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I’ll remember that comment the next time I have to make you a revive potion.
You couldn’t possibly make them taste any worse than they already do.
I wouldn’t bet on that.
Neither would I, actually. If you don’t want to entertain him until I return, throw him in the Outback and come pick me up. He can wait next to Aiden’s truck and get a direct update.
That means putting up with his chatter for the fifteen minutes it’ll take to get there.
Better than entertaining him for the hour or so he’ll wait until I get back.
Point. See you soon.
As her thoughts left mine, the owl hooted again, and that surely meant there wasn’t much around to disturb it. So why was I suddenly so spooked?
I rubbed my arms and continued on. Up ahead, the trees arched over the path, blocking the moon’s light and creating a tunnel of deeper darkness. Though I could see moonlight at the far end, my steps nevertheless slowed. No sense of wrongness or evil rode the breeze, and yet…
I shivered and got the flashlight out, but the bright light only made the shadows seem that much more threatening. It was possible—more than possible—I was reacting to things that didn’t exist. That after the discovery of an evil shifter and another flesh-stripped victim, the psychic part of me simply expected something else to happen. Death didn’t always travel in threes, but I had chanced fate with my comment to Belle. It’d be just my luck that this was the one time fate was listening.
I flexed my fingers and wove another repelling spell around them. As protection spells went, it was pretty much a good all-rounder that would counter most things intent on evil, be they supernatural or human. And the charm around my neck could protect me from the rest.
I hoped.
I marched on, my gaze on the inky shadows beyond the light’s beam. Nothing moved… but even as that thought crossed my mind, something did.
My heart leaped into my throat, but almost immediately dropped again. Wild magic. It was nothing more than wild magic.
I swallowed heavily and continued. The threads drifted toward me, pulsing brightly in the shadows, a song of power I could both see and hear. Its source was the main wellspring, which was positioned within the O’Connor compound, and it really shouldn’t have been out in such force here. Or, for that matter, anywhere else. Not now that it had been contained and protected.
It’s not like either of us knows much about the stuff, came Belle’s comment. For all we know, this behavior
is very normal for wellsprings, protected or not.
Possibly. Where are you and Monty?
Just reached the Moonlight Flats Road, so about eight minutes away.
I’m farther up the track than Aiden’s truck.
We’ll find you.
Of that I had no doubt. I just hoped she did so before the odd feeling of unease crystalized into a reality.
More wild magic emerged from the trees; it chased away the shadows and shone off the overarching branches, silvering the leaves. A couple of threads twined themselves around my right wrist, making it look as if I were wearing a bracelet of glowing moonlight. While the sheer closeness of its power made the hairs on my arms stand on end, I nevertheless felt safer. And that, I suspected, was its intention. Whether it also meant there was something out there to fear, I couldn’t say.
I flexed my fingers and kept walking. The majority of the wild magic floated beside me, the gentle hum of its energy rolling across the night. As I drew closer to the end of the tunnel, all but a couple of those threads faded away. The remainder continued to pace me, and I had a distinct feeling there was a purpose behind its actions. Which shouldn’t be possible, because the wild magic wasn’t sentient—unless, of course, my connection to it worked both ways, and it was drawing as much from me as I was from it.
It was yet another scary thought, and one that made me wonder where it would all end.
I came out into the moonlight and took a deep breath. It didn’t ease the tension within; the wild magic still paced me, still encircled my wrist, and that only amplified the belief that it was here for a reason.
After a few minutes, with the main road finally in sight, the threads pacing me darted sideways and disappeared into the scrub on the left-hand side of the trail. When I didn’t follow, they returned and tugged lightly at my hand. It was then I heard a soft voice say, Follow.
Katie.
Her energy—her soul—had somehow infused the magic of the main wellspring.
Only when you are connected, came the response. Follow.
