No, no, no, no, no.
My heart began to race.
Lanche. My poor, sweet Lanche.
Slowly, I lifted my gaze from my own chest to meet Jed’s eyes as mine widened in horror.
“Something’s wrong.”
Taking a deep breath to combat the pain, I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out my phone, not hesitating to call Lanche.
The call rang and rang and rang, and my heart sank further. I kept rubbing at my chest even though it wasn’t helping.
What I really needed to do was find my Lanche, pull him into a hug, and protect him from whatever was making him panic.
Under normal circumstances, I had no doubt that Lanche would answer my call immediately, no matter what he was doing. The fact he wasn’t was… bad. Really fucking bad.
I looked at Jed again and whispered, “I think someone’s using his icicle. We… we have to find him.”
The call came twenty minutes later, and I couldn’t decide if I was more relieved or horrified by it.
“Did you find him?” I said in lieu of a greeting.
I’d called or texted everyone I knew, asking for help, and everyone had dropped what they were doing to help me find my poor Lanche, whose fear had settled deep in my chest. I didn’t think it was going away anytime soon.
“Yes. Right outside the Tower,”Tan said, sounding breathless.“He’s… he’s surrounded by a blizzard that keeps growing. Get here. Now.”
Since I was already in my car, having driven around in my search, I immediately found a crossroad and turned so I could head in the right direction. I’d noticed the storm brewing over the city, but I’d been hoping it wasn’t Lanche’s doing. Apparently, my wish didn’t come true. Shit.
“On my way. Thanks, Tan.”
“Of course. Just… hurry. I’m doing what I can to keep him contained, but I can’t control a storm. Garrick tried talking to him, but he, uh, kinda blasted him back and won’t respond. It’s like… it’s like he isn’t even in there.”
Hearing that made me want to cry. “Is Garrick okay?”
“Oh yeah. Not much can hurt a dragon. But Lanche…”
“Fuuuuck. Fuck, Tan. This is all my fault.”
“You’re not the one who stole his icicle, Dain. And you certainly didn’t try to control him like this asshole is. It’s not your fault.”
My eyes started to water, and I sniffled and did my best to blink back the tears so I could actually see where I was driving. “Th-thanks.”
“It’s not your fault, but he needs you. If you have to break traffic laws to get here, do it. I won’t let you get arrested or get any tickets. Promise.”
I snorted out a laugh at that. “Okay, thanks. See you in three minutes.”
I hung up and pressed down on the gas pedal. Hopefully, I could cut those three minutes in half.
It was utter chaos the closer I got to the Tower. People were running and screaming, trying to get away, and the wind was blowing, snow was flying all around.
All I could do was wince, park, get out of the car, and run against the crowd.
Clearly, Tan hadn’t been kidding when he said he couldn’t control the weather because it was frigid out and the beginnings of a blizzard were in the making.
When I entered the park in front of the Tower, I could see a huge dome of magic over the entire picnic area, so I headed that way. I was confused for a moment before I realized the dome was a shield. Tan was trying to shield Lanche and his magic, but the blizzard couldn’t be contained.
Being such a giant shield probably didn’t help the situation, but Tan seemed to be keeping the worst of the storm inside. It was bad enough out here already. I couldn’t imagine how much worse it’d be if Lanche’s magic had free rein.
