26. Tezya
TWENTY-SIX
TEZYA
“Check all the portals,” I shouted to Kallon, not caring who heard us now. “I’ll cover the area by foot. Something’s wrong.”
I turned away from the bay and started sprinting to where Scottie was supposed to be. I felt our connection teeter in and out right after the explosion, fading weaker and weaker until it was nothing. First her panic came through, then desire, before pure terror overtook her. I couldn’t make sense of the shift of emotions, but my gut told me it was Athler.
“Tezya, wait!” Kallon screamed, but I didn’t stop. I just prayed she could cover more ground without me and I wasn’t making a mistake by separating. Something told me Scottie was somewhere else, that she wasn’t by the portal.
Distinctly, I heard the gasps from a few Luxian citizens who saw me tear through the streets. Some shouted the youngest prince was back in the city, others screamed for soldiers to take me down. Dovelyn’s invisibility was gone, but I didn’t pause long enough to see or care about the damning consequences.
I tried over and over again to reach out to Scottie, to see if she was okay, but every time I tried, our bond came back empty. I ran through the last rotunda before reaching the first strip of beach when a wave of nauseating voidness stripped me bare. I didn’t have time to think about why my powers dissipated. Panic was lacing its way up my spine. I still hadn’t seen Scottie.
When I finally made it to the meeting spot by the ocean, I saw Dovelyn and Sie waiting, holding up a half unconscious Brock. A second of relief passed through me at seeing my friend alive, but it vanished as soon as I didn’t see beautiful, sapphire eyes along with them.
“Where is she?” My voice was a growl as I circled them.
Dovelyn shifted all of Brock’s weight toward Sie. “Be quiet or you’re going to attract Athler’s attention again. We need to get out of here now .”
Again.
The word broke me.
Scottie was gone.
“I don’t care who the fuck hears. Let the entire fucking city know I’m here. Where is Rumor? ”
Kallon finally portaled in. Her yellow eyes flashed with relief as she took in Brock. “I checked all my portals—” She whipped her head, scanning the rest of us, coming to the same realization I had. “Where’s Scottie? What happened?”
“Athler,” Dovelyn answered, confirming my fucking nightmare. “He found us before we could do anything. Arcane made some sort of vapor out of Alluse. He set it off in the rotunda.” She turned to me. “All our powers are gone, Tez. We can’t fight back, not like this.”
“None of you have your abilities?” Kallon paled, fear taking over her face.
“I don’t care about our damn powers right now. What the fuck happened to Scottie? WHERE IS SHE?”
Sie was the one who answered. “She made a trade with Arcane and Athler. Us for her.”
“And you let her?” I spat. “You were supposed to protect her. The whole reason you came along was to make sure nothing like this happened!”
“I tried to teleport us away, but I couldn’t,” he snapped back. “She told me to trust her, so I thought…” He ran his hand through his black hair. “I fucking thought she had a plan. I didn’t think she’d just hand herself over.”
“So Athler has her now?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “She started running toward the castle. Arcane was coming after us, but then he just stopped and turned around.”
The hut. She was running toward the hut. “Kallon, portal me to the hut now.”
“Tez, I can’t. We need to get out of here. We’re sitting ducks. If I run into this vapor Alluse too, I won’t be able to get any of us back to the camp. We’ll all be stuck in Lux.”
“I’ll fucking run there,” I screamed. “I don’t care, but I’m not leaving without her!”
Kallon hesitated for a moment. “Okay, Tezya, I will, I will… Don’t go on your own. Just let me portal everyone else back first. If we leave them here, they’ll get caught too.”
I nodded. I hated the idea of having to wait. It was precious seconds they had Scottie, but I didn’t want to risk anyone else. Kallon portaled the three of them back. In all, it only took a minute, but it felt like a lifetime before she grabbed my hand and portaled me to the place I first trained Scotlind.
But it was fucking empty.
I tore the entire hut down. Breaking the sliding glass doors, ripping the bed from the posts on the floor. I scanned the ocean, even swam a mile out to see if she was waiting underwater. I ran through the jungle, then looked through the hut again out of desperation. There was nothing.
“Tezya, she’s not here,” Kallon said softly.
“Portal me to the castle. I’ll get her and meet you at the docks in an hour. ”
A tear ran down Kallon’s face. “Tez, you can’t. If you go after her, you’ll only get yourself caught too. You have no abilities right now.”
I stormed over to her. “Kallon, I don’t give a damn if I can’t use my powers. The woman I love is in the hands of the most sadistic Advenians I know. You know what they’ll do to her. I’m not leaving her here. I can’t.”
“Tezya.” She was crying now. “It’s not safe.”
I reached her then. Pulling her arms into mine, begging her to understand. I could run through the jungle, but it’d take me half a day. I needed to be portaled in. I needed to get to her before it was too late, because once they took her inside, they’d have her on so many damn locks and chains it’d be near impossible to get her out. “Kal, please, I need to—”
My sentence was cut off. I hadn’t realized where Kallon was standing. I hadn’t realized the purple and black smoke until it was too late. Until she fucking portaled us back to the camp.
My knees sank to the ground outside the shield once Kallon released me. The snow started seeping into my wet clothes, but it felt like nothing compared to the numbness inside me.
Distantly, I heard Kallon crying… heard her sob, “Your fire is too important to risk, Tez. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I called to my Dark ability, cursing myself that my veins were void of it. If I could, I would’ve compelled Kallon to portal me back, to drop me off in Lux and leave me there. I’d rescue Scottie by myself if I had to. But no matter how many times I willed my Dark powers to manifest, nothing happened, the vapor Alluse was already consuming too much of my veins.
I screamed, but I couldn’t hear it.
I was dragged back through the shield, but I couldn’t feel it.
Scottie was left in Lux completely alone.
Without any abilities.
And in the hands of Athler.