Chapter One #2
He stared at the dark screen before swiping his finger over the front.
Nothing.
It was still blacked out.
Theo pressed the buttons on the side.
Nope. Still nothing.
“That won’t work here,” Steve said. He stepped closer to Theo to peer down at Theo’s nonworking phone with him.
“Why not?” Theo demanded. “Mitch calls from the hell realm all the time.”
Steve shrugged. “Unseelie magic. They have a barrier over this part of the realm. They don’t trust any magic but their own. And forget about technology. They are totally against that.”
“Unseelie magic,” Theo repeated slowly. “What does that mean? Mitch uses magic all the time.”
“He uses hell magic. There are many different types of magic based on realm and species.” Steve waved his hand around.
“You’d have to pass through the dark forest across the troll bridge around the poisoned meadow and over the haunted hill before you can get any technology from the human realm to work. That’s where the barrier ends.”
None of that sounded good to Theo. None at all!
He was almost afraid to ask his next question. “And what direction is your house?”
“The same,” Steve replied with a shrug. “But once we get into range, I could call one of my brothers to pick us up at least.”
“You don’t have a phone that will work here?” Theo questioned.
“Not one that will work in the dark part of the realm.” Steve shrugged. “Honestly, we landed in the worst place possible.”
Theo really really wanted to just stay there and wait for his mates to come to him. Surely it wouldn’t take too long.
He opened his mouth to suggest just that when the buzzing started.
Looking around, Theo couldn’t spot where the sound was coming from. Or why the buzzing was getting louder. “What’s that?”
Steve had frozen in place with a look of pure fear on his face.
Theo grabbed Steve’s arm and shook him. “Steve!”
Steve turned wide panicked eyes to him. “Run!”
Wait! Run?
Without another word, Steve yanked himself from Theo’s grasp and started to run. Fast. Very fast. Toward the dark forest that he’d pointed out earlier.
Theo turned and caught the concerned look on Garrett’s face. “Run?”
His gargoyle friend nodded. “Run.”
Garrett turned but as he tried to push off the ground, he tripped and face-planted into the thick grass. Just went down like a stack of bricks.
Hellcats! How was Theo supposed to run with a gargoyle who’d never walked before? Theo hurried over to Garrett’s side and attempted to pull his friend up. Garrett was heavy! Even with his shifter strength, Theo had a hard time pulling Garrett up.
“Run, Theo. The pixies are coming,” Garrett told him as they both struggled to get Garrett to his feet.
Garrett might no longer be pure stone on the outside but there had to be rock inside as there was no way that Garrett should be that heavy.
“I’m not leaving you!” Theo tugged Garrett’s arm. “Come on!”
“They probably can’t kill me,” Garrett said. “They would have to bite thousands of times for their venom to have any effect. I think.”
He thought? And pixies had venom and bit? How was this Theo’s life? Just a month ago Theo was a boring college student desperate to make friends and get through four years of education. Now he was dragging a gargoyle toward some very scary-looking trees.
The buzzing grew even louder, too loud, where Theo wanted to cover his ears, but he was too busy trying to get Garrett to the forest. They weren’t really running and that was giving the pixies time to get closer.
“Hurry! Hurry!” Steve ushered them from the tree line. “They’re coming!”
Theo growled back. It would be easier if he had some help!
He finally got Garrett moving faster when they were literally swarmed. Theo batted the air in front of him but there were so many of them. The first bite came as Theo was shocked into staring at the little purple creature with spiked hair and rapidly flapping wings. And fangs. This thing had fangs!
“Ow!” Theo hissed and jumped away as another pixie went after his left hand.
These pixies were nothing like Theo had ever pictured. Or what his mind could have even come up with. These creatures were vicious as they took turns flying at him to get a bite in somewhere on his body.
Garrett stumbled against his back and Theo turned.
How many freaking pixies were there?
Garrett was batting away at least two dozen. And wasn’t doing any good getting them away from him. Already Garrett’s arms, neck, and face were bleeding.
A sharp sting against his shoulder reminded Theo that he was also in trouble.
Since he had no idea how to battle pixies. And damn it he really wished he had his journals. But running did seem like the best idea. Hooking his arm with Garrett’s, he pulled until he had Garrett moving forward again.
The gargoyle stumbled but Theo was determined.
Steve was still yelling but at this point Theo couldn’t hear anything other than the stupid buzzing which he now realized was the sound that the pixie wings were making.
With one hand waving in front of him, trying his best to protect his eyes from the pixie attack, Theo stomped forward, going as fast as he could with a heavy gargoyle nearly hanging on him.
Sure Theo had shifter strength but that was no match for Garrett’s mass or the fact that Garrett’s feet were tangling with his as the gargoyle attempted to walk on his own and failed.
Eventually the trees were close enough that Theo was contemplating not going any closer. Except he was beginning to weaken and the stings were turning into a burning. Was that the venom? What would pixie venom do to him?
Garrett had said that he didn’t think the venom would kill him, but what about Theo?
They were only about twelve feet away from the closest tree when Theo tripped over Garrett’s feet and they crashed down. Garrett landed on top of Theo and all the remaining breath Theo had in his lungs whooshed out of him.
Theo looked to Steve for help. “Help!” Theo tried to shout but the buzzing was so loud! His head pounded. There was a sweet but sick taste in the back of his throat.
Steve’s eyes widened before he turned and walked into the closest tree. Literally walked into the tree and disappeared.
The weight over him shifted.
Theo grunted.
“I will protect you, friend Theo,” Garrett said against his ear.
He would reply. Theo wanted to, but with Garrett’s weight over him and the ache in his stomach, Theo could barely open his mouth.
A loud snap would have had Theo jumping but he was having trouble seeing.
Why was everything getting dark?
Wasn’t it still morning?
As a shadow fell over him, Theo shivered.
“They will go away,” Garrett shouted. “Pixies get bored easily. Hang on, friend Theo.”
Hang on. All he had to do was hang on and the fanged monster tiny pixies would get bored and stop biting them? Sure. Right. Theo would totally just lie there and hope he didn’t get eaten by pixies.
Except he didn’t feel any more stings.
The burning still raced down his arms and legs.
Garrett jerked over him.
It took all his strength for Theo to force his head up and glance over. Garrett’s face was tight in a grimace.
Wings!
Garrett had covered their bodies with his giant wings, which made his back open to attack. Theo wanted to object to Garrett using himself as Theo’s bodyguard except Theo nearly retched as the burning intensified.
Burying his face in his arms, Theo allowed the tears to come as he prayed for his mates to find him.
* * * * *
Wylder
“I love that Theo has claimed the tree as his own,” Josh said from beside him as they exited the dining hall where they’d picked up dinner. “The trees around campus are well cared for but they have no energy to pull from.”
Wylder hadn’t shared with their new friend that Theo had a surprise from him.
Wylder didn’t know why the gargoyle Garrett showed up at Theo’s dorm but it would be a nice surprise for Josh.
“Yeah, Theo loves that tree. It was the first place that we really started to bond. It holds a special meaning for all of us.”
“The trees can feel it,” Josh told him. “For some reason there is a lack of ley lines that run under the university.”
Wylder didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”
“Magic has many purposes,” Josh said. “I wish we had more here.”
“Is there something that we should do for the trees or plants here? To help them?” Wylder was willing to do whatever he could do to help.
Josh shrugged. “Have you ever heard how you should talk to your plants? Some people play classical music. Things like that?”
“Not really. I’m not really a plant guy,” he admitted.
“That’s okay.” Josh patted his shoulder. “I’ll be your plant guy. But having your energy and the magic of the chosen around is help enough.”
“Theo will love that. He’s already talking about having you come over when we settle on a new house. He wants a garden.”
“He told me.” Josh grinned. “Have you guys decided yet?”
Wylder shook his head. “No, we’ve seen some of the houses online but it’s been pretty hard to get everyone’s schedule to line up.”
“I can imagine how hard working around five peoples’ schedules would be.”
“Yeah,” Wylder told him. “Especially when Mitch gets summoned by his sire nearly daily. Dario has more businesses than I could have imagined. Although he’s trying to find people to manage all that for him so he can concentrate on what’s in front of us.
Alek has taken lead on the house hunt and narrowed down our choices.
He sent us the links to look as we do want to stay close to the university but—”
“What’s that?” Josh pointed ahead of them.
Wylder glanced up to see Theo clinging to the tree as smoke surrounded his ankles. Theo was fighting but it didn’t seem to be doing any good. Wylder dropped the bags of food he was holding. “Theo!”
“He’s being summoned!” Josh started to run toward Theo.