by Sela Croft
I looked at Rosamon, then Noah. “And you can take us there?” Both nodded.
“Fine,” I said, relaxing and taking a step back.
When I moved, the Redcap leaped to his feet. He didn’t have time to act, though. The second he was upright the air began to fill with mist. He lunged forward, his fists flying right for my face. But the blow just moved through me.
I watched the Redcap and his fellow Fae grow smaller beneath us.
“Rosamon, you’re leading,” Noah said. “Tell me where to go.”
Through the mist, I sensed the presence of Noah and Raulia. But Rosamon wasn’t moving through the air. She stayed with us in her illusory form.
I didn’t fully trust her; something about her struck me the wrong way. She knew too much. She said too much.
I didn’t dare voice my concerns, though. It was too late. We were relying on her, so all I could do was hope that I was wrong. Rosamon’s ability to guide us meant a chance of being reunited with Callie. The reward was worth the risk.
I waited, while Rosamon gave directions. The longer we remained in the air, the more anxious I became. I couldn’t see where we were going.
I was anxious to see Callie, and to know that she was okay. Then I could return to my city, and resume my life as prince. I couldn’t think of that, but had to focus on the task at hand.
We moved through the air, through the stone walls of the fortress, and into the depths of a place so filled with evil that it seemed to hang in the air.
“Where are we?” I said, with my eyes adjusting to the low lighting.
“Amalia’s palace,” Rosamon replied. “Callie is nearby.”
“You’re sure?” Noah said.
Rosamon looked up at him, smiling. “I can feel her.” She then turned towards me. “Are you ready for this?”
“Of course, I’m ready to see her.”
“You’ll have to sweep her away,” Rosamon said. “She won’t want to leave, and will insist on staying for me. But don’t let her. No matter what, do not let her stay.”
Her expression was filled with emotion. Her eyes fixed on mine, pleading with me. Her concern was genuine; she was genuine. I felt bad for doubting her and thankful that I hadn’t openly questioned her motives.
“I’m ready,” I said with a nod.
Rosamon led us down a long corridor. The halls became visible, as we traveled down them. Then disappeared into the darkness, once we passed. A door appeared before us.
“There,” Rosamon said, and motioned for Noah to pass through the door. “But go quietly.”
I followed Noah into a large space. At least, it appeared that way. It didn’t have walls or a floor or a ceiling. But there was a chair in the center.
And in that chair…was Callie. Extending out of her were glowing threads—cords—connecting her to the darkness around her. They pulsated with light before slithering away to disappear.
My first instinct was to race forward, to run to her side, and release her from the tendon-like hold. But Noah’s mist wrapped around me, slowing me down.
Rosamon raised her hand. “Don’t…not yet.”
I tried to tear my eyes away from her. Her breathing was steady, and her eyes were closed. She seemed peaceful. That was a comfort, until I saw the ghost-like figure hovering over her.
It wasn’t a ghost at all. It was the Fae princess. Amalia seemed completely unaware of our presence, lost in the world she’d taken Callie to. Her eyes, normally dark, empty pits, glowed with excitement. Her pale skin shone in the florescent lights dancing through the cords holding Callie in place.
“This will help us find her,” Amalia cooed, running her fingers through Callie’s hair.
I tensed. I’d kill her, if she touched Callie again. I swore I would.
Amalia’s eyes snapped open. “I’d like to see you try.” She snarled then raced towards us.
“She knows we’re here,” Noah said and released us from the mist.
The droplets evaporated, and the ground was firmly beneath my feet, again. My instinct was to run to Callie, but Amalia stopped me. I recoiled back, just as Raulia rushed in. She swung at Amalia, but it did no good.
The Fae princess was able to move faster than any of us. I turned, searching the room for Rosamon. “Get to your sist…” my words fell short when I saw that she wasn’t there.
“She can’t help you anymore, fool!” Amalia said.
I turned in time to see her lunge at me. I was able to side-step her, but just barely. Raulia took on her wolf form. She was faster on four legs. She moved in, ready to attack. When she did, Noah slid around the side, probably hoping to reach Callie. I kept my eyes on Amalia, not wanting to draw her attention to him.
Raulia moved in from behind, so I darted forward, trying to hold Amalia in place with my mind, as I prepared my physical assault. Raulia was in the air, and I stretched my arms out, using my power to keep the princess back. We had her right where we wanted her.
Noah was getting closer.
Then Amalia let out a cackle and turned to face her prisoner. With great speed, her hands flew out. She acted against Raulia first, barely touching her, but throwing her back into the shadows. I heard a crash and a howl.
Next, Amalia came for me.
“Noah!” I cried. “Now!”
Amalia arms extended out---growing, distorting, elongating. She took hold of me, throwing me back. Then she grabbed onto Noah, pulling him away from Callie, her gruesomely long fingernails digging into his sides.
“Guards!” she yelled. Then, in the blink of an eye, we were surrounded.
Chapter 12
Logan
The Fae princess let out a high-pitched laugh. It echoed in the hollow darkness. I leaped at her, but she vanished then reappeared on the other side of Callie. Turning to Raulia, I urged her to action.
She was already moving. We’d been in battle many times, so she knew my orders before I spoke. Although I had my doubts, given her recent attempt to strike a deal with the princess, I didn’t have a choice. I had plans for Noah, and I wasn’t going to let a chance to get to Callie slip through my fingers.
The Redcaps were closing in around me. Another group had Noah surrounded. He was dealing with them, keeping them busy, at least. Channeling my energy, I pushed back a group of three, throwing one to the side and another to the ground. The last went flying into the air, receiving the brunt of my telekinetic force.
Without looking back to see where the short, muscular Fae landed, I ran forward. The threads descending from the darkness, and wrapping tightly around Callie, multiplied. She remained unconscious in the chair.
I heard Raulia engaging the princess in battle, and Noah continued to fight off the Redcaps to the best of his ability. But the closer I got to Callie, the more distant those sounds seemed. Once I reached her side, the only thing I could hear was her breathing, slow and steady.
“Callie,” I said and shook her. “You have to wake up.”
When I jostled her, the threads around her appeared to multiply. The lights racing up and down were mesmerizing. I had no idea how that form of magic worked, but had to free her from the glowing strands, as quickly as possible.
“Callie,” I said, then shook her again.
My chest tightened, and I prayed for her to wake up. She didn’t move; her breathing didn’t change. Her eyes remained shut, and her body was limp.
I stared down at her, lost in desperation, when an instinct gave me an idea.
It was my only hope.
Closing my eyes, I leaned in and pressed my lips to hers. The second the contact was made, I sensed her pulse quicken. The threads around her began to fall away, dropping to the ground where they vibrated, before evaporating into thin air.
When I pulled back, Callie’s eyes flew open.
“Logan!” Noah called out to me. “Watch out!”
I turned just in time to see a pair of Redcaps racing in our direction.
“Get them out of here!” I ordered
Noah.
Just as the Fae creatures reached my side, with their arms outstretched and their eyes fixed on Callie, they vanished. Mist filled the room and drifted up toward the ceiling.
“Amalia yelled, “You’ll pay for this!”
I ignored her threat, turning my attention back to Callie. Her eyes were still droopy with sleep, but the second our gazes met, she recognized me. A smile formed at the corners of her lips, and she reached up to wrap her arms around my neck.
“You found me,” she said softly, then I lifted her up from the chair. “I knew you’d find me.”
I was beginning to relax. Holding her in my arms did that to me. Having her close provided me with confidence and determination that before would have been unimaginable, in a similar situation.
In that second, I didn’t care about the Fae. I didn’t care about the princess or the fact that we were far away from home and any semblance of safety. All I cared about was pulling her close, breathing in her scent, and feeling the warmth of her body.
The sound of a high-pitched siren ripping through the air forced me back to the present. I spun around, with Callie in my arms. The Fae princess had sounded an alarm. Raulia was still doing her best to keep the enemy at bay, but soon more would be coming.
“What’s going on?” Callie said, her voice thick with fear. “Where are we? Logan, what’s going on? I don’t remember…”
“It’s okay,” I said, trying to comfort her. “We’ll take care of you.”
As if my words had willed a solution into existence, Noah reappeared in a cloud of mist. With the sirens still blaring, Raulia and I rushed in his direction. His eyes were wide, but not with fear. There was pain.
I didn’t see it at first, but once I was next to him the scent of blood filled my nostrils. He’d been hurt. But there was more. There was something different about the smell. Something foul and yet, bitterly sweet.
“Go!” Raulia urged him.
Noah nodded and inhaled deeply, wincing against the pain that must have rippled through him. And in a flash, we were floating through the air.
Chapter 13
Valter
The air was filled with tension. Voices bounced off the metal walls, irritating me.
“He can’t just be gone,” one of the commanders said. “Something happened to him.”
“We’ve checked the entire city,” Florian said.
Our middle brother was the level-headed one. He wasn’t strong-willed and hot-headed, like me. He was the voice of reason; I was the call to action. Except then, I didn’t know what call to make.
There were no windows in the room, but I didn’t need them. I knew what was going on outside. The smoke continued to rise from the roofs of buildings surrounding the city. My dragons patrolled the skies, keeping a close watch on the borderlands. The sounds of battle were all but gone, but the threat still loomed heavy. The people were afraid. They were demanding answers. They were looking for leadership.
And our leader was gone.
“What do we tell our troops?” one of the commanders said.
“What do we tell the people?” another said.
I leaned back in my chair. “Do we need to tell them anything?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and eyed the individuals sitting around the table. They were the leading commanders in our fleets—decorated fighters, the elite of the elite. And yet, they all answered to me. I only answered to one person—Logan.
“Of course, we do,” Florian said. “They need to know what’s going on.”
“They need to know that the threat isn’t gone,” I said. “With or without Logan, we are still in the middle of a war.”
“Don’t you care what happened to him?” Florian said.
There was accusation laced through his words. I turned my attention to him. I saw concern for our brother written across his face. Florian was like our sister, in that regard. His emotions ran deep, and his feelings weren’t hidden. Logan and I were different than the others. We only had two emotions—anger and indifference.
At least, Logan used to be that way. The human girl’s arrival had changed him. It had pulled up an emotional side of him I hadn’t seen before. I feared that his dedication to her would cost us the war. I also worried that it would cost his life.
“Of course, I care,” I said. “I am worried about him. I would give anything to know where he is right now. But—”
“But nothing,” Florian said. “We have to find him. That should be our main priority.”
“As you’ve already said, we’ve checked every square mile of the city. His last known location—the abandoned home you went to with him—has been examined multiple times. There was no sign of him or the others who were there with him.”
“Because the entire place was reduced to rubble,” Florian said. “If he’s not in there, then it must be because he escaped.”
“And if he escaped, why hasn’t he returned to rule the city?”
My brother paced. “Then that’s it? Either he’s dead or abandoning his post?”
A murmur filled the room. The commanders seated around us had expressed a blatant concern that Logan’s absence may mean just that—he’d chosen to abandon his people, in hopes of finding a human.
Florian’s face flashed with hurt and anger.
“There has to be another explanation. He’s our brother and our prince. He wouldn’t leave us or the city, while we’re under siege.”
“You were with him,” I said. “You were there when he made the decision to leave the front. What did he say he intended to do?”
“To find Callie.”
“And did he find her?”
Florian nodded, and his eyes shifted around the room. “He did.”
“Then, where is he?”
Florian explained for the tenth time. “There was an attack, and the woman in the mirror did something magical, no doubt. My ability wasn’t working. It was chaos. There’s no telling what happened. But the one thing we do know is that he didn’t die, when that building collapsed. And if he is still alive, then we have to find him.”
Florian studied the commanders seated around us. He pushed himself to his feet and rested his hands on the table. “He is alive, and he is still our prince, the rightful ruler. Something happened to him. It is our duty to figure out what that was.”
The commanders mumbled in agreement. I understood what he was saying. I wanted to find my brother, as much as anyone did. But I didn’t want to find him because he was the prince. I wanted to find him because he was my brother.
There was a difference, and that difference could mean the success or failure of our defense against the Fae. Stretching our men thin could mean jeopardizing our position, making ourselves vulnerable to another strike.
I prepared to explain this, but Florian cut me off. “He had to have been transported out of that room,” my brother said. “That’s the only explanation.”
One of the commanders spoke up. “There was only one person in the room with the ability to do that.”
“Noah,” my brother and I said in unison.
“He worked for Dequan, didn’t he?” a commander said.
“He did,” another replied.
“Maybe he is still working for him, then. And he’s taken Logan to the Fae princess, at Dequan’s command,” yet another said.
“If the Fae have him, then we shouldn’t be here talking, we should be out there fighting.” I said. “We need to refocus our energies on the war.”
“But without Logan to lead…” Florian said.
“We can’t move forward without our leader,” one of the commanders said.
“We have no idea where he is,” another pointed out. “We haven’t been able to find Dequan or any of his followers, either. We don’t know what his plan for the girl was. We don’t know anything about what they have in mind.”
“Which is why we shouldn’t go running out to fight them,” someone said. “We need a plan.”
“T
he plan is we keep them out of Crystal City and protect our people,” yet another said.
The room erupted into a heated debate. No one seemed capable of deciding what to do next. When one said fight, the other said wait. When one said search, the other said don’t. No one could agree on anything.
Our unity had been the only thing keeping us safe from our enemy, up to that point. When we worked together, we were unbeatable. But divided? I feared that not having a leader to give the final order would pull the realm apart.
“We shouldn’t be bickering like this,” Florian said, his tone stern. “This is no time for dissention, especially given the fragile state of Shadowland, after the recent attacks. What we need is to unite and act as one.”
“It seems we agree on something, brother,” I said, then rose to my feet and stood next to him.
“Unite behind what?” one of the commanders said. “Without a leader, we have no one to give the order. We have no one to follow.”
“We have to follow someone.”
“What if Logan is gone for good?”
“Who will lead us then?”
Their questions bounced around the room. The very same questions that had been bouncing around in my head.
I dreaded what would happen next.
Chapter 14
Logan
We’d rescued Callie and had escaped from the palace. We were temporarily safe, and that should have allowed me to relax. But it didn’t. We were still a long way from Crystal City. We were moving swiftly, drifting through the air in Noah’s mist form. I felt the droplets of water around us.
Once we were past the city, we drifted lower. The ground was frighteningly close, and tension mounted. “This isn’t right,” I said. “Noah, what’s going on?”
I searched through the mist and found his presence. When I did, I noticed that he seemed weak.
Callie spoke up. “Noah, are you okay?”
He’d assured us that he would be able to get us to safety. And he’d followed through with his promise, but the effort might have been too great. He’d been injured before we left, but vampires healed quickly. Even with the added exertion of using his ability and transporting multiple people in his veil of mist, he should have been able to recover some of his strength.