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CHAPTER 13

T hey were still on the castle steps when Kat’s hackles rose. Jared returned them as promised, and ominous vibes poured from the closed double doors. He clutched his cookie container close to his chest as if it could protect him with its buttery goodness.

“Something is wrong.” He didn’t know if the scent in the air or the unnatural stillness of a castle that should have people moving about tipped him off, but his skin itched, and his inner cat’s hackles were raised.

“There’s evil magic here,” Jared confirmed.

Rance shuddered. “Evil nature magic.”

Kat barely heard Rance’s words over the thudding of his heart. “Can you tell what kind?” Nature magic wasn’t a tiny area of magic. It encompassed many fields. None of which should be this corrupt.

“Dryad magic,” Rance continued. “It’s not from my Grove. It’s something else.”

“Great,” Jared muttered.

“I don’t like this,” Kat whispered.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

“Take Rance. I’m not leaving Xavier.” If his mate were in the middle of this, he wouldn’t leave until he knew Xavier was safe.

“I’m not leaving Xavier either,” Jared snapped.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Rance folded his arms across his chest. “If it’s nature magic, I’m going. I’ll be of more help than either of you.”

“Great. Let’s all go into the scary castle together!” Kat was done with this conversation. He stormed through the heavy wooden door, then stopped. A lone girl stood in the foyer, her eyes wide and silver. “The dungeons are fraught with the one who longs for death and destruction. Go with love in your heart. or you will lose everything.” Before they could ask any questions, she vanished.

“Well, if that wasn’t fucking terrifying, I don’t know what is,” Jared said.

“Agreed.” Kat shook his head to knock away the fog that had begun to fill his thoughts. “Rance, I don’t suppose you’d be willing to wait here?”

“Alone?” Rance scanned the empty, foreboding castle around them. “I don’t think so.”

“Fair enough.” Kat didn’t feel comfortable abandoning the teen in the courtyard despite asking.

“Shall we head to the source? I have a feeling that’s where everyone is hiding.” Jared headed for the closest staircase.

Kat pulled out his phone and texted Xavier, letting him know they had arrived. He waited a minute, but he wasn’t surprised when he didn’t get a response.

Rance looked over his shoulder. “Nothing?”

“No.”

“To the dungeon then,” Jared said. “That’s where the dryads are being kept.”

The path downward was terrifying in its emptiness. Not one soul appeared in the halls, and no other sound broke the echoing of their steps. The air stank of twisted things that had best not be mentioned or thought of out loud.

After ten minutes of descending staircases, they reached a section where the stone was rougher, the air was dangerous, and the magic swirled uneasily the closer they came.

“There.” Rance pointed to a bloody footprint. Not one that could’ve been made by a human foot. Too wide, too long, and misshapen, it spoke of unnatural things.

“Do you want to stay here? We can put you in one of these rooms.” Frantic over bringing the teen into danger, Kat opened a random door. A trio of teenage boys were frozen, their eyes wide with terror. Nothing else appeared wrong with them.

Kat slammed the door.

Rance cleared his throat. “Yeah, I don’t think I want to wait there. I’d rather go with you two.”

“I-I can understand that.” Kat wasn’t sure he should be going downstairs, but he wasn’t leaving this castle without his mate.

“Xavier will be fine.” Jared squeezed Kat’s shoulder. “He’s tough.”

“He told me he’s not a fighter,” Kat protested.

“No one is a fighter until they have to fight.” Jared walked in front as they foolishly continued to follow the frightening footprints. “And he’s been trained even if he never uses his skills.”

“Why do I think we’re heading into the monster’s lair?” Rance asked.

“Because we are,” Jared and Kat said together.

At the top of another staircase, the castle shook.

“What’s happening?” Rance grabbed a handrail to stay on his feet.

Kat stumbled before grabbing the wall. “I don’t know. We don’t get earthquakes.”

“Nothing good.” Was Jared’s comforting answer. “We better hurry.”

“Why would they put dryads underground? It’s making me itch.” Rance absently scratched his arm while giving the stone walls a disgruntled frown.

“To keep the dryad magic suppressed, if I was going to guess,” Jared said.

A wave of malevolent magic swarmed up the stairs in a foggy cloud.

Kat made a squeaky sound more suited to a mouse than a mountain lion. He blushed red at Jared’s amused expression. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” Jared held up his hands in defense.

“Are we continuing?” Rance paused at the top of the stairs.

“Yes. Stay close to Jared. I’ll be right behind you.” Kat wasn’t leaving until they found his mate.

They might have to take Rance with them, but they would protect him the best they could.

At the bottom of the stairs, pulsing gray-black vines lined the walls like smoky sludge.

“What the fuck is this?” Jared whispered.

The trio stayed carefully in the middle, away from the scary vines.

“Someone twisted nature,” Rance said, his face pale and eyes wide. “Corrupted it.”

Kat swallowed to keep the bile down. What would a person have to do to reach this level of corruption? How hollow and sick must they be inside?

“Welcome, guests.” A smooth, pleasant man’s voice echoed down the hall. It is more eerie for its friendliness amid the horror.

“I don’t feel particularly welcome,” Jared replied.

“Come join the others,” the voice invited.

Kat had never felt less like entering a hallway in his life.

“Kat, run!” Xavier’s voice sealed Kat’s determination.

No one was going to harm his mate!

With purposeful strides and terror in his heart, Kat marched through the vine-covered corridor, avoiding Jared’s hand when he reached out to grab him.

“Don’t,” he hissed. “I’m not letting them have my mate.”

They ended up in front of a row of cells, where the same scary vines that covered the walls wrapped around people instead.

“Mother!” Rance cried out.

Ah, these must be the dryads. They all had grayer skin than could be healthy even for another species.

“I told you to run.” Xavier’s faint voice had Kat’s focus snapping over to his mate.

Held apart from the others, thick vines wrapped Xavier from chest to toe, unable to move more than his head.

“Darling, you know I’d never leave you.” Kat blew him a kiss.

“Nice to see love alive.” The voice they’d followed into this hellscape didn’t match the man before them. Man is a relative term when humanoid might be a better definition. His skin had a bark-like texture, black and peeling like the vines lining the stone around them.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Blight.” The being grinned.

“Sounds like a supervillain name,” Rance snarked.

“Aww, the little branch has spice,” he mocked. “I was once like you. Do they call you names, too? My darling little sister has always been a bitch.” He waved a hand, and a vine around one of the women started whipping back and forth, shaking her like a rag doll. “Octavia has always thought she was better than me because she’s a woman, or as she calls herself, a real nymph. She ran away to an entirely different forest after she poisoned me, turning me into this. Imagine her horror when your leader grew a boy.” His smile was filled with sharp white teeth shaped like thorns.

“What do you want with us?” Talula asked.

“What I wanted all along. A Grove of my own where I can be king.” His cheerful, empty smile sat wrong on his face like a mimicry of genuine emotions. “Unfortunately, you need a Green Man to create a new Grove, and as you can see, I’m no longer green,” he smirked. “Luckily, this one is now old enough to help me out.“

“Shit,” Kat swore softly. They had walked Rance into a trap.

“You’re a monster!” Octavia screamed.

“I’m what you made me.”

A loud crack echoed in the room as the vines holding Octavia crumbled. She fell to the ground, motionless.

Kat covered his mouth to hold back a scream.

Rance threw up on the floor.

“You’ll have to toughen up to be a Green Man. Only the strong can channel all that magic, or maybe not. I could just take you over.” He scratched his cheek. The sound of wood scraping echoed in the cavernous room. “Yes, that’s a much better plan,” he announced in the same cheerful tone.

“You can’t have my son,” Talula growled.

“Don’t worry, Dear, I don’t just want him. I’ll eventually want you all. I can’t have a Grove with no other dryads.” He leered at her, leaving no question about what he wanted them for.

“There’s no room in the Grove for someone like you,” she sneered, her eyes cold. “We won’t bow to a self-proclaimed king.”

“You’ll change your mind once your son’s life is on the line. You will submit to me, or I will destroy him. I’ve been a lone tree for a long time. I can be one again.”

Maybe that explained his madness, or perhaps he’d always been that way. Kat didn’t care. It was time to distract him until Xavier could intercede. He might not be much of a fighter, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t.

“I’ll never help you,” brave and stupid Rance proclaimed.

“Shush,” Kat hissed. Stupidly brave teenagers needed to stay quiet. Blight would hesitate to harm Rance, but he wouldn’t be as careful with everyone else.

“You will, or I’ll kill her.” Blight's vines grew thicker around them, and the corrupted magic hung heavier. In response to his anger, free tendrils of the vines whipped around. Kat watched as one of them scratched Xavier’s face, just enough for one drop of blood to slide down his cheek and onto the vine holding him hostage.

Kat bit his lip to hold back a shout of encouragement.

Distraction time.

Snow magic was more flexible than people thought. Because snow was crystallized water, and ice could shatter things. While Blight monologued, Kat focused on freezing the vines wrapped around Xavier. His mate must’ve felt the vines becoming colder because he nodded at Kat when the vines iced over.

“Now!” Jared shouted before transforming into a Chimera and spitting fire at Blight from his lion mouth.

The vines caught fire.

Blight screamed.

Xavier took the chance to shatter the vines surrounding him. He landed hard. Kat winced at the snapping sound that said nothing good about Xavier’s landing. Xavier slid his fingers across his cut cheek and pulled a knife out of nowhere. Without hesitation, he sliced open the palm of his left hand. While Jared distracted Blight, Xavier dripped blood on the floor. Seconds later, a loud crackling emitted from the remaining vines, shattering and freeing their prisoners. The cell bars exploded into dust.

With Blight’s attention still on putting out Jared’s fireballs, Talula grabbed her son and pulled Rance down the hall after her.

“No!” Blight grew fresh vines. Swiping Jared across the head, he sent him slamming into the wall.

Everything cascaded after that. Kat watched as the other dryads were quickly knocked unconscious. Kat whipped up a snowstorm, freezing the new branches as fast as they were formed, while Xavier kneeled on the ground, painting something with his blood. He couldn’t see what from where he stood between the angle and the growing blizzard.

“You think you can stop me!” Blight screamed. “I’ve been around since before you were even born!”

Kat tried to keep Blight distracted. Xavier would finish any second now. He was proud of how Xavier was doing until a vine cracked like a whip and stabbed through Kat’s chest.