Page 44 of Midnight in the Garden of Okay and Meh
“Jenna!” Allie exclaimed as the Weaver Sally had ordered hurried around the side of the toilet block. “What ... I’m not sure I understand what is going on. Are you going to try to portal your way into the Hour?”
“Jenna, what a pleasure to see you again. Let me introduce you.” Aisling ran through the introductions of Parisi and Mabel before turning to Sally. “You can’t portal into the Akasha, can you? At least ... no one ever told me it was possible.”
“Oh, it’s not,” Jenna told them all with a bright smile. “Imagine the Weaver abuse that would go on should we be able to zap people out of the impossible-to-leave Akasha.”
“Jim’s left it,” Aisling said with obvious pride.
“Yup,” the demon answered. “Got the Hashmallim to let me out.”
Everyone but Sally stared at the demon in astonishment. She had a faint memory of a report Terrin had written stating that he’d finally dealt with Titania, who had been unjustly banished by the cheating Oberon, but that he’d had to involve a demon to pull it off. Her respect for what she termed her better half—she’d never made any bones about the fact that he was definitely the more valuable of the two of them—went up another notch.
“That’s ... how did you do that?” Jenna asked.
“Sang ‘My Humps’ to them for a couple of days straight,” Jim admitted with a twist of its lips. “Almost went mad doing it, but I had a fairy who wanted revenge on her ex, so I had to do what I had to do. Are we going in? Because it’s almost dinnertime, and my coat goes to Abaddon in a basket if I don’t eat in a timely manner.”
“Right, remember how I told you that you are not to bother people with trivial talk? This is a perfect example of that. So stick to answering questions, or offering information if it can help. Yes. It’s an official order. Speaking of that, do I need to give anyone temporary demon lord powers over Jim? I talked to Nora a few minutes ago, and she wasn’t sure if Jim would be OK in the Hour if it didn’t have someone who could directly give it orders.”
“It’s not like it’s Abaddon,” Jim said with a roll of its eyes.
“It should be fine so far as I know, but I’m happy to take charge of it for you, if you would like,” Sally said, smiling at the demon.
It backed up a step.
“I think I’ll pass if it’s not necessary,” Aisling said, her eyes big as her gaze skittered away from Sally. “But I’m still confused about how you’re getting into the Hour if Jenna isn’t going to open a portal.”
“We’re going to blip,” Jenna answered, then turned to face the back of the toilet block. She shook out her hands, and lowered her head to focus. Sally felt another prickle of static on her arms, but this feeling was different. It lacked the punch of dread that was bound to dark power. “I just need to charge up for a minute.”
“What’s a blip?” Sally heard Allie ask Christian.
“I’d like to know the answer to that, as well,” Gabriel replied. The others nodded.
Jenna ignored them while she gathered power, so Sally figured she’d better do the explanation. “Jenna is a unique Weaver in that she can not only open a portal to a different location and time—she can also blip, which I believe is her word for translocating short distances.”
“Translocating?” Aisling’s brows furrowed. “Isn’t that the same thing as opening up a portal for us?”
“No. Jenna’s blips can only go a short distance. But they work through obstacles such as walls.” Sally glanced at Jenna, who was humming softly to herself. The sense of drawing in the air, of static electricity pulled from around them, made her feel as if she were standing in a lightning storm.
“But ... how does that help ... oh.” Aisling blinked a couple of times.
“Wow,” May said at the same time.
“What am I missing?” Mabel asked, glancing around the group. “I don’t need a blip to take Parisi to the Hour. All she has to do is request it of me, and I can take her there.”
“I believe the idea is that Jenna can use her abilities to transport Jim and Sally directly into the Hour,” Gabriel explained.
Sally nodded. “Like I said, Jenna can blip short distances. Right through walls of buildings. Or in this case, the barrier that separates the Hour from the mortal world. That should get demon Jim and me inside, while Mabel takes Parisi in through more conventional methods.”
“OK, that’s impressive,” Aisling said.
“And handy,” Allie agreed. “I wish the vamps could do something like that.”
Christian gave her a long-suffering look before wrapping an arm around her waist.
“OK, I’m ready. We have to do this quickly, because the structure of the Hour barrier is fluctuating every half minute or so, which means I lose it.”
Jim looked at Parisi. “I think we’re a go now.”
“Hmm?” Parisi seemed to be daydreaming and blinked a few times before saying, “Ah, just so. Reaper, it is my request that you take me to the Thirteenth Hour. Preferably close to where the others are located.”
