Figures on the ground took shape ahead. I skidded to a stop as I saw Ozzie lying on the ground, cradled on Jasper’s lap. Something had happened.
“Are you two all right?” I asked as I shifted back. Jasper was banged up, and Ozzie was bleeding profusely from two marks on his neck. Jasper had taken off his shirt and bunched it up on the wound, soaking up the blood as it healed.
“We’ll survive, but it was a tough fight,” Jasper replied. “Stryga, in these woods! Can you believe it?”
“You were attacked?” Alexei blinked.
“Yes. We were out for a midnight stroll, but the bastards jumped us,” Jasper spat. “I ran them off, but not before one of them got their fangs in Ozzie.”
“Is he okay?” Kiara asked.
“She didn’t take much blood from him, as I ripped her off before she could,” Jasper growled.
Alexei knelt by Ozzie’s side. “Ozzie, can you hear me? Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“He can’t remember anything.Strygavenom disorientates the mind,” I said. “He won’t recall the attack, or gather his senses until tomorrow morning.”
Ozzie moaned. Jasper glanced up at me and said, “Can you help? He needs medical attention.”
“We would, but thestrygatook Kalina,” I told him. “We’re on a chase to get her home.”
“By the gods.” Jasper’s eyes widened. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I sawstrygawandering these woods. To hear they had a purpose in coming here—”
“Whatever they were after by taking her, we must move quickly. Do you know where they went?” I asked.
“They didn’t have Kalina when we were attacked,” Jasper said. “They must’ve found us first, then took her after. They headed toward town.” Jasper pointed behind him.
Alexei ruffled his feathers. I nodded and said, “Thank you. We’ll move on ahead.”
“I’ll get Ozzie back to the estate,” Jasper said as he boosted Ozzie into his arms. “Thestrygacan’t be too far ahead. I pray you find Kalina.”
I gave him a short nod. We proceeded ahead, until we burst out of the trees and onto a gravel pathway. I kept my nose pressed to the ground until I shifted back at the edge of town. They’d taken the main road— odd— and ran straight into Trua Gleann.
All of us changed back as we wandered through the darkened streets. This time of night, the town was deserted.
“The trail is still strong,” Arthur insisted. “It’s this way.”
I wondered if they were hiding in a building nearby, but the trail led us to an abandoned alleyway, which ended in a brick wall. At the alleyway’s end, all hints of thestryga’spresence vanished, as if they’d disappeared into thin air.
“The scent just ends here!” Arthur said in frustration. He yanked at his hair, tearing out a chunk.
Kiara approached the wall. She laid her hand upon it, studying it carefully.
“There’s some sort of door here. I can sense it has magic,” Kiara said. “Butstrygacan’t cast portals. I don’t know how it got here.”
“Perhaps an Unseelie fae created it and left it there for personal use, and thestrygafound it,” Alexei suggested.
“However it got here, we need to go through it. Kiara, can you open it?” I asked.
Kiara nodded. “Stand back.”
We took a few steps back as Kiara began weaving her hands. Her yellow magic bloomed at the center of the brick wall, until it turned into a spinning portal. Wherever it ended up had to be nighttime, too, because I couldn’t see where it came out the other side. It was too dark.
“That opened up pretty fast,” Alexei said.
“It wasn’t a very strong portal. Whoever made it was weak,” Kiara said.
Arthur was already charging through it without bothering to make sure it was safe. We followed him— as the portal shut behind us, I turned in place, taking in the sights around us. We’d ended up in another town, and from the looks of the architecture, I’d say we were in France. I’d been here before on my travels as prince, I was sure.
