“Really?”
He cocked his head with a grin. “You think you’re that big? I threw you over my shoulder.”
I scoffed at his haughtiness before sobering. “Wow. Portal fatigue is no joke.”
“On top of whatever the witch did to you.”
Right. Sereana had bound my wolf, stabbed the bloodstone into my throat, and sent me into a healing coma only hours before we’d teleported. Damn. That seemed like days ago.
“Don’t forget to equip your gun while you’re on watch,” Mack said as his eyes drifted closed. Always the trainer.
Still, I was grateful for the reminder, considering I rarely carried the Glock and had absolutely forgotten about it. Had Rust caught me without it, he would have busted my ass. I grabbed the shoulder harness and the pistol from my bag and loaded it.
“If something moves, sound the alarm.” Dad stretched out on his bedroll nearby. “Wake Mackiel in two hours.”
I had so many questions, but Mack was my best bet for answers, and he was already lightly snoring at my feet. Exhausted and feeling like I was still trapped in a nightmare, I did another sweep of the garage with my flashlight before settling in to keep watch.
SECOND CHANCE?
Arioch
Someone nudged my shoulder, and I jerked awake. Silentium’s hilt was in my hand before my eyes focused on my húskarl standing hunched over me with a finger pressed to his lips in warning.
I inclined my head in acknowledgment, and Tyrin leaned back against the wall, peering cautiously through the window. The first rays of predawn cast shadows throughout the abandoned flat where we had spent the night.
What is it?I inquired telepathically, unwilling to alert the threat to our presence.
Something teleported in,Tyrin replied.
He and I had slept in shifts throughout the night, yet neither of us had fully rested in the unfamiliar wasteland. The effects of portal fatigue lingered in the deep hollows of his eyes and the stoop of his shoulders. It clung to my bones like lead weights as I rose to my feet and joined him at the window.
A rusted Ferris wheel creaked across the square, solving the mystery of the sound that had haunted me all night. Distant voices drew my attention as something moved by the entrance tothe teleportation station. Through the barren trees, I glimpsed four silhouettes, their breath misting in the frozen air as they moved with an exhausted version of military precision, weapons slung across their backs.
The soldiers crossed the square, boots crunching through the snow-covered landscape as they neared our building to follow a well-worn walkway I had missed in the dark of last night. As they passed beneath our window, I caught the stench of human sweat—sharp and nervous—mingled with the musk of animal shifters and something damp and earthen. They rounded the building and disappeared from sight.
“The fatigue should wear off shortly, m’lord,” Tyrin said.
Having come to the same conclusion, I nodded, though my attention remained on the soldiers. What could they possibly be doing here?
“Clymene would not have sent us on a fool’s errand,” he continued.
The intensity of the artifact’s tug on my awareness made me want to forsake all other pursuits and distractions to hunt it down. Still, we were here by design, and there was something not quite right about this place.
Tyrin watched me, waiting. “We cannot travel until the fatigue lifts.”
I knew what he was asking. “Agreed. We follow them.” We had time, and there was no harm in seeking out this second chance Clymene had mentioned. I collected my bag and tested my connection to magic. The trickle had grown into a narrow stream. It was far from the raging river I was accustomed to, but still a marked improvement. “Can you shift yet?”
Tyrin flexed his fingers, and stone rippled across his knuckles before fading. “Almost.”
The heaviness in my legs made it feel as though I trudged through water as I descended the crumbling stairwell and slipped into the street. Careful to stay downwind, we stalked through the shadows of abandoned buildings,mindful of the frozen snow. The city sprawled around us in various states of decay, the sight even more forlorn in the light.
My portal fatigue lifted mere minutes before Tyrin’s shoulders lifted.
Like breaking through water’s surface to walk on dry land, is it not?I asked.
An apt description, indeed.
Magic surged at my will. It was time to return to the teleportation station and abandon this wretched place, but curiosity had me in its grasp, and we had almost reached the enormous half-cylindrical construct. As we drew nearer, the acrid sharpness polluting the land worsened, leaving a metallic taste on my tongue.
