by Jessica Gunn
The ether-shaper magik slammed into her and she screamed, her eyes glowing bright white, as she fell to the ground, clutching her middle. The lightning storm died around her.
Krystin cried out, as if the word-magik had hit her, too.
“No,” Kinder whispered. “It will not end like this.”
Nate drew his knife and moved to shove it into Kinder’s back, but she said, “Teleportante,” and disappeared. Right out of the damn building.
“No,” Nate said. “No, no, no.”
I ran to the spot where she’d been but sensed no teleportante trail. “Jaffrin?”
The floor gave out beneath us and we all tumbled to the first floor of the building. I landed hard on my side, shielding my face.
“Out!” someone shouted over the noise, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
Hands grabbed on to me and someone else yelled out, “Teleportante.”
We landed inside of Fire Circle Headquarters, Jaffrin and me, Nate and Krystin, and the Ether Circle escort too. They’d surrounded Krystin, who convulsed on the floor, rays of magik flying out of her.
Nate rushed to her side and encased her in a shield of ether magik. “I can try to hold her, but I don’t know for how long.”
One of the escort members rushed forward, pushing the others aside. “Let me.” He must have been an ether-shaper, too, because he reached through the ether shield Nate had created and touched his hands to Krystin’s seizing body.
I watched as they tried to bend her magik into submission, but Kinder had done a number on her. Rachel and Shawn appeared at my side. I wrapped an arm around Rachel as we watched them work, my heart caught in my throat. Ether and elemental magik mixed around Krystin, only stable because of the Alzanian power inside of her.
“The only reason this is happening is because her magik is good,” I whispered. “How fucking absurd.” Giyano and Kinder, they’d both abused that. This was the only thing that made her more of a target than Shawn. The anger of it hurt every part of me, enraged me so fully that even Rachel backed away.
“I can try to even it out,” Shawn said. “Try to heal her like I did before. Our shared magik—it’s there, just seems dormant unless it’s about keeping us alive. I don’t really understand, but—”
“Do it,” Jaffrin said. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, looking utterly helpless. “How did things go this far?”
I glared up at him. “Because you forced her to work in the city. To be on our team. To put Giyano’s targets together and place us in Lady Azar’s way.”
It wasn’t entirely his fault. He knew that and so did I. But Jaffrin didn’t respond. This was not the time.
Shawn stepped forward and leaned in past Nate. “Let me try to help her. The Alzan magik healed her before.”
Nate shot him a look. “You tried in there, too, and it didn’t work.”
“With you guys shielding her, it might this time,” Shawn said. “Please.”
Nate looked at him for a moment longer and then inched to the side, making room for Shawn. He knelt down and Nate made a hole in the shield for Shawn to reach through.
Shawn touched Krystin’s middle and closed his eyes. Nothing happened for long, agonizing moments. “Come on,” Shawn whispered to himself. “I know you’re in there.”
Finally, a light white glow started around his fingertips, a glow that reached into Krystin and encased her entire body. Over the course of many moments, her body stopped convulsing, settling down, though she remained unconscious. Rays of ether magik, differing in color, seemed to lift up like clouds, out of the ether shield and up into the air, before dissipating.
It was over.
I looked to Jaffrin. “Kinder did this to her. She didn’t have a choice.”
Jaffrin nodded. “I know, Ben. Don’t worry, I—”
“Back away from her,” the other ether-shaper said. He was staring down Nate and Shawn with glaring eyes. “She’s coming with us now that she’s stable.”
“What?” Shawn asked. “She’s still hurt.”
“We’ll take care of her,” another of the Ether Circle’s entourage said.
The others gathered around Krystin and lifted her from the floor. The ether-shaper produced manacles from ether and slapped them on Krystin’s wrists.
Jaffrin stepped forward as if he had something to say, but he kept his mouth shut, his jaw clenching.
“Are you serious?” I asked him. “You’re just going to let them take her? After all of that?”
He looked at me but said nothing, as if that gave me all the answers.
“You idiot,” I growled at him. “You’re too scared to act against them? She’s innocent.”
The ether-shaper sent a shock my way, the ether slamming against my head like a mental attack. “Enough. She’s colluded with two of the Fire Circle’s most-wanted criminals, enabling Kinder to attack and then get away. She’s responsible for the deaths that occurred tonight and the interference in a Hydron operation. She will stand trial.”
“She wasn’t colluding with anyone,” Shawn raged. “You weren’t fucking there. Instead of showing up like you promised, you assholes waited until the last damn second.”
Shawn lunged for the closest Ether Circle Hunter, but Jaffrin tugged him back. The ether-shaper shot a block of ether at Shawn, pinning him to the wall.
I balled my fists to keep from suffering the same fate, but anger raged inside me. “Yes, she worked with Giyano to make her magik more stable, but—”
Jaffrin turned to me. “Ben, don’t.”
“Don’t what?” I sputtered. “I’m not happy about it either, but it doesn’t mean she’s fucking traitor!”
The ether-shaper sent a pulse of magik through the room, freezing us all. “It is done,” he said. “She will stand trial. This conversation can happen then.”
They collected themselves, joined hands, and used teleportante to take themselves and Krystin out of Fire Circle Headquarters. Leaving the rest of us standing there, speechless.
Rachel was the first to move, swinging around to face Jaffrin. “Are you kidding me? Krystin risked everything to join our team on your orders and you just let them take her?”
Her eyes swam with anger and this time, I reached out to calm her down. “It’s not worth it. Clearly, Jaffrin’s loyalties aren’t with his own Circle.”
“That’s treason you’re spouting, Ben,” Jaffrin spat. “This is happening because that building collapsed. The human police are convinced it was a gas leak turned explosion. Our illusionary magik users are trying their best to cover it all up. Our PR department is doing what they can. But this is the largest near-revealing of magik in decades, Ben. This has had more repercussions than you know.”
“Then talk to Hydron; it’s their fault!”
Jaffrin’s body went rigid. “All of you are dismissed. Go to the Infirmary and rest. We will get Krystin back.”
“Not from a trial,” I said. “Not if Ether is the one holding it. Looks like they’ve already signed her sentence.”
Shawn shook his head. “They can’t do that. Because of the prophecy alone, she needs to be free. They can’t kill or imprison her if they expect to stop Lady Azar from going after Cianza Alzan.”
Jaffrin’s eyes narrowed. “Lady Azar can’t get there without Riley to channel the magik, and Riley is safe in Canada. For now, Alzan is also safe. There is nothing I can do.”
“Bull-fucking shit,” I spat, staring Jaffrin down. Lightning curled around my fingers, signaling its return from my body after Kinder’s attack. I could end Jaffrin right now. I wanted to for this injustice.
But he was right. And that’s what killed me.
Krystin had colluded with Giyano regarding Kinder. And Krystin, even under Kinder’s magikal control, had killed Hunters. She had to stand trial for at least one of those crimes, especially because they’d led to deaths.
But not like this.
I stalked down the hall alone rather than attack t
he Leader of the Fire Circle. Three pairs of footsteps echoed after me, my team forever the only people on my side.
We’d get Krystin back. But I wasn’t sure how, or when, or if we’d all still be Fire Circle Hunters when it was all said and done.
Chapter 22
Krystin
My head pounded. My feet were being dragged beneath me, not carrying my weight. It was the scraping of my boots against the ground that’d woken me. Pain spliced up my leg from my injured ankle, radiating upward thanks to the way I was carelessly being dragged along the floor.
I opened my eyes and found two men pulling me along. They wore the yellow robes favored by the Ether Head Circle, though these were shorter. More practical. Manacles made from strong ether held my hands behind my back. I couldn’t see them, but I felt the ether slamming against my back.
Jail cells passed me by, people inside sneering at me. No, not people. Demons. Hunters, too.
“Help us escape,” one said, eyes wide, then he barked a laugh. “Even the Daughter landed in here. We are all doomed!” He laughed maniacally.
Wait a minute… Oh, god. No.
Kinder. The magik she’d shoved into me. The amount of power. The people I’d killed. The building collapsing.
Ether Circle Prison.
I gulped. Fear coursed through me. No one escaped this prison alive. No one even went here without committing the worst of crimes. Only the most dangerous, most powerful criminals got locked up here, demon and Hunter alike.
The guards carrying me stopped at an empty cell and threw me inside. I landed on the cement floor, my knees knocking the hard surfaces with biting pain, and remained kneeling. Gasping for breath. Confused. Unable to process anything but the pain in my ankle and in my heart.
Jaffrin had thrown me in jail. Maybe Ben too. Ben locked you in Ether Circle Prison. Because of Giyano and Kinder.
Something red caught my eye, a glowing on my hand… from Giyano’s mark. He was looking for me even now. Did he know what had happened back in Boston? Did he know where I was now?
My breathing slowed and my pulse evened out. Giyano is coming. It shouldn’t reassure me but it did. Because I wasn’t sure if all the torture and death rumors were true about Ether Circle Prison, and I sure as hell didn’t want to find out. Especially not when I was innocent.
But Giyano wouldn’t let me rot in here. He’d come for me. He needed me to keep Alzan neutral. To keep Riley with Ben. To keep Lady Azar from destroying everything in existence.
Kinder’s words echoed in my head: Giyano always had a thing for gifted witches.
Giyano is coming.
He’d save me. I just needed to hold out until then.
Until my father’s killer came to rescue me from the people who were supposed to be my allies.
Thank You For Reading!
The team’s fight against Shadow Crest continues in The Changed, Book Three of the Hunter Circles Series, releasing July 31st. Pre-order now!
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World Key
Also by Jessica Gunn
The Atlas Link Series (New Adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy)
Gyre
Landlocked
Driftwood
Riptide (August 2017)
Countercurrent (October 2017)
About the Author
Jessica Gunn is an avid science-fiction and fantasy fan. Her favorite stories are those that transport the reader to other, more exciting worlds. When not working or writing, she can be found binge-watching Firefly and Stargate, or feeding her fascination of the ancient world’s many mysteries. Jessica also holds a degree in Anthropology.
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www.jessicagunn.com
