I was at Skye’s back immediately, pulling her to me so I could hold her. She trembled in my arms and I kissed her temple, which was cold and clammy.Fuck. I was horrible at comforting Skye. As much as Rafe’s suave demeanor pissed me off, I couldn’t deny that he always knew what to say.
“So it was them,” I murmured. Skye’s answering nod was stilted.
“Ah, fuck. What are you doing here?” Zephyr’s voice was like a gunshot in the silence, and Skye flinched in my arms.
I looked over my shoulder, my arms heating in preparation for whoever was here, then sagged in relief. Except this was only going to complicate things.
“Seems we all had the same idea.” Rafe said smoothly. Wyatt was right behind him, his eyes trained on the wall Skye stared at.
“Fuck, that’s the symbol the attackers wore.” Wyatt said.
“Good job, Wyatt. Your deductive reasoning skills are just–” Zephyr held two thumbs up.
A vein pulsed in Wyatt’s temple.
“Hello, darling.” Rafe purred, suddenly very close to us. “How is your night going?”
“Not good,” I replied. Rafe’s dark eyes flashed at me, and he pursed his lips before looking at the symbol on the wall.
“So…obviously the Pilgrims are involved.” Rafe said.
“Once again…” Zephyr said, holding two thumbs up.
I stifled a chuckle.
Rafe went on, ignoring Zephyr. “This might be a good time for me to mention that I saw these neighbors packing their belongings the other day.”
“What?” Zephyr snapped. “When did you see that?”
“When you were making a vase of flowers and scaring the shit out of Wyatt,” Rafe said.
Ah. That made sense. Rafehadbeen peeking through the windows like an old neighborhood gossip.
“Okay, so…they knew something was going to happen to them?” I said slowly.
“Yes,” Rafe replied with a sigh. “Pilgrims are also kidnapping families, it seems.”
“You think they kidnapped those other family Chains?” Wyatt asked. “The missing have been right where the Pilgrims were camping out.”
“You two have been following this shit?” Zephyr asked.
Rafe let out a long sigh, again ignoring Zephyr. He put his hands in his pockets as he watched Skye’s face. “We were discussing it during first term. There were more than just the storm here in the islands. Weather events were happening all over the world, then the continent, and there were reports of missing family Chains following each one. At the time, it appeared the storms were slowly making their way to the academy. But now there’s been another one here, and this family was kidnapped. Why?”
“What were their affinities?” Wyatt asked, looking to the siblings.
“Fuck if I know,” Zephyr replied defensively.
“Skye?” I murmured. “Do you know?”
“Water,” Skye whispered back. “The mom and dad have water. The kid…I don’t think the kid has awakened.”
“I’d bet he has,” Wyatt said.
Rafe nodded. “I agree, and it’s probably not just water.”
“There’s more hidden affinities in this world than we give credit,” Wyatt commented.
Zephyr snorted. “There are.”
