Cursed Magic
Page 20
“I found something,” Bridget calls. She’s kneeling in a spot near the center of the clearing. “It’s a stake. And there are ropes. This must be where he was tied.”
Bria crouches and holds her hand over the spot. “Definitely. I can feel his energy.”
I wait for more information, but Bria doesn’t seem to have any. “So what? We already figured he was here. Where is he now? What happened?” A survey of my companions reveals nothing but shrugs and upturned palms.
“I may have something,” Sasha calls. She’s on her hands and knees a few feet away, scrutinizing a patch of grass. “I think someone was lying down over here.”
After a moment, Felix asks the obvious question. “Why would someone be lying down? Were they hurt?”
“I can’t tell,” she says, not looking up. “I don’t see any blood. But this looks like…” She leans down farther and sniffs a spot gingerly before yanking her head away. “Yeah, that’s vomit.”
The mention of the word makes bile rise in my throat. What could have happened to make someone throw up? Was it Krissa?
Sasha stands up and brushes her hands on her thighs. Griffin takes a step toward her. “So, where are they?”
Her eyebrows hitch upward like she’s surprised by the question. “I have no idea. I’ve already told you everything I know: There’s some vomit. Someone was lying there, but I don’t know why. It doesn’t appear that anyone got dragged away, so maybe whoever was lying down got up and walked off. I don’t know. The only thing I’m pretty sure of is that Owen and Krissa were here, but they’re not anymore.”
“Do you think she went with him?” Dana asks, her voice small. “Brody wanted her to be his new assassin—and if there’s one thing I learned about Brody, it’s that he doesn’t give up until he gets what he wants.”
Silence settles over the group. I’m sure we’re all thinking it, but no one wants to be the one to say it. What if Brody did something to make Krissa agree to join him? Is it possible she’s with him now, on her way to wherever the Amaranthine are to become a weapon for them to point at whoever makes them angry?
There’s movement around me. Everyone is heading back into the woods, back to the road, their cars, their lives. Anger surges inside me. Everyone is giving up? We’re supposed to admit defeat?
A hand closes over my shoulder. “Come on, Fox,” Griffin says, his voice gentle. “Let’s get out of here.”
I shake my head. “We still haven’t figured out what happened. There has to be some kind of clue.”
I try to turn away from him, but he doesn’t release his grip. “There isn’t. And if what Dana said is true, if Krissa really did join the Amaranthine, I don’t know if there’s anything we can do. I don’t think it’s the kind of organization you can just leave.”
I knock his hand away. “So, what? That’s it? She’s gone and we just accept it?”
Anger flashes in his eyes, along with something else—something deeper. Pain. The same kind of pain I used to detect when I’d find him in his room, alone, crying about Mom. It’s been so long I’d almost forgotten what it’s like to see him vulnerable. “I care about her, too, but this might be a battle we can’t win. Have you stopped to think that if she went with that douche, it might have been to save your sorry ass? He was going to kill you to make her go with him. Do you think she’d ever let that happen?”
I can’t meet his eyes. He’s right, but I don’t want to admit it. My history with Krissa might be complicated, but one fact is undeniable: She’d do anything to save the people she cares about. She stabbed Seth through the heart to save her father. She gave up her magic and psychic abilities so the Influence would fill her instead of Crystal and Dana. And now, she might have agreed to be an assassin to keep the Amaranthine from coming after me again.
I’m not sure exactly what happened here, but one thing is clear in my mind: I’m going to find Krissa, and I’m going to get her back.
No matter what.
###
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Madeline Freeman lives in the metro-Detroit area with her husband, her daughter and son, and her cats. She loves anything to do with astronomy, outer space, plate tectonics, and dinosaurs, and secretly hopes her kids will become astronomers or paleontologists.
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