Page 21 of Boundless Magic

Acting on instinct, Keaton tugged Autumn into his arms and hollered, “Hold your breath!”

He conjured a continuous deluge of water, hoping to neutralize the acid. In his inexperience and panic, it felt like the force of ten waterfalls, and it knocked them to the ground. He did his best to protect Autumn’s head as it hammered down upon them.

“Pull it back, babe!” she shouted, coughing between words as water filled her mouth. “Pull it back!”

Closing his eyes, he pictured a gentle shower.

Her beaming smile was his reward. “Well done, Keat.”

“How’s your back?” She shifted for him to look, and Keaton winced at the angry splotches marring her previously silky skin. “Jesus!”

“It probably looks worse than it is,” she said with a wry smile. The pain in her eyes belied her words.

“We’ll see what Spring has for healing. If she doesn’t, I’m sure Winnie will prepare something for when we return. Can I take your pain away? Tell me what to do.”

“I don’t want to bother Win. She’s got enough on her plate with the boys.” Autumn rose to her feet, and her expression arrested to one of wariness.

Keaton turned his head to see the approaching alternate-reality Spring. The woman’s visage was technically the same as his sister-in-law, but where their Spring was pure of heart and intent, the other’s trials had hardened her eyes and turned down her mouth at the edges.

When she reached Autumn, there was the smallest bit of contrition in the way her lips twisted up and her gaze softened. “It seems I owe you an apology, sister from another mister.”

His wife’s brows shot up, but she remained watchful.

“I didn’t mean to make it seem like anything had happened to Ra—uh, Chloe or your son. The girl showed up at my home, and I sent her away, assuming it was a game Rachel was playing.” The woman frowned as she met Autumn’s stare. “I’m not lying. I never do.”

“I didn’t say you were, but why the hell would you send a young girl and her brother away? There had to be a small part of you that recognized she was frantic.”

“Your son wasn’t with her, and Rachel has thought to play me before, Autumn. But it’s neither here nor there. I can take you to her now, and then we can find your boy.”

Keaton reached for her arm when she shifted away. The reverberating growl of the woman’s guardian sent a chill along his nerve endings. Slowly, he lifted his hands in the air, showing the beast he meant no harm.

“Sorry, lady. I acted before I thought,” he said with a cautious glance at the monster dog.

“Same old Keaton,” she said. Her eyes had cooled, and the disgusted look on her beautiful face told him she hated his counterpart from her world.

“Actually, I’m not. I care very much about my wife and children. I was just going to ask you how we could get through the portal as easily as you did.”

Her laugh was brittle. “You already did, bud. Your entire group crossed the boundary, straight into my clearing. Why do you think you stumbled into my traps?”

“Wait! What?” Autumn’s skin turned ghostly pale. “We’re onyourplane? All of us?”

When the alternate-reality Spring nodded, Keaton and Autumn shared a horrified look.

“Who went through to our side?” they asked in unison.

“If I had to guess, more of Philomena’s puppies,” Gothica replied.

The three-headed beast let out a mournful cry.

“Puppies?”

“Like the one you entered with. That’s one of hers.”

“That thing’s apuppy?” Keaton gaped at the animal in question, then did a headcount of their group. “So if nine souls crossed here, nine acid-dripping puppies went there?”

“Well, at least five of them. That’s all the puppies she had. Cerberuses have litters in multiples of three. You had one, and the other five are missing. It’s why I came to the clearing to look for them.”

“But that’s not enough!” Keaton’s insides churned. They didn’t have a way to notify Coop of the potential problem. “What the hell else did we send through?”

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