Page 14

CHAPTER 14

“I got your SOS text. What’s going on? It’s almost eleven at night, and you’re usually in bed by ten.” Cece hurried into Elora’s bedroom, dropping her bag on the floor.

Elora didn’t look up. She was pulling the sheets back on the bed for the fifth time, her fingers glowing blue as she tried hard to control her fear.

“Elora? What are you doing?” Cece asked.

She didn’t reply, and Cece touched her back. “Look at me, Elora.”

She glanced at her best friend, and Cece immediately said, “Honey, what’s wrong?”

“Jonah is missing.”

“What?”

“He’s missing, and I need to do a locator spell, but I can’t find one fucking feather in my bed. He slept in my bed for two years, and I was forever finding feathers everywhere, but now that I need one, I can’t find one single fucking feather, Cece!”

She was near tears, which was surprising because she wasn’t and never had been a weeper, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong and Jonah was hurt.

Cece’s hands tugged her away from the bed. “Take a deep breath, honey, and tell me what’s going on.”

Ten minutes later, Cece was on her hands and knees and looking under the bed with her phone flashlight.

“Anything?” Elora asked as she shook the quilt.

“Nope, no feathers,” Cece said.

She sat back on her heels as Elora grabbed one of the pillows. “Maybe there’s one in the shower?”

“Maybe? I don’t remember seeing one, though.”

Cece disappeared into the bathroom before returning. “Empty.”

“Shit,” Elora said.

“Honey, why are you doing the locator spell? You know he went to the northern fae complex, right? You checked his house, and he wasn’t there, so he’s probably still at the complex. I know where that is. I can drive you there.”

“It’s a big complex, the size of a suburban neighbourhood,” Elora said. “I want to know exactly where he is in the complex before I go, in case…”

“In case what?” Cece said.

“In case there’s trouble,” Elora said bluntly. “Knowing where they’re keeping him prisoner in the complex will make it easier and faster for me to get him out.”

“Maybe he’s not being held prisoner. Maybe he got distracted by hanging out with his brother. He hasn’t seen him in three years.”

“He would have texted me if he was with his brother this late,” Elora said.

“You two aren’t dating,” Cece said gently. “He isn’t required to check in with you or -”

“I texted him to ask him if he was okay, but he didn’t answer, Cecelia!” Elora snapped. “He would have answered me if he was okay and not being held captive by the fucking fae!”

“Okay,” Cece said.

“Fuck.” Elora rubbed her forehead before grabbing the other pillow. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you, especially since you’re only trying to help and…” She trailed off as she stared at the pillowcase.

“What?” Cece said.

Holding her breath, Elora plucked the single black hair from the fabric.

“Jonah’s?” Cece asked.

Elora nodded, holding the hair like it was gold. She walked quickly to the living room and set it in the potion bowl. She lit two candles and added the other ingredients for the spell, double-checking her spell book. There was no room for error in the spell, as she doubted she’d find another of Jonah’s hairs on her pillow.

She mixed the ingredients, adding the last ingredient - dried black-eyed Susan petals - and grinding them in. Soft pink mist immediately drifted from the bowl, and she leaned over and inhaled it deep into her lungs, holding it there briefly.

She released her breath and said, “By my power, flame and flower, reveal his true location now.”

Blue light glowed from her hands, and she closed her eyes as the sweet and intoxicating magic flowed through her veins. She shivered delicately and then opened her eyes.

“I know where he is.”

She stood and blew out the candles as Cece grabbed her bag. “He’s at the complex?”

“No, the forest,” Elora said. “He’s calling for me, but it’s weak. We have to hurry, Cece.”

* * *

“Elora, wait up,” Cece puffed.

“Hurry, Cece,” Elora said as she gasped in more oxygen into her labouring body. She muttered another incantation, and the ball of blue flame hovering above her turned even brighter, illuminating the forest around them for at least twenty feet in every direction.

The snow was much deeper this far into the forest, and they’d been wading through it for nearly an hour. Elora’s pants were soaked to mid-thigh, she was freezing, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d done this much physical activity.

“I have got to start going to the gym with you again,” she panted.

Cece huffed out a laugh. “It doesn’t seem to be helping me very much, currently. I used to think I was in shape.”

“You’re doing better than me,” Elora said. “I’m on the verge of collapse over here.”

“We should take a breather,” Cece said.

Elora shook her head. “I can’t. He needs me, Cece. I can feel it.”

She made a slight right, the flame following her unerringly as she pushed past some bushes and scrambled over a downed tree. She ignored the unease she was feeling. The spell in her head was like a compass and would guide her directly to Jonah, but getting out of the forest would be a lot more complicated.

Lost. You’re lost, Elora!

Grimly ignoring her inner voice, she continued on. Jonah needed her and -

“Jonah!”

She waded through the snow toward his body, lying too still in the snow. He wasn’t dead, he couldn’t be dead. If he were dead, she would know it in her bones, in her heart .

She fell on her knees beside Jonah, cupping his face as her heart hammered away in her chest. The flame’s light above her revealed Jonah’s pale face and the blood coating the snow beneath his head. “Jonah, honey, look at me. It’s Elora.”

To her immense relief, his eyelids fluttered open. He stared hazily at her before a small smile crossed his face. “Hi, baby.”

“Hi,” she said as Cece joined them.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“You didn’t call me like you were supposed to,” she said.

“Sorry.” His eyelids closed, and she patted his cheek lightly.

“Stay awake, Jonah.”

“Hurts,” he said. “Tired. Cold.”

“I know, honey, but we’re going to fix all of that.”

“Mmm, okay.” He kept his eyes closed.

Cece studied the blood-soaked snow around Jonah’s head. “Oh God, he has a bad head injury.”

“Yeah.” Elora ran her hands down Jonah’s side. God, he was so fucking cold. How he hadn’t died of hypothermia, she didn’t know. He wasn’t wearing his jacket, and he cried out when her hands passed over his ribs.

“Don’t,” he muttered. “Broken rib.”

“Fuck,” Elora said as Cece disappeared and then returned with Jonah’s leather jacket.

“This was lying over there in the snow.” She draped it over Jonah’s upper body before studying his right hand. “Shit, I think his hand is broken.”

“Okay. Jonah, honey, I need you to sit up for me,” Elora said.

“Don’t want to,” Jonah said.

“I know, but you have to.”

He shook his head, and Elora’s panic burrowed into her insides like a beetle. Making her voice exasperated and stern, she said, “Jonah, you sit up right now.”

He groaned but did his best to help when Elora and Cece each took an arm and pulled him into a sitting position. The slight bit of colour in his face disappeared and sweat dripped down his forehead despite how cold his body felt. He rested his left hand against his side as Cece looked behind him and sucked in her breath.

“Oh my God, Elora.”

“What?” She looked behind Jonah, and her panicking heart turned hummingbird fast. His shirt was torn and bloody, and she gently eased it up, staring in horror at his exposed skin.

“Oh fuck.”

Jonah’s back was a gruesome display of multiple punctures. Each one oozed a horrifying combination of bright red blood and yellow pus.

“What the hell happened to him?” Cece asked.

“Poisonous fae thorns,” Elora said.

“Shit, I thought that was a myth,” Cece said.

“It’s not,” Elora said grimly before touching Jonah’s back.

He jerked away, his breath hissing out. “Hurts.”

“I know, honey. I’m sorry.”

Cece examined the blood-soaked hair at the back of his skull. “He has a concussion, for sure.”

“Jonah?” Elora smoothed his hair back from his forehead. “Honey, we’re taking you to a hospital.”

“No.” His left hand gripped her wrist, his fingers freezing but surprisingly strong. “You can’t take me to a hospital, Elora.”

“I have to,” she said. “You’re terribly injured, and you probably have frostbite on most of your body.”

“If you take me to the hospital and they discover what I am, you know what they’ll do to me,” he said.

“Fuck, you’re right,” Elora said, dismay smashing into her. “I’m sorry, I forgot.”

“How would they even know?” Cece said. “Just don’t shift to an animal while you’re there.”

“They’ll know,” Elora said. “A shapeshifter’s blood is… strange, and they’ll definitely draw blood at the hospital.”

“Oh shit,” Cece said. “They’ll dissect him in a fucking lab.”

“Yeah, they will,” Jonah said before closing his eyes and bowing his head. “Fuck, hurts so bad, baby.”

“I know, honey.” She tried to sound soothing even though she had never been so terrified in her life. The chances of Jonah dying in this goddamn forest were horribly high. “We’ll get you home, and then Cece and I will do some healing spells and potions for you, okay?”

“’Kay,” he mumbled.

“How are we going to get him out of here?” Cece asked.

“Jonah, can you stand?” Elora said. “I need you to stand and start walking.”

He made a sound that was half-laughter, half-groan. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

“Can you shift to something smaller?” Elora asked. “A bunny or a cat? Then I can carry you out of here.”

“Can’t shift,” he said.

“Because you’re too injured?”

“No, can’t shift at all. Tried earlier and…” he made a vague waving motion, “nothing.”

“What does he mean?” Cece asked.

“I don’t know,” Elora said. “But it’s getting colder by the minute. We have to get out of here before…”

“We get eaten by a cougar or something,” Cece said.

Elora grimaced as she pulled her phone from her pocket and studied the screen. “Don’t sugarcoat it, Cece. Do you have a signal?”

Cece checked her phone. “Nope.”

“Fuck, me either.”

“I used the iron,” Jonah suddenly muttered. “Saved me.”

Elora looked around until she spotted the pendant in the snow. She scooped it up, and stuck it in her pocket.

Jonah’s head drooped to his chest, and he made a thick, snorting sound.

“The good news is I’m with a fire witch, so at least we won’t freeze to death,” Cece said. “Maybe you should start a fire now. If Jonah warms up a bit, we might be able to get him moving and -”

They both heard the rustling in the trees at the same time. Adrenaline shot through Elora, and she stood up, her hands already glowing blue. She and Cece moved to stand in front of Jonah, both staring into the thick trees.

Cece’s eyes were wide, and the pine tree closest to her made a harsh creaking sound as its bottom boughs started to bend toward her. “Elora, I do not want to get eaten by a cougar or a wolf today.”

“You think I do?” Elora said.

Two men stepped into the light from the hovering flame. They were both well over six feet with broad chests and wide shoulders. One wore a dark blue cloak, and the other a hunter green cloak. The slightly bigger one on the left had a shaved head and a long goatee with streaks of midnight blue in it, and the one in the green cloak had emerald streaks in his thick, dark hair.

“Humans this deep in the forest?” The one in the green cloak grunted in surprise. “Is that usual for this area, Bones?”

“No, it definitely isn’t, Valas,” Bones said as he studied Elora and Cece before studying the ball of flame above them. “But I suspect they are more than just ordinary humans.”

“Dragons,” Cece said. She sounded terrified, but Elora’s panic had subsided.

“Thank God,” Elora said. “We need your help. Our friend is hurt.”

“It’s why we’re here. We caught the scent of his blood,” Bones said.

He and Valas joined them, and Valas nudged Jonah’s hip with his foot, making him groan with pain.

“Don’t do that!” Elora snapped. Blue light flared in her hands, and Valas eyed them with amusement.

“Your spells won’t work on me, little witch.”

She ignored him and turned to Bones. “You’re Bones, right?

He nodded, and she said, “I’m friends with Kaida and Bren. Maybe she’s mentioned me? You, uh, loaned her some clothes a few days ago for my friend.”

“You’re the witch Elora,” Bones said.

She nodded. “Yes, and these are my friends Cece and Jonah. Jonah’s been injured badly by the fae, and we need to get him home. Will you help us?”

“Dragons do not help humans,” Valas said.

“Our clan does,” Bones said.

“Seriously?” Valas gave him a surprised look.

“We have two humans in our clan, Valas,” Bones said.

“I’m aware, but I thought that was a one-off.”

“Cadmus works hard to not only keep the peace between us and the humans but to create a relationship,” Bones said. “If you decide to join our clan permanently, you will need to accept that.”

“I don’t have a problem with humans.” Valas looked Cece up and down. “Especially if they are as pretty as this little one.”

At any other time, Elora would have been amused by the hot blush that spread across Cece’s face. But her fear for Jonah outweighed every other emotion.

“Our car is parked on Hunt Road,” she said impatiently. “Can you help us get Jonah to it?”

Bones eyed Jonah before shaking his head. “It is too far. Our clan is closer. We will take you there instead.”