Page 85 of Jagged Souls

What if one of them manages to break through?

What if the whole cage is thrown off a cliff?

What if Rudy brings her out early because his torture is too much?

I need to get to hernow.

“Come,” I say, that single word vibrating with all my rage and pain and fear. I nod towards the garage and walk away from Leno, my legs heavy, my heart even more so. I’ve just had an idea, and it’s fucking crazy, but I have to try.

I’ll risk everything to get her back.

I turn to face my family. Maddox rubs at his eyes, his face red and raw. Enoch is looking to the sky, struggling to breathe. Ezriel is standing with his head down. Mother is looking behind her at Leno. Khalid’s the only one facing me. For a moment, I wonder if they can’t meet my eyes because they’re blaming me. I gave the order to go in.

He would be alive if I didn’t care about Micha enough to go get her. If I had taken the weeks it would have taken to properly plan a rescue, would it have made a difference?

My jaw tics as that weight crashes down on me, adding to all the other guilt on my shoulders. But I force myself to ignore it, to keep going despite the pain. If I break beneath it, I’ll never save my wife.

“Micha’s in the Plane of Monsters,” I say. “We can get her out before Rudy does, then turn the cage into a Trojan Horse.”

Maddox drops his hands. The others’ heads turn towards me, but there isn’t any hope on their faces. We have no idea how big that world is. Each brother opens up a different area when they access their etheric storage. The chances of Rudy’s spot being close enough to anyone else’s for me to cover the distance in three days is extremely low.

There aren’t any roads for me to take a car. A dirt bike would work, but the jungles might be too overgrown even for one of them, and any lakes or rivers in the way would fuck me. A helicopter will be attacked out of the skies by one of the flying beasts. An amphibious combat vehicle will be seen as a threat, and the monsters Mother brings out are the small ones, the ones she can control. She claims there are dragons there, and Olivia, the monster-sister who lives in our counter, is a runt. Her kind can cut through diamonds with their front claws, and they have the ability to phase short distances.

“Our magic doesn’t work there,” Mother says, her face grim. “We won’t be able to open the cage.”

“I can shift beforehand and grab her,” Maddox says, his voice cracked. “Other creatures can only put twelve percent of their body through the bars, but I left a loophole for me.”

So he could fuck Zita without ever letting her out of her prison. No wonder she betrayed us the first chance she got.

“And what will happen to Rudy if the cage is empty?” Mother asks softly.

My teeth press together hard. “They could just kill him after they get Micha too.” It changes nothing. His chances of survival if Antonio doesn’t want to play with him are low.

Extremely low.

My heart feels like it’s going to fucking explode, ripping my ribs wide open, letting all my organs pour out. Khalid catches my eye, holds it.

“They’ll attempt to breed him first,” he says, his tone flat but certain. “That’ll buy us some time.”

I nod.

Hold on to that hope.

Mother’s lips press into a thin line, then she’s opening up her shadows, swirling them beneath my feet. “You felt her when she was in West Virginia, so use that as a comparison to judge the distance. It needs to be half that strong for us to have a chance of getting to her in three days. Aleric has a… map of sorts. I’ll get him to bring it.”

I nod, hope building in my chest.

I’m pulled into the Plane of Monsters.

The bond instantly snaps into place.

A soft cry escapes me.

I close my eyes, wanting to drop to my knees as I feel her emotions coursing through me. She’s afraid. The monsters must be slamming against her cage, trying to reach inside. But she’s alive.

My girl’s alive, and I’m going to find her.

But the bond is too strong. Easily double what it was when she was up in West Virginia, meaning she’s further away. Too far for us to reach.