by Leia Stone
“The elf is dead,” Eva said and her voice cracked.
I stumbled backward. “Wait, what?” That wasn’t possible, we just saw him. This was too much information at once.
Eva looked like she was holding back tears. “I went to see an acquaintance, someone who deals with rare and magical artifacts. He sold me this.”
She pulled from her coat … a small copper ball. It was the size of a tennis ball, solid shiny copper in her hand.
“Cool.” I tried to sound excited for her, but really, I was having a hard time being jazzed about a ball right now. Griddish was dead and the druids were after me. En masse. Frick.
“As I live and breathe,” Danny said, approaching Eva slowly with one hand over his chest. “Is that…?” He couldn’t speak. His voice had gotten all emotional, damp at the edges.
Eva nodded. “The Eye.”
“The Eye?” I questioned.
Eva nodded, swinging her hair over one shoulder. “Rumor is that when the queen of Faery fell, she plucked out her eye before she died, giving it to her palace sorcerer. The sorcerer did a spell, encased the eye in copper, and now it can see almost anything past or present.”
My eyebrows climbed. Gross. But if that was really true, then it was damn near priceless.
“He just gave you this thing? Out of the kindness of his heart?” I questioned.
She scoffed. “Hardly. I gave him every last thing I owned, including the bar, all of the money in my bank, and two dragon scales.”
Danny reached out as if he wanted to touch it, but then pulled back. “The bar that just burned down?” he asked.
Eva flinched. “Yes, which brings me to why I look like this.” She indicated her disheveled appearance, her blood-crusted face. “Hensel, the sorcerer I bought this from, wasn’t too excited to find out I’d sold him a worthless business. I of course didn’t know it was burnt down when I signed over the deed and my clientele list.”
Logan’s voice became deadly still and deep. “He did this to you?”
Eva gave Logan a small smile. “I’m fine, dear. Needless to say he wants the Eye back, but once I saw the druids’ initiation through it, and the attack on the elf, I knew we needed it. So … I ran.”
I threw up my arms. “Great, so now we have a pack of angry druids on our ass and an angry sorcerer that you stole from?”
Eva furrowed her brow. “No one stole anything. I bought it fairly and then the druids burned half my payment.”
Logan sighed. “But the sorcerer will be coming after you, yes?”
Eva nodded. “But we have the Eye. It has its limits, but until they know I can see them, we have a front row seat into the druids’ actions.”
That, at least, was good news.
“Tell me what happened with the elf.” I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice, but dammit, it crept in. I’d just seen him. He’d just resolved to be a better person and not make weapons for the druids anymore. He couldn’t be … dead. I’d liked him, and I needed that staff he was making for me. Hopelessness crept over me like a heavy blanket.
Eva frowned. “I can show you, dear.” The ball suddenly lit up in her hand like the sun, causing all of us near it to shield our eyes.
I stepped forward and so did Isaac. “I need to see as well,” was all he said, and Eva nodded.
The ball pulsed light and Eva rolled it in her palm as she chanted under her breath. Around and around the ball went, a hypnotic rhythm, until finally it stopped in the dead center of her palm, dimming its glow.
“Touch it,” she whispered, and I nearly yelped at her freaky glowing yellow eyes.
Isaac and I shared a look. Me touching random magical objects had not gone well in the past. But I had to know what happened to Griddish. I’d grown fond of the quirky, morally-loose creature.
Reaching out, Isaac and I both touched our fingers to the cold copper ball.
Holy hell! I was immediately hit with a wave of nausea. It felt like I’d been grabbed by the ears and yanked upward. My vision went black for a few seconds, then my feet slammed down hard and my eyes opened up to Griddish’s backyard. I looked next to me and Isaac was standing on my right. Eva was on my left, holding the ball.
What the…?
“We’re not really here. You can’t change what happened, only witness it,” Eva commented.
I nodded, in awe of what was going on. I was standing in Griddish’s backyard! The ground felt real under my feet. I could see the elf tinkering away at his desk, working on my staff! A purple crystal shard protruded out of the top.
It hit me then, there was no sound, not even the rustle of leaves. Wherever we were, it wasn’t real, just some kind of memory. The elf turned to grab a tool and I could see from the shape of his lips that he was whistling, but I couldn’t hear it.
“No sound?” I inquired.
Eva raised one eyebrow. “It’s the Eye, not the Ear.”
Touché.
Griddish caressed his fingers over the staff, polishing the wood with an oil-soaked rag.
“So, what happened to him?” I asked, and in that moment the elf froze, as if he’d heard or smelled something.
He scribbled something quickly on a piece of paper and let the paper fall to the floor. Then he grabbed the staff with both hands and spun around just as Steven blinked into his back yard with his creepy air druid magic. I wondered what would happen if I stepped forward and punched him in the throat right now.
“You would pass right through him if you attempted to touched him,” Eva told me.
My mouth popped open. “You read minds?”
She smirked. “I read ‘I want to kill you’ glares.”
Accurate.
I wasn’t normally a violent person until I’d met that man.
Griddish had spun around, my staff in his right hand, now a small opal knife in his other. They were trading words but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. Suddenly, flooding over the gates of the elf’s property were a dozen druids. Not hunters—full-blown druids with crazy tattoos and gleaming, murderous eyes.
“Shit!” I said, feeling helpless. I looked to Isaac and noticed his eyes were glued to the paper on the ground. He hadn’t said a word since we’d gotten here. Eva must have noticed too.
“You can’t see what’s written there,” Eva shared. “I tried. It’s flipped over, and when he writes it he covers it with his hand so you can’t look over his shoulder.” Isaac nodded.
Interesting.
“Here it comes. Watch Steven’s lips,” Eva instructed. I moved forward a step and watched the druid. He was grinning ear to ear, no doubt pleased he had the elf surrounded. Then his eyes fell on the staff. The purple crystal, the engravings, all in a language I didn’t recognize.
Fire druid, he mouthed and his grin widened to maniacal levels.
I stepped forward and extended my foot, coming up between Steven’s legs and kicking him in the balls. But it sailed right through him like he was a ghost.
Eva rolled her eyes. “I told you.”
I shrugged. I had to try.
Eva looked uncomfortable. “You want to see him die or go now?”
“Go,” I said. I didn’t want to see the actual death. Knowing it was Steven was enough for me. I was going to kill that bastard a hundred times over.
“Stay,” Isaac said, and I groaned.
“Fine, let’s stay,” I agreed. I didn’t want to sound like a total wuss.
It happened quickly. Griddish used his freaky levitation power to rise high into the air and be at Steven’s meathead level. Some hundred-pointed sticks were floating behind him, ready to strike.
Without warning, Griddish sent the pointed sticks out into the yard, trying to pierce the flesh of the dozen druids waiting to kill him. It was no use, they all had shields up, and Griddish looked resigned then.
The elf mouthed something I couldn’t read— “You’ll fall…?” “You all…?” I was too far—dammit I needed “The Ear.” While Steven was busy keeping the
elves attention with a glowing red ball in his hands, a druid off to the left threw a shimmering red knife with the speed and accuracy of a well-trained bowmen. It sank into the elf’s neck and his eyes popped wide. Then he … flickered out of existence, taking my staff with him.
What the…?
“Wait … where did he go?” I asked.
Eva looked at me. “When an elf dies, their body is reunited with their queen, whom they are sworn to protect even in death.”
My eyes bugged. The queen was long gone, her body rotting somewhere in Faery. “That is true,” Isaac spoke calmly next to me, before I could ask more. “But they do not bring their clothing and weapons with them. He didn’t die. He teleported.”
Okay … say what?
Eva frowned, her eyebrows creasing together. “Are you sure?”
Isaac nodded. “Somehow he tapped into Steven’s power. I need to see what’s on that paper. I think it’s a message for us to find him.”
Eva whistled low. “The druids could be lying in wait for us to come back for the staff.”
Isaac shrugged as if that didn’t bother him. “Without that staff, Sloane can’t control her power. It will eventually tear her apart.”
Fear trickled over me. “What?”
Isaac turned to face me as the druids in the memory started to leave the yard, their job done.
“When you released all that magic to help Dom and save Hemlock … it hurt you, didn’t it?”
I bit my lip, thinking back to the bar where the man in the canary-yellow suit had died. “Well … yeah, for a bit. I mean, I felt a little dizzy and had a headache. I might have gone momentarily blind.”
“Sloane!” Eva gasped. “Have you told Logan?”
Shame colored my cheeks. There was too much going on, I had honestly forgotten.
“She needs the staff,” Isaac pressed. “When did all this happen?” He gestured to the elf’s backyard. Now free of druids.
She thought for a second. “About six hours ago.”
He nodded. “There still might be time. Let’s go.”
And with that, the dizziness hit me again, less than the first time, and I was slammed back into my body or whatever, feeling the hard floor of the yurt at my feet.
“What happened?” Logan’s voice was full of concern.
It took me a second to open my eyes and get my surroundings in order.
I sighed. “We’re going to find the elf. Dead or alive.”
Please let it be alive and with my staff.
Chapter 9
This time we didn’t leave anyone behind. Not even Hemlock or Mittens. The two had become surprisingly fond of each other. Nadine said that while Logan and I had been shacked-up at the waterfall, Mittens had snuck into the house. They’d immediately taken to each other. Now Hemlock was growling at anyone who tried to touch Mittens and Mittens was stealing Hemlock’s food and massaging his back with her paws. They were like two dysfunctional peas in a pod. After that day he’d let me feed him from my hand, his entire demeanor changed. He was like a big teddy bear, letting Mittens boss him around. He even let Nadine take his staples out and didn’t growl once. He was family, and he knew we weren’t going to hurt him. It might have helped that we gave him fresh bacon every morning. Our group was comprised of twelve supernaturals and two fur babies.
Most of the pack was in the bus, while Eva, Logan, and I followed closely behind in my car with Hemlock and Mitsy. We were about thirty minutes away from Griddish’s house and Eva said she didn’t see any druids near it through her ball, but she also couldn’t see them anywhere, which might have meant they had caught on to her and were doing a blocking spell.
Logan was driving and Eva was in the back with Hemlock. I sat in the front seat stroking Mittens’ fur as she purred on my lap.
“Are you feeling better?” I asked Eva. Danny had treated her wounds, and she seemed to be healing nicely.
She nodded. “I’ll be fine, dear. Now, I didn’t gather everything from your coded messages, but the only reason I came back was because you alluded to having found another skyborn? Now that I have the Eye, I was going to start looking for them.”
I froze. The book! I had forgotten in all of this drama the entire reason I had wanted my car back so desperately. I unclipped my seatbelt and crawled into the back between Eva and Hemlock.
“My mother had a book. She said it was my destiny to continue on her work. She said a lot of things that sounded crazy at the time, but now I’m not so sure…”
Please let it be here.
I tossed aside my drawing pencils, my sleeping bag, and an old chipped coffee mug that was my mother’s favorite. When my fingers wrapped around the green leather, I nearly cried.
Bringing it to my nose, I inhaled. It smelled of leather and rosemary. My mother would pull herbs from the garden and not wash her hands. Everything she touched smelled of herbs and spices. Tears clouded my vision as I thought of her flowing red hair hunched over this book, writing in it. I thought it was a diary growing up, but then she told me it was an address book, one that must be protected. She was quirky; I let it slide, but now I thought it was a list of the remaining skyborn. It was just a gut feeling. Why else would my druid mother keep this list? I had no idea.
Eva helped move Hemlock’s big meaty body over to give me room to sit between them.
After settling in the seat, I opened the book and stroked the pages. In alphabetical order, there were names and addresses. It looked like an ordinary address book … except for one thing.
“You see that?” I pointed. Eva was examining the little number to the left of each address where my finger rested. One, two and some even said three.
“You think these are addresses of skyborn?” she remarked, sounding doubtful.
I shrugged. “She spent hours with this book. Who puts numbers next to addresses? I think it’s the number of skyborn at each address.”
Eva stroked her chin with the tip of her finger. “You might be right. I could look with the Eye, but it would only show me the people there, it won’t tell me if they are skyborn. I’m assuming they will be in human form.”
I frowned. “You don’t think my mom was helping the skyborn? She told me this book was of people like me. That I needed to continue her work.”
Eva reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Sweetheart, I didn’t know your mother, but I just don’t want you to get your hopes up that she had this big purpose and then…”
I nodded. “Be let down…”
She gave me a sad smile. “I’ll tell you what … we’ll check out the elf’s house and then we’ll go to one of these addresses, meet the people and ask them how they knew your mom.”
I brightened. “Okay, deal.”
Maybe I did just want my mom to have some big grand purpose. Maybe this was just an address book and in her dying, cancer-ridden state she was just talking crazy. Either way, I took comfort in the fact that she was a fire druid, not one of those evil druids who took orders from Ardan. That alone gave me hope.
“We’re here,” Logan announced as he turned the corner to where the elf’s home was. The big yellow bus parked right in front while we parked about five houses behind. I went to open the car door when Logan locked it quickly, trapping me inside.
“No. We’re going to wait here. Isaac will tell us if he finds anything,” Logan ordered.
I met his eyes in the rearview mirror and gave him my best glare, then I turned to Eva. “Did he just tell me no?”
She grinned and with a wave of her hand the lock opened and she stepped out.
Logan groaned. “Eva!”
Eva helped me out and shut the door quickly behind me so that Hemlock and Mittens didn’t get out.
“Don’t coddle her, dear. How else will she learn to manage this lifestyle?” was all she said, before turning to walk towards the house.
Logan grumbled after her, stepping in line with me.
“I’m keeping her alive,” he protested at Ev
a’s back and cocked his gun. I pulled the Ruger from my waistband and dragged the slide back. If the druids showed up, I was emptying this clip into Steven’s head.
I gave Logan a little hip bump, and when he looked at me I blew him an air kiss. All of his steam let out then, and he shook his head with a stupid grin.
‘You need to relax from your obsession with caging me,’ I joked.
His eyes smoldered. ‘Do I?’
My dragon sent a pulse of heat between my legs and I bit down on my tongue to keep from whimpering. Today was the last day of my heat. Good riddance, sister.
Eva stopped and looked back at me. She took a whiff of the air and opened her mouth.
“Nope, don’t say it,” I told her, and she grinned, looking from Logan to me with amusement dancing in her eyes.
Privacy, people.
“We’ve been dealing with a lot since you ran off,” Logan said bitterly.
Eva stopped walking and spun to face us, her face suddenly slack.
“Logan, your place is by Sloane’s side right now. I knew that if I told you, you would come with me or stop me. Neither option I was okay with,” she said tenderly.
He just glared at her. “You didn’t call. You didn’t take Danny. You just left.”
She sighed. “By the time I thought to call, I realized I was being followed, and I’m sure my phone was bugged too. I’m sorry for running off, but if there’s more skyborn, then I’m going to find them. I owe you and them that much.”
Logan looked defeated. “You don’t owe me anything. Just stick around. That’s all I ask.”
Eva smiled. “Always.” She reached out and touched his cheek.
I realized then that Logan had abandonment issues. His parents dying, Marcus leaving, me running away, and now Eva. It messed him up bad. I could feel darkness through our bond. Logan was afraid of being left all alone. Slipping my hand into his, I squeezed and he squeezed back. I’d never leave him again, not as long as I was living.
We reached the front yard, where Isaac and the pack were waiting for us. Isaac jerked his head in my direction and I dropped Logan’s hand, placing a kiss on his cheek and then stepped next to Isaac. The druid’s eyes fell to my feet, and a look of disappointment crossed his gaze. I was wearing shoes.
