Page 44 of The Void

“What now?” Jain asked him.

“Now I find her with my nose,” he growled, and slipped back into his animal form.

Her scent was strong enough that he could easily follow it up through the hills to the point they had seen Lei that first night. He ran as fast as he could, focusing on getting to her.

He hadn’t realized Jain was on his heels until the first shadow creature flew out of the darkness towards him. Jain moved faster than he’d believed possible. Her speed easily matched his, which assured him that in that first trip together, when he’d been chained, she’d taken it easy on him.

Jain’s long branchy arms reached out and snagged the misty creature out of the pathway in front of him and tossed it aside like it was a doll.

The faster he ran up the hillside path, the more smoke creatures came at them. Each time, however, their attacks were easily blocked by Jain.

“They have killed my family,” Jain cried out as they ran through the bones of all the animals the creatures had devoured in the past few nights.

It seemed to take forever for them to reach the peak where they had spotted Lei.

Mia’s scent was so strong here that he knew she was close by.

He had to stop when he came up against a large rock barrier. Instantly, he knew that Mia was on the other side of the solid stone wall.

“Here,” he told Jain. “She’s here.” He shifted back into his normal form and started punching the stone with his bare hands.

Jain stepped up and picked up a massive boulder and started helping him.

When more creatures tried to attack, Jain turned and fought them off while he continued to punch the wall.

“Stand back,” Jain said, getting his attention.

He moved aside, and she picked up the largest boulder around and threw it at the side of the mountain. The large thing shattered into a million pieces without making a scratch on the blockade. Whatever was stopping them from getting inside, it was obviously made of magic.

Nothing was going to let anyone inside, at least not unless they were djinn.

“There has to be another way inside,” Jain said. “I’ll look.” She quickly disappeared.

Lucas leaned his hands against the stone and closed his eyes. His heart ached at the thought of losing Mia. He’d been a fool. Now he would never be able to tell her just what she had come to mean to him.

He had never experienced as much love as he felt for her. In the short time he had been with her, she had become his entire world.

The ache he felt just thinking about never seeing her again was so overwhelming that it caused him to sway. Now he was never going to be able to tell her how he felt. Tell her that he loved her.

Resting his forehead against the cold stone, he begged.

“Mia.” He felt his heart break as a tear slipped down his cheek. “I love you,” he whispered.

Suddenly, he felt his entire body shift forward and start falling.

He jerked his eyes open and caught himself before he hit the ground. Somehow, he’d passed right through the solid stone wall. Turning around, he realized that the wall was still intact.

He was now standing just inside the massive domed room that he and Mia had been in when they had talked to Feng. Her golden statue was gleaming in the light from the center of the room.

“Mia?” he called out, searching for her.

“You are not needed here,” Feng said in his head. He felt his entire body stiffen. Suddenly, he understood.

Feng was the one who they were meant to fight. She was the one who had trapped Mia and Lei and brought them to the cave. She was the one seeking to take Mia’s powers and to destroy everything. Lei wasn’t the one they were meant to fight against at all.

He glanced around desperately and finally noticed Mia and Lei hovering almost a hundred feet in the air in front of the golden statue of Feng. They were still encased in some sort of invisible restraint and were unmoving. Their arms and legs were stretched out as if held by invisible ropes.

He rushed closer to them, trying to figure out how to fight against something invisible. Something long gone. How did Feng even have power still?