Chapter 42
“Noooo!” Scott roared as he desperately fought to hang onto Elodie.
He knew the cloying feeling of the mist. Knew how difficult it was to breathe or see or even hear. Elodie’s arm jerked in his hold. Then she was still. So very still.
“Elodie,” he called.
The mist had moved over his hands, wrapping itself around Elodie so no part of her showed. If Scott hadn’t had a hold of her, he wouldn’t have been able to reach her now. And nothing would make him release her.
He peeled back his lips as his skin started to sting.
That sensation soon turned into burning.
He looked down to see that the mist encased his hands from the wrists down.
Beneath his skin, his veins appeared to glow.
The pain brought him to his knees. With his teeth clenched, he tried to will Elodie to use her magic.
Then, suddenly, she was gone. Vanished as if she had never been there. Scott fell forward, his head slamming into the bars since he no longer held Elodie. He heard footsteps. He tried to lift his head, but the fire in his arms was spreading.
Dimly, he heard voices. He tried to focus his eyes as he slumped to the ground. His gaze landed on Elodie’s phone—the only proof that she had been there. The fire in his veins had reached his shoulders and neck. He felt it spreading to his face and across his chest.
“Scott,” Filip called. “Scott, stay with us. Keep your eyes open.”
He tried. He really did, but it was too much—the pain and losing Elodie.
“What the bloody hell?” someone asked.
There was the loud squeak of metal against metal.
Then hands were on him. Someone spoke, but Scott couldn’t really hear them.
He was sinking beneath the waves of unconsciousness.
He kept thinking about Elodie as she’d rushed into the cavern.
He’d known that she would, even as he hoped that she wouldn’t.
He’d failed her. If only she had listened when he’d told her to leave.
He felt something or someone tug at him. Scott turned away from it. He didn’t want to go back to a world without Elodie in it. How would he look her brother and sister in the eye? How could he tell them that he hadn’t been able to save her?
“Scott?”
The feminine voice was soft and one he recognized.
It would be easy never to wake, to hide beneath his shame and grief.
Then he thought about Kevin. Both he and Elodie had died because they were Druids.
He’d vowed to find whoever was targeting their kind and stop their reign of terror.
Would he give up now? He couldn’t. He had more reason than ever before to keep going.
He opened his eyes to find a sea of faces looking down at him.
“Fuck. You scared the hell out of me,” Filip said in a voice raw with emotion.
Rhona was near his head. Hers had been the voice he’d heard. She smiled wanly at him. “There you are. I thought we’d lost you for a second.”
They nearly had. Scott realized there was some kind of light in the cavern now.
Not only did a ball of magic hang in the air above them, but a fire also blazed in the middle, blanketing the room in warmth.
He started to sit up, helped by Rhona and Sonya.
He rubbed his icy hands together as anger festered.
“Ready to tell us what happened?” This came from Ulrik.
Scott got to his feet and looked around, hoping against hope that Elodie was there somewhere. Then he looked up. The ceiling above had hidden the mist. He hadn’t seen it because it had been dark. “It waited for her.”
“What did?” Broc asked.
Scott swallowed around a painful lump in his throat. “The mist.”
“Was anyone else here?” Eilish prompted.
Scott drew in a shuddering breath. “There was, but I didna see them. They kept everything dark.”
“Fek,” Balladyn mumbled as he and Rhona shared a look.
Filip shook his head. “Where is Elodie?”
Scott went to retrieve her mobile from where it lay. He turned off the flashlight and pocketed the device. “The mist took her.”
“Taken and no’ killed?” Elias asked hopefully.
Scott nodded.
Sonya tugged her gloves back on. “That’s good news.”
“Is it?” Rhona asked doubtfully. “Whoever this person is, has randomly killed around Skye. We don’t have any clue how he’s targeting his victims. And now he’s taken Elodie? I don’t see that as good.”
But Scott did. “She’s alive. We can find her.”
“We may not want to,” Balladyn replied.
Scott looked the Reaper in the eye. “I willna stop until I locate her.”
“She’s a fighter,” Elias stated firmly. “If anyone can survive this, my sister can.”
Rhona’s gaze slid back to Scott. “Did you get anything from your kidnapper? Did you hear anything to let us know if it was a man or a woman?”
“Are they working alone or with someone?” Broc added.
Scott shrugged. “I didna see or hear anything other than a laugh, which I couldn’t discern as being male or female. I knew they were near, but it was just a feeling.”
Eilish tapped the top of her boot. “Do you know why they didn’t stick around?”
“I think because they knew we would be here.” Elias let out a string of curses.
Ulrik grinned. “Because they doona wish to fight all of us.”
“We can sort all of this out later,” Scott said before anyone could speak again. “We need to find Elodie.”
Broc’s lips twisted. “I’ve been trying. I can no’ locate her.”
“Then we do this another way,” Rhona said.
Sonya yanked back off her gloves and smiled. “I’m game.”
“You know it,” Eilish replied.
Rhona raised her brows to Elias. “Join us?”
Elodie’s brother stepped forward without a word.
Rhona then looked at Scott. “What about you?”
“Whatever you need,” he told her.
Rhona’s head swung to Filip. “We’re going to need you, too.”
“Like Scott said, whatever you need,” Filip replied as he came up beside Scott.
The six of them stood in a circle with Balladyn, Ulrik, and Broc guarding.
Rhona was the first to start the chant. By the second utterance, the rest of them joined in.
Scott had never heard this spell, but he suspected there was a lot he didn’t know—which was a pity.
The Skye Druids were trained, but Druids elsewhere had to get by by picking up what they could and winging the rest.
His thoughts halted as their magic began swirling around them. It wasn’t just any locator spell, but one imbued with strength for Elodie, helping her to shake off whatever magic shielded her, stopping her from being found.
Minutes ticked by. Scott pushed more of his magic into the spell. They had to find Elodie. She could’ve been taken anywhere, and if she were to be found, it had to be because of the people around him now.
“I found her,” Broc announced.
Sonya asked him, “Do you have a good lock?”
“Aye,” Broc replied.
With that, they ended the spell. It felt good to have his magic back. Scott never wanted to be in a situation where he couldn’t access it again. “Come on,” he hurried them. He didn’t want to waste any more time.
They split into two groups. Balladyn teleported Rhona, Scott, Elias, and Filip.
Ulrik took Eilish, Broc, and Sonya. In a matter of seconds, they were outside a building.
No one said a word. Suddenly, Broc released his dark blue leather-like wings, and his skin turned indigo.
The light from a nearby post showed that the same blue spread across Broc’s eyes from corner to corner, but it was the fangs and the long blue claws that gave Scott pause.
Broc nodded to Sonya before jumping into the air, his wings beating softly as he quickly rose.
Scott wondered if Ulrik would shift into his true form.
He wanted to see a dragon, but in the middle of town might not be the best idea.
Ulrik faded into the shadows on the right and disappeared along with Eilish.
Sonya and Elias remained at the front. Balladyn took Rhona’s hand just as the Reaper caught Scott’s eye and jerked his chin to the left.
Scott motioned to Filip, and the two of them went to the left of the building as Balladyn and Rhona teleported to the back.
The three-story structure was vacant, its years of unuse evident in the chipped paint and broken windows. Some were boarded, but even that wood was rotting. Scott saw a door on the side. He walked to it. Before he touched it, he tested it with magic.
“Shite,” he murmured when he felt magic push back against him.
Scott hoped the others tested, as well. Then he remembered who he was with.
Of course, they would. He was trying to figure out a way to bypass the magic when Filip tapped him on the shoulder.
Elias was at the corner of the building, motioning to them.
Scott and Filip hurried over to find the others waiting in the shadows.
“It needs to be a coordinated attack,” Balladyn whispered.
Ulrik nodded. “Windows and doors. It’s the only way we’ll get past the magic.”
“And the roof,” Broc added.
Rhona looked at each of them. “We won’t know what’s inside. There could be one or a hundred of them waiting for us.”
“Their killing spree needs to be stopped,” Filip replied.
Eilish nodded. “They stayed on Skye when they could’ve left. That benefits us. Let’s use it.”
“Should you call the deputies?” Balladyn asked Rhona.
She shook her head. “I don’t know which of them is involved. Again,” she said with a sigh.
“Everyone get into place. We go in together,” Balladyn said.
Scott frowned. “When do we go?”
“You’ll know the signal,” Rhona told him.
Scott and Filip returned to the left side of the building.
Scott glanced at Filip to find him at the ready, his gaze locked on the windows nearest him.
Scott called to his magic. His palms tingled with it.
He thought about Skye, the wild island that had swept him up in its beauty and mystery.
He thought of the many generations of Druids who had lived and trained on the isle.
He thought of the magic that made it special.
He'd found his home here, just as he’d found the woman he loved. He wouldn’t lose either of them. He couldn’t.
To his surprise, Scott felt magic below him.
Skye. It was the island; he knew it. The magic came up from the ground to seep into his shoes and then his feet.
He couldn’t see it, but he felt it as it wound around him.
His magic answered immediately, pulsing and racing.
The power that met his made Scott sway. He’d never experienced anything like it before.
He knew Druids could strengthen their magic in different places. It appeared he had found his—Skye.
A loud boom sounded from the roof, shaking the building. Scott unleashed his magic along with the others. Windows blew in, and doors buckled under the onslaught of Druid, Dragon King, and Warrior magic.
Scott strode to the collapsed door and tested it. The magic was gone. He glanced at Filip to see him on his heels. Their gazes met before Scott entered the building.