I took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm myself. Fearing that I wouldn’t be able to reach him, I cast out—searching for the bond. A few seconds later, I let out a gasp. There he was—still afraid, calling for me.
Fancy… can you hear me? I’m here, hon, I’m here. Your Elphyra’s here. Can you tell me what’s going on? We’re on the way.
After a moment, Fancypants let out a whimper. I don’t understand what happened. Everything was going fine; then the door slammed open and two men came in. I yelled for the cats to run and hide, and I tried to fight back, but whatever they sprayed on me sent me into a spiral…
Where are you? What did they do?
Where am I? I’m scared. They locked me in a cage and I’m in the back of a van—I saw it when they carried me out. I can’t make fire right now, and I can’t fly. My wings are so heavy.
May and I were outside by now, where Bran had brought the truck around. We climbed in, and he put it in gear as we maneuvered down the driveway toward the road. I struggled to keep contact—Fancypants sounded slightly garbled, like he was tripping over his words.
What did the men look like? What color is the van? We’re on the way.
The van’s green. The men… The next moment, an image appeared in my mind of two men. It was blurred, but I vaguely saw their features. Fancy yawned so deeply that it scared me. I can’t…I’m…
The next moment, the connection dropped.
“All right, someone kidnapped him. Why didn’t the alarm go off? We armed it,” I said, brushing away my tears. Fancypants needed me, and he needed me ready to help.
“I don’t know, but let’s drop May off at the house, and she can call us with the details,” Bran said.
“What if someone’s still prowling around? Let me call Faron, so he can come back and make sure that nobody’s waiting for us.” I pulled out my phone and dialed Faron. “Hey, can you come home?” I asked when he picked up. “It’s an emergency.”
“I just checked out and I’m on my way,” he said, not even stopping to ask what was going on. “I’ll be there in five.”
“When you get there, May will tell you what happened. Please hurry and be ready for a fight just in case.” I hung up as we bumped our way along my driveway, coming to the house. The door was open. “The cats!”
“I’ll make certain they’re okay. Go now. Faron’s on his way,” May said, carefully getting out into the snow. She slammed the door and waved us on.
“Will she be okay till Faron gets home?” I asked.
Bran nodded. “They’re gone. She’ll look after things. But now, I need you to do something.”
“What?”
“I need you to ground yourself and consult your intuition. When we come to the end of the drive, which way do we turn? Which way did they go with Fancy?”
I started to ask how I was supposed to know, but then I understood. He wanted me to follow my intuition—to reach out and trust myself to know which way Fancypants had been taken. I closed my eyes and began to ground and center myself. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. Three more deep breaths later, I sank into the welcome mist that surrounded my trance.
I dug deep, sending tendrils from my feet and hands through the truck, through the road, deep into the earth itself. It didn’t matter that we were moving; the grounding was energetic, holding me fast. Slowly, a warm glow rose from the center of the earth, like glowing magma, except I was protected from the heat, except for a warm glow.
I cast about, seeking the energy signal that would indicate Fancypants had passed by. Would I find him? Would I be able to sense him? The fear ran deep, but out of the corner of my mind’s eye—I caught a glimpse. A flash of dragonette scales and fire, a hint that he had been at the end of the drive and turned to the right, onto the main road.
“Go. Right at the driveway,” I said, trying to keep hold of that tiniest of connections. He felt like he was asleep, and I had the impression they had drugged him. “They’re doing their best to sever the bond so I can’t track him.” My fear was giving way to anger.
Bran sensed my mood change. “Elphyra, keep your wits about you. You don’t want to go in swinging at the wrong time. We need to keep him safe while we hunt for him,” he cautioned.
“I hate that you have such a level head,” I grumbled. “But you’re right. I’ll try to keep my emotions in check.”
All I wanted to do was find Fancypants, and tear the head off whoever had kidnapped him. Severing the bond between a witch and a dragonette could kill either, or both. May had gone through such a loss, but it was because of a birth defect, not because someone deliberately severed the bond. Melda’s death had torn her up, and she seldom spoke of the little green dragonette. But the pain still lingered in her heart.
“Keep as focused as you can,” Bran said. “If you lose the trail, tell me.”
I brought my focus back to Fancypants, following that one tenuous thread of connection. We neared another junction in the road: the right way towards the center of Starlight Hollow, the left—toward the highway and the Olympics. Bran pulled off onto the shoulder of the road as we neared the turnoff.
I tried to determine which way to turn. It was like following a trail with a few scattered breadcrumbs, but now, the forest floor became cluttered with debris. I wasn’t usually quite so empathic, but now, all I sensed was a whirl of emotions was drifting on the wind from everyone who had passed through the area. I tried to capture the traces of Fancypants, and—after a few minutes—I finally sensed the faintest connection.
“They turned left,” I said. “Toward the mountains.”
