“Oh, hush!” she waved him off. “I just need to get him back in one piece, then I’ll be happy.”
“We will,” Felix said. And I hoped he was right.
Chapter 33
Felix
Three things happened as we crossed into the suburban area closest to the city center. One was that we all felt a pop in our ears, alerting us that we’d passed a ward while driving. The second thing that happened was that our car and phones stopped working. The third thing was that we were soon surrounded by hooded figures, all wearing navy robes pulled upover their heads.
We’d decided to drive to where we’d found Astrea, so not in the exact city center, but in the area filled with houses instead. We knew a fight was inevitable, so we believed there would be less casualties here. But now that I saw all our cars slowing down before shutting off, I feared we hadn’t processed just how dangerous this would be. We were the only ones driving a car, the rest had chosen to rent vans so we could stay closer together and not be spread out in too many cars.
We knew they had around five thousand witches, but we’d figured, or rather, hoped, there would be less when we came for Joel. I couldn’t see how many witches came closer as we all stopped on the road, but I didn’t like the number I could already see nearing us. We were around two hundred ourselves. A mix of witches and werewolves, with Sev and Peter the only vampires, given it was dinner time that made sense, with the sun and all.
“We will never find Joel in this mess,” Peter muttered. I shared his worry, but we couldn’t stay in the car forever either. We came here and now there was no turning back. Our cars weren’t working, our phones had no signal, and we were surrounded.
Moving out of the car slowly, we found each other as soon as we were out and gathered in the middle. Dina’s coven showed off theirnecklaces with various crystals, showing the Silver Lock Coven we came prepared this time. And with the potion in everyone’s system, we would hopefully survive this.
It was almost hauntingly eerie the silence as the Silver Lock Coven moved closer, like mindless robots, they moved together on silent feet, almost gliding to where we stood, centered on the road between houses. I found comfort in the homes being dark, no light in any of them. That had to mean no casualties, or Ihopedit would.
Samantha stood with her werewolves, ready to shift at any second, all of them only wearing their underwear, leaving their clothes in the abandoned vans.
Sev’s hand found mine as we stared the approaching witches down. Some of them moved to the side, making way for someone to pass. Three hooded figures came into view, all wearing a lighter blue than the others. Their coven leaders.
The three of them stopped in front of the other witches, pulled their hoods down, and smirked at us.
“Trespassers,” Calma said, her tone amused, yet still hostile. She was easy to recognize from the photo Reminia had sent us. So were Lirissa and Theodore.
“We only came here because you took someone from us,” Peter answered, his tone loud enough for everyone to hear. We didn’t want the Silver Lock Coven to believe we were in the wrong here. Who knew what their leaders had told them about us.
“Who did we take, if I may ask?” Theodore asked, his tone mocking, like he was speaking to an ill-mannered child.
“Joel,” Dina spat. She was clearly tired of this game of charade.
“Ah, Joel,” Lirissa said, her tone oddly pleased. “Joel, step forward please.”
No.
A hooded figure to their left took one step forward. It couldn’t be Joel. Please, not Joel. He pulled off his hood and met our startled gazes.
Lirissa clapped. “Look! I found him!” Her smile was wide and sadistic.
“No,” Dina whispered, her tone full of disbelief.
Lirissa continued talking. “Now, dear Joel, darling. Did we take you?”
“No,” he replied, not meeting any of our gazes.
“Show them where your loyalties lie,” she ordered.
And he did.
The robe fell down, revealing his chest. A branded tattoo was in the middle, an exact match to the one Giro had on his wrist, this one was just bigger and filled out his entire front. It glowed a bright blue shade.
“No,” Dina choked out, her broken sobs loud in the silence. Cole somehow managed to get over to us, leaving his pack formation to comfort Dina.
I couldn’t believe it.
“Why?” I asked, unable to stop myself.
