Page 40 of Beyond the Veil (Endangered Fae #4)

“Which I’ll use as I need to. When people need me to help them heal a wound or, oh, let’s say, escape a prison.

” His last step put him at the edge of the sandstorm.

“I kept my promise, Nusair. I asked for none in return. No debt. No contract. Not even the burden of friendship, though I would’ve given that to you, too, out of gratitude for your help and, frankly, because I liked your company.

Go, if you want to. Go heal. Maybe I’ll see you again someday, but not if you kill me and slaughter everyone here. ”

Diego knew he would wonder for many years after what part of his speech made a difference.

In the end, it didn’t matter, because some part of it obviously resonated.

Nusair abruptly slid to the left on his self-sustained wind and scooped up the phoenix and his basilisk.

All three vanished behind the storm, sand whirling thirty feet in the air.

It hovered over Diego, moving toward him, sand stinging his skin.

Fear gripped him as it advanced, but he held his ground, imagining he could still see Nusair’s golden eyes watching from inside the tornado.

A strange trick of the wind seemed to carry an exasperated sigh to him.

Then the whirling sandstorm backed off and raced away, out of sight across the dunes.

“Certifiable, I swear,” Josh said from behind Diego.

“Yeah, but that was pretty freaking awesome, eh?” Ethan added in an awed whisper.

Still shaken by the odd turn of events, Diego pulled in a few deep breaths before he turned back to his strange troop of refugees.

He still had to get them all safe. “Limpet, take these three, please”—he indicated the Canadian students—“and bring Theo and Finn over here. Tarek, I need the circle reformed, and please ask if anyone speaks the language the griffin and the ghoul are speaking to each other? I need to ask if these are their home sands and if they want to stay or come with us.”

Vadim ended up speaking to the two remaining nonhuman prisoners, apparently in Dari.

He determined that no, the griffin was a mountain dweller and absolutely did not want to stay in the desert, and that, yes, the ghoul lived in deserts but this one wasn’t home.

They were both willing to go to Tearmann Island for resettlement assistance.

While Tarek herded humans, Diego allowed himself a quick check on Finn and Theo. Finn stirred when Diego bent to kiss his feline head.

“Oh, love, go shave,” he muttered irritably. “Beard is fine. Smooth is fine. But this scruffy, scratchy in between you humans insist on is dreadful.”

“When we get home. Promise.” Diego smoothed the black fur along Finn’s neck. “I’m glad you’re not badly hurt but I’m still taking you to Eithne as soon as we get back.”

Finn mumbled something incoherent about a watermelon before his eyes drifted shut again.

Their other casualty hadn’t escaped with minor wounds, though.

A bullet had pierced through his shoulder and another had left a long gash on his thigh, but neither one of these compared to the chest wound.

A few questions to Limpet confirmed that there was no exit wound.

The bullet had lodged inside, with the entrance wound above Theo’s heart.

“Theo, mijo …” Diego knelt beside him, stroking the tangled hair back from his forehead. “I’m so sorry. Hold on. Please.”

“ Jefe , you’re safe. Good,” Theo whispered and even managed a hint of a smile. “Silver. No promises.”

“Silver? The bullet?” Diego looked to Limpet, who nodded. “ Mierda . Feed him if you can, please. We need to hurry.”

Limpet was babbling something about already feeding him and Theo refusing more, but Diego couldn’t stay to listen.

With reinforcements coming, most likely already in the air, and Theo dying, they needed to get moving.

He took his position again in the circle, Tarek and Ethan with a hand on each of his shoulders to keep his own free to build the door.

According to the dragons, doors between places were uniquely human, a magic no other being could duplicate without a human involved.

Even then, most covens never achieved it and he was the only human in memory to construct them alone.

Without the blasted collar…but they had no time.

It had taken half an hour to remove Finn’s collar. They had to leave now.

Diego concentrated on gathering as much of the magic trickle as he could.

Exhausted and shivering with anxiety, even that was a chore.

Doorways required being able to feel the places between, the spaces where matter was not, and with enough of a magic spark and knowledge of one’s destination, reaching through those empty places to open the way.

Outside the lead-lined walls, he could feel his way through the spaces again.

He knew where they had to go, the call of home stronger than any other location.

Desperate, every fiber of his being aching with the strain, he reached for his magic, enough to build a lightning ball powerful enough to punch through. Almost…almost…

His grip on the forming magic slipped and he gritted his teeth to try again.

On the second try, he nearly had something, but again, he couldn’t hold it.

Four and five times he failed and he stood there with sweat dripping from his chin, trying to calm himself.

I have to do this. I can’t fail. Not at this.

On his sixth attempt, legs trembling so badly that his teeth rattled, he threw every bit of energy into creating the lightning ball.

A spark formed on his fingertips. It grew to several dancing together, his heart pounding with the effort.

The whirling sparks formed a ball over his palm… and fizzled out.

Diego collapsed to his knees with a sob, his legs unable to hold him any longer. Overhead, the sound of distant helicopter blades drummed a war beat against the night.

“Listen up, everyone!” Zack adjusted his helmet strap and shouldered his rifle. “I want fae warriors behind the armored humans when we go through! We may be walking straight into weapons fire, so no breaking formation until we have intel on enemy positions!”

“Zack!” Nate cried out from the coven circle, situated to the left of the garden fountain. “We’ve got a fix on Diego! He’s suddenly broadcasting loud and clear!”

“Thank God,” Zack muttered, then raised his voice again. “You guys ready?”

“Opening now, Sarge,” Brandon yelled back. “We’ll hold here as long as you need us to.”

Zack gave him a thumbs up and turned to where the magical winds rose directly in front of him. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as Minky sent her web of magic lightning out and slowly, a huge picture window opened in front of Zack, showing him a sky filled with brilliant stars.

With Balor at his side and armed men he trusted all around, Zack stepped from a beautiful sunny afternoon in the consulate’s garden into the chill black of a desert night and a profound sense of wrongness.

There was a glowering, blocky building bathed in spotlights that was obviously a prison.

But there should have been guards and gunfire, or at least the threat of gunfire.

Instead, a surreal scene greeted Zack, with a circle of tired, dusty pajama-clad people holding hands, a mangy griffin and a god-only-knew-what creature, and right in front of him, Diego, on his knees, clearly ready to pass out.

“Well…hey? You okay there?” Zack held his rifle at the ready in case the expected gunshots were about to start.

Diego blinked up at him, obviously having trouble focusing, then he leaned his head against Zack’s thigh. “ Qué alivio . About time you got here, Morrison.”

“Had a little trouble with the GPS. Everyone here coming through?”

“Yes.” Diego nodded against Zack’s leg. “But you need to rush Theo through. Get him right to Eithne. Silver bullet. Might be in his heart.”

“Got it. Where is he?” When Diego pointed to where a prone figure lay on the sand in Limpet’s arms, Zack called two of his men from the back with a litter and told them to double-time it back through. “Who’s your other casualty?”

“It’s Finn. Shot creased his head, but I think it’s not too serious.”

“Marcus! Finn goes next!” Zack patted Diego’s shoulder. “Princess Eithne’s standing by in the garden. Thought there might be some wounded before the day was over.”

“We have to move, Zack. Helicopter’s on the way with reinforcements for the prison.”

Zack cocked his head and picked up the whup-whup-whup of chopper blades. Three of them. “All right, people! Let’s move out! Don’t run. Walk with purpose and get yourselves through into the garden.”

A handsome young man directly behind Diego turned to shout at the others in Arabic and the former prisoners began to walk toward the door, some hesitantly when they saw Balor, but they all moved.

One guy toward the back did an odd thing, stopping to pick up a man-sized statue before he hurried toward the doorway.

“You’re taking a statue?” Zack asked Diego softly.

“Yes. It’s a person. Please find a safe place for it for now.”

Diego still hadn’t moved off his knees.

“You, too.” Zack nudged him. “Time to go.”

“I can’t get up.” Diego laughed helplessly. “All that and now I can’t get up.”

“Oh, now, that’s an easy fix.” Zack shouldered his rifle and lifted Diego in his arms. “Morrison Transport, at your service. You’re gonna get some rest, then you’ll have a lot of things to fill me in on. Looks to me like things got pretty weird.”

“Just save our courageous Theo. We would’ve all been shot dead the minute we escaped if he hadn’t been here.” Diego was on the last bit of his strength, his head rolling on Zack’s shoulder. “And thank you for saving us. Right on time as always.”

The door closed behind them as Zack was the last to step back through, shutting out the roar of the helicopters as they crossed over the final dune. “Looks to me like you mostly saved yourself.”