Page 41 of The Tracker's Revenge

“I found you,” I said.

“You cheated. You need to fleet,” was his answer. Though, there was no relish in it, only relief.

He tried to extricate himself, but I held on tightly to his legs. There were two cuts in his forearm now, and blood streaked down to his hand, coating his fingers. Again, he tried to get free from my grip.

“Let go.” He shuffled his legs up and down.

“No. Not letting you go.” I was feeling a bit irrational, but I didn’t give a damn. He wasn’t about to disappear inside one of those mirrors again.

“Well, we’re not going to lay here on the floor all day, are we?”

“It doesn’t sound that bad to me.” Better than the alternative. “Thisnewtraining isn’t cutting it. I didn’t sign up to get traumatized.”

“Fine,” he said, then lunged to one side and reached for one of the mirrors. As soon as his fingers graced its frame, he was gone.

“No!”

I lay on the floor, hugging the air and blinking at an empty spot between my arms. Cursing, I jumped to my feet. I had half a mind to stomp out of the room and leave his ass to fend for himself. Except I couldn’t. Eric didn’t mess around. He was always dead serious, and I knew this was no different. I could feel it. He had upped the ante.

And the clock had reset to only five seconds now!

5, 4 ...

My first instinct was to start rushing all over the room, looking for him, like I’d done before, but I wasn’t a fan ofthird time's the charm, especially not in this case. I couldn’t rely on luck. So instead, I closed my eyes, doing my best to recall that tingling feeling that had rushed through my body at Packmind.

Anger had triggered it. Anger at Olivia, at the way she treated me. As soon as I pictured her face inside my mind, that same anger swelled within me.

You little haughty bitch!I found myself thinking, then, the next thing I knew, restless energy burst through my limbs, making my every cell feel as if it was having its own earthquake. My legs and arms started vibrating, and when my eyes sprang open, everything around me seemed fuzzy, like I was seeing it through water. I stared at my hands, flipping them palms up. They looked normal. Next, I lifted my eyes to the clock.

It was broken.

The seconds had stopped ticking. Or had they? I stared in concentration, waiting, waiting, waiting. I scratched my head, counting under my breath. A whole minute passed by. The seconds ticked down from four to three.

Witchlights, I’m doing it. I’m fleeting!

A lethargic voice, like someone speaking from the bottom of a swimming pool, reached my ears.

Was that Eric asking me to hurry up?

Snapping out of it, I rushed around the room on tingling legs, looking into every mirror. I kept glancing toward the clock. I’d checked one half of the room, and it still read three seconds, then I spotted Eric inside a silver-framed mirror.

Fleeting there, I pressed my hand to the glass surface, then whirled around to find Eric standing behind me. He looked like a stone statue, immobile, not even blinking. I shook my head and time went back to normal. The remaining two seconds ticked by in a flash.

Concerned, I scanned Eric’s arms and the rest of him. He had endured no additional cuts, and the two on his forearm were already healing. I breathed a sigh of relief.

His mouth tipped to one side with a smirk. “You did it.”

Without thinking, I jabbed a hand against his chest and shoved him hard. He staggered backward, his grin disappearing.

“Asshole,” I blurted out.

Anger flashed over his features, and I could feel Red gearing up for a fight. But he quickly shook himself and dismissed my assault with a wave of his hand.

“I guess I deserve that,” he said. “But it worked, so you can’t complain.”

I took a few deep breaths, willing Red to relax, to see the benefit in his messed-up scheme.

“It was probably stupid of me to worry.” I rubbed my neck. “It wasn’t like you were in any real danger.”