Free Between the Realms by Elle Casey Page B

my pocket, which I ruled out immediately as a great way to crush at least his wings if not his whole body since these pants weren't the loosest pair I owned.   My moccasin wasn't any good either because I'd never be able to keep him contained in there.   I chose the last resort, knowing he was going to be super cranky with me later, but there was a little bit of poetic justice going on for me in my head, getting him back for not only suggesting that I use my assets to cause a cataclysmic event but also in advance for the hard time I knew he was going to give me over my escape from the dragons.   Plus, it had sure sounded like he was about to sell me out or do something that would piss me off, so he totally had it coming.
    "Get in there, you little punk," I said, shoving him down into my sports bra.   No ghost would follow him into my cleavage, I was sure of it.
    I could feel him scrabbling around in there and shouting something, but his words were too muffled to make out.   I pressed the top of my bra down to my chest so he couldn't slip out of any gaps.
    "Where'd he go?" asked Tony.
    "Never mind.   Just get us the hell out of here."
    I ignored the whispers that came more urgently to my ear and the cold ribbons of restless souls sliding across my skin.   I took shallow breaths, even worried about the possibility of taking one of them home in my lungs.
    "We're almost there.   Spike, or errr, guy pretending to be Spike, I need you to agree to something before I bring you out on the other side."
    "By all means.   I will do whatever I can to please you, Passage-Maker."
    "You have to agree to submit yourself to the council of the Fae when we arrive, and you also must agree not to disappear or leave the Here and Now without their permission."
    "As you wish," he said.
    I wasn't sure if we could trust him or not, so I added my little piece.   "And if you break that promise to my friend, I'll hunt you down and mess you up myself."
    His voice was suddenly very close to my ear, sending even more shivers through my body.   "I would expect nothing less of the Mother."
    I felt like growling at him but held myself back.   The spirits were getting more agitated, and the last thing I needed to do right now was get distracted or feed their unrest.
    I saw a flash of light ahead, and then it disappeared.   A moment later, it came back again, but higher up.   It was like a sliver of yellow, blinking in and out, sometimes up at my face-level, and other times down lower, at our knees.   It was like a curtain covering a sunny window, swaying in the breeze, sometimes blocking the light and sometimes not.
    "We're here," said Tony, breathing out an audible sigh of relief.   "All you need to do is go through the seam there.   Keep your fingers open and shake off any hangers-on you feel before you step out."
    I watched demon-Spike go through first.   As he pushed aside the veil separating the two realms, for brief moment his form was bathed in brilliant light; and then he disappeared and the light winked out as the curtain closed behind him.
    "I hope you don't mind if I go first, Jayne.   I've reached my limit for time in here.   I'm worried about dead spots again."
    "Holy shit, Tones, go!" I yelled, pushing him towards the seam.
    He half-fell and half-stepped through, leaving Tim and me alone in the Gray.
    "Well, Tim, here we go.   Shake off the bad guys and don't even think about dragging anybody out of here with us."   I took a step forward and had one leg partially out, when I was suddenly grabbed from behind and yanked back in.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

    "I REALLY WISH YOU WOULD stay a while longer," said a voice from my left that I knew only too well.   The hands that belonged to someone standing behind me had both of my upper arms in a tight squeeze.   I could feel claws through the material of my tunic.   They hadn't dug in yet, but the threat was there.   Troll!
    "Who is that?" came Tim's muffled voice from my bra.   "Where am