When Sparks Fly (Netherworld Series Book 3)

by Olivia Hutchinson

  Sipping the tea, she gave herself a chance to warm up. By the time the cup was empty, sweat had prickled her forehead. She set her mug in the sink before going into the bedroom and tossing the blanket back on the bed. Gathering her dirty clothes, she took them and her muddy boots back into the kitchen.

  She washed the mug before methodically washing the dirt from her clothes in the sink. The water was cold, but it still took the mud out. After she wrung out the material, she hung it on the kitchen chairs and moved them in front of the fire, so they’d dry faster. Next, she scrubbed the mud from her boots and set them next to the chair. She’d muddy them again in the morning, but at least she’d start the day clean.

  Exhaustion was overwhelming her as she threw a couple more logs on the fire in the bedroom. She collapsed onto the bed and curled up in the blanket. Her body was sore as she laid there, aware of every little ache and pain.

  Never had she felt as lonely as she did in that second. Jonah had left, and Heidi was missing. All she had was the sound of rain pelting the small window for company. Her friend was out there in that mess, hopefully huddled somewhere, staying warm and dry. She prayed. It was all she could do.

  The few hours of sleep wasn’t enough, but it was all that Maggie could stand. The rain had stopped, and the sun would be coming up in another hour or so. She pulled herself from the bed and went into the living room.

  After loading her bag with food, water, and other necessary items, she tested the weight. It was heavy, but not so heavy that she wouldn’t be able to carry everything comfortably. She borrowed some of the camping gear her father had in the cabin since she hadn’t packed for long overnight excursions before they left Cantor.

  She dressed and made herself a quick breakfast of eggs, bread, and a banana. She was eating at the table, mentally going over the list of things she needed to bring to make sure she had everything when she heard a vehicle on the dirt outside.

  Opening the door, she saw Jonah getting out of the SUV. He waved to her, the light of the dawn casting strange shadows on his handsome face. He had grown over the past eight years, but he still moved around as if he were part of the land. An animal in his natural habitat. He wouldn’t fit in anywhere else.

  He retrieved a large backpack from the back of the SUV before shutting the door and meeting her on the front porch.

  “You have a lot of stuff,” she commented when she noticed the sheer size of the pack he carried. Compared to her own, it appeared as if he brought enough supplies to last them several days, if not an entire week.

  He shrugged. “I have enough for two days out and two days back.”

  “Do you really think it’ll take that long?” The thought of them not finding Heidi that morning – or even that day – was almost enough to send her into a panic. Surely she couldn’t have wandered that far?

  “I hope not, but I don’t want to take chances.”

  “Do you want to eat something before we go?” she asked him, stepping back inside the cabin.

  “No, thank you. I grabbed something before I left home.” Nodding she cleared her plate and retrieved her grey fleece jacket from the hook by the door. She drained the last of the water from her glass and pulled on her pack.

  “Ready?” he asked her as she picked up the shotgun that had been sitting next to the door.

  “Yes.”

  She noticed then that he hadn’t brought his rifle, although she didn’t miss the handgun attached to his hip. He was armed with his pack and she was sure possessed any item that he thought they could possibly need. His boots were laced up and his eyes were bright. Alert. She was in safe hands with him, that much she knew. They were going to find Heidi. They were going to find her alive and safe, she could feel it in her gut.

  Tossing her bag on her shoulders, she pulled a black knit hat on her head and zipped up her coat. It wasn’t waterproof, but it was better than nothing. If it rained again, she at least had a poncho packed. A trash bag would work just as well if they found themselves in the middle of another downpour.

  She wouldn’t allow herself to be as vulnerable as she had been the night before. Going out into the woods without proper preparation was stupid on her part. She knew better than that. Her father would be so disappointed in her when she told him.

  Jonah led the way and she followed close behind after she closed the cabin. She had stocked both the fires in the hope they would return sooner rather than later. Heidi would appreciate the extra heat the two fires would provide. That was in the hopes they didn’t have to immediately rush her to the nearest emergency room.

  With her shotgun slung over her shoulder, they trudged through the mud, making their way back to where Heidi had fallen the afternoon before. It was the best place to start in her opinion. From there perhaps Jonah would be able to track the direction she went.

  With the light coming up from the horizon, by the time they got out that far there would be plenty of light for him to see. It would be much easier than them trying to scout for prints or any indication of where she had gone by the muted light of their flashlights alone.

  And they were expecting extra help…

  “You said that there were others who were going to help us look?” she asked him, keeping up with his long strides.

  “Yes. A few men from the town volunteered to help us track her down. We’ll cover more ground that way. They’ve been told where to meet us and I have the satellite phone if necessary.”

  They jumped from the same area they had the night before. Jonah helped her one more time, his large hands encircling her waist as he helped to lower her to the ground. His foot slid in the mud and for a second, she gripped his shoulders, afraid they’d both tumble to the ground. His fingers dug into her side and her chest crushed against his.

  Sucking in a deep breath, she could smell the faint traces of soap. Otherwise, he wore nothing. He carried the same clean scent she remembered. Leather and pine. Her stomach fluttered at the memory of the last time she had smelled him so distinctly.

  When he released her a second later, she was still holding his shoulders. The muscle beneath her hands was taut and commanding. Lethal if used correctly. She couldn’t help but run her palms down his arms before releasing him. Just as strong as his shoulders. A small whimper developed in the back of her throat, but she squashed it as soon as she felt it rise.

  Embarrassed, she glanced up at him. He was staring down at her, his eyes darker than they had been a few minutes before. Clearing her throat, she dropped her hands and took a step away from him. Getting some air in between their bodies seemed like the best idea at that moment lest she did something foolish.

  Lord, what is wrong with me?

  “Are you alright?” he asked a second later.

  “Fine.”

  His thick brow raised the slightest bit before he looked away from her. Determined not to stare at him through the entirety of their journey, she stepped in front of him and took up the lead as they wove their way through the dense trees and underbrush. She concentrated on her footing and Heidi instead of the heartbreaker at her back.

  It was easy to turn her focus back to Heidi and the reason they were out there in the first place. By the time they’d reached where she had landed the day before, all impure thoughts she’d had of Jonah had fallen out of her head. For now.

  Her eyes scanned the ground around them just as he did. She glanced at him a few times as he wove his way through the brush, never looking directly at her but sensing that he was keeping her in his peripheral vision. She concentrated on her search for boot prints or anything that could’ve been disturbed by a person. Although the task seemed almost impossible because of the ferocity of the storm the night before, she stuck with it.

  “Oi, Jonah!” a burly voice rang out behind her.

  Maggie spun on her heel, recognizing the man who approached them. She’d known Dan Wilson to say hello to since she was a girl. He’d always been kind to her and her father spoke highly of him. He also reminded
her of Santa Claus with his round belly and his long beard, which had a grey tint to it instead of being completely white. Only Dan had traded in his hot chocolate for Bud Light years ago.

  He scrunched his face as if to push his fishing hat higher on his brow. Wiping the sweat from his face with his forearm, he stepped closer to Maggie.

  “You look just like your mama now that you’re all grown up, Maggie,” he said as he stepped closer to her. “Sorry to hear about what happened to your friend.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Wilson.”

  He patted her arm. “Now, now, call me Dan. It was your daddy who always wanted you to call me mister.”

  She felt herself smile at him. “Okay, then. Dan.”

  Dan gave her a quick nod and turned to face Jonah, who’d walked up to meet him.

  “Thanks for coming out,” Jonah told him.

  “It’s all good. I wasn’t planning on doing nothing but watch TV and work my way through a six-pack. Molly said I needed to get my ass out the house anyway. Besides, we have a girl to find.”

  Jonah slapped him on the shoulder. “Still glad you made it out.”

  Dan cleared his throat before taking an old red bandana out of the pocket of his cargo pants. He blew his nose and shoved the bandana back into his pocket before responding. “Mike, Al, and Ronnie weren’t far behind me. I’m sure they’ll be along in a minute.”

  It probably wasn’t even a full five minutes before Maggie heard movement behind Dan. Sure enough, three older men, all men she recognized, came up behind him.

  Mike and Al Michaud were brothers, both about the same age as Dan and her father. She remembered Mike having a wife, but as far as she could remember Al had never married. Neither of them ever had children that she knew of.

  Ronnie Brown and his wife Judy had children of their own. Ronnie was a few years older than either Jonah or herself, but not nearly as old as the other three men. She’d remembered hearing when Judy had the couple’s first little girl. It had been when she’d been visiting on her eighteenth birthday.

  She shook her head, not wanting to think of that visit. Not here. Not now.

  Maggie nodded to the men in greeting, taking a moment to thank them for coming out and helping them search for Heidi.

  Jonah had her explain to the men – in excruciating detail – what had occurred the day before.

  She heard Al’s quiet whistle between his teeth and couldn’t help but notice Dan pulling on his beard with a frown on his face. They didn’t have to tell her in so many words that this wasn’t a good situation.

  “And you’ve seen no sign of the girl?” It was Mike who asked the question.

  Jonah shook his head. “Just the water bottle. Nothing else.”

  “Footprints?”

  Again, Jonah shook his head. “It was like…” he glanced at Maggie and then back to the men, “she was just lifted off the ground. Like she flew away. No prints, nothing. No signs she walked – or even crawled – away.”

  Ronnie cleared his throat. “The storm was pretty bad last night. It’s possible that everything was washed out.”

  Jonah gave him a firm nod. “Probably.”

  “Give us orders, boss man,” Dan quipped.

  Jonah looked from the men to Maggie, his gaze lingering. His mouth was tight, debating their situation. Maggie trusted him. Well, trusted him to find Heidi, anyway.

  “We’ll split into three groups. Maggie and I will head northwest. Al and Mike, you guys head due north. Dan and Ronnie, head…head northeast.”

  Maggie hadn’t noticed the semiautomatic handgun on Dan’s hip until he patted it. “Will do.”

  “I grabbed flare guns from the armory,” Jonah said, swinging his bag around. Maggie watched as he dug through his gear, removing two flare guns, both holstered and handing one to Ronnie and one to Mike. The third he handed to Maggie. “Put it where you can get to it quickly,” he told her.

  She held the light flare gun in her hand for a second before hooking the holster to the strap of her bag.

  “This is all standard procedure, Maggie,” Dan told her. She raised a brow, not knowing why he was the one telling her this. “Just pull that trigger and send it straight on into the air, and we’ll all come running. You never know what you mind find in these woods.”

  “Hopefully it’ll be Heidi,” she said before turning on her heel and walking away from the group.

  So cryptic, she thought with a shrug. She knew how to use a damn flare, but she figured Dan spelling it out for her was just his attempt at being nice, but she was still frustrated. She wanted to go. She wanted to look for Heidi. Now.

  She left the men to speak amongst themselves, but it wasn’t long before Jonah came up behind her.

  “Let’s head out,” he said.

  She nodded and fell in step behind him, waving to the other men as they headed in different directions. The terrain she and Jonah were heading into was unforgiving and slow moving. Maggie kept her frustrations to herself. Part of her felt that Heidi would’ve avoided the area for the sole reason that it was difficult to travel, but on the other hand, since the area was steeper, she may have believed it would take her back to the top of the ravine.

  It frustrated her even more to acknowledge that she hadn’t the faintest clue where her friend had gone. If Heidi had even the smallest bit of outdoors training or experience, she might not be as worried as she was right now.

  Jonah must have heard her groan because his pace slowed, and he turned to her. “Are you alright?” he asked her.

  She nodded. “Just worried.”

  “Worrying won’t find her any faster,” he said with a sigh.

  “I know that, but I don’t think you know Heidi. I don’t think she’s really left the house in the past several years. She doesn’t know what water to drink and what not to. She doesn’t know how to find shelter…”

  Jonah reached back and patted Maggie’s shoulder. “Don’t underestimate your friend. The ability to survive, even if she’s not accustomed to these conditions, is ingrained in everyone to some degree.”

  Maggie felt herself frown. Perhaps he was right. If Heidi were thirsty, she’d look for water. If she was hungry, hopefully she had enough sense to not eat anything that she wouldn’t recognize in the produce section of the grocery store.

  “With the rain last night, fresh water won’t be difficult for her to find,” Jonah told her.

  “But she fell. She’s probably injured.” Maggie could just picture Heidi with a broken leg, struggling to get back. The image brought tears to her eyes.

  When Jonah stopped abruptly in front of her and turned, Maggie came skidding to a halt, almost colliding into his chest. He reached out and gripped her upper arms, steadying her.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, his warm palms warming her skin even through the layers of clothing she wore.

  She drew in a shaky breath, not able to find the words to ask him why he’d stopped so suddenly. Why does he always do this to me?

  “Maggie, stop. Stop worrying. I know that you’re not going to but think about this. Really think. If Heidi were stumbling around out here with broken legs, we’d see drag marks and honestly, we’d have found her last night because she wouldn’t have gotten far. If she’s bleeding, we’d see traces of blood. Maybe not a lot, but something.”

  He was lecturing her, and she still couldn’t find her breath. Those stupid grey eyes, so full of emotion, and directed at her. He was trying to comfort her, trying to get her to see reason.

  “She may have a broken arm, but it won’t kill her. She may drink dirty water, but we’ll find her and take her to a hospital before it’s a true issue. She’s not going to be in these woods long. From what you say, she sounds like she’s probably out of shape and not going to be able to even get very far.”

  Part of her wanted to interrupt him and defend her friend, but he was right. She wasn’t used to being outside. She wasn’t used to the area or the physical exertion. She wouldn’t be moving very fast. And wo
rrying wasn’t going to help find her any quicker.

  “Okay,” she said.

  “Okay.” He didn’t let go of her arms. He just stood there, his palms lightly stroking. She couldn’t look away from him and he wouldn’t look away from her.

  Focus, she chastised herself. Find Heidi and go home.

  Heat rose up in her chest and she felt herself leaning forward. His eyes broke away from hers and she saw him watching her mouth. She couldn’t help but lick her lips, her mouth suddenly dry.

  Nonononono! Her mind screamed as she pulled herself away from him and broke whatever connection had been pulling them back together. She stared at her feet and kicked the rocks and the dirt.

  Jonah cleared his throat and she was staring at his boots when he turned away from her to continue their trek.

  She needed to get it together. Find Heidi and go home.

  It had been almost physically painful to let her go. Every minute he was around her, the more difficult it was going to be when she left again. Finding Heidi was a distraction and he hated himself for feeling that way.

  They had to find the girl. He had to ease Maggie’s fears about her friend’s safety. He had to ensure she was safe himself. The conversation that went unsaid between himself and the men had been a simple one. The fae.

  Always beware of the fae.

  They’d pulled Jimmy Schram’s body out of the woods only two weeks before. It was obvious who the culprits had been by the arrows protruding from his body. He’d been naked when he was found, a sign that he’d been in his shifted form when he’d come across them.

  With the increasing hostilities, Jonah had known he was going to need back up and to keep Maggie away from the fae border. If they stayed firmly away from the edge of fae territory, they shouldn’t run into any issues, but he didn’t really know that.

  Why would the fae want the human? He prayed that she had just gotten up and wandered off, but there were no guarantees.