“Go!” Considine shouted. “I’ve got Gisila!”
“Are you so sure?” Gisila’s voice blasted in my head.
Brody grimaced and almost stumbled, and Tetiana winced from the power of her voice.
Gisila reared back, then exhaled a river of fire at us.
“Duck!” Tetiana shouted, yanking Brody—and me—out of the way.
“She’s targeting Jade,” Orrin snapped. “We’ve got to leave.”
“We can’t leave Considine,” I argued, still weakly hanging over Brody’s shoulder.
“You have to,” Considine shouted as he faced off with Gisila.
She raked at him with her claws and delivered a nasty slice to his cheek. The cut disappeared as his healing abilities kicked in, and Considine stabbed her, the blade of his dagger punching through the soft webbing between her claws.
Gisila shrieked, but before Considine could push his advantage a centaur smashed into him, and he had to jump to avoid getting kicked.
Considine growled before disappearing. It took me a moment to realize he’d turned into a bat—a form that would be easy to flee in.
He didn’t, though. He stayed. Because Gisila had recovered enough to spit another fireball at us as Brody and the team zigzagged across the street, trying to avoid fae.
Considine turned back into his humanoid form, landing squarely on Gisila’s back. He stabbed her between her shoulder blades, and then a troll ripped him away from her and flung him backwards.
Considine landed on his feet, his hair slightly ruffled. “I told you before, Jade. You’re my priority. Before all else.” He didn’t look away from Gisila—the dragon shifter flicked her tail and looked. “I’ll be fine—she couldn’t possibly kill me. I’m too old for that. Find me when you can—just survive.”
No, no, no! He’s going to sacrifice himself!
“Considine!” I shouted, unable to recognize my own voice over the sound of my heart breaking.
“Go!” Considine yelled.
Brody stopped avoiding and took off, heading down the middle of the street, putting distance between us and the fae.
Tetiana was behind us, with Grove and Orrin bringing up the rear.
Grove tossed a couple of potions behind him, creating dubious clouds of smog that were probably toxic based on the screams of the fae who had the misfortune to run through them.
“Turning off!” Brody shouted, aiming for a side street.
Just before we disappeared around the corner, I got one last glimpse of Considine, struggling under a dogpile of fae.
Gisila limped toward him. “Look at that—captured right on time. With this, my entrance to my sister’s domain is assured. Perhaps oracles are a worthwhile investment.”
Shock made my ears ring, and I doubted what I’d heard.
A prophecy…she’d bought a prophecy, to capture Considine!
Three hourslater I stood on the same street I’d left Considine on.
It was so radically different I almost couldn’t recognize it.
The street was crawling with cars—Cloisters vehicles and human police department cars that had their red and blue lights flashing.
You could hardly turn around without risking stepping on a wolf paw or brushing a cat shifter’s whiskers. All of them were out in their animal forms, pacing as they tried—again—to follow the trail of Gisila and her fae henchmen.
I already knew from earlier reports that the trail ended a block down, disappearing into an explosion of magic—most likely Gisila had used her necklace artifact that could forge portals into the fae realm, and she’d escaped there with minions.
