Witchlock

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Evalle raced through the strange woods.

  Leaves and branches swung out of the way then back across the path to swat her face, her arms, her legs ... even when she tried to duck or avoid them. Thwacking noises and Adrianna's shouts rambled thirty steps ahead of Evalle.

  Evalle double-timed to catch Adrianna and grabbed one of the witch's flailing arms. She whipped Adrianna around so they could both run forward.

  Trees bent, their long branches reaching for Adrianna and Evalle. She had a vision of being the main dish for a forest. Death by vegetation would be so wrong after all the vicious beings she'd fought and survived.

  All at once, the woods blurred into a gold steam that swirled as if the air had been whipped into cream, and the magnetic draw began to lessen.

  Evalle slowed as the creamy air swirled around them. She tried to take a step backwards and got a quick yank forward again. She waved her hands, fanning the cloudy mist. Adrianna did the same.

  When the mist cleared, they found Ragan.

  Ragan looked identical to Adrianna except for being suspended in a giant, translucent sphere forty feet in diameter. It hung a foot off the ground and turned slowly, smoldering as tendrils of white energy smoked away from the surface.

  Ragan had the same long, blond hair, but upon closer inspection, her hair had turned white with jagged stripes of black running through it.

  Hundreds of gossamer threads tied Ragan to the inside of the sphere.

  Adrianna's game face gave way to the pain of seeing her twin. "Ragan?"

  Evalle lost all sense of the magnetic pull. The realm had drawn them here, which might mean this was some sort of trap. "We've found her. Now what?"

  "I can't hear her inside me. I need to put my hands on the globe and see if that reconnects us."

  "What if it kills you?"

  Adrianna turned a crazed look on Evalle. "My sister is dying. Veronika's cooking Ragan's majik. Ragan is powering that sphere, which means I should be able to touch it and not die."

  Should just did not have the same ring as absolutely.

  Evalle kept looking around. "Another guardian might show up so let's figure this out quickly."

  Adrianna turned to her. "You're right and we don't have much time. Listen carefully."

  "I hate when phone recordings say listen carefully. What? You think that will make me listen better?"

  Adrianna's jaw clenched. "Don't make me regret bringing you. We'll make one attempt at freeing Ragan and leaving, but if I can't get her out of that sphere we won't have much time before the other guardians come for us. When I tell you to get ready that means I'm going to join with my sister and say the words that will ignite the pouch I gave Storm. The minute that happens, Storm's pulling you out of here."

  "That was not the plan."

  "It was not your plan, but it was mine. Why do you think I stepped away to talk to him?"

  Evalle would deal with Storm's part in this later, but she refused to accept defeat this easily. Evalle snarled, "Listen carefully. Here's the real plan. We get Ragan out of that ball and both of you out of here. End of strategizing."

  Swallowing hard, Adrianna said, "I've dreamed of saving her for seventeen months, but we'll be lucky if we get one chance at this before the guardians show up."

  "Then let's stop discussing it and get to it."

  Nodding, Adrianna said, "I needed you to help me reach this point, and for that I thank you, but now you just have to stay safe while I do this. Storm's expecting you to do that."

  I should appreciate all this thoughtfulness, but no one is telling me when to quit.

  Adrianna added, "We didn't kill that guardian, because they can't be permanently destroyed inside this realm. All we did was delay him from calling in the others."

  The news kept going from bad to worse to unbelievable.

  "Are we in agreement?" Adrianna asked.

  No one had been straight with Evalle to this point so she just shrugged for an answer, which Adrianna must have taken to mean yes.

  Facing the sphere, Adrianna started walking forward slowly.

  Twenty feet off the ground in the center of the sphere, Ragan turned as if alerted to a change. She tugged at the tendrils tying her to the globe and jerked around to face Adrianna, but she must be sensing her twin so close through their bond somehow, because Ragan's eyes were white with blindness.

  Ragan's freaky gaze stared down at her sister, and she started shouting something. She looked out over the realm then back at Adrianna.

  Adrianna called out, "It's me, Ragan. I've come for you."

  Power shot here and there like tiny asteroids out of control.

  The legs of a thousand spiders crawled all over Evalle's skin. She rubbed her arms, but nothing physical touched her. Her beast came alive inside and started pounding, wanting out.

  No telling what kind of problems shifting in here would cause.

  She shivered and clenched her fists, fighting the change.

  Ragan's crazed face lost its beauty. White eyes glowed, then turned red as hot coals. Her skin sagged. She opened her mouth and yellow teeth looked sharpened to points when she screamed something silent.

  What the hell?

  Then Ragan extended fists in Adrianna's direction.

  Call me jaded, but that does not look like a loving sister.

  When Adrianna got close to the sphere, she reached out to touch it, but she was snatched off the ground and lifted high into the air until she hung at eye level with Ragan.

  Adrianna stretched both hands out, leaning forward to put her hands on the globe's wall. She couldn't quite reach across the distance and strained so hard her face turned beet red. Something invisible kept blocking her at two feet away.

  Ragan stretched and lunged to put her hand on the mirror spot inside the fiery white sphere.

  Bad sign. Really bad sign.

  Evalle would face her friend's wrath later. She shouted, "Adrianna! Get back down here!"

  "I can't do anything."

  Ragan's gaze jumped to Evalle. She shouted in Evalle's direction.

  Roars and screeches sounded far away and were now moving toward the clearing. That had to be Ragan's guardians coming to the rescue.

  Had Adrianna's sister called them in?

  This was not the way Evalle had envisioned a happy sibling reunion and Storm had warned her that she wasn't skilled in witchcraft.

  But she was skilled in kicking ass.

  Evalle shouted, "She's going to kill you, Adrianna."

  Adrianna yelled back, "No she's not."

  Evalle was out of ideas. She could leap up with kinetics, but if she hit the sphere her power might explode everything.

  Tendrils of energy swept away from the globe and reached for Adrianna, wrapping around her arms and legs and face.

  She started struggling and chanting.

  Heavy crashing noises were coming from the woods, heading toward the sphere.

  The web of energy wrapping up Adrianna yanked her hard against the surface as Ragan lunged from the other side.

  Adrianna shouted, "Bind your power with mine and we'll get you out!"

  Ragan's scream came through loud and clear this time. "Too late. Veronika's cominnng!! Get out of here!"

  Chapter 21

  Evalle watched in horror as Ragan's body jerked back into the center of the white-hot sphere and all the threads connected between her and walls of the globe drew tight as bowstrings. Ragan's hands slapped against her sides and her body began spinning.

  Heart wrenching screams from Adrianna and Ragan filled the air, threatening to pierce Evalle's eardrums.

  Crashing noises kept advancing. From all directions.

  Screw this.

  Evalle was on her own in this realm and needed no one's permission. She called up her beast and power flooded her body, forcing muscles to warp and bones to snap and change. Being drawn and quartered probably felt like this. Her stomach roiled at the hideous sounds of the change as blood pounded through
her ears.

  A creature crashed out of the trees a hundred feet away and stood upright, rising to nine feet. He had the head of an ogre, with rust-colored hair sprouting between spikes on his scalp. She mentally marked it as a he because a darker shade of hair failed to cover his genitals. The rest of his body reminded her of an oversized honeybadger, which was disconcerting to say the least.

  Did these ancestors take a hit of acid before choosing their shapes?

  She'd seen what a smaller creature could do. This one came after her, snarling with jaws snapping.

  As a gryphon, she had the body of a ten-foot-tall lion with an eagle's head and huge claws. And a badass wingspan.

  Flapping hard, she lifted into the air as the guardian creature dove at her and missed.

  She swooped down and caught it by the neck, digging in her hooked beak. She lifted the ogre into the air and slung him far away, then turned to go after Adrianna.

  When Evalle reached her, Adrianna was wrapped up like a golden mummy and a million energy threads covered her mouth. Evalle couldn't do anything about that until she had the witch free and away from the sphere. Keeping herself steady with a constant flapping, Evalle used sharp talons to slice through the threads holding Adrianna.

  That worked, but Adrianna slipped from her grasp.

  Evalle swooped down and caught Adrianna in her claws just before the gold mummy body slammed the ground. She banked away as another creature raced from the forest and leaped at her. Whipping her wings faster, she angled around to take a look back.

  A mob of ancestors in a mash of funky realm shapes spilled into the opening. The sphere glowed and turned with Ragan caught in the center.

  Roars and screeches filled the air.

  Evalle gave one look at Ragan and accepted that she couldn't save her, but she could at least try to get Adrianna out of here.

  Flying hard and covering distance quickly, Evalle used her eagle vision to locate an open spot to land in.

  She circled to slow her speed as she descended to the ground, then dropped Adrianna a few feet above spongy looking bushes to cushion her fall.

  The witch's body hit and bounced off, smacking the hard ground.

  Oops.

  Adrianna rocked back and forth, still wrapped up in the gauzy threads and making angry noises.

  Evalle landed and walked over to where she could place a paw gently on the mummy witch and use a sharp claw to slice threads that buzzed with energy. She pulled loose ones away with her beak.

  The minute Adrianna's hands were free she reached up and scrubbed away the threads on her face, then jumped up to her feet.

  She yelled, "You pulled me away! I had a chance to destroy that sphere and you ruined it."

  Evalle stood there, unable to talk to Adrianna because the witch had no telepathic powers that Evalle knew about--or at least none that worked with a Belador.

  Adrianna stomped around with fists clenched and hair askew in an uncharacteristic disheveled show of frustration. She turned on Evalle. "We can't get back to Ragan. They know we're here and Veronika is on the way. I have no idea if she's here already, but she probably has faith in the ancestors being able to kill both of us."

  The trees nearby started swaying and whipping their branches back and forth so fast that Evalle's wings caught air.

  Adrianna paused her rant and took in their surroundings. "Start changing, Evalle. Now!"

  Evalle cocked her head at Adrianna, because she had no way to explain that if she shifted back to her human form now she couldn't do this again any time soon.

  She could feel her power draining away faster than normal. In fact, she wasn't sure she could return to human form just yet.

  But even if she could, changing out of her gryphon shape would leave both of them vulnerable.

  Adrianna's hands were shaking when she lifted them in front of her and began chanting, "From the past to the present, from death to life..." She glanced at Evalle and shouted, "Hurry the hell up. That emerald's going to light up in about sixty seconds and you have to be in the same form to travel both ways."

  You could have told me that sooner. But Adrianna couldn't hear that thought so Evalle screeched at her.

  Adrianna shoved her face up toward Evalle's gryphon face, hands on her hips. "I'm having a bad day, too, so get over it and start changing if you want to see Storm again."

  That did it. Evalle had little practice in shifting back from this form, but she called on her powers and her muscles began contracting.

  Oh, that hurt.

  Adrianna was busy walking around Evalle, spewing her chant.

  Flames erupted in a circle that surrounded them.

  Thunder boomed over and over, shaking the ground.

  Evalle brought her head up and tears came to her eyes because that part hadn't finished changing and her neck was tight. Why was it taking so long to shift and why did it feel like she dragged her limbs through quicksand?

  Adrianna's words hit her. If you use your power in here the realm takes an equal amount.

  Evalle glanced around her. Trees close by that had been gray now had a vibrant, greenish glow. Was that where her power was going?

  One look at how long it was taking Adrianna to start a fire confirmed that the witch was also a quart low on juice, too.

  A loud roar joined the pounding thunder.

  That was not thunder.

  The sky, if what hovered over the top of this place was really a sky, had not a cloud.

  Adrianna's flames were only a foot tall and from the way she kept chanting faster and faster it was obvious Adrianna expected more.

  Trees and plants literally bent to the ground to get out of the way of a beast running hard. Long orange and black hair flowed behind a body shaped as a tiger, but this one was the size of Storm's truck.

  The emerald on Evalle's chest heated and she felt a tug, but she was only halfway changed.

  Adrianna grabbed at Evalle, latching her fingers and yanking on what would be an arm again once Evalle finished shifting. The witch continued chanting in a booming voice Evalle would have expected out of someone twice Adrianna's size.

  Straining, Evalle forced energy to the parts still pulling back into place. She'd reached eighty percent completion when the emerald glowed bright as a searchlight and vibrated.

  Storm must be using everything he had to pull her back.

  The tiger-looking beast leaped across the opening.

  Adrianna's hand clamped tight, and Evalle fought back a scream of pain. The limb was sensitive in mid-change.

  Something sharp sliced her thigh.

  Her world blurred and spun out of control.

  Lights bright enough to blind flashed by her, and the whirring sound of being in motion roared in her ears, throbbed through her body.

  Body? She hadn't finished shifting.

  What about not being able to return if she wasn't back in her original form?

  Chapter 22

  What was that loud noise?

  Evalle covered her ears then blinked her eyes open. Wait.

  She had hands and they were on her ears.

  "Can you hear me?" Storm leaned over her. The source of the booming noise. "You are never going anywhere without me again."

  She'd argue and tell him he couldn't tell her what to do, but she never wanted to do that without him again either. She croaked, "Adrianna?"

  "She's catching her breath, but she's fine."

  He pulled his knee-length jacket off. "Put this on until I can get you to the truck.

  She sat up and grabbed her head where something tried to beat its way out with a sledgehammer. Storm pulled her to her feet and had her arms in the jacket without much help from her.

  "What the hell happened?" he snapped, tugging the leather together and buttoning her up.

  Warmth and the scent of Storm. She might sleep in this tonight.

  "Evalle?" He ducked his head to look at her, eye level. His fury evaporated. "Are you okay, sweetheart?"


  Her thigh felt as if she'd been branded with a long, hot poker and she'd like to curl into his arms and let him baby her, but she had too much pride for her spine to go wet-noodle limp right now.

  She said, "I'm fine. I was shifting back to this form when you pulled me out of the realm."

  "Shifting from what?"

  She whispered, "Gryphon. I don't have permission to shift here but no one specifically said I couldn't shift in some unknown realm with a bunch of ancestors in beast form trying to rip us to pieces." When she took in the sick look on Storm's face, she stepped up and hugged him. "We made it back alive. I'm just drained. When you use majik or powers there, the realm takes an equal amount for fuel, so we're both at rock bottom right now. I see why Adrianna wanted you here for when we came back."

  He crushed her against his hard chest and she welcomed the feel of his strength. He kissed her face and hair then said, "You've been gone for hours."

  "Really? What time is it?"

  "After one in the morning." He hugged her again. "You're safe and I want you to stay that way. Promise me you won't go back no matter what."

  That was an easy agreement. "I promise, and besides, we can't go back."

  "I should be so lucky," he muttered.

  Adrianna wobbled her way over to them. "She means it, Storm. I failed to destroy the sphere holding Ragan. There is no going back. "

  Evalle's heart broke at the devastation in her friend's voice. "I'm sorry Adrianna. It was killing you. I couldn't leave you there to be trapped with her."

  Adrianna shook her head. "The realm took too much of my power--a lot more than equal measure, maybe because Ragan and I share the same origin. I couldn't strengthen the bond quickly enough. Veronika's hold on Ragan is too strong." She met Evalle's eyes. "At least we tried." She raked a hand through hair that was messier than Evalle had ever seen it. "Ragan is still trapped and the ancestors have called in Veronika. They'll tell her I was there."

  Storm said, "Can she find you here?"

  Adrianna gave up a weary sigh. "My whereabouts are not a secret."

  Storm said, "We'll have your back if she shows up. At least you're both safe and in one piece." He paused and sniffed the air. "I smell burned skin."

  Adrianna said, "I thought the last beast that came after us clawed at Evalle. Did it catch your leg?"

  Evalle sent Adrianna a death look for pissing off Storm again when she finally had him calmed down. The witch lifted her shoulders in answer.

  Storm asked, "Where are you hurt?"

  "My thigh. It's not bad." Burned like a bitch, but she wasn't going to whine.