‘Knots?’I try to focus on his voice, but it’s hard as Emer starts whispering an incantation.
‘We’re almost there to save you. We see the glowing lights,’he explains.
I’m relieved yet panicked at the same time. I can’t be saved until I find out what they did to Rez first. And second, am Isupposed to have this burning sensation in my chest? It started when Emer began her incantation or spell. It’s digging deeper into my chest minute by minute, and since I’m not sure what the demon memory potion or Condonial does, I’m a little worried.I was positive the harpies wouldn’t harm me, but now I’m not so sure.
‘We?’I ask, hoping to clear up my first question.
‘Yeah, I have the furball with me,’comes his reply. Oh, he has Lynx! That’s good. Knots isn’t alone, and the Harpies won’t know who Knots or Lynx are, so they won’t immediately target Rez because of this impromptu rescue.
‘I need to know what they gave Rez first!”I get out before I’m hit with a wave of dizziness as the room and the pentagram at my feet start spinning.
“Levi?” Emer kneels before me and smiles as I blink owlishly at her. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m on a fiery sizzler ride and have been lied to,” I growl out as the pain in my chest diminishes, but I have other issues. My shoulders are aching from being behind my back for so long, and I’m getting irritated from my prolonged captivity.
A flash of light catches my eyes, and I look over Emer’s shoulder to see into the dark. Again, I don’t see anything special, except for the flash of two pearlescent eyes seven feet off the ground that can see in the dark, glowing back at me.
CHAPTER 3
Where Did Nova Go?
JP
“Six o’clock,” Moni screams, and I turn on automatic, releasing a water arrow without hesitation, and smile when I hear the death cries of the last demon.
“That’s the last of them,” Matthew, Levi’s father and the Dean of the school, calls out as we turn down another hallway in the Admin building. I feel as if we’re on another level in Hell. Shit, I can’t even tell if all the battle scars on our clothing are from Hell or new from what we’ve just been through. Thankfully, it doesn’t look as though anyone is hurt. Then again, I haven’t had time to sit down and do a damn head count, but I’m tired and need a small break.
The man holding Rez pulls her closer to him, and I blanch at her coloring; she looks so pale and limp that I wonder if she’s even alive. Tuning into her thoughts, I find nothing there; it’s as if they are fuzzy and elusive, which worries me.
“This way,” Matthew says, opening the portal with a stone and beckoning us forward.
“Why a portal?” Knox glares at the silver-swirling depths in front of us before reaching down and grabbing Reaper as he whines, trying to get to Rez.
“That was the fourth time in the last ten minutes that demons have attacked us in these halls,” Matthew starts. “The second time would have been bad luck, the third a coincidence, so there’s no doubt, we’re being hunted. Orsomeonein this party is being hunted,” he implies, looking pointedly at Rez. “So, into the portal. We’re going to our safe house,” he commands, leaving no room for argument.
Knox nods in understanding and leads the way with a wiggly Reaper. Everyone follows, and I jump in, second to last, while Matthew falls in behind me, bringing up the rear. As I enter the room through the portal, the first thing I realize is that I have no freaking clue where we are. I’ve never been in this room; it smells different, and I feel like my ears need to pop, so we must be higher up than what I’m used to.
“Does anyone else feel like they’re high? Like feeling better than coffee?” Moni asks, lazily spinning around like she’s physically high off butterbee honey.
“No, dear, that’s just the altitude; you’ll get used to it in a few moments. How about you sit down and drink some coffee? You’ll feel better,” Matthew advises her. Hewouldknow how to calm her down as much as I would, since he’s the one who took us in after Mom died, and I’m beyond grateful to him for that.
“Oh! Great idea. Thanks!” She perks up before pulling out a reserve of her emergency coffee from her S.I.N. box.Is that her last cup? She can’t have much more left.
Continuing my observation around the room, I spot a fireplace, a couple of sitting chairs and sofas, a decent-size table with eight chairs, and one narrow six-foot-long window, all in a circular room with books filling the walls.
As the others move about the room, my attention falls on Rez. The man holding Rez seems familiar, but I can’t place where I’ve seen him. As I observe him, I notice how his eyebrows furrow with concern, and he has a slight pout as he gathers Rez tightly to his chest when he sits down on the sofa with her plastered to him.Who does he think he is?
I attempt to catch any stray thoughts if he’s foolish enough to let his shields down, but the only ones I catch are‘should have protected you’and‘I’m here now.’It doesn’t give me much, but it does answer the question: he won’t hurt her, and she’s safe in his care. Then again, I guess using my eyes could have answered that. No one who wanted to hurt Rez would be smoothing out her hair.
I would almost find it entertaining that he doesn’t lay her on the sofa so that our group can take care of her if not for the fact that it’s sending Zeke, Knox, and Ryker into a tailspin. For now, I move to the window, accepting that Rez is in good hands as the three of them salivate at the chance to take this man down if he moves one step out of line with our woman.
Looking out, my jaw goes slack as goosebumps erupt across my skin, and I grow nauseated. The white, mountainous landscape would be gorgeous if it weren’t for the black and red patches of foul snow spreading far across the landscape. It’s normal for mountains to have snow and for fights to happen, and of course, for blood to spill, but like everything, the circle of life happens. We’re supposed to be absorbed and reused back into the magic, or at least that’s what we’ve been taught. But here…
Fuck. Are we in the Plagued Mountains? I honestly thought this place was made up. A fictional place, not even close to Nova or another bedtime story to scare the shit out of us. Or worse, a legend about two mountain passes over.
This place has been cursed. I don’t remember when, how, or even why it was cursed, but when souls first died here, they were never released, and they festered and rotted and became bitter about their sentence of—well—purgatory. The black and red patches that overlay the white crisp snow are their death markers and are said to spread diseases to make us sick and kill us with an unknown disease.
It’s said those spirits will rise up, shatter their barrier, and conquer their enemy one day. If that’s not scary enough, we’re right in the middle of it?
