I tried over and over again to reach out to Scottie, to see if she was okay, but every time I tried, our bond came back empty.I ran through the last rotunda before reaching the first strip of beach when a wave of nauseating voidness stripped me bare. I didn’t have time to think about why my powers dissipated. Panic was lacing its way up my spine. I still hadn’t seen Scottie.
When I finally made it to the meeting spot by the ocean, I saw Dovelyn and Sie waiting, holding up a half unconscious Brock. A second of relief passed through me at seeing my friend alive, but it vanished as soon as I didn’t see beautiful, sapphire eyes along with them.
“Where is she?” My voice was a growl as I circled them.
Dovelyn shifted all of Brock’s weight toward Sie. “Be quiet or you’re going to attract Athler’s attention again. We need to get out of herenow.”
Again.
The word broke me.
Scottie was gone.
“I don’t care who the fuck hears. Let the entire fucking city know I’m here.Where is Rumor?”
Kallon finally portaled in. Her yellow eyes flashed with relief as she took in Brock. “I checked all my portals—” She whipped her head, scanning the rest of us, coming to the same realization I had. “Where’s Scottie? What happened?”
“Athler,” Dovelyn answered, confirming my fucking nightmare. “He found us before we could do anything. Arcane made some sort of vapor out of Alluse. He set it off in the rotunda.” She turned to me. “All our powers are gone, Tez. We can’t fight back, not like this.”
“None of you have your abilities?” Kallon paled, fear taking over her face.
“I don’t care about our damn powers right now. What the fuck happened to Scottie? WHERE IS SHE?”
Sie was the one who answered. “She made a trade with Arcane and Athler. Us for her.”
“And youlether?” I spat. “You were supposed to protect her.The whole reason you came along was to make sure nothing like this happened!”
“I tried to teleport us away, but I couldn’t,” he snapped back. “She told me to trust her, so I thought…” He ran his hand through his black hair. “I fucking thought she had a plan. I didn’t think she’d just hand herself over.”
“So Athler has her now?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “She started running toward the castle. Arcane was coming after us, but then he just stopped and turned around.”
The hut. She was running toward the hut. “Kallon, portal me to the hut now.”
“Tez, I can’t. We need to get out of here. We’re sitting ducks. If I run into this vapor Alluse too, I won’t be able to get any of us back to the camp. We’ll all be stuck in Lux.”
“I’ll fucking run there,” I screamed. “I don’t care, but I’m not leaving without her!”
Kallon hesitated for a moment. “Okay, Tezya, I will, I will… Don’t go on your own. Just let me portal everyone else back first. If we leave them here, they’ll get caught too.”
I nodded. I hated the idea of having to wait. It was precious seconds they had Scottie, but I didn’t want to risk anyone else. Kallon portaled the three of them back. In all, it only took a minute, but it felt like a lifetime before she grabbed my hand and portaled me to the place I first trained Scotlind.
But it was fucking empty.
I tore the entire hut down. Breaking the sliding glass doors, ripping the bed from the posts on the floor. I scanned the ocean, even swam a mile out to see if she was waiting underwater. I ran through the jungle, then looked through the hut again out of desperation. There was nothing.
“Tezya, she’s not here,” Kallon said softly.
“Portal me to the castle. I’ll get her and meet you at the docks in an hour.”
A tear ran down Kallon’s face. “Tez, you can’t. If you go after her, you’ll only get yourself caught too. You have no abilities right now.”
I stormed over to her. “Kallon, I don’t give a damn if I can’t use my powers. The woman I love is in the hands of the most sadistic Advenians I know. You know what they’ll do to her. I’m not leaving her here. I can’t.”
“Tezya.” She was crying now. “It’s not safe.”
I reached her then. Pulling her arms into mine, begging her to understand. I could run through the jungle, but it’d take me half a day. I needed to be portaled in. I needed to get to her before it was too late, because once they took her inside, they’d have her on so many damn locks and chains it’d be near impossible to get her out. “Kal, please, I need to—”
