AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Goodbye, my friend. Please stay strong.” Daithi put his hand on my shoulder.
“I will.” I smiled through the fear and focused on the image Clawdia painted of our lives. “I have a bright future to look forward to.”
Savdia took my hand and squeezed it. “We will find you.”
“I know.”
Daithi added, “I won’t abandon you again.”
“Thank you.” I took a deep breath and tried not to let my emotions get the better of me. I shooed them on. “Now go and stay safe. I have to find the others.”
I gave Savida’s hand a squeeze as he looked fearfully toward the hole before handing him over to his soul mate, who gently tugged him forward. With my family waiting for me and in danger, I didn’t stay to watch them go. I headed back the way we came, faster now that I was alone and not looking for guiding landmarks. I passed the medical center and slowed as I approached the path.
There, dressed in all black and holding large guns with both hands, were three male hunters, the same symbol on their chests as the others that had chased us, but I didn’t recognize them. They weren’t saying anything. They were behind a cabin, just watching the main path for something. Or someone.
I hunkered down behind a large trunk and deep into the long grass and examined my new dilemma. I had to cross the path to get to my cabin but could think of no way to distract them long enough to make a run for it.
Luckily, or not so luckily, another hunter, a young male, came strolling down the path as though he owned the island. He smiled at the group and waved a hand to bring them out of hiding. “No one seems to be around. We’ll need to do a thorough search of all the cabins and make sure that anyone hiding gets taken into custody.”
Custody? They aren’t killing anyone? Why?I frowned as I listened harder.I suppose I’ll find out soon. But not before finding the others and getting them safe. Then fate can do what it will with me.
“Why don’t you come with me, and we can start at the big house on the hill while everyone else searches here?” the young male suggested as he spoke to a smaller male.
“If you’re going to use this as an excuse to prat around …” That hunter’s voice was older, tired.
The young male spoke again, “I’m serious about this. It’s big. I get it. We want to do well, and we will.” His grin was wide. “But there’s no harm in having fun when we find it, right?”
The sentiment that capturing people different from yourself for nefarious purposes was fun made my hair stand on end and my stomach flip. And I would have to survive being captured by them. The shame of it made nausea rise into my throat.
The group headed out, and I turned slowly to look toward the lake. I could see that only one of the boats had been able to pull into the tiny harbor and sent a prayer of thanks to Riseir. They couldn’t get everyone on the island, but they had enough reinforcements that I couldn’t attack them. I would have to sneak as many as I could into the tunnel and hope they eventually gave up looking for people when they believed the island was abandoned.
Double-checking no one was around, I dashed toward the cabin, but instead of going inside, I ran around the outside to look in through the windows. No one was there, not even Baelen.How did he get out of the cage?
Crouching down again, I called,“Clawdia, where are you? Is Charlie with you? We are under attack, and we need to leave.”
But I received no reply. And I couldn’t feel her awareness as I usually did.Has something happened to her?
Panic churned inside me, and just as I started planning my next steps, I saw a dark figure in the tree line in front of me. I froze. Red eyes flashed, and I sighed, relief pouring from me. Until I saw another figure behind him. A gun pointed at him. Without thinking, I charged. The gun fired but too late for it to hit Baelen. I’d already gotten between him and the hunter, gripping his arms and turning him so he faced me, but my back faced the shot.
I jolted forward as the force of the shot pushed me into him, and then we seemed to blur, smoke surrounding us. Suddenly, we were somewhere else, lying in the long grass but no longer looking at the cabin.
“Titan?”
Not my Baelen, then.I sighed as a strange sensation, like the spread of ice-cold liquid across my skin, began from where I was shot. “I’m fine,” I replied. “But I don’t have much time. I am going to be taken. I need you to find Clawdia and Charlie and get them to safety. Portal them away somewhere.”
He looked at me as though studying a foreign language. “You won’t ask me to portal you away?”
“I can’t avoid my fate, and creating a portal would draw attention that could be dangerous to Clawdia and Charlie.”
“You are interesting, even if I am not interested in you,” he concluded and sat up.
I ignored that because I knew it wasn’t Baelen talking and didn’t need a shadow’s interest. “You have to move quietly. In the shadows. Find them,” I told him, my eyes pleading with him. “Shadow, and Baelen, if you can hear me, please look after them. I don’t know what your plan is, but please don’t hurt them. Keep them safe for me.”
Something shuttered in his eyes, and his body shuddered. But he nodded. “I won’t harm them.”
“I suppose that will have to be good enough.” I sighed and lay my head back as the numb sensation took my legs, chest, and arms. “Go. Quickly,” I urged. I could feel my eyes and body getting heavier, and when his form blurred in a smokey plume, I lost the battle with my eyes and closed them.
I tried to call out to Clawdia, to tell her I loved her and that I would fight to get back to her. But it was clear I was shouting into a void. Our bond was silent, but I prayed she was well. That she was with Charlie.
