by S. L. Morgan
“We can’t even start a normal fire, you idiot. What makes you think we can conjure up fairy flames? You’re so screwed. Might as well have your girlfriend eat you and send your butt back to the school.”
Dominic started laughing, and I heard squeaks come from the branch he set on a rock next to the fire pit. “You owe me so hard for this.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Finley rolled her eyes. “There’s no way you have that fire starter, unless…” At first, her eyes were fierce, then humor lifted them in my direction, “Looks like your boy gets around at this school.”
Dom ignored her and pulled a leather pouch from his pack. He poured some purple powder into his hand and threw it on the wet wood that Finley had gathered for a fire. Next, he struck two pieces of rock together, fairy dust applied to both of them, and bright flashes exploded from them. A spark floated up above the wood, and like a feather, it fell slowly to the dust covering the wood. Once it touched the dust, brilliant purple and blue flames exploded up with sparks exploding out of the flames like fireworks.
Dom reached over and pinched his fingers together, the next thing I knew, he was holding a two-inch-high fighting and squirming Ian. Dominic’s laugh was enough to make me and Finley laugh together. “This is going to suck, but I got to light your butt up. It’s the only way.”
My wolf, the rebellious brat she turned into because it wasn’t her turn to shift or whatever else was her freaking problem, finally lent me her ears and I could hear Ian’s squeaky voice.
“Do it, and I will kick your butt when you get back to the academy,” Ian warned in a high-pitched voice.
Dom laughed again. “Shut up, man. You’re killing me right now. You’re the fool that fell into a trap. This is your only hope.”
“Fairy fire doesn’t necessarily reverse a fairy trap, Rossi!” the squeaky voice tried to shout. “For all I know, that girl set you up. You did play her, and she didn’t take lightly to it.”
“Yeah, whatever. It was nothing serious, sorry she couldn’t see it that way.”
“I’m the one that’s going to be sorry, you jerk.” Ian threw a non-threatening fist up at Dominic, prompting him to continue laughing. “Finley, I’m not good with this. I don’t trust the fairy Dom screwed over.”
“Hopefully, Dom is right, and it reverses your cursed miniature butt,” Finley said, entertained and waiting.
“What the heck are you going to do to him?” I asked Dominic.
“He’s throwing me in that fairy fire. You’re his girl, convince him not to.”
“It’ll be like ripping a band-aid off,” Dominic said, tilting his head to the side, enjoying making his friend suffer a little for making a dumb move. “If it works, you’re back on the quest. If it doesn’t, then you were right about Amelia, I should have known she would try to get me back with her fairy temper.”
“Do it.” Finley laughed.
“Jenna, stop him!”
“I actually want to see if fairy fire does work to reverse fairy curses like this or not,” I said, knowing this was a make or break situation for Ian. If the fairy fire didn’t return him to his normal size, then it would teleport him back to the school.”
“I can’t go out like this,” Ian urged.
“Yeah, I actually thought it would be Scott to go down the most embarrassing way,” Dom said. “Alright. Three, two…” Dom was silent, Ian’s scream sounded like a mouse screaming for dear life, and Finley lost it.
I was so consumed with waiting to see if the rumors were true. Fairy fire could reverse a fairy’s curse—it was a purification, so to speak.
The flames were a deep blue now, white sparks shooting out of the top, making me and Finley scoot further away from the fire.
The next thing we knew, the full-size Ian was back, and not one brown hair on his head was out of place. He walked out of the flames like he was the chosen one, then the fire died back down, and served to keep us warm. He went to punch Dom, but Dom caught his fist and smiled. “Don’t think that’s the only trick my little fairy ex-girlfriend gave me. I can shrink you, turn your butt into a pig, anything with the other pouch of dust I got from her.”
“That was BS, and you know it.”
“Would you have rather gone through the mission two inches tall?” Dom asked Ian’s annoyed expression.
“No, but to trust a girl you screwed over—not just any girl, a freaking fairy, bro—that could have totally screwed me.”
“That’s because you idiots don’t know how I am in relationships. Probably shouldn’t have judged that one. When I break from a girl, it’s a clean break, and we’re friends afterward.”
“True,” Finley added with a smile while Dom sat next to me. “I still have no idea why I don’t hate you for the way we split.”
“What can I say, I’m a likable person.” He laughed and draped an arm around me. He pulled me in close to his side, and I smiled at feeling like I was going to be able to take a nap here and now.
“You’re pretty arrogant,” I said with a yawn.
Dom’s hand ran over the top of my hair—this was new—and I felt him laugh. “I don’t see you having a problem with it right now.”
“If I didn’t feel like I could sleep for three days solid, I probably would. Right now, I don’t care who or what you dated. None of my business. Everyone has a past. I live in the present.”
“Interesting way of looking at it,” Finley said. “I would think it would bother you that your man got around.”
“Why don’t you shut up, Fin,” Dom snapped. “Leave her alone.”
“I don’t need your protection,” I said in a hushed, sleepy voice. The fire was warming me from the inside out. The comfort of leaning into Dom’s solid frame was pulling me faster into the sleep my entire being was aching for.
“No, you don’t.” I heard the smile in his voice. “But before you go lights out on me, you need to eat something.”
I nibbled on some jerky while the other three bantered back and forth. Once I was done, Dominic stretched back against the tree we were in front of. The sun was sliding fast below the tree-lined horizon, and my eyes were burning as I tried to keep them open.
“Here,” Dominic said, stretching his leg out and slumping back into the tree. His arm came up around me and pulled me into a comfortable position, leaning into his side. By some miracle, the guy seemed to become fixated with fiddling with my hair while he talked to the others. My face was buried into his chest as I leaned further into him.
He began gently pinching my hair through his fingers, soothing me, and that was it. Dom seemed to relax more, leaning back and letting me stretch further into him. I absently and carelessly draped a leg over his knees, craving the comfort of a bed. Poor Dominic, I probably was making him a tad bit uncomfortable, but I didn’t care. He was playing with my hair, and that’s as close to the soothing comfort of an apple pie that I could ever get.
God help me, I promised myself I would not think of a freaking apple pie this entire trip. I had my goals, I might’ve wanted my pie, but I would reward myself with that once I was on a path to helping the innocents at this school.
“Relax,” Dom’s lips were on top of my head, pressing into my hair. “You’re tensing up. This may be the only sleep you get. Ian needs to recover to full strength, and I can tell your mind is starting to go crazy.”
“I am relaxed. How would you know if I weren’t.”
His hand covered mine that was wrapped around his waist and clawing into his sides. “Because you’re about to tear my skin off,” he said with a laugh. “Relax, we have a while before we leave again. You’ll want to be rested on this next part of the quest. We’ll be shifting too, so let your wolf free up a little bit and get familiar with these settings.”
“I don’t even know how to do that.”
“Simple.” His voice had remained a whisper between him and I. “Close your eyes. My wolf is present, and I already know she enjoys his company. She’ll be attuned to what’s goi
ng on while your natural mind rests.”
“I bet your wolf loves that my wolf is all about him.”
Dominic laughed, “He’s never been more annoying, that’s for sure. Now, rest.”
I wasn’t even going to process that. It meant more, and I knew it, but then again, Ian, Finley, and the hawk shifter were all here. This was most likely a scene for all of them, especially for the dean to see through his little hawk’s eyes.
Who cared, I was resting while I could.
Chapter Thirty-One
Our paws thundered on the hard rock surface of the eerie green forest House Mage had produced. We had things coming at us from every direction. I stopped looking anywhere but the tracks Dominic produced in front of me after a dark swirling wind blew through the trees and took Ian with it.
This was the fourth day of the quest, and things got bad fast. The fact that House Mage and House Draugar worked together on this part of the quest was something only Dom seemed unsurprised about. Keeping my wolf in his exact prints, kept my paws off the ground half the time. I was continually launching myself through the air, trying to keep up with him and off the hot zone where I could trigger anything to snatch me up and take me back.
It was me, Dom, and Finley now, and if I didn’t know any better, it seemed as though we were practically running for our freaking lives—for real. Dom’s ears constantly flicked back, most likely making sure Finley and I were still with him on this chase.
If my inner wolf was complaining before that she didn’t have enough time in her form, then we were making up for it now. Before this started, the masters all told me it would be three solid days of our wolves running the course. No stopping unless we wanted to be teleported back to the academy. Sheesh, we were only at it for a solid day, and Ian was toast already.
Dom swerved to the right, leading us to a waterfall. We ran along the banks of it, seeing that the water was so murky it was almost black. My wolf crinkled her nose at the smell of sulfur coming off the river of poison to our right. Dom’s wolf seemed to be searching for a way across because now his nose was to the ground, sniffing out tracks, and I was standing next to Finley, watching his frustrated wolf pace back and forth.
I stepped forward and sniffed the air, past the disgusting smell of sulfur. I could scent that there was a way across, but it was removed by something. The scent of witch magic, vampires, and another creature was in the air. I smelled fresh-cut foliage, sawdust, and tracks that led into the pitch black water. The farther away we got from the waterfall, the blacker the water was as it pooled into a large lake.
Dom’s wolf was agitated because we were stopped and most likely, all three of us were trapped and about to fail the mission. I looked over at the agitated, ferocious wolf, and two silver and brown wolf eyes zeroed in on mine.
Finley’s brown wolf cowered by the water, pretty much giving up. I looked up at the giant cypress trees, trees of death. We were screwed if we didn’t go into the water. Through the water was the only way. We were surrounded by death, and the waterfall upstream wasn’t promising either. Vamps and witches working together was definitely a hard one to beat. It was taking instinct now, and I was going with the water that was warding the other two off.
I stepped forward to see my wolf’s reflection. The silver and brown wolf with blue eyes. How hadn’t Dom and the rest picked up on this part of me? Entirely out of the norm. How did the brown-haired, brown-eyed girl turn into a wolf that didn’t represent any part of who she was?
While I let my brain relax, I was grabbed by something in the water. A solid black figure pulled me in by my shoulders, and once below the water’s surface, I bit and clawed the mass of a being that was clutching onto me, but nothing was helping. I felt an undercurrent pulling us through the tar-black water, and at that point, I was just waiting to wake up at the academy.
I couldn’t breathe, and I should’ve been teleported by now. That’s when I felt it. The weird energy pull. My hackles tingled, and my wolf relaxed. No! I’m not going back. I felt the grip of the thing holding me under the water loosen, and then I was floating. I saw a glittery paw—no, not glittery. It was a paw that was blurring in and out of focus. The water was pulling me down with each movement I made, so I let myself float.
Suddenly, House Braeclaw came into my vision. I was freaking dying and teleporting back. NO! I will not die. I have to leave. The vision faded, and all I could see now was the darkness of the water. I couldn’t explain what was going on, but I knew I couldn’t fight the water. I went with it instead. The current grew harder and faster, and I was being slammed up against hard objects. My lungs felt like they were punctured by the broken ribs I knew I’d sustained after the tenth hard slam into a jagged object.
I started growing frustrated every time House Braeclaw came back into my vision. I fought hard against that pull over and over, and the next thing I knew, I was slammed into something I could finally grip my paws on.
I pulled up, and my hind legs raked along the object, most likely a fallen tree since I felt like I was snapping branches to save my life from this place.
I was hurled out of the water, spat out onto blood-red sandy banks, my wolf form lying on its side and exhausted from the fight for survival. I wanted to shift back and build a fire because now I was freezing and shivering on top of exhaustion.
I did everything in my power to get my legs underneath me and get my bearings. I felt like I had been thrown eighty miles at least down the river and now I was on red sand and surrounded by white tree trunks…alone.
The fiery red leaves that shot up into the eerie green skies gave me no idea on my whereabouts or where the sun was since that was blacked out by dark clouds. I was screwed. Fortunately, I heard a wolf’s howl in the distance. Dumb. Probably Finley all alone since Dom was right by my side when I fell into the water. Was she blowing the whistle that she was scared or was this what you did when you were the last one left on the quest?
The wolf’s howl was more aggressive now, Finley getting brave? Who knew, I just knew I was going to follow the sound back to the other wolf that was still alive. The game wasn’t over yet, and I was still here.
I leapt up a dark black jagged rock path, following the cries of the wolf. As I crept through the dead trees at the top of this trail, I softened my steps. I couldn’t be sure if this were some sort of trick to trap me, so I proceeded with caution.
My wolf senses were on high alert. This was the call of a lonely, heartbroken wolf. This wasn’t normal. If Finley had lost both Dom and me, we were just going to be teleported back to the school, or did we get caught up in some trap that this school seemed to function on and the wolf crying out was sincere in noting the loss—real death? Who knew.
I peered around to see Finley’s brown wolf lying down, submitted to a black wolf that silenced as soon as I walked out to where the two were surrounded by dead trees. Totally confused by why Dominic was the one to do the howling and in this way, I lowered my head to greet the sad alpha.
Dominic’s wolf spun in my direction as soon as I pranced out to him. The wolf’s eyes were severe as they studied me, his lips curling up and baring his teeth. What was he seeing? I lowered my head farther, my tail tucked, showing the black alpha I wasn’t his enemy no matter what vibes he was getting off my wolf.
Finley’s wolf was up on her feet while Dom crept forward, sniffing the air all around me. His nose met mine, then he jerked his head back as his wolf’s snout was felt in my fur, picking up whatever scent was tripping him out. I stood still, seeing the hackles up on his back and knowing that one wrong move with his questioning wolf could have Dominic ripping my throat out and all this work was for nothing. I fought hard to resist dying in that tar water not to get teleported back to the school, I wasn’t going out by startling an already worked up wolf.
As Dom came up along my right side, his nose nudged into my neck. We stood quietly and unmoving while Dominic’s wolf whimpered and tried to process whatever he didn’t like coming off
my wolf right now.
I noticed Finley in her natural form now, dressed in her combat clothes. “There’s no way that’s her,” she told Dom’s wolf. “It’s another freaking trap, don’t fall for it. She didn’t survive that water creature they conjured up. You know that.”
Her eyes were intently studying me. Dom nudged me again, then his wolf licked at my cheek, under my jawbone, and around my face. It was his way of trusting it was me. Why Finley switched back into regular form if she thought I was some trick, was beyond me. That was just dumb.
Dom’s lapping at my face was overwhelming and too much. The all-powerful alpha was acting like I was his new favorite toy and was practically knocking me over by wagging his tail and nudging me playfully with his face. I snapped at him, pushing him off, forcing the black wolf to snarl and go into attack mode.
Oh, good grief. I needed to copy Finley’s movements and get my butt back into normal form. These two were acting like I had been dead for a week. The vibes I caught off these two was too much. We needed to talk about what happened.
I trotted off, Finley following me into the woods, and I shifted back. I forgot to drop my wet pack that my wolf had been carrying with my clothes in it, forcing me to pry the stupid thing off my shoulders.
“Here, let me help you.” Her voice was a bit shaky. “Jenna, what the heck, man. You’ve been in that water for days. You were gone. Like really dead.”
I turned back to her, snatching my black top she pulled out of my waterproof pack. I pulled it on, then the rest of my clothes she handed me. “Days? I was only in that water for like ten minutes tops. You’re right, I should have been back at the academy, but here I am. Still with you guys. I fought crazy hard not to get teleported.”
Stomping tore through the forest and the next thing I knew I was swallowed up by two large biceps, my face plastered against the bare and very firm peck muscles of Dominic’s chest. I felt an energy wash over me that I couldn’t explain. It was like a reunion of two souls that had been torn apart and then reunited. I couldn’t explain it, I just embraced it because it was the right thing to do.
