“How did it go?” Tate asked.
“I managed to make contact. They’re timing their attack for five minutes from now.”
That should give Tate and the rest enough time to stage their own.
Tate shifted Rath into her arms as she sat up. It was concerning the way he didn’t move or wake. His place in her mind felt quiet, despite the fact she could feel him as clearly as she did Ilith.
Her senses told her even with her supplementing his bond, he was rapidly losing strength.
“Let’s get you back to Ryu.” There was no response from him as the tattoo of Ilith climbed onto her shoulder, looking down at the still dragon with concern. She made a small warbling sound in the back of Tate’s mind. Heartache and misery filtered through their bond along with worry. “He’ll be fine, Ilith. We’ll make sure of it.”
He better be, or I’ll devour this world.
Tate decided not to address that apocalyptic statement, not really wanting to know if Ilith was capable of such a thing. Bad enough the dragon hadn’t listened any of the times Tate told her sentient creatures were off the menu.
“Peter, what do you need from us?” Tate asked.
“An image of where we’re going to warp to would be a start,” Peter responded. “I’m not sure if this will work since Roslyn’s not actually here, but if it does, she’ll need to visualize the spot where we want to appear.”
Tate glanced at Roslyn. “Is that going to be a problem?”
Roslyn shook her head and held her hand out to the stone Peter offered.
“Remember, pick a spot out of sight lines of Nathan or his people. We want to pick our time of attack.”
Roslyn’s nod was shaky. “I think I have an idea.”
“I hope so,” Peter said in a snarky voice. “All our lives are counting on it.”
Roslyn didn’t waver, instead closing her eyes and concentrating as her hand hovered over the warp stone. There was a brief flash before it dulled.
Peter nodded at Tate. “It’s working. The coordinates are locked.”
Tate took a deep breath. “Alright, let’s get going.”
Peter sent her a sideways glance. “What? Now?”
“No time like the present.” Also, Tate was concerned about how long Blade and his people could hold out against Ai.
“Fine.”
“See you in person soon,” Tate told Roslyn.
The other woman nodded. “Good luck.”
Roslyn disappeared from their side as Night and Tate moved closer to Peter. They paid attention as the other man closed his fist around the stone and concentrated.
“Here we go.”
A rip in space appeared beneath their feet, swallowing them before anyone could react.
This wasn’t the first time Tate had found herself thrust impossibly across time and distance. When she’d done this before, the starting point and destination were already linked. A simple path from point A to point B.
Peter’s warp stone broke that chain. There wasn’t an already established route, instead relying on Roslyn’s image to find their way. If Tate had let herself consider, she would have held considerably more anxiety since such a method could only be described as reckless. There was a chance they wouldn’t arrive at their destination at all. An equal chance they’d arrive and materialize in a space already occupied by something else.
The disorienting, twisting sensation of having her insides pulled to her outsides and then reassembled back in place was over in seconds as the warp stone spat them out again.
Tate swallowed hard, resisting the temptation to puke.
