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CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Ryker

Tucker and Callan switched positions before we walked out beneath the trees. I would try to take the giant and musician down, while Ellery would have Tucker and Scarlet.

I trusted her love for me and that Ianto and Callan wouldn’t try anything with her, but I also didn’t like them touching her. I wasn’t thrilled with Tucker touching her either, but I could handle it better than the musician and giant.

When we walked out beneath the trees, the leaves rustled, and the branches creaked as they shifted over our heads, but they didn’t descend, and roots didn’t emerge from the ground. I didn’t know if that was because there were so many of us or because we’d suppressed our lightning.

Once we reached the center of the aisle the trees had created, we stopped walking. Ianto and Callan turned to face me; we embraced each other before huddling together.

Ellery did the same with Scarlet and Tucker. Overhead, the trees stilled, and no roots poked out of the ground.

“I think they want our lightning,” Ellery said.

“Then we’ll give it to them. Get closer, but be careful not to move afterward,” I told Ianto and Callan.

They edged so close our toes touched and our breaths mingled as lightning sparked to life at my fingertips. Ianto winced like he’d expected me to pump him full of electricity, but I kept my hands away from their backs.

I sensed Ellery’s lightning as her power brushed my skin, though a few feet separated us. When the trees creaked, Callan closed his eyes.

“Oh fuck,” he muttered. “Oh fuck.”

I wished I could tell him it happened fast, but I didn’t. It felt like it took an eternity for them to drag us beneath the earth.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the earth shift as roots slid free. They slithered toward us like snakes seeking their prey; all they were missing were the flickering tongues.

My lip curled at the reminder of snakes, and I forced myself not to move as one of the roots slid around my ankles. They didn’t touch Ianto or Tucker.

“I was on top of Mouse when they took him,” Ellery said. “I think we’ll have to do the same with them.”

The last thing I wanted was to climb on top of the giant and fiddle boy. Ianto must have sensed this as he grinned at me.

“I usually prefer the bottom,” the giant said. “It’s less work.”

I scowled at him as the roots slithered up my calf. Tucker and Scarlet pulled away from Ellery and lay on the ground. Ellery shook off a tree root, climbed on top, and embraced them.

The roots encompassed them and started pulling down. I resisted the instinct to launch at her and refused to let her go, but we had to do this. We had to know where the other end of that tunnel led and if the gargoyles could tell us anything.

I kept my feet firmly in place. I had to let her go, and if I didn’t move, she’d be going without me.

“If you want to go, get down,” I commanded brusquely.

“Ianto has to go first,” Callan said. “He’ll crush me otherwise.”

“Everyone enjoys a good back crack occasionally,” Ianto said.

Callan didn’t look amused, but Ianto lay on the ground with his chest in the dirt and his face turned to the side. Callan climbed on top of him.

The root was up to my knee when I threw myself onto the musician’s back and laughed when the giant grunted loudly. “Asshole,” Ianto muttered.

“It’s about to get a lot worse, Giant,” I told him.

As the roots enveloped us, I spotted Farley floating through the trees toward the remaining amsirah. He hovered at the forest’s edge while the trees took us down.

If he’d uncovered another settlement in the woods, it would have to wait. We were a little preoccupied right now.