Page 48

Chapter

Forty-Four

A ZALEA

Trey looks toward the tree line of the forest, and Tandi does the same. “He couldn’t have gone far,” Tandi says, moving towards me while my head twists from side to side, searching for him.

“I’ll go check the forest edge,” Trey says.

“What’s going on?” Liam and Dustin yell out simultaneously when they see us staring in every direction.

“Tyson, I can’t find him!” I yell out over the howling wind. Dustin and Liam exchange looks before Liam jogs over to us.

“I’ll check the cemetery,” he says, running off and calling out Tyson’s name.

“Clarice is checking inside in case he somehow got past one of us,” Dustin tells me. Tears prick my eyes at the thought of losing him. Abbie would never forgive me if something happened to him. I just don’t understand. I turned away for only a second. Is he hiding?

“I’ll check out the front,” Dustin says, sprinting off before I hear the mindlink open.

‘Azzy, what is going on? Why are you upset?’ Kyson mindlinks.

‘I’ve lost Tyson!’ I admit while frantically searching the gardens. Tandi scans all the cubby holes surrounding the castle.

‘All guards, look out for Tyson, Gannon, and Abbie’s son,’ Kyson yells across the link.

‘What about Tyson?’ Gannon booms through the link. Dustin answers him while Kyson continues talking to me.

‘I’m on my way back, love. We found Larkin’s empty car,’ he tells me, and I’m about to ask what he means when Tandi calls out.

“He isn’t inside in the kitchens or laundry. I checked the cellar too,” she says, an edge of panic in her voice.

“I just don’t get why he would run off,” I say just as he reaches me.

“We’ll find him. He couldn’t have gone far,” Tandi tells me, looking around, trying to reassure me. The storm has really picked up. The clouds close in and take the light with them as thunder booms loudly and lightning streaks the sky with flashes of light.

“He was right here, though. He was right here, tugging my shirt, looking at them...”

“The ducks!” I blurt, my eyes going to the stables. The ducks are no longer on the little hill above the stables, and my heart flutters in my chest.

“The lake!” I shriek in panic as I take off toward the stables. I rush to the narrow path and look down toward the lake and small pier. I can’t see him anywhere when Tandi nudges me.

“There!” she says, pointing toward the stables where the ducks are huddled outside the stable doors.

My eyes widen, and I dash down the path toward the stables.

The wind whips my hair around my face as I reach the bottom just as thunder rumbles across the sky followed by the deafening crack of lightning.

The ducks squawk and quack, flapping their wings as I step through them.

I rush into the stables, almost slipping, catching myself on the stable door as I turn and peer inside.

Relief floods me when I see Tyson chasing a baby duck between the stalls.

He has it cornered and is trying to coax it out with a piece of straw.

“Tyson!” I breathe in relief, clutching my chest. My heart races so hard I think I might have a heart attack. At the sound of his name, he looks over his shoulder.

“Du, Du,” he cackles with laughter.

“Yes, duck, duck,” I chuckle as Tandi walks in behind me.

“There you are, little man. Gave us a fright,” she says, as I scoop him up off the filthy floor. The horses become spooked and start carrying on. Hay is blowing around the stables from the open doors, making the wind whistle loudly.

“Come on, we should get back before this storm hits. It won’t be long before the rains pelt down,” Tandi says as the wind chimes and buckets clang noisily, and the rafters creak, the tin roof groaning under the wind. The horses’ hooves on the floor are loud as we make our way back out.

“Du, Du,” Tyson says, squirming in my arms, wanting to catch the petrified baby duck.

“No, we can play later. Don’t you want to see mummy?” I ask him when we hear a bang.

“Heeelp!”

I stop looking back into the stables at the spooked horses.

“Did you hear that?” I ask Tandi. She looks around but shakes her head, and we head toward the doors.

“Help!” I hear the sound of choking coughs as we draw nearer to the last stall before the doors. I stop again, looking at the spooked horse inside.

“I heard that!” Tandi says before we hear a loud banging noise thump again. The horse jumps and goes up on its back legs, knocking down some bales of hay that were stacked on top of each other in there with the horse, which I find a little odd.

“Help!” a voice croaks again before rapid, loud coughing.

“Tanner?” I call out, thinking I recognize the voice. Tandi opens the gate of the stall, causing the horse to rush past us. We barely jump back in time as it barges out of the stables and into the storm.

“Damn it!” Tandi curses, trying and failing to stop it.

“One of the guards will grab her,” I tell her.

“Down here!” A barking cough comes, and Tandi turns to look at the floor and the giant floor-to-ceiling stack of hay that covers the entire rear wall.

“Tanner? Is that you?” I yell out.

“Who is Tanner?” Tandi asks, kicking the hay around to see if he has fallen over in the ruined stall.

“The gardener and one of the stable hands,” I tell her when the coughing gets louder, and Tandi looks behind the bales of hay on the far wall of the stall when she steps on something hollow. She stomps her foot down, and I peer into the stall.

She bends down and sweeps her hand across the floor.

“Down here,” comes the barking noise again, and Tandi sweeps her hand furiously.

“Larkin?” she yells, and I place Tyson down to help her.

‘We can’t find him! Where did you go, Azalea?’ Trey calls through the mindlink.

‘We found him,’ I quickly tell him, having forgotten with all the noise and becoming distracted. I gasp when Tandi hits a handle and looks at me. “Is that a trapdoor?” I whisper to her, forgetting about Trey in my head.

Tandi pulls it, but it doesn’t budge. “Here, help me,” she groans, and I grab the other handle, and together we rip it open. I fall on my ass, tripping over one of the fallen hay bales. Tandi jumps back as it flings open.

“Ah, thank the Goddess!” Come Larkin’s croaky voice.

“Larkin?” Tandi says, peering down into the trapdoor. I get to my hands and knees and peek into the trapdoor, finding blue and purple lights. Larkin is tied to a chair that has fallen over. All around him are rows and rows of potted plants beneath the lights on tables. I sniff the air.

“Wolfsbane,” I whisper. My eyes widen at what I see, and I open the mindlink to report to Trey, Liam, and Dustin.

‘Trey, we found...’ I begin before everything goes dark. Pain rattles across my head, and it feels like everything slows down.

One second, I am peering into the trapdoor. Next, I am on the ground, my eyes zoned out as my head hits the floor when a shovel clunks loudly next to my head.

My ears ring loudly, and I can feel the trickle of blood slowly sliver into my vision as it drips from where I was hit.

Tyson, I can vaguely hear, is screaming, yet despite being near me, his voice sounds distant. I try to make sense of what happened before Tandi screams, and I blink, fighting to stay conscious, when she is shoved into the trapdoor, and the lid is slammed shut.

“Just like that bitch, Marissa! Just gotta stick your nose where it doesn’t belong!

” I hear an angry voice. The mindlink opens, and the last thing I hear is Kyson’s panicked voice when someone grabs the scruff of my shirt, fisting it below my chin.

Is that Tanner? The figure lifts me before I see his fist fly toward my face, and darkness swallows me.

I swallow, my tongue feels thick in my mouth, and my arms hang limply by my head.

I turn my head, looking around to find myself upside down over Tanner’s shoulder, and we are deep within the woods.

The mindlink goes crazy when I hear shouting in the distance and smell the smoke from a fire somewhere.

The stables are on fire, and I hear people shouting. Tanner curses and mutters, trudging through the woods, and I remain silent when I hear his phone ringing.

‘Kyson!’ I murmur through the mindlink, barely able to hold a conscious thought. My head is pounding like a drum, my skin laced in goosebumps from the dropping temperature.

‘Where are you, Azzy?’ he rushes out.

‘Woods. Tanner,’ I murmur. My consciousness wanes, and I feel queasy and so heavy as I sway with each step he takes.

“What else did you expect me to do? Just meet me at the tunnels! The plan can still go ahead! The hunters are already on their way. This changes nothing!” I hear Tanner yell at someone on the phone before darkness sweeps over me once again.