“What’s that?”
“I want you to retrieve something, something I’ve been in search of for many decades. It has been brought to my attention that it’s been nearby all along, and you are going to get it for me.”
I looked at Willy, who had his eyes closed and whose skin had turned pale brown to match his chair. Sweat was beading on his brow and his entire body was trembling. I immediately felt more guilt, which quickly turned to anger.
“What is said item and where do we find it?” I asked impatiently.
“A scroll,” Vincent said. “And outside of town, in the southern woods.”
I laughed. “You expect us to find a piece of paper in a forest? It might as well be a needle in a haystack.”
Vincent sighed and shook his head. “In the forest, there is a tree unlike any other. It sits in a clearing a few miles in. It holds an entrance to an underground sanctuary, and there rests the scroll I seek.”
“And why do you need us to get it? Why not get it yourself?” I asked.
“Because it’s guarded and I have no desire to put myself in harm’s way, not when I have you, who just so happen to need something from me. It’s all a matter of convenience.”
“Well, we can’t do much if we’re tied to these chairs,” I said.
Vincent nodded to one of the guards, who came and untied Rayna and me.
“I think your vampling needs some help counting. He forgot one,” I said pointing at Willy.
Vincent laughed. “I’m afraid we’re going to hold on to this one. Consider him an insurance policy.”
“What do you mean, insurance policy? We do this for you and you tell us what we need to know. There isn’t any need for an insurance policy. It’s a fair exchange,” I said.
“You don’t understand. If you come back alive, there will be many others who wish to have what you possess. This will ensure you bring it directly to me,” he replied.
I stepped forward. “No. That wasn’t part of the deal.”
A vampling stepped in front of Vincent before I could get closer.
“I’m afraid this is the deal, Mr. Williams. Or you can simply leave and I’ll keep your little friend for my personal enjoyment. If I remember correctly, he’s quite the screamer, but handles an impressive amount of pain,” said the vampire, winking at Willy.
Willy’s face drained of all its remaining color and his eyes pleaded with me. I balled my fists and tried to move past the guard in front of me, but his hands came up and pushed me back. I threw my fist into his face with all the force of the anger boiling inside me. I felt his jaw break and he collapsed to the ground. A look of surprise crossed Vincent’s face as the body fell.
“No deal,” I said and lunged towards Vincent, but he vanished.
I was thrown to the ground and vamplings piled on top of me. I struggled to push myself up, but there were too many of them.
“Enough!” Vincent’s voice commanded.
The bodies and hands holding me down vanished and I jumped to my feet. Rayna had a gun against her head again, and Vincent was standing behind Willy.
“You will do what I ask or I will kill all of you, starting with him.”
Willy’s eyes rolled back in his head and I thought he’d pass out.
“I don’t wish to harm any of you. At least not at this point in time. Do we or do we not have a deal?”
I watched Vincent; his neutral expression and disinterested tone disgusted me. He’d have no qualms about murdering Willy. Killing was at the core of his lifestyle.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. “But he isn’t to be touched while we’re gone, understand? When we get back with the scroll, you give us the information we need, we take Willy with us, and we all walk away unharmed.”
Vincent’s lips curled into a smile. “My, what a fine negotiator you are. Agreed. Until you return, he will not be touched.”
I shook my head. “No. You’re leaving out the part of us leaving safely. You’ll agree to all of it or we’ll take the scroll to the highest bidder and come back for him ourselves.”
The smile vanished from his face. I think I had finally caught him off guard. “I agree to all of your terms on the condition that you’re back in forty eight hours. My patience has its limits, hunter.”
“Fine.”
Vincent clapped his hands together. “I’m glad we have an arrangement.”
I turned to Willy. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. I promise.”
He opened his eyes and looked at me. They were jet black, but I could see the fear inside them. I turned my back on him and walked away, but the sight of his terror still haunted me.
“Dammit!” I shouted as we stepped outside. I threw my fist into the side of the building and shattered several bricks.
“Chase, relax. You didn’t know this would happen,” Rayna said.
“But Marcus told me, told us, not to go to Vincent again, and I pushed it. I pulled you and Willy into this. I knew better.”
She put a hand on my shoulder and forced me to look her in the eyes. “Forget what we should’ve done and think about what we’re going to do. We have forty-eight hours to get to the forest and find the scroll. Don’t forget that if we’re not back on time, Vincent can do what he wants with Willy,” she said.
I shook my head and punched the wall again. Rayna grabbed my shoulder and pulled me towards her. “Get your head straight. We need to go back to the condo, get some gear and head out.” She checked her watch. “We have to hurry. Marcus will be back soon and we don’t need him to know about this.”
I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to clear my head before I nodded. We had to do this for Willy; once he was safe I could come back and deal with Vincent on my own. “Let’s go.”
~~~~~~
Chapter 17
We didn’t know what we were walking into, so a few daggers weren’t going be enough. I slipped a sword into a sheath that fit snugly against my spine, and took the liberty of putting a few simple enchantments on our weapons. Rayna used glamour to hide them, since the last thing we needed was to be noticed walking down the street so well armed.
Watching her use magic was incredible. She had glamour on both of us in minutes, while it took me twice as long to do the enchantments. That speed was a skill few acquired, and rarely at such a young age. Being part witch must have had something to do with it; nobody I knew in the Circle could ever have pulled that off so quickly.
We took a cab to the edge of town and did our best to deflect the driver’s suspicions. Two teenagers wanting to be dropped off near the woods at night would look shady, but we were paying him to drive, not ask questions.
The tops of the trees at the edge of the forest soared into the starlit sky. They were spaced out at first, but as we proceeded, the brush got thicker. Branches scraped across my skin as if they were trying to clutch at me, and I was thankful I had worn pants and a long sleeved shirt.
The further in we walked, the darker it got, and Rayna turned on a flashlight to illuminate our path. We could both see well in the dark, but a little light was to our advantage.
The woods had an eerie silence, which meant my nerves were on high alert and every sound drew my hand to my blade.
“This is ridiculous! We need to walk into the woods until we find a huge tree? There are huge trees everywhere.” I wasn’t speaking to Rayna as much as I was venting my frustrations, but she answered anyway.
“I know which one he’s talking about.”
“How?”
“Marcus took me there before, when he first started training me to use my element. It’s deep in the woods and the feeling of the magic there is unmistakable. I don’t remember seeing any sort of entrance though.”
“Maybe that’s not the place.”
“I’ve been around these woods plenty and I don’t know what else it could be. The tree there stands alone and it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen. It looks different from anything else in the forest. You’ll be ab
le to feel the power when we get there.”
“I hope you’re right. Otherwise we’re wasting time.”
“It’s the best option we have right now. Unless you have a better idea?” she said, dodging branches and trying to avoid the increasingly aggressive bushes.
“Yeah, I say we go back and get Willy, using whatever means we have to. We’ll find another way to figure out what the hunters want.”
“Vincent isn’t somebody you want to go to war with. His family is known for being ruthless and the two of us aren’t going to bring down the Taryks. We’ll only get ourselves killed and make things worse for Willy.”
She was right, but it didn’t change the fact that I wanted to go back and rip Vincent’s throat out. I didn’t handle guilt well.
It took us hours to get through the onslaught of branches, rotting logs and bushes blocking our way, before we arrived at the tree. One moment we were in impossibly thick undergrowth, and the next we stood in a quiet open space circled by towering trees.
A single tree stood in the middle of the clearing, wider than any I’d ever seen. Its monstrous roots coiled and twisted above the ground for several feet before plunging back beneath the earth. Swathes of huge branches reached to the moonless sky, covered in a rainbow of leaves in an array of greens, reds, yellows, and oranges, as if fall had come early. There were so many leaves littering the ground I was surprised there were any left on the tree. The tips of every branch held colorful flowers that blazed in shades from bright white, to vibrant pink, to dazzling blue. If I could freeze one single vision of beauty, this would be it.
I could feel the magic pressing against my skin, just as Rayna had said it would. She was right. This place was special and I knew in my gut we were right where we needed to be.
Rayna turned the flashlight off but the area didn’t darken. A strange light hung in the air and I could see clearly in the bluish glow.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I exclaimed.
“Now you know why I think this is the place.”
I took a few steps forward and my feet disappeared in colorful leaves. “So now what? I can feel the power, but we need to find the entrance. I don’t see anything else around here but more trees.”
“I don’t know. Every time I’ve been here I’ve never noticed anything but this tree.”
I started searching the ground, brushing leaves away with my feet. After a few minutes of shuffling around, I’d found nothing. We’d already spent hours getting here and I didn’t like how fast time was escaping us. Rayna had taken to sitting cross-legged on the ground, staring up in wonderment at the tree.
“You’re being a lot of help here,” I said.
She snapped out of her daze and glared at me. “I’m thinking. What if it isn’t an entrance in the sense that a door is an entrance?”
My confusion was all over my face. She rolled her eyes and walked towards me.
“What if the tree is the entrance?” she said, taking my hand and putting it against the trunk. “It would explain why it looks the way it looks, why it makes you feel the way it does. It’s not natural like the rest of the woods. It’s made up entirely of earth magic.”
I looked at the tree and back to Rayna. I knocked on the bark. “Hello?” I said, leaning in to the tree, and Rayna punched me in the arm.
I laughed and shook my head. “I don’t understand how the tree could be an entrance. It looks like a tree. It feels like a tree. It’s just a tree.”
“What do you mean it’s just a tree? How can you say that?” she said, sounding genuinely offended. “Can’t you feel that?” she asked, letting hope override the irritation in her eyes.
I looked at my hand and tried to focus. “It feels like bark. What’s it supposed to feel like?”
“Don’t touch it like you’re mortal, ’cause you’re not. You have to feel it with your magic.”
I raised a brow in confusion.
“Close your eyes and call your magic,” she repeated.
I gave her the benefit of the doubt and closed my eyes. Reaching deep inside myself, I pulled on my magic. Just as when I’d looked through the glamour on Revelations, I let my mind grow quiet.
It was a few moments before I opened my eyes and saw Rayna staring at me. She was so close I could feel the warmth of her breath on my skin and we looked at each other for a long moment.
“Do you feel it?” she asked.
I paused, thinking for a moment. Did I feel anything? I shook my head. “It still feels like wood,” I said. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to apologize but I felt like I should. “Sorry?”
“Don’t be. It’s not you, it’s me.” She thought for a moment and looked at me with new inspiration in her eyes. “It’s me! It’s my element, so that’s why I can feel it and you can’t.”
Earth elementals are very much in tune with the earth, but I didn’t think it changed their perception of touch. She must have seen doubt in my eyes, because she lunged at me and took my hand again. She placed it back against the tree and faced me, putting one of her hands on the tree and holding out the other. I slipped my free hand into hers and waited.
“Close your eyes.” The demanding tone brought a half smile to my lips. “Close your eyes!” she repeated.
With the loss of sight, other senses change. I couldn’t help but notice the warmth and softness of her skin. It wasn’t rough like most hunters’; its tenderness made it feel more fragile than I knew it was.
“Relax your mind. We live in a world of magic, where the powers of the elements live inside us. Focus on that power.” Her voice had lost its insistence and was now only a whisper.
I did as she asked, trying to clear my mind of anything but the tree. I imagined its bright luminous flowers, colorful leaves, and the thick strong trunk. At first, I felt only bark against my palm, firm and rough. In the other hand was the warmth of Rayna’s, and I could feel her magic pulsing over my skin. The tingle started down my spine but it wasn’t the same sensation I got when demons were near. I was feeding off Rayna’s element.
My senses expanded and the life of the forest resonated around me in a new way. The sound of leaves rustling together carried on a soft breeze. Dried leaves tumbled at our feet. The distant chirp of birds fluttered to my ears, accompanied by the soft padding of paws on the forest floor.
The tree now felt smooth, warm and full of life. I could feel its energy beneath my skin and the sensation was unlike anything I’d ever felt. I fed off Rayna’s element and it warmed me from the inside out, like my soul was emitting a gentle heat.
A smile pulled at my lips as I felt Rayna’s earth magic run through me. The power that had escaped me three years ago felt so close, and it was amazing. The warmth lasted only a few moments before it vanished, like someone had blown a light out inside me. My smile faded as the power withdrew and I opened my eyes.
The brightness surrounding us made our pupils contract. When my eyes adjusted, I found myself staring into bright green cat-like orbs. Rayna stared at me and enchantment filled her face.
“That was incredible,” I said.
Rayna smiled and her grip on my hand tightened. She was holding both my hands and it took a second before either of us realized that the tree was gone. We weren’t in the forest anymore.
“Where are we?” I asked.
She pulled her hands from mine and stepped away. “We’re where we need to be.”
I couldn’t tell where the light was coming from. It hung in the air on its own like the bluish glow that had surrounded the tree, but it was brighter now. I didn’t know what powered it. It was magic. No matter how hard you tried, you couldn’t explain magic.
I looked down at my watch, but the minute and hour hands were spinning in opposite directions. “Does your watch work?”
Rayna shook her head. “No, this place is pure magic.”
“How did you do that?”
She smiled and faced me. “I’m an earth elemental.”
“I know, b
ut how did…”
“I called on my elemental power and it clung to yours, and here we are. I’m not sure how I knew what to do. It was just…magic.”
I had a moment of jealousy towards Rayna for having the power I had never received. “Your element clung to mine? But I don’t have an element.”
Rayna laughed. “You have something. I could feel it inside you. I can still feel it.” She shuddered. Her comment surprised me and I didn’t know what to say, so I stayed silent.
We stood in the middle of an aisle lined by trees, warm air brushing against our skin. The glow that lit the area made it as bright as noon, though there was no sun in the sky.
We followed the path between the trees towards a hill. Despite the lack of breeze, the trees swayed with a life of their own, as if in control of their limbs.
Scattered large and small boulders created a path towards a gentle hill, and as we climbed it, the path got wider and the rocks thinned. Flowers sprouted from the ground, in the same colors that had grown on the tree that was an entrance. They moved and tried to follow Rayna as she walked by them, reaching their petals towards her.
We reached the top of the hill and the trees began to narrow our trail. At the bottom, they came together in a cluster. In the center of this area was a huge pond with a white marble statue standing high above the water. A stairway of the same marble led us down to the edge of the pond.
The figure of a man with perfect muscles carved from the flawless stone towered over us. He held a gold trident that sparkled in his white marble grip. His other arm was extended and formed into a fist. Sculpted robes adorned him from waist to sandaled feet. Water flowed over the statue’s square pedestal and down into four shell-shaped bowls, which overflowed into the pond. The entire display reminded me of an ancient Greek memorial built to worship the gods.
“This is unbelievable,” Rayna said over the trickle of falling water.
“You can say that again.” I replied. “And that’s what we came for.” I pointed to the marble man holding a scroll in his white shining fist.
“That’s great, but how are we supposed to get it?”
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