Page 2 of We Steal The Flight

“I do. I’m not sorry for not showing you… I don’t know you that well yet.” I look at Lyra. “I’m not sure Minnie is one of them, but I have a small creature that is stranger than most. I also have the tarot cards… It’s a long story.” I leave out that I actually have these heirlooms on me and the watch is in Bloodstone Academy and I know where it is. But it is broken. Someone made sure all three of them got to me, but I’m not sure why.

Lyra frowns, but she doesn’t say anything. We both turn back to Hell. “You wish to take down the world? Close the pocket world? Destroy Bloodstained Academy and the Umbral Authority right along with their Mindless army?”

“Yes,” I answer her. “But first, we have to get everyone out. What is left of the witches lives in this pocket world, and they are mostly innocent. You don’t understand what their life is like, and I won’t let anyone destroy that world until they are out. I just don’t know how to save them.”

“Opening a portal to this world is a risk… The Mindless and their leaders could come here to rule next. I would be surprised if it wasn’t their plan all along. They just need an entrance. You will need the Nexus and Bloodstone Academy’s shifters and witches to protect this side and to stop those monsters. This world is untouched by the horrors of where you want to return to,” she warns. “Don’t save one world only to doom another. Put your pride aside.”

I shake my head. “You don’t understand. I don’t want to risk this world, but the witches cannot continue like they are. Something has to change; there has to be a risk.”

“I understand plenty of what their life is like. I have watched. I am watching at all times. You are correct; they must be freed. But there is a heavy price for you to pay, Juniper. I wonder whether you’ll pay it at all, or will you sacrifice everything for love?” She steps closer.

“What price?” I demand, my heart racing.

She sighs. “You will find out soon enough, and all of us will wait for your decision.” I want to ask more, but she continues. “I am no threat to any of you. All I wanted was freedom from my cage and a chance to fix some of this broken world. This world is interesting to explore, and I don’t want anyone in my way. I do have loyalty to my race. Therefore, I did something for you as a gift. Yesterday, I visited the Nexus who you need to meet. Her blood is key to slipping between worlds. Her Nexus, to be exact, is the most powerful monster in this world.”

“What did you offer this monster in exchange for blood?” my mother asks cautiously.

“Some may call her evil, but she’s much like you, Juniper. She would do anything for love, and she wants this world intact. Good luck with her and goodbye for now.” Hell clicks her fingers. Lyra and Zeph are thrown away from me, and I gasp as a portal opens right below my feet. I scream as I drop straight through it, slamming onto a stone balcony on the other side with a thud. I hear Lyra scream my name and Zeph roar before the portal snaps shut, disappearing altogether.

With a groan, I roll onto my back and look up at a building. It’s a gray castle of sorts, and the sea air blows in from the cliff the balcony is hanging over. It’s cold as I stand up, wincing at the pain in my ribs from the fall. I exhale and look around, quickly noticing I’m not alone.

There’s a woman here about my age. Her eyes are different colors—one blue, one gray—and she is smirking. Something about that gray eye is peculiar, almost like someone else is watching through her. She’s sitting in a lounge chair, a closed book in her lap, and her eyes stay fixed on me as a snake slithers out from underneath her dark hair, wrapping around her shoulder. Her hair slowly turns white and her eyes black.

The monster, I presume. I take a step back, sensing she’s something different before she even speaks. “You’re an extremely lucky stranger. I don’t welcome new people into my home. I usually kill them, but my Nexus likes you. You smell like the other witch that came here yesterday.” Her hair fades back to dark, the snake disappearing as quickly as it appeared, as she stands up, cocking her head to the side. “You have about ten minutes to tell me what you want, or I’m going to kill you and very much enjoy it.”

Chapter 2

She isn’t joking. There is a darkness and truth in her threat that makes me take another step back. She smirks again. That witch has dropped me right in it with this crazy Nexus woman. “In truth, I didn’t come here willingly,” I softly begin. “This isn’t my world, and I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.”

“Keep going.” She spins a dagger in her hand. Wait, where did she get a dagger from?

I don’t question it as I hold up my hands. “I don’t want to fight. I’m a witch. I’m one of the few witches left here, but where I’m from, there are thousands of surviving witches who are trapped, hurt, and living like slaves. Humans too. Shifters too…people like what you are,” I explain. My dark hair blows around me in the breeze, and I wish my leggings were jeans or something, as I’m cold. I miss my cloak; I’m wearing a denim coat because Lyra said it’s not common for humans to wear cloaks and I’d stand out too much. Seems there are downsides to this world after all. “I’m no threat. I was told I need to ask for blood from you for a spell and rare herbs. I was sent here by a witch called Hell, and she seemed to think you’d help me.”

The Nexus woman huffs. “You’re making me feel bad for imagining killing you now. Sounds like your people are in trouble.” She puts the dagger down on the armrest. “Been there, done that and won. I helped a witch, never learnt her name, but I assume it’s the same crazy black-haired one. She came here yesterday and warned me that I had to help you or everyone would suffer.”

“Are you going to help me, then?” I question. I’m really not sure she wants to.

A gorgeous tall man steps out onto the balcony, slightly older with dark hair and an even meaner expression than the woman has. “Do you want me to kill her, Sun?”

I don’t doubt for a second he would attempt to kill me. I get a spell ready, just in case, but she sighs. “No. We can’t have fun this time. My Nexus likes her, and I have a bad feeling that letting—” She pauses and looks at me. “What’s your name?”

“Juniper,” I answer quickly into her rant.

“Right. Letting Juniper go without help or killing her would be bad. I’m not in the mood for another war with witches this time, Finn.” My shoulders drop. I might be able to get back to my bonded. I know something is wrong; I can feel it, and the longer I stay here, the more I just want to rush back.

He leans against the wall, his tall frame towering over me, but his eyes stay on her. They must be mated; there is no way they aren’t. That look? Black looks at me the same. God, I miss him. I can feel our mate bond in my chest, in my heart, but it feels like a piece of string in a hurricane, and I can’t find it. “Look at you, Gwen, choosing peace over violence.”

Gwen laughs. “Just for today. Don’t get used to it.” They both look at me. “Explain what world you’re from and why my blood would help?”

“I’m from a pocket world that was made by a goddess and used to be a safe place for young witches to train without hurting humans. It was corrupted and changed, and it looks much like this world but different, older. Derelict almost. I grew up there having no clue this world existed. The real world. In fact, none of the witches do. Children, women, people that cannot defend themselves are sitting ducks in my world. They all live in this pocket world, and we are controlled by our leaders, the Umbral Authority. They are immortal witches who have an army of Mindless beings, monsters, that just kill. They locked us in towns, keep us controlled there, train the very best of us to become their soldiers, and kill anybody that rebels. I have to get back. My bonded are in that world, and I can’t do much here, but I need a portal to open between the worlds. Apparently, that is not easy, according to Hell, the black-haired witch you saw yesterday. For some reason, Hell told me your blood is the key and you’d know where the herbs are. I know the spell, and I have everything else. I’m top of my class at Bloodstone Academy, and there is no spell I can’t create to get back to my bonded.”

Gwen and Finn share a look. He looks back to me. “Are bonded like mates?”

“Yes.” I rub my hands together. “Kind of. It’s a sacred bond and hard to explain. Mate bonds exist too, and I’m mated to one of my bonded, which is forbidden, but I don’t care.”

A cat strolls out from the main room, and Finn, a massive man, visibly shrinks away from the cat. The cat walks right up to me, and I smile, leaning down and stroking behind its ears. Gwen is grinning at me when I look up. “Boba hates everyone…I’m sold on helping you.”

“I hate that cat,” Finn mutters. “I’ll get the others and let them know what’s going on. I assume you want a ride set up to your aunt’s?”