by Laura Wylde
“He’s still keeping watch.” Trent pointed upwards. “Seems like the boy can fly for a long time.”
That was good, I guess having someone on the outside to keep an eye on us if anything went wrong. We needed a lookout, someone who could race back to the Academy and get the help of the professors if we needed them. It was more the idea that we might need them that was too much for me. But I needed to push everything to one side, I needed to put my feelings away to be strong for everyone else.
We followed Trent inside the castle, using a small grate that he found, which for some reason wasn’t protected by magic – not something that I wanted to worry about at this moment – and we found ourselves inside the walls. Through the cold and the dark, there was something under us, a magical sensation that put me on edge. Admittedly, I wasn’t well versed in exactly what bad magic would feel like, but there was definitely something much darker going on here, and it had to be new because no one had picked up on it before. There was no way that a magical person wouldn’t have picked up on this.
“What’s going on?” I whispered to Evan, only to notice that he wasn’t standing beside me, not in his human form anyway. He had shifted in to a wolf which meant he knew that he needed to be careful as well. “Oh God.”
I folded my arms protectively across my chest and moved a little closer to Andrew. Trent had been a fox ever since we came in here, so he was the only one who was a human. Thinking about it, I had only ever seen Andrew as a human before. Not that we spent a huge amount of time together, but I hadn’t seen him as an elf…
“Where do you think we are going?” I whispered to Andrew. “You think that this is linked to the volcano?”
I wanted to talk about this, but it seemed like no one else did. They were happy to allow the silence to radiate through them. I didn’t like it though, it scared me. Anything could have disguised itself within it. I kept darting my eyes left and right, jumping at every sound that didn’t quite fit in with what I expected to hear, acting like a wimp.
“That must be it,” I gasped as Trent paused and rubbed his paw delicately over something in the wall. “What is it?” I leaned in closer, squinting my eyes, but it was far too dark to spot anything on the brick walls. So, I flicked my fingers and brought out a flame on the tip, so I could see it better. “Is it a symbol? What does it mean?”
I turned to Andrew, and not only because he was the only one left in his human form, but because if anyone was going to know the answer to this then it was him. He had his eyes narrowed as well as he tried to work out what he was seeing. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, before finally speaking.
“The dog cemetery,” he whispered. “At the heart of the castle.”
“Dog cemetery?” My heart sunk. “That can’t be anything, can it?”
Andrew turned to face me once more, with absolutely no color in his face. His pupils were dilated with just as much panic as I was feeling right now. “They can if they are hell hounds.”
“Shit.” I understood now. This was bad, really bad. “Hell hounds? This is really awful, right? This is too much for us to handle alone. We need to… to go back to the academy. We need to tell everyone there. We can’t do this alone.” Now I could feel it, the dark magic was linked to the hell hounds. “We can’t do this alone.”
I got nothing but silence back. The guys didn’t know what to do, not even Evan who usually liked to take control of every situation. That meant it was even worse than I was letting myself imagine. I felt my heart pounding in my head, it was thumping so loudly that I feared the whole castle could hear it. The hell hounds were probably coming for me right now and I couldn’t stop them. If I listened close enough then I could hear their feet, their paws pattering on the ground, racing to me, causing the walls to close in around me. I couldn’t breathe, I didn’t stand a chance.
“I want to go,” I mumbled quietly while backing away from the sign. “I want to go right now.”
Chapter 6
Joshua
Shit. They all looked panic struck as they came back out of the castle, which left me in a state of worry myself. I knew that Trent had found something inside, not that he said what it was, but I didn’t expect it to be as huge as this. With my bright hawk eyes, I could see everything from where I was, and it wasn’t great.
For a moment, I wasn’t sure if I should stay where I was, soaring high above and keeping a look out because I was younger than everyone else and a bit on the outside of the group, but I soon decided against it because Felicia had done everything that she needed to in order to make me feel welcome. Plus, if I was totally honest with myself, my curiosity was getting the better of me and I needed to know what was happening. Bad or not.
So, I lowered myself to the ground where I transformed quickly and prepared myself to face everyone else, and soon they reached back where we all had met just a little while ago. Only now, everything was different, everyone was grave, so I knew there wasn’t going to be any more light hearted fun today.
Mind you, the best thing about this group was the way that they switched things up when needed. They were fun on a night out, especially Evan, but serious when the time called for it. There was a lot that I could learn from that.
“What happened in there?” I gushed. “What did you find? Is it bad? Did anyone get hurt?”
“Hell hounds,” Andrew shot back morosely. “Or at least, an indication that there are hell hounds there.” He shuddered hard. “I don’t think that we would be standing here talking to you right now if we had encountered them.”
“Hell hounds?” I snapped back. “No way. There aren’t any hell hounds in Scotland. There haven’t been for years. That just isn’t possible.” I raked my fingers through my hair. “Because if hell hounds are real…”
“Then anything is possible,” Felicia finished my sentence for me, in the same monotone way that I now felt. “I know, the script has been flipped wide open. I think that we need to get back to the academy now to talk things through with the professors. I don’t think we can deal with all of this by ourselves.”
Judging by the other’s faces, they weren’t convinced that this was the right thing to do, but I wasn’t about to let that trouble me. I knew that Felicia was right, we needed help on this. I sure as hell didn’t know what to do about hell hounds. I hadn’t ever faced them before, nor did I even know what to do with them. They weren’t something that I had ever really thought about… until now. Now, I didn’t think that I would be able to get them out of my mind ever again. I wasn’t going to be able to close my eyes without seeing them. No sleep for me!
“Let’s do it,” I agreed sharply, nodding hard as I did. “We need to go back. I agree with Felicia. We need help.”
My words seemed to snap everyone else in to action and we decided to return to the academy the same way that we came here. Evan didn’t look too pleased about that decision, I could tell that he had a massive thing for Felicia, and he didn’t like leaving her alone with another guy… but this mission wasn’t about finding a harem, this was a mystery solving deal. Romance and everything that came with it could wait. Especially for me.
“Okay, so don’t go and see anyone until we all get back,” Evan told Felicia seriously. “Because you will get there first. Wait for all of us all, we need to deal with this together. Even if Andrew knows more about this than the rest of us, we all need to hear the answers. We are supposed to be a team.” He gave her a look, one that spoke a million things. I might not have known them well, but there was a lot there. “Don’t forget that.”
They hugged tight and I averted my eyes as Evan whispered something to Felicia. He seemed to have a serious hold on her, which was a shame because she was a beautiful girl. One whom I would have liked to get to know better, if I was even given half a chance. I didn’t know all the rules of harems, I hadn’t been at the academy long enough for that, but we were all different shifter species. That couldn’t work, could it…? Could it? Hmm, now that was an i
nteresting thought, wasn’t it? The idea that we could do something totally out of the ordinary.
Eventually, it was time for us to go, and as I flew up high again back in my hawk form, I felt stronger and more powerful, and thankfully not tired at all after all the flying from before. I raced back to the Academy while thinking about Felicia. It was nicer to think about her than the hell hounds, even if she got me all tied up in knots as well. I mean, she really was stunning. I loved her little emo look, her cool sparky attitude, and her sweet nature that was a complete contrast to her look. Fun as well. Someone I wanted to spend more time with. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen in this mission, but I hoped that it wouldn’t be the end of all of us spending time together. I wanted to fit in more, to be someone who they all respected as much as I did them. I wanted to be good friends with them all.
I took a step back in the meeting with the teachers, because to be fair, I hadn’t exactly seen the sign of the hell hounds so I didn’t know what to say, but Felicia made the effort to stay near me all the time, to ensure that I felt like I was a part of everything. I couldn’t stop the weird little twinges I got in the pit of my stomach every single time she grazed her skin against mine. It was dangerous territory for me to be in, I didn’t want to piss Evan off. But all that I could really do was hide this inside. I couldn’t let my feelings shine through…
“This is something we need to look in to further,” the Professor of Herbology declared. “Hell hounds are something that we really need to worry about. But not you. Not in Scotland anyway. We have another mission for you.”
“What do you mean?” Evan demanded. “You sent us to Edinburgh castle to see what’s there and we found something. Now, you’re telling us that we need to go somewhere else? That seems really strange.”
“Do you want to face the hell hounds?” She asked Evan with her eyebrows cocked. “Because to be honest, we don’t have enough information to know if you can face them yet. We don’t know how many there are or what sort of powers they have. I don’t particularly want to push you in to that, but if you really want to…”
“So, when are we going to London?” Evan replied, changing the subject.
“London Tower. We need you need to take a look there. See what you can find.”
The Tower of London? Not the Big Ben where Felicia had seen the traces of magic? That hardly made any sense. I kept thinking that we needed to get back there to see what she saw. But as I flickered my eyes over the others, they didn’t seem too surprised about this, so perhaps it was my naivety speaking.
“Because of the crown jewels?” Andrew asked. “I had a theory that the jewels are linked to some power which the demons want, same as in the Edinburgh Castle.”
“That is for you to find out, and why we are sending you on the mission. But I think that some rest here at the Academy and maybe some research in the library will assist you. So, go out in the morning. Head to London and we will make sure that you have accommodation there for when you need it. You may well be there for longer than you were at the castle, because the Tower might not be the only place that you may have to visit.”
It seemed that no one else had anything to ask because we all slowly rose up and put an end to the conversation. A sense of weariness came over me as I stood up and I realized that actually needed to sleep. All that flying today had gotten to me after all.
“I don’t want to sleep,” Andrew said as soon as we left the room and headed over towards the accommodation. “I have too much going through my head to be able to rest. I’m going to start research in the library.”
“I will come with you,” Felicia offered. “I could do some reading. I don’t want to leave you alone.”
“You look tired,” Andrew replied with a smile. “Why not sleep for a while, then come and join me. Who knows, I might even be tired then, so we can take turns reading. Learn as much as we can. The more information that we have under our belts, the better. We don’t want to face things that we don’t understand again.”
“I will do the same too.” There was no way that I was about to pass up the opportunity to help out as much as I could, integrate myself in to this group even more. “Sleep, then come and join you. I agree, we need to know as much as we can.”
“Us as well.” Trent nodded as he signed up for both Evan and himself. I wasn’t sure how happy Evan was about that. “Anyway, five brains are better than one.”
Felicia giggled and put her hand in the middle of us, indicating for us all to do the same. The other guys were more reluctant than me, but eventually we all created a pile of our hands in a circle.
“Team work,” she laughed. “I don’t know how to make a speech about team work, so I probably shouldn’t have started this, but yeah… we can do this … together. We can make this work. I just hope that we don’t come across hell hounds again because that is too much for me.” She trembled. “But if there is a mystery to be solved, then we can do it. We might not be the most typical of groups, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it.”
Evan mumbled in agreement which caused the rest of us to do the same. It took a lot for me to stifle back my laughter because this really was too strange for words. But strange in a good way. I liked it a lot. Even if the other guys weren’t too keen on one another, particularly Evan and Andrew, I liked them all. They were a good crowd.
“Right well, time for bed.” Felicia stretched her arms high and yawned. “See you all soon.”
I tried not to be too obvious as I watched her walk away, but it was a challenge to keep my eyes off of her. Felicia was becoming more beautiful to me by the moment. I was captivated by her. As long as that didn’t become obvious and cause a rift in the group, all would be okay. Or so I hoped…
London was busy. Very busy. There seemed to be people everywhere. It was a little overwhelming actually, I wasn’t sure where to look. My small town in Ireland wasn’t anything like this, nor were any of the parts of Scotland that I had been to so far. This was something else. I wasn’t sure how we would get anything done.
“So, London Tower.” Felicia pointed up towards the oversized building, a tense edge to her voice. “I don’t think there is going to be any way we can sneak in here at night, so we’ll have to check it out now. There might be people in there, but hopefully we can take a look at what we need to without arousing suspicion.”
“Do you want me to come with you? Or should I keep watch again?” I wasn’t sure why, but I really wanted to go along with them this time. But I was going to do whatever they needed me to.
“We don’t need a look out.” Felicia smiled and gently touched my arm in that reassuring way that I had seen her do with the other guys when they needed her calming nature. I had to admit that it worked well. I zoned in on her voice. “Come with us. We need all eyes on ground right now. You have good vision, right? We can use that. I don’t know exactly what we are looking for here, the professors didn’t give us much…”
“Whatever you need,” I whispered. For some reason I couldn’t get any volume out. “I’m up for it.”
“Evan?” All of a sudden, Felicia leaned past me to look at Evan. “What’s the matter? You look all weird.”
“Someone is following us.” His face turned down in a frown. “I can feel it. I have felt it ever since we got here.”
“What do you mean?” Felicia demanded. “No one even knows that we are here. Who would be following us?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t say I knew who,” he snapped back grumpily, which was a surprise for me. I hadn’t ever heard Evan snap at Felicia. At Andrew, sure, a lot, but not Felicia. I had noticed him getting tense in the library though, he was tired and cranky, and didn’t seem to like endless reading. He was annoyed that everyone else was finding out more than him as well, but that wasn’t any reason to take it out on Felicia. “I just know that we are being followed. We don’t really know what we’re looking for, do we? It could be more dangerous than we thought. If people are in to dark magic, if
we are trailing a demon, then we don’t know what people will do to cover their tracks.”
“I… I don’t think people are following us,” Felicia stammered, now sounding nervous. “I don’t want to think that.” She folded her arms across her chest. “It means that we could be in danger, doesn’t it? That’s scary.”
I didn’t like the look on Felicia’s face, she was freaked out, not ready to face a demon head on. Not that any of us were really, how could we be? This wasn’t something that any of us were used to. But we couldn’t back down now. There were too many people relying on us, waiting for us to find out what we could.
“If we are being followed,” I jumped in, trying to calm things down before another argument began. “Then there is a chance that it is someone from the academy. Someone wanting to check that we are okay.”
“You think so?” I nodded at Felicia, even though I had no real idea. “Okay, then we should go in…”
The Tower of London was soon to close, we were reaching at the end of the day, but we still continued to head inside. The cost of entry was a little steep as it was late in the day, but it was being covered by the academy. We just had to convince the staff member sitting at the desk to sell us tickets and that we only wanted a short visit, so it wasn’t worth waiting until the next day.
With tensions swinging this high, there was no way that we could head to the hotel to wait until the next day, everyone was starting to get a little stir crazy, so I was glad when we finally made our way inside. I was also pleased that the tower had almost emptied out, so we didn’t have to face many people. In fact, even the few people left inside were starting to consider leaving, discussing dinner plans and what fancy London bar they would hit later on. There was a chance that we would end up completely by ourselves if we were lucky.
“Okay, we’re in,” Felicia whispered a little shakily. “Now, we just need to look around. We don’t know what we’re looking for, but we didn’t in Scotland either, did we? And we managed to find the evidence of hell hounds, which I now hope is being looked in to properly…” She sucked in a trembling breath but tried to smile through it to make the rest of us calm down. “So, let’s see if we can do the same here. If it’s another sign for something demonic or more magical traces… well, we will find it, won’t we? All of us together? A druidess, an elf, a wolf, a fox, and a hawk. Sounds like a dream team to me.”
