“Not sure. That first scream wasn’t Odie.” Alex’s eyes were wild with fear. “I think it came from Eva.”
As if in answer, Eva screamed again. A stream of curses in a deeper voice followed.
I drew in a sharp breath as another assault came at me.
“What’s going on?!” Sam asked, the muscles in her neck sticking out. “She looks like she’s in so much pain.”
Holy universe, was I ever in pain.
A dark influence spread through me like wildfire, threatening to burn me from the inside out. My jaw was tight, and using everything I had, I commanded Louise to fight for me.
Lazy as ever, the mind witch moved at a snail’s pace as she wrapped my head in a protective shield that dispelled the darkness. Each inch of ground we gained was like moving a mountain. Sweat slicked my body, and I trembled, but slowly and surely, the mind witch gave her full protection.
The inky blackness pulled back, like a slow tide, and I collapsed onto the bed with a sob.
Alex’s hand found the back of my head. “Sweets, what happened? I tried to do a scan, but couldn’t figure it out.” His voice trembled as he spoke.
Alex was an excellent healer, and had been able to deduce practically everything that we’d ever encountered. But no one had taught him how to sense demonic magic from a royal floating in my body.
We hadn’t even considered it.
Fast footsteps came charging toward our door. A second later, Hunter appeared with Eva passed out in his arms. His breath was ragged, and green eyes wide with fear.
“She started yelling and grabbed her face and—”
“She’s breathing now?” Alex asked.
“Check on her,” I whispered, my voice raw.
After wriggling back into his sweats, Alex did as I asked and breathed a sigh of relief. “Everything seems okay.”
“Yeah, except for the fact that both the girls are pale as ghosts and covered in sweat. What happened, Odie?” Hunter asked. “Do you know?”
I nodded. My worst nightmare had just come to life. “Ishtar and Lucifer just tried to possess us.”
CHAPTERNINETEEN
After Eva regained consciousness, she confirmed what I already knew to be true. Lucifer had been trying to possess her. While Claude had protected her, the pain had been too much for her to bear.
The question then became did the royals know we were here? That we’d defended ourselves? Or had they been routinely trying to possess us while we’d been gone, and the ghosts merely successfully stopped one of many attempts?
Things had just gotten way more real.
As much as I’d wanted to stay home, sleep for a night in my own bed, and feel secure with Alex’s arms wrapped around me, that was no longer possible. After what had just happened, I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyhow, not knowing that there were demon peons right outside my door—and they might try and break it down at any second.
Ishtar might not have succeeded in possessing me, but she had to have figured out that I could timewalk. During the battle in London she’d warded the entire area against regular warpholes, rightly figuring that I wouldn’t be powerful enough to slip through time. At least, I wasn’t powerful enough on my own. Not back then. With Morgan’s help, my friends and Ihadescaped and traveled through time and Ishtar had seen it happen.
I wasn’t positive, but that made me think that Ishtar routinely checked for my presence. If she knew that I was back, or even suspected it, she could probably guess where I’d hide out. And if she guessed correctly, my home was no longer safe.
Everyone else agreed, and we began packing. New clothes, dried goods for snacking in case our journey didn’t go as planned, small toiletries, and flashlights because it was pitch dark outside. We threw all our supplies into backpacks and duffels, and once everyone was prepared, we met in the living room.
I turned to Ayla. “So we have to go to your academy to get to Faerie.” I tried to infuse some pep into my tone, but truth be told, I felt exhausted all the way down to my bones. “Where is the academy? Can I warp into it if you tell me about it? Or do I just warp somewhere nearby?”
Ayla chewed on her bottom lip. “We won’t be able to warp directly inside. We have aether wards up, and they’ll deny any magical who hasn’t been branded or approved. You’ll only be able to get us nearby. Luckily, I brought a photo of a good spot, and think you might be semi-familiar with the area.”
She showed me the photo, and I understood her assumption. I didn’t know exactly where on a map the picture had been taken, but it was undeniably my home state of California, somewhere close to Highway 101.
“This is Bixby Creek Bridge.” Ayla pointed to the bridge in the pic. “Do you think if you know the name and have a visual, that will be enough?”
