It’s much easier to move over the mountain and through the trees as a wolf. Rune is ahead of me, just blundering through everything, making an easy to follow path for us. He keeps Phoenix and Kit protected on his back by folding his wings over them, his skin hard as stone, so nothing can get through.
‘Apart from the venom on the fae blades,’ my wolf helpfully reminds me. Yeah, apart from that. My wolf is still very unimpressed with all the crap that the venom did to our bodies. But he also feels eager, ready to fight. I have to keep reminding him that we need to get to the fae king before we can go ‘rip and tear’ anyone, no matter how much we both want to do it.
Behind us, some of the rebels also changed into their animal forms, a couple of them having offered others a ride on their back. Their shifted forms, while impressive, aren’t anywhere near as large as we are.
Overhead, a succubus dives low, flying up next to Kit, who glares at her, irritated, before he nods, then she comes over to us.
“The heart of the forest is close.” I don’t immediately recognise her, but her voice sounds familiar.
“Aura? I didn’t know you were with us.” Litha’s voice sounds surprised, but also relieved. “I thought you were with Aideen and the kids.”
“Ehhh...” That doesn’t sound good.
“Where’s Aideen?” Seems Litha has the same feeling as me. “And where are the kids?”
“The kids are safe, still back at the house. Aideen’s grandma is with them.”
“And Aideen?” Litha moves on my back, leaning forward, like she’s trying to get closer to the succubus.
“Back of the group. Trying to stay out of her brother’s way. As was I... As I am now. Later.” And I hear her fly off.
Fucking hell. I guess I knew those two wouldn’t stay behind, but to have them here with us... Sure, we need all the help we can get. But those girls, will they even be ready?
Rune stops and Kit and Phoenix slide off his back. The forest feels different here, full of magic, old magic. Very powerful magic.
Finn helps Litha off my back, and when I shift back, he hands me my clothes. “Thanks.” It’s always a little easier when the junk doesn’t dangle all free when you’re pushing your way through a forest, or fighting people with stabby things.
I go over to Rune, who’s standing really still, Litha’s hand on his back. We all wait, wait for him to tell us what to do, wait for him to be done. We don’t have much time, but whatever Rune can tell us will help us save time later.
Rune shifts back too, taking Litha’s hand and holding it to his chest as he looks back at us. “East of here, at the edge of the forest, a tower is hidden in the mountain. It should be easy to reach, if a couple of earth dragons make a tunnel towards it.”
“That’s too far.” I shake my head. “There has to be a better way, a faster way. Going there, trying to find the magical centre and then return here through a maze of tunnels, it takes too long.”
Rune lets out a slow breath. “The place the fae king is trying to get to isn’t something visible, like a source or a fountain or something. It’s a magical location. Up here, where we’re standing, is as strong as below. The only difference is that we’re here, and the fae king is going to be down there. He’s hidden from us like this. He can do his ritual at any time he likes, and we’re not able to stop him from here. We need to get to him.”
The dragon from before comes closer. “We can go down from here. Straight down.”
Rune shakes his head resolutely. “It’s not safe. I can’t keep the walls from collapsing in on us. No. Too dangerous.”
“How about if you have five earth dragons to help you out?” The guy looks back and four more people step forward, two women and two guys, ranging in age from high school age to about as old as my parents. “Would it be safe then?”
Rune looks over to me and I nod, we don’t have another choice. We need to get down there the fastest way we can, and this definitely sounds faster than trying to go all the way over to the mountain range again and then try and find some tower...
“Fine,” Rune grumbles, his gaze grim. “We’ll make a bubble around the group and go straight down from here.”
Of course, a bubble sounds easy, but I don’t really expect it to be, not with the way Rune is looking.
It’s severely claustrophobic in here. We’re all squished together in a ‘bubble’ that Rune and the other dragons are keeping up. Rune is moving the ground below us to the sides, while the other dragons are pushing it up the sides and create a roof for us, which they also keep from collapsing in on us. Yeah, Rune would not have been able to do this on his own, with the six of them it’s hard enough already.
I’m holding Litha, Kit is on her other side, and Finn and Phoenix are close by. Topaz got really angry when he saw Aideen in the back of the group, but he agreed that he couldn’t leave her behind or send her back, both options not safe enough. So, now Aideen and Aura are standing on my other side, very close together... When did that happen? Those two? I guess that stressful times like this bring out feelings in a lot of people.
Kit catches me looking at the girls and grins. “I’m not surprised.” He smirks, but then his face falls. “Let’s hope they get to spend more than the next hours together.”
“Let’s hope we get to spend more time than the last couple of weeks together.” Litha’s voice is low and she moves slightly. “I think we’re almost there. The magic feels different now. We’re no longer on our own. There’s other magic around.”
“How did we not know there was a whole town under the campus?” I’m still trying to wrap my head around the knowledge. Sure, we already found out that the garden and the forest were in the same place, but how did we not know there was a whole damn town and castle?
“It was hidden on purpose. And why talk about something you’re trying to hide? Like many things, things people try to hide turn into legends and then people simply forget about them.” Phoenix turns and steps closer to Litha. “I agree, the magic is different here.”
Suddenly, we all stop and it’s deadly quiet for a couple of moments. One of the sides starts rumbling and an opening appears in the wall, opening out to a large cavern. The air in it is stale, dense, heavy, like nobody has been in here in a long time. But there are people here, as someone has lit lights around the place, and a group of people is standing in the middle of the cavern, staring at us. They look about ready to perform a ritual.
Well, I guess we were exactly on time...
Finn pushes forward, leaving our bubble first. His back is straight, his shoulders wide, and he walks like he owns the place, trying to exude as much royal power as he can. “Stop what you’re doing. Right now.” If anyone ever thought that this guy is too timid, they should see him now... Really... I almost want to stop breathing at his command.
“You think you’ve got any say here?” A man steps forward, his features so much like Finn’s that there’s no doubt who he is. “You’re no longer my son. Not since you chose their side, instead of staying with your family.”
Litha breaks from my arms, pushing through our group, and then steps out of the bubble too, her hair sparking with magic as it has broken free out of the bun, fire shimmering under her skin, her eyes almost on fire. “He is with his family. With his real family.” She takes Finn’s hand and his dad’s eyes go wide as he stares at her.
I push out of the bubble too, glad to be out of this small space, Rune, Kit and Phoenix with me, all walking up to them, joining them, showing that we’re with them, no matter what. Behind me, I hear the others follow us too.
Now I’m further into the cavern, I can see that Finn’s dad is definitely not on his own. Apart from the witches he needs for the ritual, he’s got a couple of guards standing around, and at the back of the cavern, where he probably came into this place, there are even more soldiers. The ones at the entrance are standing in the shadows, but because of my wolf, I can still see them in the low light.
Fucking hell. We’re a group of thirty, at most, and this guy has twice that many soldiers with him, and probably more standing guard further out, beyond my sight.
Finn’s dad laughs. It’s cold, sending shivers down my spine. This man... “You think a group of teenagers is going to stop me? A group of kids? No. The fae are the better race. Stronger, smarter, more sophisticated. We deserve to be in charge of those inferior people. Humans who turn into beasts are no better than beasts.”
“You know...” Litha’s voice travels through the cavern as she takes a step forward. “You just sound like a bad guy from a movie or book. Do you not have a better reason than ‘I feel superior, so I get to decide what happens’?”
“Oh, little girl.” Finn’s dad steps forward and Finn and I step between him and Litha. “You don’t understand the world of adults, that’s for sure. Those who have superior money, intelligence and connections are just better. They should be the ones in charge, not those... creatures.” He sneers as he looks at me, and then his eyes go to the other wolves and dragons in the group. “But that doesn’t matter. Not back then, and not now. There will never be a witch queen again, just like there won’t be a dragon, werewolf or incubus king again.” His eyes go from Litha, to Rune, to me and finally to Kit, making my skin crawl and I’m not sure if it’s because my wolf wants to bite his head off or if it’s from his words. “The time for those primitives is over, real power will be for us. For those who deserve it, the fae.”
“No. It won’t.” Litha pushes at my back and I move to the side so she can walk past me. “The future is not going to be dominated by one tyrant telling everyone what they’re supposed to be doing, it’s going to be about love and kindness and helping each other. It’s time that we stop putting people into different kingdoms just because they’ve been born a werewolf or a succubus, or whatever, it’s time to stop splitting them up. It’s time that we all come together and work at making this world a better place. Love each other, instead of fighting each other. War only ruins, love creates.” She’s standing strong, and I sense the way people around us agree with her, but Finn’s dad just laughs, a cold and harsh laugh, without any kindness in it.
“You’re even more childlike than I thought you were, if you think that will ever work.” Finn’s dad steps back and I watch as he steps into the ritual circle, one of the witches quickly closing it before we can stop them. “But it won’t matter, not for long. When I’m done here, none of that matters anymore. Because you won’t be here anymore.”