She pushed the thoughts away and reminded herself that she wasn’t in the FBI yet. That summer, she was still a high schooler, albeit one with a considerable amount of practical experience confronting criminals and dangerous foes.
Professor Kaylis turned to Dnai. “Would you please fly up and keep watch from the air for us, my girl? If you see them, use a flare to let us know where they are. Don’t risk yourself by pursuing them too closely.”
The girl nodded and started jogging with a casual wave over her shoulder. “There’s a clearing back there where I can get above the canopy.”
He nodded to Professor Powell. “We’ll leave the rest to you and the remaining students,” he said before he turned and walked away. The remaining Orono students, with the exception of Asher, fell in behind him.
Professor Powell gestured ahead. “Okay, everyone else is doing their part to make sure they don’t get away, but they might still be ahead of us. Let’s move on and see where Cameron’s nose takes us.”
The wolf released a low growl and lowered his nose to the ground.
Cameron shifted into human form at the edge of the water and shook his head. “The trail dead-ends here.” He pointed at the muddy terrain. “But the scent was strong right before the water so they probably went in. They might have come out recently, but there’s nothing around the edge that would suggest that.”
“Then it’s definitely the cavern,” Raine said. “There’s no other alternative.”
“You think so, but you can’t be sure.” Philip stared into the water.
“Why wouldn’t they go to the tunnels? Especially if they’re worried about someone tracking them.?”
“Because maybe those tunnels don’t lead anywhere else. That would explain why we found footprints and scent trails here and why they bothered to cover them up. It’s not like they can take kittens through the water.”
Asher shrugged. “Why not? If they put them to sleep and used something like an air bubble, it wouldn’t be difficult. This might have been deliberate. They might have wanted to make sure their scent couldn’t be followed by any mirror cats. If they saw us, they might think it’ll be easy to avoid a group of teens and their chaperones.”
Sara walked along the edge of the pool and stared at it. “Or they knew we had a shifter with us and were worried about it.”
“Should we wait them out?” Evie frowned, obviously uncertain. “Don’t they have to come up eventually?”
Adrien kicked the surface in frustration. “Waiting for the enemy means allowing them to set the tempo of battle. I’m sorry, but I don’t like the idea.”
William looked at Evie with concern.
“They could have set traps or something in there.” Evie pointed at the glistening surface of the pond.
“They’re here for specific things,” the Light Elf said. “This isn’t their home.”
Raine shook her head. “Adrien’s right, and we can’t be certain those tunnels don’t lead somewhere else anyway. We need to cut their escape routes off.” She looked at Professor Powell, unsure that he was still willing to let them help now that they were closer to a confrontation. “The net should slowly tighten around them.”
Something approaching a smirk appeared on the wizard’s face. She looked away, and a blush suffused her cheeks. Even though their professor and expert in dealing with dark magic was right there, she still reverted to her natural tendency to want to lead her friends against the criminals.
He smiled. “Don’t worry, Raine. I agree with you and Adrien. Now that we’ve committed to this course of action, I believe our only choice is to go into the cavern. Again, anyone who is uncomfortable with the plan is free to stay behind. I would suggest that you return to the boats and take one back to the camp to reinforce Professor Tarelli.”
Philip grinned. “Come on, did you really expect the FBI Trouble Squad to want to stay behind?”
“I don’t enjoy swimming in strange cloudy ponds, but I’ll do it to help catch these guys.” William cupped his palm and a small flame appeared.
Professor Powell raised his wand. “I’ll do the spell for Cameron. The rest of you, prep shields, air bubbles, and light orbs. We’re diving for poachers.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The eight students and the professor emerged from the water into the cavern, their clothes soaked. Raine wondered about a tighter-binding spell that would allow them to swim without getting wet at all, but even Professor Powell had used a simple air bubble, which suggested that there weren’t simple alternatives.
The drying spell wasn’t instant but they didn’t have time to worry about discomfort when their quarry might already be halfway to a boat and successful escape.
Evie sighed as she looked around at the luminescent rocks. “It’s too bad we don’t have time for a tour. This place is pretty. The idea that it’s used by poachers makes me sick. This whole island is practically a magical nature preserve, and they come and ruin things.”
“That’s the thing that lives on a Kraken?” William gestured at one of the floating, buzzing jellyfish.
Philip snickered. “Maybe. She said it lives on large creatures, not necessarily on Kraken.”
“We need to stay focused.” Raine pointed at the two tunnels.
Professor Powell nodded. “The question is which way do we go?”
Everyone turned to look at Cameron. He shifted and lowered his nose to begin his olfactory search. After a quick growl, he padded forward. The wolf had found the scent again and the poachers wouldn’t escape so easily.
Professor Powell, Asher, and Raine walked directly behind him and the other students straggled a few yards back. Everyone’s attention was now focused on tracking the criminals and not the glowing rocks on the wall or creatures floating through the air.
Cameron stopped in front of the first tunnel, then walked to the other to sniff for a few seconds. He shook his head and growled again before he returned to the original one and pointed toward it with his muzzle.
“Let’s go, then,” the professor said. “I doubt Cameron’s nose is lying to him. That’s our greatest asset for the moment, but only if we take advantage of it right away.”
The wolf jogged forward but slowed every few yards to verify the trail. Despite this, they maintained a good pace. The poachers might already be long gone, but at least they were doing their best to catch up.
The tunnel widened after about ten yards. The glowing rocks became more frequent and their light almost rendered the students’ orbs unnecessary. Several more jellyfish creatures drifted past and each buzzed at different frequencies. The creatures didn’t react at all to the presence of the team.
Their population density increased the farther the group traveled. The implications of that would have to wait for another day.
Everyone fell silent as they moved deeper, led by the shifter’s nose. A few minutes turned into several more, and soon, they had hiked over a mile.
The underground passage split several times into additional forks, but Cameron simply checked the new branches and verified that even if they might hold something interesting—including fourteen-legged crabs scuttling from one—they didn’t have a poacher scent. The jellyfish still glided in and out of several of the tunnels, as uninterested in the two-legged visitors as they had been before.
The shaft began to narrow again after several more minutes.
Raine drew slow, deep breaths and wondered if they would stumble upon the poachers or if the criminals had already escaped. She doubted that they were the kind of men who took a slow ferry to the island. All their efforts might be for nothing.
She turned to Professor Powell. “What if—” Her stomach lurched at a now familiar massive pulse of magic. “You have to be kidding me.”
The professor pointed his wand up. “Reinforce your shields,” he shouted as a massive rumble signaled the start of another earthquake. “Keep moving forward.”
Thankfully, she managed to cast her spell only seconds
before several rocks detached from the roof and bounced off her shield. A low, rumbling, grinding cacophony echoed through the subterranean passage as the ground shook to jolt the people inside against the walls every few steps. Cameron was the only one who didn’t do his best pinball impression. If they hadn’t had their shields up, someone would already have broken a bone or worse. Being underground in a confined space during an earthquake might end their quest for the poachers and their lives.
They rushed forward as a group and dodged rocks and occasionally, deflected one with their spells. The dull roar as the earth convulsed grew louder and all-encompassing before a few hearty shakes became slight jostles and finally, a minor tremble.
The quake ended, and everyone sighed with nervous relief as they slowed. Rubble lined much of the tunnel behind them.
“Should we go back?” Philip asked. “In case of another quake?”
“They don’t cluster,” Raine said. “Or at least they haven’t before.” She pointed forward. “And we might be closer to an exit now than we were. Turning around will help the poachers and it might not even be the safer plan.”
Professor Powell lowered his wand, a determined look on his face. “Raine’s right. We’ve traveled this far already. The best course is to continue. But please, pay attention and refresh your shields as necessary.”
Cameron padded ahead of them and sniffed through the debris until he found the trail again. With a hasty nod of his head, he moved forward. The earthquake had startled them, but it hadn’t covered the scent. They could still find the poachers—or, if not the poachers themselves, clues that might lead them to the men.
The next few minutes passed in a tense silence in which everyone seemingly waiting for another magic pulse and an earthquake.
A few happy thoughts filtered into Raine’s mind and pushed away some of the dark visions of the possible confrontation ahead. Cameron had told her he was worried because he was a shifter and not someone who could cast spells, but his natural talents were exactly what they needed now. Being able to do more didn’t always mean someone was better than those able to do less.
She was proud of him and proud to be his girlfriend.
The sound of running water grew louder as they continued their journey. Raine wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign. Their tunnel opened into a muddy cavern, its mouth to the outside clearly visible. Stray rays of sunlight filtered through the dense trees beyond the opening. The sound of running water was louder now and echoed off the vast cavern roof.
Several large rocks lay near the tunnel entrance. Most were tall enough to hide the group as long as they crouched.
“I don’t know where this is,” Professor Powell whispered. “And I’m beginning to wonder if the poachers have been to this island before. They might have raided this place for a while. It’s not like it’s under constant surveillance. Or they might simply be lucky. Who knows?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Asher grunted harshly. “All the more reason to capture them, either way. If we don’t, they’ll wait and come back when they don’t think anyone’s here.”
The group crept forward cautiously. A stream ran past the dense rock formation near the entrance. Several boulders and chunks of rock lay on the ground, victims of the latest earthquake judging by the lack of weathering at several breakpoints.
William’s eyes widened, and he pointed into the distance. Three men in dark camouflage outfits with wands in hand ran toward an aluminum skiff. Another was tied to a wooden post only a few yards away.
“We should go now,” the Wood Elf hissed. “They’re getting anyway.”
Professor Powell shook his head. “No. You’re staying.”
Raine and Asher both blinked in surprise.
“What?” she said.
He sighed but his expression was firm. “You’ll stay here while I pursue them. They don’t seem to have the kittens—maybe they never did—but I’ll be the one to stop them.”
“But we can help,” she said and desperation leaked into her voice. “That’s why we came.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust your skills and experience, but at the end of the day, you’re students. It’d be one thing if we were all on land, but it looks like I’ll have to follow them in a boat, and I can’t risk you falling overboard. I can’t help you against a Kraken and poachers at the same time.” The professor darted toward the other boat. “I’ll catch them. You stay here and make sure they don’t double-back.”
He raised his wand as the three figures scrambled into their skiff. The fleeing wizards didn’t seem to notice his determined approach. One of the men pointed his wand at the center of the boat and it immediately accelerated away.
Professor Powell lowered his wand and continued to sprint toward the other skiff.
“This is crap,” Asher muttered through gritted teeth. “I can’t believe he benched us. We don’t have to stand here and take it.” He took a step forward.
Raine grabbed his arm and shook her head. “We shouldn’t go against what he said. He knows what he’s doing, and he’ll have a better chance to capture them if he’s not distracted and worried about us ending up in the water. I’m not happy about it, but this is about stopping the poachers, not satisfying our egos.”
The Wood Elf scoffed. “Whatever.” He folded his arms over his chest, his expression belligerent.
The second boat launched rapidly into the stream after the retreating men.
Cameron jogged forward and sniffed the ground. He growled and circled and his nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply. He shook his head a few times.
“What’s wrong?” Raine asked.
He shifted into human form and pointed at the rocks and soil below his feet. “The ground’s wrong. The scent’s wrong, and I’m not sure what it means.”
“I don’t understand.” Raine frowned as she tried to make sense of it.
He pointed toward where the original skiff had been docked. “There’s no scent trail leading that way at all. Nothing that smells like the poachers, anyway, to either boat.” He pointed in a different direction, which led into the forest. “But there is one leading that way. It’s like the poachers went that way and not the way we saw them go.”
Sara frowned. “What does that mean? They covered their scent but only part of the time? Maybe we ended up too close behind them so they couldn’t pull their normal tricks?”
Raine’s eyes widened. “No. It doesn’t mean that at all. It’s a trick. Don’t you see?”
“What kind of trick? Are you saying the scent trail is fake? Something to mislead any mirror cats?”
“No, this trick isn’t for cats. It’s for us.” She raised her wand in front of her face. “My guess is that it was some kind of illusion. Think about it. They tried to hide their scent trails to avoid vengeful cats rather than angry shifters from Charlottesville. An illusion without a scent is something meant to trick people, not cats. They know we’re here, and they might even realize how many there are of us. Even the four professors alone is a considerable amount of skilled magic.”
“Wait. You’re saying Professor Powell’s chasing nothing? An illusion?” Asher groaned and slapped a palm to his forehead in frustration.
She lowered her wand and nodded curtly. “Probably. Who knows how long it’ll last? It might lead him all the way to the ocean.”
The Wood Elf took a few deep breaths and gestured toward the forest where Cameron had pointed before. “If he has a scent trail, we can follow the poachers. If they’re trying these illusions, it means we’re right on their butts. We need to go now and can’t wait around for Powell to figure it out.”
“But he told us to stay here,” Evie said. “Do you want to go after the poachers without him?”
“The whole point of us being here is to catch them.” He jogged toward the forest. “We can send a flare up when we find them. But if we wait here, they’ll get away and all of this running around will have accomplished nothing.”
“He
’s right.” Raine ran after the elf. Cameron sprinted forward before he shifted into wolf form and bounded ahead.
Adrien chuckled quietly. “It’s a good thing Asher and his friends aren’t at our school. An expanded FBI Trouble Squad would be a terror to behold.” He broke into a jog. “I wonder if it would also mean we’d end up restricted to campus more often.”
Sara, Philip, William, and Evie hesitated for a few more seconds before they followed their friends. The FBI Trouble Squad plus one Mainer Monster Hunter were on the case.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Caution was always useful, but it was most useful ahead of the event. By the time someone stumbled into a situation they hadn’t fully prepared for, it was too late. That thought passed through Raine’s head as she and her friends stumbled around a tree and into the same three darkly-dressed men they had seen earlier in the cavern. They stood near an identical aluminum skiff already waiting in the stream, and all three had their wands out.
“So it was an illusion,” she muttered.
The poachers stood under a huge oak and laughed as if coming back from an entertaining movie or party. There was no zombie moss or glowing mushrooms on the trunk, which appeared to be absolutely normal, to her disappointment. She could have used a little zombie tree help in that moment.
Several caged mirror cats meowed plaintively. Another cage contained a stump covered in the zombie moss. A variety of birds—some colorful and others quite mundane—were caged as well.
Raine drew a deep breath. The men couldn’t escape, no matter what. Even with Dnai and the other students patrolling the perimeter, the culprits might slip through with the help of a spell.
“Stop right there,” she shouted because she really had no idea what else to do. She pointed her wand at the men. “Drop your wands and put your hands on your head.”
Still in wolf form, Cameron moved in front of her and growled. Sara’s hand lowered to her pouch, and Evie drew a red-colored potion in a rectangular vial from her pocket. Flames appeared in William’s hand. Philip glared at the men, while Asher raised his hands. A satisfied smile spread over Adrien’s face as a sword winked into existence.
Untouchable Witch: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (School of Necessary Magic Raine Campbell Book 7) Page 15
