Chapter Twenty-Nine
Once we'd done our business with the fairy, we left her store and wandered back outside onto the plastic-looking lawn. We gathered around Puck again, the way we'd done before he'd taken us here. Just like last time, he started casting his spell, but then, seemingly for no reason, he stopped.
"Something wrong?" Aldrich asked.
Puck glanced at him, then shook his head. "I've taken some steps to ensure that this teleportation spell won't take me into dangerous situation. It would be unfortunate to land in the middle of a busy road. I quite like my head attached to my neck, you see."
"You do look better with your head attached," Aldrich agreed, "but I doubt there's a guillotine waiting for you in the living room of the safe house."
"Maybe not a guillotine, but the warning bells are going off." Puck looked to Jared. "You have any idea why your living room would suddenly have become dangerous?"
"How long have we been gone?" Jared asked.
"It's hard to tell," Puck said. "Time sometimes passes differently in pocket dimension. Perhaps a couple of hours."
Hours? Could we really have been gone that long? "Can you take us to some place near the house?" I asked, feeling Jared tense beside me. If something was happening to his family... We needed to be back there. My stomach clenched as a feeling of dread took over me.
What if someone had followed us back from the roof on the west-side? We hadn't thought to make sure that we weren't being followed. No, that was my fault, not Jared's or Remy's. I'd gone out to reunite with my coven. I'd been the one to draw their attention. Bile rose in the back of my throat.
I should have died on that roof after all.
A strong hand squeezed my shoulder. Jared. I exhaled and leaned into him, thinking back to how he'd rescued me. If his family was in danger now because of that...
I would do everything in my power to help.
"Let me recalibrate our destination," Puck said, and then he murmured something under his breath that I didn't understand. "Okay, hold hands. This should do it."
We did as instructed, and Puck started casting his spell anew. This time, nothing stopped him. The last thing I saw, as we started spinning and before my vision faded, were the worry lines on Jared's face.
* * *
Something was burning. That was my first thought once I had solid ground beneath my feet again. Something smelled like it was burning. Like the basement had smelled. I dreaded opening my eyes. I didn’t want to deal with reality, didn’t want to deal with another damn fire… but in the end, there was no denying what was happening.
We stood on the road outside the safe house, staring at the angry flames that had engulfed the building. Night had fallen hours ago, but the fire was bright enough to make it seem as if it were still the middle of the day, anyway.
Next to me, Jared stared wide-eyed.
"Holy shit," I heard Aldrich mutter. "I guess this is payback."
"We have to do something!" I urged, because that was Jared's family. Oh God, were they still in there? I raced ahead without waiting to see if the others were coming or not. The house looked as if it had been burning for a while. Either that, or the fire had been started by an explosion of something.
The smoke billowing off the burning wood made it hard to see, but as I drew near, I could make out human shapes on the front lawn. Thankfuck.There were four people in total. Four people and one infant. Collin, Talon, their son, Luke and Crimson.
Luke and Crimson were arguing among themselves. Collin was coughing badly. Talon had one arm slung around him, helping him stand at the same time that he was holding their child.
"Are there still people in there?" I asked.
Talon's eyes darted to me. "Elena and Remy."
Shit.
I looked behind me, but it was getting harder and harder to see. "You need to get out of the smoke," I told Talon.
"I know," he gave back, but I didn't pay him any more attention. He and his mate would be fine. It was the people still caught in the sea of flames that I was worried about.
Something whooshed past me. A cat. No, not a cat. Aldrich in his animal form, dashing into the house.
Copying the older vampire's idea, I changed into my bird form. At least this way, I was a smaller target—and I was faster too. While Aldrich had entered from the ground floor, I decided that I was going to check out the second story, where the bedrooms were. With the way the fire was raging, the building was at risk of caving in soon. If anyone was still up here...
