Course I did. I hear everything you do. See everything you see.Her tone was short, as it had been so often in life.
Feel . . .?
The ghost in my head snorted.I don’t feel everything you feel. It’s muted, like touching skin through fabric. I can show you better than I can explain it.
I tilted my head to the side. “Okay,” I said out loud, despite the fact we’d been speaking telepathically the entire time. “Show me.”
A sensation like a cloud rolling through my mind overtook me. I gasped as the haze encompassed everything—my thoughts, how I saw the world around me, my inner senses. And then, I saw Wandstown.
I’d visited the cozy little settlement many times before. Through Tabitha’s eyes, the village didn’t look much different: smallish, quaint, charming. A rare town that didn’t have to hide its magical nature. But as Tabitha walked me through it, she took a route I had never seen.
We wound through the cemetery and into the woods surrounding the area. We kept going, down a trail that was so faint, one might miss it even if they were trying to follow it. She sped up, and the memory fast-forwarded. Although it gave me a bit of motion sickness, I just placed my hand on my stomach and let it ride, allowing Tabitha to drive.
Moments later the cabin came into view. It was decrepit, with the front door busted off its hinges and the windows smashed.
“That’swhere they want to go?” I asked incredulously.
It’s a shithole, for sure,Tabitha said.But it’s also outside of the town’s wards. And no one goes there. Unless they were somehow forced to tell the demons, I’m sure the residents wouldn’t mention Butcher Cottage.
I allowed my mind to shift into Tabitha’s vision once again, taking in the cabin and the surrounding area, peaceful and empty.
Then it’s perfect,I replied.
Andre had already been hard at work for a few minutes, asking healers where they needed to go and making a reference list of who was going where. Alex was already back and rapidly prepping bags of supplies for the healers to take.
The patients were trickling into the entryway, and Andre opened a warphole to the first healer’s home. Once the healer confirmed he’d gotten it right, the shuttling of ex-prisoners began.
It was then that I noticed others were watching me, waiting. I scanned the crowd. It had grown while Tabitha showed me her memory. Most everyone was present.
“People know to hurry, pea,” Dad said. “Best to get the show on the road.”
I rubbed my hands together and inhaled deeply. “All right, is everyone ready? I’m going to open a warphole to Butcher Cottage, outside of Wandstown.”
The crowd nodded in unison.
Using Tabitha’s image to guide me, I opened a warphole.
No one moved.
I cleared my throat. “You just walk through.”
Still, no one came even an inch closer.
It hit me then that they were scared. Not by the warphole, but by what could be on the other side. Demons were rife around the academy, and walking into the wrong place at the wrong time was a distinct possibility.Sayingthey were ready was much easier than acting. Wasn’t that always the truth? Words were always easier than action.
My gaze cut to my close friends, and understanding my intention, Alex handed the packing task off to another healer and they all approached.
One by one, Eva, Hunter, Diana, and Alex disappeared through the portal. I watched the cautious faces of others, those who I didn’t know very well, as they watched them.
When no screams came from the other side of the portal, people relaxed, and the stream of fighters quickened. Fifteen minutes later, only the Danes remained.
“That took more energy than I thought it would,” I admitted, wiping a stream of sweat from my brow. Though this warphole had been much smaller than the one I’d created in New Mexico, because there were more people here I’d had to maintain it for longer. “I’ve never held a warphole open for so long.”
“You did a wonderful job, pea,” Dad replied, his voice proud. “You’ve been doing so well throughout all of this.”
Warmth spread through me. “Thanks, Dad.”
I let them go first, and then stepped through behind them.
