by Jessica Gunn
It didn’t matter. The twins had fallen to the ground, their bodies burnt and smoking. They were dead.
My stomach dropped, my mouth dry. What the hell just happened?
“Freeze!” a Fire Circle police officer said, even as real sirens sounded in the distance.
Maybe they hadn’t blocked off the whole street. Maybe everyone outside of this house had heard the attack, seen Krystin’s flames, or smelled the fire burning our living room floor where the twins had once stood. Maybe they’d heard their cries for help.
Shawn maneuvered Krystin into a standing position, though he still stood between her and the Fire Circle police officers.
“Everyone needs to back up for a second,” I said, finally able to breathe again. With the twins gone… dead… their oppressive ether had gone with them. “Krystin can’t control her magik. She hasn’t been able to since—”
“You’re all under arrest for aiding and abetting, and you can count on two more murder charges being added to your warrant, Ms. Blackwood,” the officer said. “This insanity ends now. Jaffrin will be the judge.”
Nate and Rachel appeared at my side. Nate said, “You’re not taking us. That attack was unwarranted. You barged in and assumed Krystin was at fault. Did you even check to make sure that demon wasn’t a shape-shifter?”
The demon in question laughed again, still rolling around on the floor, seemingly entertaining itself. “No checking. No one ever checks. He was right all along.”
They’d just assumed Krystin was to blame, as if there couldn’t possibly be another answer after Giyano’s return. Are you kidding me?
But I’d also thought the same. Shame washed over me as though I’d put on a wet, lukewarm shirt from the wash.
“I’m not going with you,” Krystin growled from Shawn’s arms. “You people are insane. You caused this. Kinder was right.”
My eyes narrowed. “No, Krystin.”
Her fists started to glow red, as if the requirem had already worn off.
“Shawn!” I called, but Krystin shoved him away in the next second.
“I’m sorry, Shawn,” she said as she backed away.
Rachel and Nate gathered their magik, reached out with them to try to capture Krystin. My lightning grew in my hands, turning into ropes the way Giyano had used fire as cables.
“I can’t wait for this situation to end to escape,” Krystin continued. “Alzan is more important than this feud.”
“Krystin, wait!” Shawn shouted as Nate and Rachel set their magik loose, lunging across the living room for Krystin. But she disappeared in a teleportante in the next instant. Gone.
Shawn waved his hands through the space. “No. How? My requirem.”
“Chase the—”
But Shawn used teleportante before I’d finished my sentence. I guessed asanak blocked all magik except for the universal word-magiks. Which made sense since even normal humans could use them without having other types of power.
I ran to the spot where Krystin’s teleportation trail started, feeling it out.
“Teleportante.” I followed the trail to Hunter’s Guild, where I found Shawn pacing in the woods.
“She’s gone,” he said, searching the dark woods. “The trail ends here.”
My chest heaved as I felt for Krystin’s trail, for any indication of where she’d gone next. “They all do at Hunter’s Guild. Maybe she’s inside?”
He paused. “Where it’s neutral ground.”
“Don’t know that it’s neutral enough to keep her safe right now.”
Shawn took off toward the entrance of Hunter’s Guild. I followed right on his heels, jumping over logs and brush that lay in the way. My lungs seized from the effort, the sprint to the door, the wait as we were let inside.
Dozens of demons and Hunters and witches were here tonight, all of them stopping to stare as Shawn and I burst through the door. I scanned the crowd as Shawn ran to the back-corner booths that were too hidden by shadows to see from the door. He turned, empty-handed, and shook his head.
I glanced up the stairs to the second floor to the inn rooms that inhabited the space. “Upstairs.”
We ran upstairs. Checked each room. Plenty of residents, but none of them Krystin.
Shawn turned to me with the most terrified, heartbroken expression I’d ever seen—even on my own reflection when Riley had been taken as a baby. “She’s gone, Ben,” he said, his exasperated tone disbelieving. “She’s gone.”
Chapter 20
BEN
No. This wasn’t possible.
I ran to the railing and scoured the first floor of Hunter’s Guild. Just three months ago, I’d done the same thing, except instead of finding a lively atmosphere filled with people looking up at Shawn and me, I’d seen destruction and dead bodies from Kinder’s attack. “She can’t just be gone. It’s barely been ten minutes.”
“With a teleportante she could literally be anywhere she’s been before.”
And since I was starting to realize there was a whole lot about Krystin that we didn’t know, that net of “anywhere” expanded rapidly with every passing second.
“Hunter’s Guild is the most logical,” I argued. “It’s neutral ground.” This building was one of the few places left where anyone from both sides of this war could come to and be utterly safe. Which was part of the reason Kinder’s attack three months ago had been so disturbing, and why the Hunter’s Circle was still concerned an attack could happen again.
“It’s supposed to be—doesn’t mean she’ll be safe here,” Shawn said. “Krystin probably stopped to lose her teleportante trail and then kept moving. The protection magiks would have erased it. She probably didn’t even need to come inside.”
I bit the inside of my cheek as my fingers wrung the railing. Where are you, Krystin?
Two sides of me warred. Part of me wanted to protect her from whatever the Fire and Ether Circles were about to do to her. But the other half, the one that held grudges as long as the sun burned in space, didn’t give a fuck.
No. That wasn’t true. But admitting I did care meant admitting that part of this had been my fault. I’d trusted Krystin when, even from day one of her being on this team, it was obvious she had more going on with demons than hunting them. That Giyano had singled her out so quickly back then only supported that gut feeling. I’d trusted Krystin and then let my guard down. And in doing so, I’d allowed her to be used by everyone else. I’d stopped protecting her instead of getting to the bottom of it all. And now I’d never know the truth.
“Where else would she have gone?”
Shawn shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“What was she talking about, your plan?”
His gaze fell. “We had discussed leaving the Fire Circle, but not before making sure you and Rachel and Nate wouldn’t suffer any consequences because of it.”
I turned to him. “Leave the whole Circle? Why?”
“Because of exactly this type of situation.” His eyes hardened, focusing on a point somewhere in the distance. “Jaffrin never trusted Krystin—that’s why she wasn’t put on a team for so long. And from what I understand, Jaffrin only assigned her to you because of the Lady Azar and Shadow Crest situation. Krystin’s magik—and mine—are too dangerous to have around Cianza Boston. But something made him want to risk tilting the balance of it. And with the Ether Head Circle having their heads up their collective asses, with no one understanding this war isn’t anywhere near as black and white as they want it to be, Krystin’s in more danger from the Hunter Circles than she ever was from Darkness.”
My breath hitched, an angry confusion bubbling inside me. “Are you kidding me? Kinder wanted her dead.”
He shook his head. “No, she didn’t. Kinder understands the need to save Alzan, just like Giyano. But Krystin’s a Fire Circle Hunter, something Kinder can’t forgive. Like Giyano, they were both out to toy with her, with us. And now…”
“Now you and Krystin are separated.”
�
�For the moment.”
“What if that moment lasts for too long?”
He shrugged, jaw muscles clenching. “Then she’ll remain hidden and Alzan will fall. If we can’t find her, if she stays hidden, it’s over. All of it.”
I rubbed my eyes, as if that’d clear up the situation. It didn’t. This was my fault. I should have trusted that she’d never side with Giyano if his intentions were evil, that Krystin had had things handled. But Giyano had kidnapped Riley. He’d handed him over to Lady Azar twice, knowing full well what her plans for my son were. He’d killed Krystin’s own father.
Unless Krystin had been right about that too, and it’d been Zanka this entire time. Just another person who hated Giyano as much as we did.
Krystin was my teammate. My right hand. How had this gone so bad so fast?
“This is my fault,” I whispered.
Shawn glanced over at me. “Not all of it. As team leader, you’re subject to believe things Jaffrin tells you. He’s in charge, after all. He’s supposed to be someone we can all trust and look up to.”
“I might be a leader, but I’m not a puppet.” I haven’t trusted Jaffrin since we discovered he’d withheld information about Giyano, specifically that he’d been involved in each of our lives at some point. “I should have listened to Krystin. Believed her.”
“There’s no point to worrying about that anymore.” Shawn pushed off the railing and nodded toward the front door to Hunter’s Guild. “I have an idea of who might be able to help us find Krystin.”
I lifted an eyebrow, hating the thought as soon as it crossed my mind. “Giyano?”
He shook his head. “No. I doubt she’d go to him after this. Follow me.”
We left Hunter’s Guild and headed out into the woods, past the wall of magik protections. Then Shawn offered me his hand and said, “Teleportante.”
Shawn teleported the two of us into the foyer of a house. It was minimally decorated with off-white walls and wooden furniture. A deep mauve carpet led from the front door behind us down the hall into a kitchen that wasn’t totally visible. None of this looked in any way familiar.
“Where are we?” I asked as Shawn walked down the hall.
I followed, looking for any clue as to where we were. Until I saw the pictures hanging on either wall. Of Krystin. High school graduation. Prom. Graduation from Hunter Circle training. I’d forgotten how much she hadn’t wanted to become a Fire Circle Hunter. It was easy to forget since she was a damn good one.
“It’s her mother’s house,” he said as his phone began to ring. Mine too.
I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced down at the caller ID. Rachel. I swiped the call button. “We’re at Krystin’s mother’s house. We checked Hunter’s Guild and she wasn’t there.”
“The Fire Circle police are freaking the hell out.” Rachel’s words fired out of her mouth at top speed. “Jaffrin and Dacher are both on their way. Possibly the entire Command. We’re fucked, Ben. If they think we’re in on this, it’s over.”
“We’re not.”
“Who’s there?” someone asked from the kitchen. Krystin’s mother, Desiree, emerged into the doorway. “Shawn?”
“Rachel, I need to go,” I said. “Ms. Blackwood, hi.”
“No!” Rachel shouted into the phone. “You need to get back here right now. If you’re still gone when Jaffrin gets here, I can’t protect you, Ben. The twins are dead. Krystin killed them. Even if she tried to stop it once she realized she couldn’t control her magik, we all saw her start the motion. She wanted to attack them. If we lie about—”
“I’ll be there in five, Rachel. Handle it. You’re good at that.” I hung up the phone as Desiree met Shawn halfway down the hall.
Her gaze took in our tired, worn forms. “What’s happened? Where’s Krystin?”
“The Ether Head Circle has targeted her,” Shawn said. “We need your help.”
Her eyes hardened. “Where is my daughter?”
“We don’t know,” I said.
“Don’t know?”
Shawn lifted his hands, showing we meant no harm. And then he told her everything, from her meeting with Giyano, to Jaffrin having us break Krystin out of prison. He recounted the conversations he’d had with Krystin about the prophecy and about leaving the Fire Circle to make sure they’d be able to fulfill it. Something about finally hearing the full prophecy from Jaffrin, and about stones they thought they had to find to unlock their Alzanian magik.
Throughout all of it Desiree’s face remained neutral, unwavering. Unsurprised. Only when Shawn told her of the fight that’d just occurred, about Krystin attacking the Ether Head Circle twins, about Krystin running away, did her expression become worried. Terrified.
“We tried Hunter’s Guild,” Shawn said. “That’s the only place her teleportante trail led to, but of course it gets erased there. And teleports out don’t have trails. She went there to hide herself.”
“But she wasn’t inside?”
I shook my head. “No. We checked. We were hoping you could tell us where she might have gone if she wanted to stay hidden.”
Desiree touched a hand to her chest and leaned back against the closest wall. Her reaction surprised me, given that from everything Krystin had said about her mother, Desiree wasn’t supposed to have cared much about her.
“I’m not sure,” Desiree said. “We traveled a lot when she was younger. Her aunts and I tried to take her and her cousins where we could, to give them as normal a life as possible. She could be in New England, California, Colorado… anywhere. And by the time we narrowed any of those vacation spots down, any teleportante trail left behind would be gone.”
“Is there a locator spell of some sort that we could use?” Shawn asked. “Ember witches can use them, but I was never taught any.”
We knew demons used them, too, since that’s what Giyano had marked Krystin’s hand for. There had to be something Krystin’s mother could do.
Desiree squinted, thinking. “Maybe. But Krystin’s always been good with magik. She’ll have worked her own side spells to block them by now.”
“Assuming she thought we’d come to you,” I said. “Which I don’t think she would. No offense.”
“None taken. I know I wasn’t always a good mother.” Desiree shut her eyes and squeezed the hand on her chest into a fist. “All I ever wanted was to give her the tools and training she’d need to protect herself against the coming darkness. Against the demons that stole her father from us. Against the prophecy she unwillingly inherited.”
Shawn drew his Fire Circle knife and held it against the palm of his other hand. “Use my blood, my magik. It’s connected to her, inherent in both of us, even if we haven’t unlocked the Alzanian magik yet.”
Her mother shook her head. “It won’t work. But…” She looked up at the ceiling. “I have something that might. Stay here.” Desiree retreated up to the second floor of her house.
I turned to Shawn as he put away the knife. “Why wouldn’t tracking your shared magik work?”
“For the same reason she can’t use a tracking spell based on Krystin’s magik. Honestly, if Krystin’s being smart, she’ll have gotten to where she can hide for a few days and find a crystal to bind her magik. With it bound, it’ll be untraceable. That’s why my parents bound my magik. So, Alzan or not, we won’t find her.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “We won’t, but will they?” We all knew the Ether Head Circle had access to more powerful magik than we did. Oftentimes that meant ancient magik, the types of spells and word-magiks Hunters would never be taught.
Shawn shook his head. “I don’t know, Ben. I have no idea what the Ether Head Circle is capable of anymore. They clearly don’t care about the truth.”
“They value power more,” Desiree said as she descended the stairs. “If someone is more powerful than them, they will contain that individual. It’s part of the reason I was wary about giving Krystin to the Fire Circle as a Hunter. But I was hardly given a choice whe
n it became clear she was the Daughter named in the Alzan prophecy.”
Desiree had a photo album in her hands. She waved us into the kitchen, where she placed the album on a counter and began flipping through it. “It’s a long shot. And honestly, if we hadn’t removed the Alzanian scar from her as a child, I could use your matching scar to find her, Shawn. I apologize for that.”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? If you can’t trace her magik, why would a scar work?”
She looked up at him. “Locator spells aren’t just for people; they can be used to find things too. Krystin…” She shook her head, a sad smile edging her lips. “She’s always missed her father, despite barely being old enough to remember him.”
“Riley remembered who I was when we rescued him,” I said. “He was only a few weeks old when Giyano took him. I think we need to give babies more credit.”
“Maybe. Ah, here.” Desiree pointed to a picture. “When she was sixteen, she made me take her to a tattoo shop outside of the city. She wanted to get the same tattoo her father had.” She held up the picture. He’d gotten what appeared to be a snowflake made of more geometric lines than actual snow tattooed on his right shoulder blade. Numbers made up the lines on each arm of the snowflake, like geographic coordinates. “He wanted to remember the places we’d traveled to.”
I shook my head. “Krystin doesn’t have a tattoo there.” Or any, that I knew of. But she always wore long pants and shirts, except when we were sparring. If she had a tattoo on her arms or back, it was either covered or hidden most of the time. But there was no way we’d have missed a tattoo this big.
“She didn’t want it in the same spot because it’d have showed, so she had the tattoo artist tattoo it to her ankle, smaller and not made of coordinates. Just a snowflake.”
“She hates winter,” I muttered. I’d learned that much about her at least.
“Because her father died in winter,” Desiree said sadly. “I think the tattoo was a reminder as much as a memorial. In either case, and it’s a long shot, I might be able to track the tattoo.”
