Page 17 of Of Flame and Fury
Gemini’s palm presses against my back. “Taran, I’m not asking,” he states. “We’re leaving.”
“I can’t.” I glance away from Celia and up at him. “Emme and Bren are missing.”
Tye morphs back into his human form. His torn flesh is no longer actively bleeding, but it’s far from healing. “Gemini, Destiny is gone. She sensed something dangerous and went after it.” His voice hardens. “She didn’t come back. Do you hear me? You don’t realize how powerful she is or what she’s become—no one really does. Except as lethal as she is, whatever is out there is stronger.”
Celia’s state worsens the closer she draws. Destiny is among our most powerful friends. If she’s in trouble, Emme and Bren are no better off. “What happened to Emme and Bren? Emme was supposed to arrive with the second wave of Warriors, and Bren was to stay with the others outside the grounds.”
Shayna’s long black ponytail swishes as she shakes her head. “Emme wanted to stay close in case Celia needed her. Bren…he uh, didn’t want her here without him.”
“It was a last-minute change,” Koda says. He glances at Aric. “Both were needed closer to Celia.”
Aric curses. “And now both are gone.”
I sweep the hair that’s fallen from my bun away from my cheek. It’s only then I realize I’m bleeding from a scalp wound. “I lost them over an hour ago.”
Aric whips away from Koda, where they’re forming a plan, to ask me, “What did you say?”
I don’t want to say everything I do…not when everyone who’s supposed to be on our side, isn’t. “The protective booby traps turned on me—”
Genevieve rushes forward, cutting me off. “That’s not possible, Sister Taran. These spells are meant to harm only those who mean harm.”
An army of head witches are gathered around her. Despite the clamor of voices and her lack of supernatural hearing, she heard me just fine. It doesn’t surprise me. Vieve didn’t become who she is without paying close attention.
She presses her lips together. It’s her subtle way of demonstrating insult and a warning that I better watch what I say. I slap my hands to my sides. We really don’t have time for this. “Vieve, I’m not accusing you of any wrongdoing,” I tell her, my voice harsh and raw. “What I am telling you is I spent over an hour in halls that led nowhere and back, rooms that spin like carousels, my body parts glued to floors, all while getting trampled by beings who don’t see me and who aren’t affected by my magic.”
Gemini edges closer, growling when a witch with stark-white hair and skin to match strokes the talisman around her neck and the ruby sparkles with magic. “Sister girl, you don’t know me,” I tell her. “Keep your hexes to yourself before that talisman ends up on the ground beside your burnt remains.”
Oh, and she stops stroking it then.
“Taran,” Gemini says. “You keep insisting you were gone a while.”
“That’s because I was,” I contend. “And I’ve been separated from Emme and Bren almost as long and exposed to these stupid—no offense, Vieve—spells and bullshit magic.”
“That can’t be right,” he mutters. His gaze flickers to Vieve and her ever-pressing lips.
I’m not a fan of his tone or what he tells me. He can sniff a damn lie, start sniffing away.
“Tomo,” I say, using his real name and losing the speck of patience I have left. “I went to greet Celia and ran into Emme and Bren. Together, we left to find Celia and were somehow separated in the corridors leading to the rear entrance.”
“Love,” he says slowly. “You left my side only moments ago.”
Chapter Six
I straighten, an awesome feat seeing how everything hurts down to my toenails.
An old witch scoffs, her dark eyes casting a reprimanding glare at the bleached bitch witch who threatened me. “The spells are indeed against us,” she says, her Aussie accent thick. She adjusts her position where she’s hunched in a chair. She’s several feet away from the other head witches, but the power she emits makes it clear she doesn’t need them. She motions around with a staff made from a twisted old branch, a coffee-colored stone at the tip. “We may not feel it, but it must be so if she describes spells we were made none the wiser of.”
Celia’s tiger eyes replace her own. She was strongly “encouraged” not tochangeinto her beast form, the same advice given to pregnantweresclose to their due dates. Celia isn’twere. Like our sisters and me, nothing like us has ever existed. But we’re not taking any chances. For all we know, that little one she carries will fly out of the birth canal sprouting a beak and wings.
Aric whispers something in her ear. She blinks a few times, her tiger eyes resuming their human form.
Aric’s friend, the one he introduced to Celia—Braeden, I think—watches her closely. “Incredible,” he says.
Yeah,werescan’t change their body parts like Celia can. It’s either beast or human. He’s fascinated by her; all the supernaturals are. It bugs me. I hate all the attention she’s getting; she’s already a target.
Celia doesn’t reply and ignores the escalating panic surrounding us. She meets Aric’s gaze, imploring him to listen. “I don’t want to leave without Emme or Bren,” she tells him.
Aric’s glance to her exposed belly is brief. I still catch it, and Celia does too. “We don’t have a choice, sweetness.”