With that, Trissa, Elle, Jasper, and I headed out into New York.
“I hate this gods-forsaken city.” Jasper gave each passerby the stink eye as we passed, causing Elle to smirk.
“Why?” Elle asked.
“It smells like dog pee when it rains, and the normies are…. everywhere. You can’t escape them.” A woman got too close to him, and he shrank away as if she had cooties.
“Elitist,” Trissa snarled.
Jasper nodded as if the comment made him proud. I liked the city. It was thriving and alive.
I ignored their banter as we wound through the city streets and into Central Park. “It’s just up he—”
My words died in my throat at the sight of the yellow caution tape blocking off the Shakespeare Garden. A police officer stood at the entrance, arms crossed over his chest. Our group slowed as the cop’s gaze tracked us, and Trissa and Jasper splintered off on their own as Elle and I stopped. “Hey… what happened? This is my favorite spot,” I asked the cop whose eyes were still on Jasper and his snake tattoo.
“Sorry, kid. Some thugs trashed the place. It’s closed until it can be restored.” His voice was gruff, and I stood on my tiptoes to peer behind him at the stone. My stomach sank as I gazed upon the Seeker Stone… or what was once the Seeker Stone. Now it was cracked in half, two sides of the metal plaque broken on the grassy floor.
Fuck.
“Alright… thanks,” I muttered.
Elle and I turned around and walked back to the entrance of the park where Trissa and Jasper were waiting. My mind was racing a mile a minute. Liam wouldn’t destroy the stone, would he? No.
It was the Winter King. Probably before he came and took all the crystals. Dammit!
“What’s with the Po-Po?” Jasper glared in the direction of the cop.
“The Seeker Stone is broken,” I growled.
“Winter King?” Jasper questioned.
“Probably.”
“We will have to go about it the old-fashioned way then. Come on.” Trissa gave us a curt nod and spun on her boots, heading back to the apartment.
“What’s the old fashioned way?” I asked.
“We go city to city, country to country, until you get a feeling,” she declared.
Oh, gods. That could take a lifetime.
Coeur D’Alene,Seattle, Portland, they all came up with nothing. In each city, we did a two-hour sweep, first with my feet buried in the earth calling on my seeker power and then blindly driving around and searching for a pull, anything to let me know the crystals were near.
“Maybe we should take a break?” Mara suggested, eyeing Trissa and Elle, who looked dead on their feet.
I shook my head. “No. Let’s sweep the entire country from the West Coast inward. Phoenix next, please.” I clipped into my seat in her office, preparing for the pull of the room as Mara traveled us through space and into another state.
Trissa and Elle strapped in too. We’d long lost the two farmers and the baker. They were resting inside Mara’s house with Bashur. Too much of a day for them.
“I wish I had a spell to find the crystals, but they are magically protected from prying eyes. Only a seeker can feel or find them,” Jasper called from his place perched on the edge of Mara’s desk.
The keeper of the portals glared at him, and I was surprised they had kept it so cordial up to this point. “Strap in, or prepare to be thrown across the room,” Mara growled.
I noticed Mara never needed to strap in, something which fascinated me.
Jasper’s bottom lip stuck out. “You used to be fun.”
She raised her wrists, showcasing the cuffs there. “Yeah, well, lifelong imprisonment will do that.”
