck. The bones looked alarmingly human.
“No wonder the poor kid is crying,” Liam whispered in Baba’s ear. “I’m a little tempted to do it myself. What the hell is that?”
“Not what,” Baba whispered back. “Who. Don’t be rude.” She bowed politely to the giantess and said in a loud voice, “Good day, Mistress Zorica. I am very sorry to intrude upon your home, but this woman has something that does not belong to her and we are here to take it back.”
Maya sneered at Baba. “Pretty words from one who has already lost the battle. I have given the lovely Zorica this child as a gift. You are too late.”
The giantess peered nearsightedly at Baba and Liam. “Baba Yaga, is that you? Why is this any concern of yours?” She pouted, her pendulous lower lip thrust out and sausage-shaped arms crossed over an immense sagging bosom. The ragged dress she wore looked as though it had started life as a circus tent. Twenty or thirty years ago. “I have already given up most of my power in exchange for this child to light up my lonely days. I am not inclined to give him back, to you or anyone else. Go away and leave me be.”
At this, poor Petey cried even harder, and Baba had to hold Liam’s wrist in an iron grip to keep him from going to the boy.
“I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Mistress Zorica, but the queen has sworn to punish this woman, Maya, and anyone who aids her. She has caused great injury to the fabric of the Otherworld, and the queen is sorely vexed with her.”
The giantess blanched and covered her single eye with one meaty paw. “I only wanted a little company, Baba Yaga. It is lonely here all by myself. Tell the queen I meant no harm. Perhaps she’ll let me keep the child, yes?”
“No,” Baba said firmly. “You know quite well that no Otherworld denizen may keep a Human child against his will. This boy was stolen from a loving mother. He must be returned to her.”
Her voice softened. “I know your heart was set on keeping him, but perhaps we can find you a nice giant cat instead.” Or maybe something sturdier, like a small pachyderm. “Come with us to court and explain to the queen how Maya tricked you into giving up your power to her, and perhaps Her Majesty will be lenient, and forgive your crime. But it would be better for you to tell her yourself. We’re taking Maya there now; will you come with us and plead your case?”