A few calm minutes, interspersed with small talk, had passed when I felt a rush of sudden emotions from Tethys. I trailed off in the middle of my sentence to focus on him. Under most circumstances, I would have tried to block him out and kept talking. Luckily, Danio was one of the few people I trusted enough with the truth about our bond.
He watched me for a moment, eyes graying slightly with concern. “TS alright?”
“Yeah…” The emotions were consistent with a call to investigate something. It was the usual mix of werewolf excitement, concern for whoever was involved, curiosity, and caution. And yet… there was an undertone of something… “Field agents just got called out.” I narrowed my eyes. Yes, I was sensing something else. “He’s worried though. More so than usual.”
“Mm,” Danio hummed in concern. “Now I really wish your coffee wasn’t sanguinated. Think I have time to grab some?”
“Probably. They’re only just leaving; it’ll be a while until they assess it.”
He stood and stretched. “I’ll be right back.”
Instead of returning to my emails, I sat back and focused on Tethys, following along as he left the building. He was in a hurry; that wasn’t good either. My phone vibrated and even though I knew what it was, I pulled it out to check.
Stand by
I marked the text as read without opening it and tucked my phone back in my pocket. With nothing better to do, I checked the daily schedule to see who was on duty with Tethys tonight. Ah, Morgan Fletcher; we had worked with him for a couple of decades now. Poor guy lost his familiar a while back and had been a lot less social ever since. Nevertheless, he was still a skilled wizard and experienced field agent. Satisfied that Tethys had a good partner to watch his back, I tried to distract myself by going back to reviewing my emails.
Tethys and Fletcher were field agents: when something happened that needed MES attention a field agent team went first. You never knew what exactly the issue was, so everyone got a stand by notification to be ready whenever the field agents went out. It was their job to assess the situation and either deal with it or get in touch with someone who could. Sometimes that meant bringing in memory potions and a cover-up team for a secrecy breech or a team of special agents to handle something more dangerous.
True to his word, it wasn’t long before I smelled water elemental and fresh coffee. However, the sound of Danio’s footsteps went by my office and on to his. He was hardly there a minute before he left again; probably grabbing a couple of knives or extra bullets.
“Anything?” he asked, settling back down across from me.
I focused on my connection with Tethys and shook my head. “Still on the road.”
Danio and I were the primary special agents on duty tonight, so if the call for backup came, it would be us going out. He sipped his coffee quietly while I looked over, without really reading, my emails again. I realized I had just read the same one a few times in a row and minimized it. Waiting was the worst part of this job.
The minutes ticked by and I felt a change from Tethys.
“They’re there,” I said. I closed my eyes trying to zero in on where Tethys was and how far away. “That way somewhere.” I pointed.
Danio hummed and checked the working compass tattooed on his palm. “Almost due south…” His eyes narrowed and a ripple of gray passed through them. “How long did that take?”
I checked the time. “Around an hour.”
“Isn’t that about how far the park is?”
I groaned. “God, I hope not.”
A few tense minutes went by and I suddenly felt a jab of pain, like I had accidentally bitten my tongue. Except I hadn’t bitten my tongue and it wasn’t an accident. It was Tethys getting my attention.
“Let’s go,” I said, standing. “They’re going to call for backup.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
The standard procedure was for the field agents to call the dispatcher and brief them on the situation, then the dispatcher would call us. Tethys alerting me early meant that he considered every second critical and wanted us there as soon as possible. It was also something he rarely did. Our bond was, well, abnormal and anything that might make people suspicious was always risky.
Danio and I headed straight to my car and hit the road. Even though following a bond in anything but a direct line was tricky, I knew Tethys was south and outside the city, so I went straight for the highway. We were just exiting when my cell phone rang. Danio grabbed it from the cup holder and checked it.
“Dispatch,” he said, before switching his voice to a perfect impression of me. “Agent Clark. Yeah, what’s going on?” He listened for a moment. “Got it, we’re on the way. Yeah, Pelagos is with me.”
I snorted at his reference to himself in third person as he hung up. My amusement died instantly as he let loose a stream of curses in multiple languages.
“That bad?” I asked.
“We’re going to the park,” he answered grimly.
I groaned. Allegany State Park: the one place I was hoping we wouldn’t go.
“Is there a break in the missing wizard case?” I asked hopefully.
“No. There’s another missing person. Wood elemental.”
Well, there went any hope it wasn’t foul play. Wood elementals didn’t tend to get lost in the woods. I heaved a sigh and pressed my foot down on the gas pedal. Another missing magic, hardly two weeks after the last case. If this was anything like the others, there wouldn’t be any evidence. Sometimes there was nothing but the word of a friend that a magic had gone to the park and hadn’t come back. Other times it was a campsite that looked like someone had simply walked away from it. Or an abandoned boat or backpack. Not a single case had been solved yet. We didn’t know how many there had been, all we knew was that all of a sudden, just a few years ago, agents started realizing we were going to the park a lot. And always for the same thing.
“What the hell is doing this, Tom?” Danio asked, breaking into my thoughts. “How are these people just vanishing without a trace?”
“Wish I knew.” I hit the gas a little harder.
“Is TS okay?”
I nodded. “Feels like he’s just waiting for us. He’s excited about something though…”
“Evidence, you think?”
“I hope.”
Danio sighed. “Yeah.”
~~~***~~~
We rode the rest of the way in somber silence; even Danio, who normally joked his way through stressful situations, kept quiet. It took just under an hour to get there, but it seemed like forever. Dispatch gave us directions to a parking lot and I pulled in and parked next to Tethys’ truck.
He was there waiting, along with Morgan Fletcher. They both looked grim as we approached.
“Wood elemental?” I said, not bothering with a greeting. I wanted to ask why Tethys was excited, but knew he’d tell me soon and couldn’t ask with Morgan there anyway.
Tethys nodded. “Right. But, this one only went missing a few hours ago. There’s still a fresh scent.”
Morgan flipped open a notepad. “He was supposed to meet a friend here to go camping this evening. Seems that they’ve actually been paying attention to the MES alerts about strange things happening in the area. As soon as our missing elemental didn’t meet up with him, he called us, just in case.” He pointed across the parking lot to another car. “That’s the missing elemental’s car. We know he was here, but now he’s roughly three hours late.”
“Where’s the witness?” Danio asked.
“Heading back home with instructions to call us immediately if he hears from his friend,” Tethys said. “Is there any rain on the way, Dani?”
Dani tilted his head up at the sky and frowned. A few streaks of dark blue rippled through his eyes. “No,” he said confidently.
“Let’s get on that scent then,” I said.
They nodded and led the way to the woods.
“I wanted to follow it right away,” Tethys said as
we walked.
“Standard procedure is to wait,” Morgan reminded him. “You said you’d still be able to follow the scent. And we don’t know what’s out there. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not be the next victim.”
Soon we arrived in an empty clearing; there were a few scattered scents, including Morgan and Tethys.
“This was supposed to be the meeting place,” Morgan said. “TS?”
Tethys pointed deeper into the woods. “The wood elemental’s scent goes off this way. He was here and then…” He shrugged. “Who knows? He was here and then walked away.”
“And never came back,” Morgan finished darkly.
Tethys handed me a sweatshirt. “Here’s the scent for you. We got this out of the car. Friend confirmed it belongs to our wood elemental.”
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, making sure I had a good feel for it. The scent would be annoying to follow in the woods with all the trees. I felt a strange shiver pass through me and knew without looking that Tethys had shifted.
The four of us followed the scent at a fast pace.
“Smells fresher here,” Tethys commented.
I nodded in agreement; we were getting closer. And then another scent hit me. I paused and sniffed again. “TS, do you smell a witch?” I asked.
He trotted over to me, nose to the ground. “I do. And I don’t think it’s much older than the wood elemental.” He continued on a bit. “It goes this way.”
“We can circle back to it,” Morgan said. “I don’t want to lose track of our missing person.”
“Unless this witch went missing too,” Dani said. “Or did it.”
Tethys shook himself and sat down, considering it. “Or witnessed it. Whichever one, we shouldn’t let this trail go cold either.”
“We’ll take it,” I offered.
Morgan frowned. “I don’t like us splitting up.”
“Thomas is my soul-packmate,” Tethys reminded him. “If they get into trouble, I’ll know.”
“And what if we get into trouble?” Morgan pressed.
He may have been a fellow agent, but that relationship only extended so far. We weren’t nearly close enough to entrust him with the knowledge that I could sense Tethys just as easily. As far as Morgan – not to mention just about everyone else in the world – was aware, the rare soul-pack bond that werewolves could form was a one-way deal.
“I have a whistle,” Tethys said, turning his head back to indicate a small pack of supplies strapped to him.
“I suppose that will do,” Morgan said grudgingly, fishing out the whistle.
There was no way we’d get so far apart that I wouldn’t be able to hear the whistle. And even if I couldn’t, the sound it made was up in a high octave that a water elemental could hear from a great distance as well.
Danio and I headed after the witch’s scent. I wasn’t sure where I was expecting it to lead. Hopefully to a camp or somewhere we could find her and question her. To my relief, the scent started getting just a little stronger, which meant we were going in the same direction she had. It occurred to me that I couldn’t smell her familiar. She must have had a raven. The thought made me pause and look around. If the witch was in some way responsible for the disappearances, we didn’t need her raven flying on ahead and warning her we were coming.
“Thomas?” Danio asked softly.
“Keep your eyes open, there could be a raven around.”
He nodded, then scanned the trees warily.
We kept walking and suddenly I felt a burst of emotion from Tethys followed by pain. It hit me hard enough to knock the wind out of me and I fell to my knees with a gasp.
“Tom!” Danio cried in alarm. He was at my side in an instant.
“Tethys!” I gasped, staggering to my feet. Danio held me steady as I tried to catch my breath. I turned in the direction I could sense Tethys in. There was a fuzzy emptiness that could only mean one thing. “He’s unconscious!”
“Skata,” Danio spat. “Go!”
I took off at full vampire speed, hurtling through the woods. It would be impossible for him to keep up, but Danio was fast enough in his own right. He was also a decent tracker. I trusted him to catch up.
To my relief, Tethys woke up before I got there. Soon, the woods were echoing with the piercing sound of the emergency whistle. I could sense that whatever had hit him was gone. He was certainly freaked out, but didn’t feel like he thought he was in immediate danger. I slowed down, both to give Dani a chance to catch up and to not hit the scene too quickly.
Nevertheless, I was on them in a flash. “Whoa…” I gasped.
“Careful, Thomas,” Tethys warned.
I slowed and came to a hesitant stop near them. Morgan and Tethys were sitting in a large blackened circle of grass and leaves. A strange, foul smell, like the blood of a dead animal filled the air. I had never seen or smelled anything like it.
“What happened?” I cried. “Are you okay?”
“I think so,” said Tethys. “I don’t… I don’t really know what hit us.”
He wasn’t entirely okay either. I could tell he was still in pain. His entire body was throbbing. I blocked out the pain and went closer as he and Morgan slowly rose to their feet.
“One minute we were following the scent, the next…” Morgan’s voice was strained. He shook his head.
“There was a sound,” Tethys said. “Like some sort of… clicking?”
“Crackling,” Morgan said. “It reminded me of electricity. Then…”
Cautiously, I edged closer until I reached them. Tethys stumbled out of the circle and leaned heavily against me. I patted his side gently to comfort him.
“Was it wards?” I asked, looking at the circle. Admittedly, warding was something I was only just starting to study before I was turned, but I knew they usually formed a circle around something.
“I’ve never heard of wards that can do that,” Morgan said.
“There’s something on your face,” I said. He turned his head to the side and I gasped.
“What?”
“Your veins are…” I began.
He reached up a hand to feel his cheek and I saw it was on his arm too. Morgan noticed and looked at it in alarm. “What is this?” he cried.
His veins were incredibly prominent, practically bulging, and they were so dark they looked black. Both forearms, his face, and neck were covered in dark webs of veins, rising abnormally high out of his skin. Even the smaller blood vessels were darker than normal, spreading out all over him like a strange tattoo. I swear, I could actually see his carotid arteries pulsating. And yet, his blood pressure and heartbeat seemed perfectly normal. A bit high and fast maybe, but that was to be expected after being attacked.
“Are you like that too, Teth?” I asked.
For an answer, he shifted back into a human. Sure enough, he too was covered in a dark network of swollen veins. He raised a hand, frowning at the black lines running along it. It almost looked as if his veins were on top of his skin they were so huge.
“We must be close,” he said grimly. “I don’t think anyone has encountered this before.”
“Which way were you heading?”
Tethys pointed.
“I’m in no shape to keep going,” Morgan said. “I don’t think any of us should, not until we know more about… whatever this is.”
“I can’t either,” Tethys confessed. I didn’t blame him; I could sense how much pain he was still in and knew Morgan probably was too.
“Danio and I will keep on the scent and see how far we get. We can’t lose it now,” I said.
Tethys nodded. “I’ve got healing potions in my truck. Morgan and I will head back and meet you in the parking lot; I don’t fancy sitting here.”
“Sounds good.”
“Hey, where is Danio?” Morgan asked.
“Behind me a bit. I came as fast as I could when I heard the whistle.”
“Alone?” said Morgan.
Tethys and I exchang
ed a look of alarm. God, I had left him alone. Careless. Stupid.
I turned and rushed back the way I had come, hearts pounding. I would never forgive myself if he disappeared because of me.
“Be careful, mate!” I heard Tethys yell from behind me.
I followed my own scent until I caught a whiff of water elemental. “Danio!” I screamed. Where was he?! I spun in alarm, trying to track where he had gone. “Danio!”
“What?!”
I stopped short, nearly crashing into him. I heaved a sigh of relief as he studied me skeptically. “Don’t…” I said breathlessly, clapping him on the shoulder. “Don’t do that to me again.”
“Okay?”
“I left you alone.”
“I’m a big boy,” he snorted. I don’t know how he managed to sound indignant and flirtatious, but he found a way. His expression quickly turned serious. “What happened to TS? And Morgan? Are they okay?”
“I’ll fill you in, but we’re following the wood elemental’s scent now, come on.” I turned and retraced my steps, with Danio hot on my heels.
“I’d like to remind you that you left them alone, too. Are they okay?” he pressed.
“None of the missing persons were with anyone when they went missing,” I said. “They were all by themselves.” So far, nagged a voice in the back of my head. “They’re heading back to the parking lot anyway.” There – the wood elemental’s trail. “This way.”
As we walked, I told him how I found TS and Morgan and the strange thing that happened to them.
“Well, it’s not wards,” he said confidently. “We used a thousand different ones in the Legion and none of them did anything like that.”
Soon, we were close to where the attack, if that’s what it was, happened. We hadn’t gone much father when I heard a strange sound.
“Do you hear…” I began. A crackle! “Move!” I screamed, hurling myself to the side.
The crackle became a roar and something hit me from every direction at once. And somehow, from inside as well. I think I screamed. The next thing I knew I was sprawled on the blackened and destroyed ground, pain radiating through my body. I slowly forced myself to sit up, head pounding and spinning. The first thing I noticed was that the veins in my arms were all dark and swollen just like Morgan and Tethys. In fact, it almost seemed like the pain was coming from them. Then, the awful scent of dead blood hit my nose and I gagged.
Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 4