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“WHERE THE FUCK IS LIAM?” A high-pitched scream pierced through the air, and the sound echoed in Ciara’s head.
She hissed.
“If you so much as—”
“Fuck.” The soft curse passing Ciara’s lips was enough to silence the brightly lit room.
Ciara heard wood creak under someone’s foot.
“You’d better stay still, or I’m killing you right there.” Iris’s voice.
Ciara frowned, fighting to open her eyes. She reached to touch the soft material beneath her. Was it a duvet?
She forced her eyes open, staring at a painted ceiling. Wood, painted dark brown.
“Ciara.” Relieved male voice.
“Stay still!” Snappy, high-pitched female voice.
Ciara forced herself up. “What the—”
“Stay down.” Iris’s voice softened, her eyes on Ciara.
“No, I need to—”
“You fucking passed out.” Iris shook her head, as if she could hardly believe what Ciara had done.
“Wait. Did you...” Ciara’s eyes flew to Theo, who stood near the wall with his hands up in a sign of surrender. Her eyes scanned his body, even more so his leg. There was no glass shard anymore. Only a hole in his jeans with something white peeking through.
“Yes, I treated him. You said he was hurt. Did you mean this murderer or—”
“I meant Theo.” Ciara struggled to keep a blank face. After all, Iris had helped her—and Theo. It wasn’t time to argue with the woman.
“And where the fuck is Liam?” Iris raised her voice again. “Something is going on. They are holding his family somewhere for their safety, and you disappeared with Liam. Where the fuck is he?”
“Are you sure she’s an ex?” Theo asked Ciara, having the worst possible timing.
“You shut up now!” Iris raised her wand, pointing the tip at Theo.
“Stop!” Ciara hurried up from the bed. Her feet turned out to be more wobbly than she expected, and she had to grip onto the bed for support.
Theo rushed past Iris—and her wand—and helped Ciara back onto the bed. But she remained sitting, refusing to lie down.
“How long was I out?”
Iris crossed her arms. “I was about to call Kellan to tell you’re in a coma. It’s the next evening.”
“It’s been about thirteen hours since the cabin,” Theo clarified. Vancouver and London were in different time-zones after all.
“Thirteen?” Ciara shrieked, eyes widening.
“Where is Liam?”
“That’s a freaking fantastic question.” Ciara breathed out, shuddering at the thought of all the possibilities.
Was Liam even alive?
Iris’s eyes widened, and she pointed her wand back at Theo. “If you tell me he—”
“Theo didn’t do anything! We were ambushed. The last time I saw Liam, we were in Canada and—”
“Canada?” Iris shrieked. “And you flew back home without him?”
“We didn’t fly back.” Theo narrowed his eyes at Iris.
“Then how...”
“I told you,” Theo gritted his teeth, “she tired herself.”
The words sank in, and Iris’s eyes grew wide. “Blimey, Ciara. That’s...a lot.”
“I’m fine.”
Ciara tried to stand up, but both Theo’s and Iris’s hands pushed her down. The two shared a look at their simultaneous reaction.
She sighed—or half-growled—in frustration. “We need to find Liam!”
“You can barely stand,” Iris said. “How do you think you’ll do that?”
“She’s right. Surprisingly.” Theo’s eyes stayed on Ciara, even when he talked about Iris.
“I’ll stab you with the fucking—”
“Stop! Stop! We need to find Liam. Can you two stop bickering for a second?”
“This is the last time I help him,” Iris warned, eyeing Theo.
“Can we just focus on the issue?” Ciara snapped at her.
Liam could be dead. The witch hunters could be torturing him. But Ciara prayed he was safe. She hadn’t meant to leave him behind. She had wanted to go back.
“We need to go to the cabin.” Ciara glanced at Theo, her eyes filled with a desperate plea.
“The hell we do. It’s not safe.”
“What if he’s dead and—”
“Dead?” Iris spat out. First her eyes widened, but the worry swapped into rage within a second. She spun around to face Theo. “If you—”
Theo narrowed his eyes at Iris. “I didn’t do shit to him.”
“The witch hunters attacked us.”
“He is one of them!” Iris jabbed a finger into Theo’s face.
His jaw clenched, and he pushed Iris’s hand away from him. “You don’t know anything, so shut up and listen for once.”
“Theo had nothing to do with what happened.” Ciara struggled to keep her calm. There was pounding in her ears. It had to be from the frustration. She was already tired of Iris—even if she had helped her and Theo.
“Yet the witch hunters have Liam.” Iris rolled her eyes and then narrowed them—this time at Ciara. “He should’ve never got involved with you.”
“Whatever you say.” Ciara’s hand clenched into a fist. The moment she realised, she released it. “We don’t even know if they have him. He might have made it out of there.”
“So, what’s the plan now?” Iris asked, crossing her arms across her chest.
“We need to go to Canada.”
“How?” Theo frowned. “They know witch hunters are a threat again with everything that happened. The flights and everything will be under surveillance.”
“I can do the same as—”
“No!” both Theo and Iris yelled at Ciara.
“What choice do we have?” Ciara’s voice raised, panic picking up on her. Liam had been gone for hours. Anything could have happened.
“You’ll kill yourself.” Surprisingly, it was Iris who said it.
“Like you care.”
“I care about Liam, and he cares about you. You know the drill.” Iris pursed her lips together.
“I don’t have a better plan.” And I need to find Liam.
Darker scenarios of Liam’s fate entered Ciara’s mind, and the surrounding voices faded close to nothing. She had already lost Josh. The moment of death repeated in her head. Only this time it wasn’t Josh; it was Liam.
Ciara jumped up from the bed, running for the bathroom. Except she didn’t know where the bathroom was. Picking the door by luck, she found it.
Next she was hurling her guts up, trying to hold her hair up. The acidic scent filled her nostrils, making the nausea worse.
“I’ve got it.” Theo’s hands gathered her hair, keeping it away from her face.
“Thanks.” She gagged, but nothing came up this time.
“Yeah, teleportation is out of the question,” Iris said, remaining in the doorway.
“Then I’m going to fly there.” Ciara’s hands shook, and her vision blurred from the sides, but she didn’t throw up again.
“Kellan has an inside search on you. They are monitoring places like airports, so you have to explain everything to them first.”
Ciara wiped her mouth and moved to the sink to freshen up. “So not an option.”
“Unless you ditch the ex.”
“Also not an option.”
“Fine. Pay for my flights, and I’ll go find Liam.”
Ciara frowned, eyeing the other woman carefully. “You serious?”
“Yes.” Iris smiled. “Do you want mouthwash before I go?”
“That’d be nice.”