“I have to believe in the best of him. Trust is what’s keeping us together, even now,” I said.
“I don’t trustanyoneanymore,” Finlay snarled.
I knew he had a personal vendetta after what had happened to him in Pruska, but now was no time for taking out personal problems. I went to say something back, before I heard Alexei call my name.
I noticed he was holding a piece of parchment in his hands. He handed it out to me.
“I found this in Jasper’s room,” he said. “It gives a location.”
I opened the note. I read it quickly— it was only one line.
The Willow Maiden.
I knew it to be Gabby’s handwriting. I’d seen it one too many times. I crushed the note in my hand before I said, “Why didn’t he burn this?”
“He left it in his top desk drawer for anyone to find. It’s like hewanted usto know where he was going,” Alexei said.
“Which means he didn’t have the heart to do this in the first place,” Emma said.
“The Willow Maiden. Godsdamn, that’s close to Dolinska,” Finlay read over my shoulder. “We’re going to walk straight into Droga’s claws.”
“We’ll come with you. All of us. You’ll need backup to fight Gabby, and Droga if he’s there,” Arthur said.
Their courage to battle a god was admirable, but I thought it was the wrong call. “No,” I said firmly. “I’ll take Finlay and Alexei. The rest of you can stay behind and guard the estate, just in case Jasper gives us up. If he’s already handed off the stones, it’s a lost cause, anyway. We need to protect everyone we can.”
“What if it’s a trap, and Gabby is expecting you to follow Jasper there?” Arthur insisted.
“It could be,” I admitted. “Which is why I suggest we don’t take everyone.”
“I’m going,” Emma said immediately.
“Emma—”
“Ethan, these aremyCrystals. They’re my responsibility, and I’m not going to stay behind when there’s a risk they could fall into Gabby’s hands. I’m coming along,” Emma said firmly.
“Me too,” Kiara said. “My locator spell might work better if we get closer, and if Jasper isn’t there after all, we’ll still need to track him down.”
Amanda nodded firmly, noting that she wouldn’t let Finlay go alone. There was no time to argue. “Let’s go. We should portal outside of the ruins, just in case there are soldiers waiting for us there.”
“Already on it.”
Emma summoned a portal, and we stepped on through. The spring nighttime of Ireland was replaced by Malovia’s brisk weather. Pine trees swayed around us within the darkness, and there was a faint sound in the distance, like the rumbling of monsters through the brush.
“I put us a few miles out,” Emma said. “If there’s a trap, we’ll notice.”
Alexei changed into a griffin. He took to the skies, and did a couple of circles before he landed and transformed.
“I didn’t see anything from above,” Alexei said. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t some sort of ambush.”
“Let us go first,” Amantha suggested. “Finlay and I are more expendable.”
“No one is expendable,” I said firmly.
“Emma’s the one who’s fated to save us. She needs to stay safe. Let us do our part,” Amantha insisted.
She and Finlay strolled ahead. I didn’t like the idea, and had no wish to sacrifice anyone if we did fall into a trap, but with what was at risk these were the options we had. We walked through the woods as calmly and as quickly as we could. I smelled animals, and the usual scents of the forest, but nothing that alerted me to any enemies.
“Ethan, do you see this?” Alexei asked. He gestured at the ground, which was still wet from a fresh rain. I used my shifter sight to examine the dirt. Indeed, I saw footprints that had to belong to Jasper… Ozzie, too, though his footprints were more recent.
