Chapter 29

 

 

Adrianna kept an eye on Evalle and Tristan as Isak handed throwaway ponchos to his mother and the boys, more for warmth now than rain. He was acting calm, but Adrianna hadn’t missed the sick look of worry in his eyes as he assessed his mother’s condition.

Kit was tough, but playing foster mom to a pair of teenage witches had not prepared her for being held hostage by preternaturals.

They were a whole different level of predator.

Still, she and the boys seemed to be okay.

Adrianna turned back to observe Evalle and Tristan walking through the group toward the tomb. Those men were clearly connected to the ones who’d attacked Beladors and Medb in Midtown.

How did she know that?

From the familiar buzzing that had begun vibrating overhead. She would tell Isak that, once he realized his mother was going to survive.

The twin known as Kellman walked over to Adrianna. He said “We have to get them out of there.”

She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring look. “I know, but they have a plan. We’re waiting here for them.”

“It won’t work.”

Isak, his mother and the other twin walked up. Isak asked, “What makes you think it won’t work when you don’t know what it is?”

Kellman asked, “Do Evalle and Tristan plan to teleport out of there?”

“Yes.”

“You hear that buzzing?”

Adrianna closed her eyes. “Yes. It’s the fog dome.”

“What’s buzzing?” Isak asked. Kit’s eyebrows were drawn in question as well.

Kardos, the usually cocky twin who had been uncharacteristically quiet, joined them. “I doubt humans can hear it, but Kellman’s right. Lorwerth says only his Laochra Fola can use power inside their dome.”

Before Isak asked another question, Kellman intuitively explained, “Laochra Fola are the men with Lorwerth, that tall, black-haired guy. I’ve never seen anyone use kinetics and talk telepathically the way Beladors do, but those Laochra Fola can do it.”

Adrianna added, “We fought them yesterday in Atlanta. Now some things make sense. I think they can link their powers like Beladors do as well.”

“What dome?” Isak still couldn’t figure out what the nonhumans were talking about.

Adrianna took mercy on him. “It appears those men have some form of energy field. It was cloaking them this morning in Midtown and the only indication we had of where they were when the cloaking worked was a buzzing, like a bunch of bees. The minute the energy fell apart, the buzzing stopped and they were exposed.” She snapped her fingers. “The rain!”

Her sixth sense had been spot on.

The boys were nodding. Kellman said, “They need the rain to control the energy domes. That’s why it’s foggy in this area even though we can hear a thunderstorm going on outside of it.”

Adrianna exchanged a look with Isak that said they might just be on the same page for once.

They couldn’t leave Evalle and Tristan.

Isak touched his ear. “Alpha Tiger to Romeo, come back.” He repeated it.

Adrianna didn’t have to ask to know Isak had lost communication with his team. She’d already discovered her mobile phone had no signal even though they weren’t that far from local towers.

She suggested, “Why don’t you take these three to your truck and contact Quinn. He’ll bring in an army of Beladors.”

“What about you?”

Now he was concerned about her? The strange nonhuman?

She waved him off. “I’ll be fine. I need to stay in case I can help Evalle and Tristan.”

Isak looked like he wanted to say something, but not with an audience. She couldn’t help him with that, but she wanted to allow for a future conversation to clear up some bad feelings. “Once you get them to the truck and call in reinforcements, why don’t you and your cavalry come back here, Isak?”

Her mouth curved up on one side in the start of a smile to let him know all was not lost after all.

Not unless he said something supremely stupid.

“I can’t leave you.”

That jump-started her deflated heart, but she wanted the humans out of this mess. The boys were more human than supernatural at this point, because they weren’t trained. “I have cloaking. I can hide in the middle of an army. Go. Really. I’ll be fine.”

Not entirely convinced, he offered his blaster to her. “Keep this.”

“I’m no good with that.” She shook her head and pulled out her hand, opening her fingers to expose the ball of Witchlock energy. “But I’m deadly with this.”

The twins were duly impressed. She feared they might bow down to her any minute.

Kit cocked an eyebrow. “Fascinating.”

Still clearly torn over leaving her, he ran a hand over his soaked hair, pushing water out, and muttered, “Shit.”

She shouldn’t feel happy over his moment of worry about her after the way he’d acted earlier, but the more she was around him the more she realized he wouldn’t intentionally hurt her.

He just didn’t realize the damage he was capable of doing with nothing more than his words and attitude after she’d opened her heart to him.

Feeling charitable now that Kit and the boys were safe, Adrianna could give Isak a chance to make up for how he’d behaved earlier. That chance would require time and heavy groveling, but hey, an alpha male should be up to the task.

Tilting her head in the direction of the truck, she hurried them along. “You better get going.”

He hesitated once more, earning him another point for caring, then he looked at his mother. She’d not uttered a word of complaint in spite of looking as if she’d been put through a wringer. The boys didn’t look much better, but they were young and witches.

Didn’t matter.

Untrained witches and a human had been cornered prey in the middle of preternaturals who had almost killed Quinn. That was a sobering thought to keep with her as she waited alone.

Isak led his flock into the woods and had been gone only a few minutes when she heard bodies crashing through evergreen bushes, heading her way.

The strange sound of Isak’s blaster zoomed over and over.

Adrianna turned, holding her Witchlock energy in front of her, prepared to meet the enemy. She told her power, “I know you can handle this. I just don’t know about my part.”

Isak’s deep voice yelled out, “Cloak yourself now!”

The humming overhead cranked up until the sound of a thousand bees buzzed around her, but there wasn’t an insect in sight. She could feel the vibration racing over her skin, fighting against her majik.

She lost a half a second in surprise, but lifted a hand to toss up her cloaking ... that didn’t happen. She looked at the spinning ball of energy and ordered, “Cloak me now!”

The buzzing dulled, the sound warping in and out like a bad radio connection. She whispered, “Witchlock?”

Kit and the boys raced toward Adrianna with Isak at their backs, shooting his blaster in every direction. Kit skidded to a stop, sucking air in and out as hard as she could. She and the boys stared at Adrianna with open-mouthed shock.

Adrianna wasn’t sure if her powers would work in this buzzing if she stayed hidden, and from the looks on their faces, the cloaking couldn’t be working. That was on her for lack of experience with the ancient power. If she survived this, she’d devote even more time to forming a bond with Witchlock and learning the intricacies of wielding it.

Isak stumbled backwards into their area. He turned to her. “We can’t make it out past those things.”

She was too busy trying to figure out how they could escape to take offense at his calling nonhumans ‘things.’ “I’ll try cloaking all of us, then we can walk out.”

Kardos popped off. “If that was your cloaking a minute ago, it only made you translucent. It didn’t hide you.”

Just as she’d thought.

But if she couldn’t hide herself, she couldn’t hide all five of them for sure. “Then we’re going to have to fight our way out.”

Isak was heaving deep breaths from his run back. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. I had to dive out of the way when the blaster bounced back at me.”

Kellman shoved a hand past Adrianna, pointing at the camp. “Look.”

She turned around to see Tristan stretched between two trees. From the look on his face, they were doing something painful to him.

Adrianna said, “Everyone stay here. I’m going after them.”

“No.”

She turned to Isak and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t ever think to tell me what I can and can’t do. As you stated so clearly earlier, I’m a nonhuman. This is not your area, but mine.”

He sighed. “I’m not doubting you, Adrianna, but what will happen if you use that power and it boomerangs?”

She felt energy moving toward them.

Those things, as Isak put it, were coming at them from the woods. They were herding the five of them toward the camp and she had no way to stop them without harming everyone inside the energy field.

She had one more idea for cloaking them, but she’d have to use what she’d learned as a Sterling witch and they wouldn’t be able to move undetected.

And she had sworn never to tap the dark majik.