It darts around me and slips past Natalie, disappearing down the corridor and leaving nothing but a prickle of magic in its wake.
“Wait!” I stand by the empty cage, my hands shaking. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. I thought if I owned my calling as a Guardian, the chimeras would trust me. Where does this leave me? Will I be able to protect them if I have no allies?
“Katie?” Natalie says from the doorway. “Do we follow it?”
“It won’t help us,” I say, marching toward her. “But we’ll go anyway. I’m going to prove it wrong about who I am.”
But despite my confident tone, my stomach is in knots. If I can’t convince one chimera to trust me, how can I hope to prevent a massacre at Lighthouse Park? The witches don’t respect me enough to listen, and apparently, the chimeras don’t either.
Still, I won’t let that stop me from trying to save them all.
As we reach the hidden cove, dawn brightens the sky, turning the jagged rocks gold and the sea indigo. The trees are still and silent, and the waves are calm, burbling against the rock shore.
No signs of life. Not even a seagull.
Have the chimeras moved on?
“Sebastian? Millie?” I say, my voice small.
My skin prickles. The sensation is unmistakable, like electricity making the fine hairs on my arms stand on end. Magic is here somewhere, watching.
“Lucy?” I say a bit louder, my heart pounding.
Natalie and I scan the shoreline, breathing fast after the hike through the forest. Her hand finds mine, giving it a quick squeeze before she lets go, ready to defend us. That brief touch reminds me that after everything we’ve been through, we’ve got each other’s backs.
The rising sun casts long shadows behind the trees and shrubs, making every dark space look like it could be hiding something.
There’s a blur of movement, and we spin around, our breaths hitching. Natalie raises her palms.
A white kitten is sitting on a mossy boulder. Her purple eyes gleam as she surveys Natalie and me, her little tail swishing.“We warned you to stay away.”
“The witches are coming,” I say. “You need to get out of here.”
Lucy’s ears flatten against her head, which would be cute if I didn’t know what she really is.“We will not bend to your—snack!”
A dragonfly buzzes past her nose, and she leaps after it, her tiny claws extended as she tries to catch it.
“Is that…supposed to happen?” Natalie says.
I shake my head.
We watch Lucy try to catch it for a long moment before she loses track. Finally, she turns back to me, seeming to remember we were mid-conversation.
“The witches?” I say, waving my arms.
Lucy’s eyes narrow.“We will not leave because of them. We leave when it is time to move on.”
“But they’re not just here with nets this time.” I step closer, my shoes crunching on the dirt and pine needles covering the rocky plateau. “They’re here to destroy you. All of you.”
“Then we will fight them.”
“You don’t have to!” My heart pounds as I plead with her, willing her to listen. “I’m here to warn you so a fight doesn’t happen. Please—”
A thunderous roar echoes across the cove, reverberating through my chest. I gasp, my blood turning to ice as I spin toward the sound. Natalie raises her hands, and magic crackles in the air.
Further down the shore, illuminated by the fiery sunrise, stand four figures I’d desperately hoped wouldn’t find us—Sophia with her white-blonde hair whipping in the wind, Oaklyn holding the golden net, Wyatt standing tall at her side, and Hazel, the fear on her face unmistakable even from a distance. My stomach drops at the sight of her—my ride or die who knew all my secrets until magic came between us. Until the lies, and Oaklyn, and a rift so deep we can’t fix it.
Between them and the water’s edge looms an enormous polar bear, its fur rippling in the breeze as it rears up on its hind legs.
