Chapter 23
Karrick
Icouldn’t remember a game that had been won in such spectacular fashion.
Ever since my surprise touchdown in the second quarter, we’d been ahead.
After that it was just a matter of staying ahead.
Thanks to some amazing tackles, most of them by me, and some good offensive work, we won the homecoming game by a mile.
I’d never heard a crowd cheer so loudly in my life.
It was like getting a shot of adrenaline straight to my heart.
Even mid celebration with my team, I looked back toward the stands, trying to see Phoenix.
But the crowd was too wild and too raucous for me to make him out.
Instead, I decided to focus on celebrating with my team.
I’d see him soon enough. We already had plans to meet up after the game and possibly even jump off campus with Lila to some nearby town and get drinks together.
It would be a nice change to just be normal, to forget about those in the world that wanted to keep us apart.
Even if I had to take my human form, I didn’t mind.
Going out with my boyfriend like it was no big deal…
it might’ve been silly, but it sounded like the most wonderful thing in the world.
The locker room was chaos. There were guys shouting, towels flying, and Coach Flannery trying to give some kind of victory speech over the noise. I barely heard any of it. My skin was still buzzing with leftover adrenaline, and all I could think about was getting out of here and finding Phoenix.
I showered quickly, ignoring the celebratory atmosphere around me. Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled we’d won, but right now all I wanted was to see the look on Phoenix’s face when I told him about that touchdown. Had he seen it? Had he cheered for me?
“Yo, Karrick!” Jackson slammed his locker shut next to mine. “You coming to Miller’s party? His parents said we could have the lake house and—”
“Can’t,” I said, pulling my shirt over my head. “Already got plans.”
Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Dude, it’s homecoming night. What could be more important than celebrating with the team?”
I just shrugged, grabbing my jacket. Let him think what he wanted. There was no way I was missing out on a real date with Phoenix, even if we had to sneak ten miles off campus into the middle of the wilderness to get some privacy.
But before I could get out of the locker room, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning back, I saw Silver, his purple skin still slick with sweat.
“You did a damn good job out there tonight,” he said, a big smile on his face. “In fact, you’ve been doing really well in practice lately too. You seem more… focused.”
“Thanks,” I replied, unable to look him directly in the eye. Silver always had a way of making me feel like he could see right through me. “I wanted to do good by the team.”
“And that witch you’ve been hanging out with,” he added with a grin.
“How do you know about—”
“I saw you two,” Silver shrugged. “Sneaking off campus the other night.” He leaned closer, speaking in a hushed tone. “And there’s only one reason for that.”
I could tell just from his tone what he was hinting at. And he was right too. Which, of course, didn’t help and made my cheeks turn bright red.
“That’s what I thought,” he smiled, patting me on the shoulder. “I’m happy for you, Karrick.”
“Do me a favor,” I said quickly. “Keep it to yourself, okay? It’s not that I’m ashamed, because I’m not. But Phoenix’s family… well, they’re not good people. They wouldn’t approve.”
“Homophobes?”
I shook my head. “Purists.”
Silver’s eye’s widened. “Fuck buddy… that’s rough… But Phoenix isn’t like that, right?”
“He wouldn’t be with me if he was.”
“True,” Silver nodded. “Well, I hope you two can figure it out. You deserve to be happy.”
My chest swelled with affection toward Silver. He’d always been good to me. “Thanks, Silver,” I replied, placing my hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze.
“Alright,” he chuckled, shrugging me away. “Get out of here and go see your boyfriend.”
The cool night air hit me as I stepped outside the athletic building grinning ear to ear.
Immediately I started scanning the dispersing crowd for familiar faces.
Students were heading back toward the dorms in groups, still buzzing with excitement from the game.
But as I stood there looking, I didn’t see Phoenix waiting for me.
Usually, he was pretty distinctive with those bright eyes of his.
I found a spot out of the way and turned my attention inward, searching my bond with him.
But now that I was focusing on it, I realized I couldn’t feel him.
That sometimes happened when we were on opposite sides of campus, and the connection wore thin with distance.
But why would he be across campus right now?
He was watching the game. I’d seen him in the stands. So where did he go?
A cold feeling settled in my gut. Something wasn’t right.
“Hey, have you seen Phoenix Emberwood?” I asked a group of students walking by. They just shrugged, too caught up in their post-game excitement to care about my problems.
I started walking toward the stands where I’d last seen him sitting with Lila. Most of the spectators had cleared out by now, but I spotted a few stragglers still making their way down. My heart jumped when I caught sight of a familiar figure rushing through the thinning crowd.
“Lila!” I called out, jogging over to her.
She whipped around, and the moment I saw her face, I knew something was wrong. Her usual composure was gone, replaced by wide, panicked eyes.
“Karrick!” She grabbed my arm the second I reached her. “Thank the goddess. I can’t find Phoenix anywhere.”
“What do you mean?” My voice came out rougher than I intended. “Wasn’t he with you?”
“He went to the bathroom during the fourth quarter and never came back.” She was speaking fast, her words tumbling over each other. “I thought maybe he ran into you after the game, but when I didn’t see either of you...”
The cold feeling in my gut spread through my entire body. “Did you try looking for him in the bathrooms?”
“Of course I did,” she snapped, then immediately looked apologetic. “He wasn’t there. I’ve been looking everywhere. He’s just gone.”
I tried to stay calm, but my mind was racing through increasingly terrible scenarios. “Maybe he just got caught up talking to someone? Or went back to his dorm to change?”
Even as I said it, I knew it wasn’t true. Phoenix wouldn’t have disappeared without telling Lila, and he definitely wouldn’t have missed meeting me after the game. Not after how excited he’d been about our plans. Besides, as far as I knew, he didn’t have any other real friends on campus.
“We need to split up,” I decided, already scanning the area around us. “You check the academic buildings. I’ll check the dorms and circle back to the stadium.”
Lila nodded, already turning to go. “Send up a flare if you find him. You know the spell, right?”
I nodded. It was a simple enough charm we’d learned in Elemental Theory. “Same to you,” I called after her retreating form.
I spent the next hour searching everywhere I could think of.
The dorms yielded nothing. Phoenix’s cold and disapproving roommate hadn’t seen him since that morning.
The library was closing up for the night, and the librarian assured me no one matching Phoenix’s description was inside.
I even checked the hidden spots where we sometimes met up to be alone, hoping against hope that he’d be waiting there with some reasonable explanation.
Nothing.
By the time I circled back to the athletic fields, my adrenaline from the game had transformed into pure, cold fear. I met Lila near the gates which had already been closed for the night. She looked more panicked than ever.
“I don’t know what to do,” Lila said, her voice breaking. “This isn’t like him at all.”
My hands clenched into fists, claws digging into my palms. “We need to tell someone. A professor or—”
“What if his parents found out we’re friends with him?” Lila interrupted, her eyes wide. “If they took him—”
“Why would his parents take him?” I demanded, but even as I asked, I knew the answer.
If they’d somehow discovered our relationship, discovered that their precious purebred witch son was involved with a Beastkin…
that would be the end of it. They’d stolen him away in the past for just being friends with me.
I shuddered to think what they’d do now.
“We need to find Professor Blackwood,” I decided. “She’s the only one who understands what’s going on. She helped us free Phoenix from his parent’s tethering spell.”
Lila nodded, and we sprinted across campus toward the faculty housing. My heart hammered in my chest, each beat a reminder of Phoenix’s absence. The bond between us remained frustratingly silent, no matter how desperately I reached for it.
Professor Blackwood answered her door in a dark silk robe, her silver and black hair loose around her shoulders. One look at our faces and she ushered us inside without a word.
“Phoenix is missing,” I blurted out before she could ask. “He disappeared during the game, and we can’t find him anywhere.”
Her eyes narrowed. “How long has he been gone?”
“Almost two hours now,” Lila said, wringing her hands. “He wouldn’t just leave without telling us.”
Professor Blackwood studied me for a moment, her magic flaring around her. “You’re bonded with him.” It wasn’t a question. “Can you feel him?”
I startled, not realizing she could sense something like that so easily. “No. There’s nothing. It’s like... it’s like he’s not even on campus anymore.”
She turned abruptly, grabbing a leather-bound book from her shelf. “Follow me.”
We trailed after her as she strode across campus, her slippered feet somehow making no sound on the gravel paths. She led us to a small grove of trees just outside the wards of the academy.
“The pendant,” she muttered, heading straight for a gnarled tree in the center of the clearing. “I buried it here with the golem that holds the tethering spell.”
But when we reached the tree, we saw the freshly upturned earth. Professor Blackwood ran to the small hole in the ground, digging through with her bare hands. But there was nothing to exhume. The golem was gone. The pendant was gone.
“They found it,” Professor Blackwood whispered, running her fingers over the empty space.
“What does that mean?” I asked, my voice hoarse with fear.
She turned to me, her eyes grave. “It means someone came looking for the pendant. And when they found it and realized it was no longer around Phoenix’s neck…”
“His parents,” I said, the words barely audible. “They… They know.”
Professor Blackwood nodded slowly. “I’m afraid so.”
My world collapsed around me. Everything we’d feared was happening. Phoenix was gone, taken by the same people who’d stolen him from me once before.
“We have to get him back,” I growled, my claws extending further as rage built inside me. “I won’t lose him again.”
“Karrick,” Professor Blackwood said, her voice steady despite the gravity of the situation, “we need to be careful. The Emberwoods are powerful witches with deep connections in the magical community.”
“I don’t care!” I roared, making Lila jump beside me. “They can’t just take him! They can’t control his life forever!”
Professor Blackwood placed a firm hand on my arm. “I understand your anger but charging blindly after them will only make things worse. They have the support of the Purity Front behind them. If we’re going to get Phoenix back, we need a plan.”
I took a deep breath, trying to rein in the beast that was roaring inside me.
Around my feet the earth began to shift as plants sprung up, curling across my feet.
At the same time, I felt my hands grow hot, sparks shooting from my fingertips.
This was the magic Professor Blackwood had warned me about.
When emotions ran high, it would show itself.
And right now, it was taking everything I had to stop myself from exploding.
“Lila,” I said, turning to her with my teeth gritted. “Phoenix said you’ve been watching students connected with the Purity Front. Tell me their names.”
“That’s half the witch students in the school,” she replied. “Most of them aren’t actively involved. It’s just their parents. But a few…”
“Which… ones,” I growled, barely able to contain my anger.
Lila looked terrified.
“Karrick,” Professor Blackwood said in as gentle a voice as she could muster.
“We’re going to get him back. I promise.
But I need you to calm down. If we go rushing in, the first person we interrogate will tip off the others and they’ll disappear.
We have to do this methodically.” She glanced around at the three of us. “And we’ll need help.”
I forced myself to take a breath, trying so hard not to let the beast inside me take hold.
I wanted to save Phoenix, to hold him in my arms once again.
But I knew if I lost control, I’d never get him back.
It was the hardest thing I’d ever done, swallowing that anger, but after a moment or two of effort and concentration, my heart rate finally began to slow.
That’s when I caught sight of the ring on my finger. The one Atlas had given me.
“Alright,” I said at last, my voice as steady as it was going to get.
“If we’re dealing with the Purity Front, we should call in the experts.
” I lifted my hand in front of my face, turning the ring three times on my finger.
On the third pass it grew warm, and I felt the magic connect.
“Atlas,” I said. “Bring everyone. The Purity Front kidnapped my mate. Help me.”
In less than three seconds, I heard a response in my mind.
“We’re on our way. Meet us in the library.”