Unknotted

I only made it to the end of the parking lot before I couldn’t suffer following this overbearing hog another step. I sprinted up behind him on quiet paws. One of his cronies shouted an alarm. Too late. I was already pouncing. My paws slammed down on him, my wings burst open, and I used the jerk as a springboard to launch myself into the air while thoroughly smashing him into the gravel, as he had done to me. Served him right.

Wings beating in quick pulls, I gained altitude fast. A thunderous roar shook the earth and sky. I dared a glance back and found his massive wingspan unfolding as he launched into the air in pursuit. The chase was on, and if I lost, no amount of nudges or tender licks would save me. I climbed until I caught a tailwind, the dominant gaining on me.

Once I found an airstream, I banked sharply into it. The dominant, only a few strokes of the wings behind, didn’t have time to match my abrupt change in direction and shot past me. With the wind at my back, I drove myself southwest, toward the portal I hoped Peth was holding for me.

Finally, my smaller, more agile size played to my favor tonight. The dominant took forever to circle around. He stumbled into the airstream behind me. How anyone could look clumsy while gliding on air was a mystery, but this jerk managed it.

Spinning onto my back, I flashed him a toothy grin and shouted, “Not so confident once your feet are off the ground, are you?”

He snarled and thrust his wings down harder.

Ahead, a smack of Whisps rode the currents. Their iridescent bodies—like thin, willowy children wearing skirts of jellyfish tentacles—glimmered with the light radiating off the hemispheres above and below. Laughing, I spun around their trailing tentacles, avoiding the possibility of electrocution. Did the dominant know the danger of their languid tails? If I had a dandelion to pay the Whisps, I would have wished to find out if he did. Regardless of my lack of payment to the elementals, they found my game of chase fun and drove the wind behind my wings faster and farther from him.

As much fun as this game of chase had unexpectedly become, it was time to take the plunge. Rotating onto my back again, I found him far behind, awkwardly weaving through the Whisps. So, he did know of the potential danger.

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” he snarled. “We need to land so we can talk.”

I snorted. “Not sure I care for your version of ‘talking,’ but sure, I’ll come with you.”

His ears perked.

“If you can catch me, Whiskers.” My wings collapsed to my side, my body rolled, and I was suddenly plummeting out of the current and toward the earth. Wind ripped at my fur and feathers. The lights of the ground below rushed up to meet me. In the back of my mind, fear shouted for attention. Exhilaration drowned it out. I locked my eyes on the ground and challenged it to a game of chicken.

In the end, it wasn’t a game I cared to win. Twenty feet from the road leading into the portal station, I threw my wings open and caught the air again. Without landing, I flew through the giant automatic doors, shot past the ticket counter, around the troll security, and past the first three terminals, ignoring the shouts of surprise and travelers diving for cover. At the fourth terminal, I stumbled out of my beasts form onto two legs. Hybrids, trolls, and a few dynamists gaped at me, but I paid them no mind, darting to the booth by the gate.

I slapped my hand to the enhanced glass protecting the troll behind the dashboard. “Peth, open the gate!”

She jerked her head up from the magazine she had been skimming. Even in the ugly brown portal staff shirt she looked like a rock star. “What are you— You weren’t supposed to be here until the next tide.”

“Don’t you ever check your phone?” I checked that mine was still in the pocket of my clothes enhanced to mold with me during shifts. “Open the gate.”

Peth checked the command board and shook her head. “Can’t. A new capsule is shifting into place. And the portal control is predicting the magic is about to ebb. You might not be able to make the jump.”

The change of the tide wasn’t something I needed her to point out; I could feel the drag across my skin already. I tugged on my wig’s braids and paced, swearing under my breath. Couldn’t I have one lucky break tonight? If the dominant caught me, I was dead. Of that, I was certain.

At the sound of shouting and a roar that trembled through the station, I glanced over my shoulder. “Don’t care if the magic ebbs. I’m making the jump. How long, Peth?”

“One more minute.”

That was too long.

“What’s going on?” She lifted on her toes, stretching to see the source of the commotion happening at the security gates. “Girl… what trouble did you step into?”

Whiskers shoved through the crowd of travelers, an army of grumpy troll security around him. A snarl fixed on his face, he scanned over the faces of the onlookers. “Where are you?” he bellowed.

As if I was going to volunteer to answer that question.

Peth whistled. “The right kind of bad trouble, I see.”

I spun back to the booth. “Seriously, open the gate.”

“Thirty more seconds. Who is that?”

“Don’t know. Some egotistical and very volatile man. Pretty sure he potioned me.” I resisted the urge to glance over my shoulder, in case he caught a glimpse of me.

“What kind of potion?”

“Doesn’t matter. Open the doors. Please.”

“Ten seconds. Get ready.” Her hand hovered over the red button on her dashboard.

I slunk behind a line of travelers who’d risen from their seats to watch Whiskers tear through the terminal. He was shoving people aside. Apparently, the only thing he remembered about me was that I was, in fact, female because he harassed every woman—tall or short, husky or slim, long hair or short.

Still, he was working his way through them awfully fast. He was only twenty paces away.

I stood right at the threshold of the gate and waited for the light above it to blink green. “Come on. Come on,” I mumbled, tapping my thighs.

I glanced over my shoulder and my eyes met azure skies.

“You!” Whiskers snarled. People leapt out of his way as he charged toward me.

The light blinked green. The doors whooshed open. White energy and rainbow specks danced around the outside of the transparent blast capsule. I dove in and threw myself to the back of it.

The dominant stabbed a finger at Peth, shouting, “Hold the doors.”

“Close them, Peth!” I screamed at the same moment. I hardly needed to though. Peth, my greatest and greenest friend, had already pressed the button.

The doors slid toward each other. Of course, Peth had to work the hemisphere’s slowest moving gates. I pressed myself against the far wall, as if, by sheer force of will, I could compel the capsule into action. My eyes remained locked with the dominant’s as he barreled closer.

He reached out, just as I feared he would, to stuff his hand between the doors to engage their safety feature and stall the entire launch. The Core finally offered me the first bit of luck of the evening. The doors clicked shut, and the dominant smashed against them. Since they were also transparent, I was privileged to witness the entire fantastic display: his fingers jamming against the glass, his nose smooshing, followed by his lips and cheeks. I would have laughed seeing his handsome features distorted so, but the force of his hit cracked the doors. The ones made of angry-troll-resistant glass.

“Tides…” I breathed, eyes widening. The portal station was overdue for upgrades.

The dominant stepped back, leaving a giant smudge across the glass, and shook off the gate’s attack. He shoved a finger in Peth’s direction. “Don’t you dare launch her.” Then he turned back to me and snarled, “Get out.”

I smirked, crossing my arms. He didn’t see the smile Peth gave me behind his back as she hit the launch button. “You’re welcome for the book,” I said. “Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.”

He roared again and rammed his fist dead center into the crack. Spiderwebs crept across the glass.

It didn’t matter though. Magic gathered beneath the capsule, the holding gears released, and I blasted into the Between.