Lisa laughed as she tossed him a wet sponge. “He’s just kidding, Cush,” she paused and then looked back at Oakley, “sort of.”
Cush shook his head and muttered under his breath as he turned and followed after Elora. “Let’s go get this book and do what needs to be done,” he nearly growled.
Lisa smacked Oakley’s arm as they followed behind Cush. “She’s going to kill you when she finds out you said that.”
Oakley smiled, not the least bit remorseful. “Naw, she’ll give me her evil stink eye and I might need to hide my toothbrush for a while, but in private she’ll wish she could have seen Cush’s face when I told him.”
Rin chuckled. “I need to come to the human realm more often; you guys are extremely entertaining.”
“You might be disappointed in other humans,” Lisa told him as they climbed into the van. “They aren’t all as amusing as Elora and her hammer.”
“What about my hammer?” Elora piped up at the mention of her name.
“You’re not getting a damn hammer,” Cush growled.
Elora turned to look at Oakley and Rin as they both let out rumbles of laughter and Lisa grinned at her. Elora looked over at an obviously irritated Cush and then back to her mom.
“I don’t get it,” she finally said.
Cush looked at her and she saw something in his eyes that stirred up the ever present butterflies. She swallowed hard and tried to keep from fanning herself as desire poured off of him in waves threatening to drown her.
“There’s nothing to get; just know that you aren’t getting a hammer,” he spoke slowly and his deep voice vibrated in his chest.
“He’s afraid you’ll try to bang him with it,” Oakley blurted out.
Elora slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing but she couldn’t stop her shoulders from shaking. She looked up at Oakley who was driving and trying to explain to a confused Rin why his statement was so outrageous. She saw the moment Rin got it, like a light bulb being switched on his face lit up and laughter rolled out of him like red carpet at the Oscars. She lost it then.
Cush stood in Lisa’s office watching as she climbed up on a counter and reached deep into the recesses of a cabinet. She pulled a thick book from the cabinet and then turned and knelt down holding it out to him. As he reached for it her eyes caught his. “He will kill for this book,” she warned him.
Cush took the book from her. “Then let’s make sure he doesn’t find out we have it,” he responded firmly.
She hopped off the counter and then motioned for him to have a seat at her desk. Once settled, he opened the book and the pages crackled with age. The words on the pages jumped out at him immediately as the language of his people whispered in his mind. This book was full of magic and power. He could feel it in his fingers. As he flipped the pages, sharp tingles reverberated up into his hand and wrist.
“This is old magic,” he said softly and his deep voice seemed to bounce off the walls of the quiet room. “Ancient magic.” His eyes caught on a sentence and he flipped back to the page that had drawn his attention. He pulled the book closer and began to read.
“The Forest Lords set forth three portals that did not require a reflection in order to be traveled through. These are known as the master portals and control every portal between the elfin realm and the human realm. When one of these portals is closed, then they all close.”
“Not to point out the obvious,” Oakley spoke up from his perch on the end of the desk, “but we sort of figured that part out. Is there anything that tells how to open them?”
Cush’s lips tightened as he glanced over at Oakley. “Patience.”
“Not my thing,” Oakley retorted.
Elora stepped forward and pushed her brother off the edge of the desk and away from the glowering elf. “That’s enough,” she told them both. “Oakley, quit trying to irritate Cush. And Cush, quit looking at my brother like you’re going to sew his lips shut.”
“Not a bad idea,” Cush told her with a nonchalant shrug.
Elora honed in on him with her purple gaze. “Neither is world peace, but it ain’t happening so don’t get your hopes up.” She pointed back at the book as if to say get on with it.
Cush fought back the smile that wanted to spread across his face at her surly banter because he didn’t want to find her attractive, or cute, or sexy, and yet as she glared at him in all her dark glory, that’s exactly what he felt. He looked back down at the pages before him, shaking off the thoughts of what he didn’t want, but did want, but didn’t know what to do about, and focused on the words before him.
He read in silence, flipping page after page, feeling the magic intensify at times only to then abate. Every now and then he would see someone shift out of the corner of his eye but no one ever interrupted him as he read. His eyes moved quickly and his mind translated the language as he searched for anything that would help them with any part of their dilemma. Then he found something.
“Bingo,” he muttered.
“Bingo? What’s Bingo?” Elora perked up at the sound of Cush’s voice after what felt like hours of silence. She looked at him expectantly.
He cleared his throat before he began to read aloud again.
“If a master portal is closed, the only way for the portals to be opened again is by a blood offering from the one who closed them.”
Elora scoffed. “Of course they can only be opened by some psycho elf in another realm, because why on earth would we want this to be doable. Where would the fun in that be?”
Cush ignored her mini-rant and continued to scan the page. “Loophole.” He grinned up at her but quickly looked away when he saw the way her lips parted and her eyes widened at his grin. “It says the portals can also be opened by the willing sacrifice of a servant.”
“You mean one of the dark elves would have to sacrifice themselves?” Elora asked.
“It just says a willing sacrifice. It doesn’t say it has to be their life,” Cush points out.
“Well that’s a little more doable,” she said as she pulled her long, dark hair up into a ponytail securing it with a rubber band from her wrist. She lowered her arms and propped her hands on her waist and chewed on her bottom lip as she thought. “Now we just need to find a sacrificial lamb amongst the dark elves in the human realm.” She looked at her mom and then to Cush and smiled. “You know what this means?”