Everything has to be okay. It has to be! They wouldn’t still be working if something was wrong.
I told myself this repeatedly, but the adrenaline flooding me argued againstallof my reassurances…
You’re lying.
And it truly felt like I was lying to myself with every step I took. Things weren’t okay. Things were fine here, but something was wrong withRyker.
I darted beneath some of the newer tree houses, around a boulder, and skidded to a halt beneath the newest tree house.Hammers thudded, saws scoured wood, and men and women talked and laughed while they worked.
None of them noticed me standing there, panting like a dog in August and desperate as I searched for Ryker. I didn’t see him or Tucker anywhere amid the workers, and I was pretty sure Callan was going to work on the tree houses today too, but he wasn’t anywhere nearby.
Ianto stood a few feet away, his hand resting against a tree while he chatted with a pretty amsirah who smiled at him as she fluttered her lashes. Standing well over seven feet, with his dark skin and brown eyes, the giant was a handsome man, and the woman loved every second of his attention.
Luna sat on a sawhorse, her feet dangling over the sides as she cut through a piece of wood before tossing it onto the pile beside her. The girl whom I’d always known as someone more refined and who didn’t like getting dirty had sweat and sawdust marring her pretty face as she lifted another piece of wood to cut through.
Others went about their duties, but more of them were starting to notice me. When Ianto caught sight of me, he frowned as he straightened away from the tree and stepped toward me.
“Ellery?” he asked.
“Where’s Ryker?” I demanded.
“He went with Tucker, Callan, and some others to meet Val.”
“Where?” I demanded in a voice bordering on hysterical.
“I… I… don’t know,” he said as he edged closer. He moved with the caution of someone approaching a horse about to bolt and run them over. “Cryton came and got them.”
I hadn’t considered it possible, but the speed of my heart increased as a scream lodged in my throat.
Ianto took a step closer. “Ellery, what is it?”
“Something’s wrong,” I managed to choke out. “Something’swrong.”
“I’m sure they’re fine.”
“They’re not fine!” I retorted. “Do you know where Val is?”
Ianto stopped moving, and the hand he raised toward me fell back to his side. Before, he’d looked determined to calm me. Now, I could see my words sinking into him.
“No. We never do until the poltergeists take us there,” he said.
I’d already known this, but I’d still held out hope, and that hope had been crushed like an ant beneath a boot. “Which way did they go?”
Ianto pointed into the woods, away from the direction I’d come. I didn’t ask them anything else before I turned and ran into the forest.
I was being reckless, but it was too late for caution. Ryker could be miles away, and time was rushing by. If I didn’t find him soon, something bad was going to happen… if it hadn’t already.
During the last magnetic storm, I’d experienced an irresistible pull drawing me toward him. I searched for that same pull within me now and found a small spark of it.
It wasn’t anywhere near as strong as it once was. I didn’t know if that was because the magnetic storm had helped fuel us, or if it was because something worse had happened.
As much as I didn’t want to, I leaned toward the something worse as I didn’t feel that pull within my soul. Ryker had stopped drawing on my powers.
That realization shot the air from my lungs.Am I already too late? Is he dead?
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Ryker
