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  I let go of the brothers’ hands and started cussing a blue streak.

  Chapter Nine

  Nick stared at me as though I’d sprouted a second head. Once my blue streak had run its course, Patrick was able to control his muffled laughter. “Any chance you can do something to make things more comfortable for everyone?”

  A glance around our little circle showed that everyone was damp and shivering. Probably colder than me, since they didn’t have on any clothing. “Yeah, I can. I’ll warm up the air in here.”

  Time for some practice. With my aerokinesis, I pulled in a tiny stream of fresh air from the opening, and switched to my pyrokinetic ability to make the air molecules dance faster. Not fast enough to burst into flames though. As soon as I felt the air warming, I concentrated on keeping the molecules moving at just that speed. “Better?”

  “Much. I’m Irina, and this is my brother, Grigory,” the woman said. They were both dark-haired and -eyed, and I thought maybe in their mid-thirties. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” I peeled off my jacket and made warm air slowly circle around our mini-cave, hoping my clothes would dry in the warmth. “I can’t keep doing this once I fall asleep though.”

  “We’ll shift after everyone’s warm enough.” Patrick sighed. “This isn’t the weekend I was expecting.”

  “Me neither.” I frowned at the tiny fire. Logan? Again, no response. That lack meant he was out of my telepathic range, unconscious, or something/someone was blocking me somehow. I drew in another small stream of fresh air to feed my warm air brew. “I’m so gonna kick someone’s ass over this.”

  Irina asked, “How many other guests are there?”

  Good question. “There was a couple with a teenager, a pair of elves, Logan and me, and the four of you at lunch. Nick and Patrick added by dinnertime. I didn’t notice if there were any other new people then.” Eleven guests total, minus the two deceased.

  “No other new guests at dinner,” Grigory said, the first words I’d heard from him. He had a deep voice.

  “The real question is what makes a pocket realm go crazy like this?” I only had a small understanding of pocket realms, thanks to Logan. “Is there any chance we could find the AI and talk it down?”

  “The AI?” Nick was the one who spoke, but all four gave me funny looks.

  “Yeah, you know, the magical construct that takes care of things.” I watched them exchange glances. “What?”

  “Our pocket realm doesn’t have anything like that. It’s the same territory we had before the Melding, just kind of,” Nick pretended to hold a ball in his hands. “Wrapped up in a magical shield.”

  Well, that answered a question I’d forgotten about: Why his dad had said they’d build us a house. After the things I’d learned from Logan, I’d wondered why they’d have to actually build a house instead of simply asking the AI to make one. “Our realm has an AI. I’ve seen it.”

  “Could be because elves created it. Ours weren’t created by them.” Patrick tossed a few twigs onto the fire.

  “Okay then, does anyone know if elves created this one?” I smacked my palm against my forehead. “Never mind, they had to, if things in the realm can be magically changed. Right?”

  “I guess.” He tossed another twig into the fire.

  We all froze at a crashing sound outside. Nick thawed first and threw dirt over the fire to put it out. For several long moments, I listened, while the shifters listened and quietly sniffed. Another crash sounded, but I thought it was farther away than the first. Apparently the others thought so as well, since they relaxed slightly. No one said anything, so I kept quiet too.

  The little cave cooled off too much, since I’d forgotten to keep the air moving. I focused on that, trusting they’d let me know if we needed to run or whatever. Irina shot me a grateful look once I had warm air circulating again.

  My shirt was dry and my jeans about half dry, by the time Patrick suggested in a whisper that we try to get some sleep. “I’ll stand first watch.”

  All four shifted to wolf. I busied myself by rolling up my still-damp jacket for a pillow. Patrick wormed past me to sit near the opening. Nick poked me with his nose until I crawled around to his brother’s vacated spot. Once I’d lain down on my side, he did too, against my back. Irina had become a silvery gray wolf, and she curled up close to my front. Grigory had become a huge, solid black wolf, and he lay beside her.

  I kept the warm air going until I fell asleep.

  A quiet conversation woke me. It took me a moment to remember why I was curled up on a dirt floor. My eyes felt gritty, which meant I hadn’t gotten more than two or three hours of sleep. Plus, I was cold even though someone had restarted the small fire and it was a mere two feet away.

  I rolled over to find the three men clustered at the opening. It was still dark. “What’s going on? Where’s Irina?”

  They glanced at me, and Nick responded. “She’s just outside, answering a call of nature. We heard someone.”

  That sat me up quickly. “Someone who? Male or female?”

  “It’s not Logan. We,” he gestured at himself and Patrick, “know what he sounds like. But it was a male voice.”

  Grigory frowned and turned back to peer outside. “We’re discussing whether to try and find him.”

  An urge to smack all three on the backs of their heads struck, but I controlled it. “What direction did it come from?”

  “Left. Possibly that’s north, but we can’t be certain because things changed so much.” Patrick scooted backward to allow Irina to slide between him and Nick. She was still in her wolf shape. “It did stop raining.”

  My jacket was still damp in spots, but I put it back on before crawling over to poke the two brothers in their backs. “Let me through, please.”

  Nick’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  “I have a call of nature to answer too.” They grudgingly moved aside to allow me out. I went left, stepping over the moldering tree ends of our shelter. “Can you see me?”

  “No,” he said.

  “Good.” I looked around for peepers before undoing my jeans to take care of business. Peeing in the woods wasn’t my favorite thing to do, especially without anything resembling toilet paper handy.

  When I finished, I made certain I was facing left and began walking away. Nick was grabbing my arm before I’d gone four steps. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “To find the guy you heard.” I tried to shake him loose. It didn’t work.

  “We told you it wasn’t Logan.”

  “Yeah, you did. That doesn’t mean it isn’t someone who needs help.” I pointed at his hand on my forearm. “The grabby thing is getting really old, really fast. Stop doing it before you piss me off.”

  Nick scowled, but released his hold. “I only grab to keep you from wandering off.”

  “I’m not going to wander off. I’m going to go look for someone. You guys can stay here, or come with.” I took a step forward, swinging around when he grabbed my wrist. It was supremely satisfying when my fist made contact, knocking his head sideways. I remembered more from my self-defense classes than I thought.

  It also made him let go. Nick raised his hand to rub his chin while looking at me with surprise-widened eyes. “You hit me.”

  “Damn straight. Grab me one more time for any reason other than keeping me from walking off a cliff, and I will do more than hit you.” I’d had enough. He wasn’t my boyfriend anymore, hadn’t been for three months, and therefore had no right whatsoever to be touching me. It wasn’t as though I hadn’t warned him either. At that point, I wasn’t even sure I considered him a friend. The other three came out to join us. I kept glaring at Nick. “You’re not my dad, boss, or boyfriend. You don’t get to tell me what to do. Are we clear?”

  “Cordi, I only...”

  I put my hand up, palm to his face, and shook my head. “I don’t care why you do it. I asked you to quit doing it nicely and you ignored me. Done with being nice about
it.”

  “But,” Nick didn’t get to finish because Patrick shouldered him aside.

  “We’re going with you. Your magic is still working, and I know you can do more than warm air. We’ll go wolf, use our noses. Let’s get moving.”

  “Thank you.” I didn’t know why he was on my side, and didn’t care. We weren’t going to help anyone or figure out what was going on by sitting in one spot.

  “Just do your best to make sure none of us get eaten.”

  “I will.” I hoped I’d be able to do so for as long as necessary. More rest and some food would help ensure I did, but first, I wanted to find whoever it was they’d heard. “Shift already.”

  Patrick and Nick took point, while Irina walked beside me. Her brother followed a few paces behind us. We walked at least fifteen minutes through damp woods, until our two leaders stopped. I scanned the area before them, and spotted a foot wearing a running shoe sticking out from under a droopy-branched tree. “I hope that foot is still attached to the body it belongs to.”

  “Who’s there?” The foot disappeared, but a face and a hand showed immediately after. It was the teenager. His face was dirty and he focused on the wolves.

  I got his attention by saying, “Hey. Are you hurt? Where are your parents?”

  He crawled out of his hiding spot, brushing at his mud-coated jeans. He didn’t have a jacket, and his sweatshirt looked damp. “Not hurt, and I have no idea where my mom or Rourke are. I saw you before, but who are they?”

  “Friends of mine.” I pointed to each while naming them. “And my name’s Discord. What’s yours?”

  “Josh.” His lips trembled and he blinked three times in rapid succession before crossing his arms and tucking his fingers into his armpits. “What’s going on?”

  “That, we haven’t figured out yet,” I admitted. “We’re going to try to. How’d you end up out here?”

  “We heard a scream. Mom told me to stay inside, then she and Rourke took off to see what happened.” Josh paused, his voice firmer when he continued. “About an hour later, the cottage kind of blurred and disappeared, and I was sitting in the rain, surrounded by trees.”

  He cocked his head, looking at the wolves and back to me. “Where’s the guy who was with you? Rourke said he was a tiger shifter.”

  Rourke obviously wasn’t his father. “We heard a scream too. He shifted to go look and I was supposed to meet him. Didn’t work out that way. Have you seen or heard anyone besides us?”

  The teen shook his head. “You’re a natural mage, right?”

  Surprised, I nodded. “How’d you know that?”

  “Rourke recognized you from an article he’d read. Is telepathy one of your abilities?”

  Man, I really wanted to slap the ever-loving crap out of Nate Brock, the reporter who’d written the article outing me to the general public. “Yes, it is.”

  “My mom’s name is Tasha. Can you,” Josh ducked his head but kept his eyes on mine. “I mean, maybe?”

  “I’ll try.” I closed my eyes, not that I needed to, but it gave the clear signal to anyone watching that I was doing something. I mentally shouted, “Tasha? Rourke? Can you hear me?”

  It really sucked to open my eyes, see the kid’s hopeful expression, and have to shake my head. “Sorry. They’re out of my range.”

  He sighed. “Will you keep trying?”

  “Of course.” I thought about offering him my jacket, but it wouldn’t fit his gangling height. “Come on. Walking will warm us all up.”

  “Okay. Hey, do you have anything to eat?”

  “Not yet, but I’m hoping we will soon.” My stomach chose to growl. “Guys, feel like trying to find us breakfast?”

  Chapter Ten

  They did find us some breakfast: blackberries. My stomach had grown more insistent about needing food by then, so I didn’t complain. If I had, one of them might’ve offered me a mouse. That’s what they had for breakfast.

  “Still nothing?” Josh asked, and I shook my head. No one was responding to my telepathic attempts at contact. My head was beginning to ache from the frequency of those calls. On the other hand, we must be getting accustomed to the darkness, because our trudging through the forest didn’t strike me as quite as scary as it had the night before. Or I was too tired to care.

  Nick kept glancing back at us. I didn’t know if the looks were his way of monitoring how we were doing, or if he were mulling over what I’d said to him. The satisfaction of bopping him one had faded, turning into a vague, uncomfortable guilt.

  Our pace was brisk, considering we had no idea where we were going. Irina’s light coat was the only brightness in the dark woods, and she continued to pace beside us. Every fifteen steps or so, I used my telepathy to call out my list of names. There were six because I’d added Kiffle, Maggie, and Cressley to the roster of Logan, Rourke, and Tasha.

  Patrick growled, and we all stopped. He flicked an ear before stalking forward about five steps alone. He spent some time staring at something while sniffing the air, before shifting to human. “We have a dead elf.”

  My cue to ask questions. “Guest or resident?”

  “It’s not the guy from dinner, so I’m going with resident.”

  I decided there was no need for me to have a look. “How was he killed?”

  “His head’s missing. Clean cut, most likely from a sword.” He shook his head. “Like we didn’t have enough to worry about.”

  Silently agreeing, I sighed. “I really don’t know what to do.”

  “We keep going. Gotta run into other people at some point. You did want to find your boyfriend, right?”

  “Yes.” Finding Logan was at the top of my list, unless we could find someone who could explain what was going on and how to fix it first. We’d have to, in order to access the pocket realm’s AI, since none of us were residents. If we did and could fix the problem, then everyone would be safe.

  But I’d feel loads better about the situation with Logan on hand.

  Patrick nodded. “Then we keep going, searching for scents while you do your thing, Psychic Girl.”

  “Is there any chance you could stop calling me that? It’s kind of irritating.”

  He grinned. “Nope.”

  Prick. “Fine, let’s get moving.”

  “Sure thing, Psychic Girl.” He shifted back to wolf before I could pick up a rock and throw it at him. Okay, I didn’t even try. Irritating though he was, Patrick was doing his best to help and keep people safe.

  We continued on for another hour or more, until he called a rest break. I collapsed under a tree, leaned back against its trunk, and closed my eyes. Josh sat down near me. “You okay?”

  “Tired. It takes energy...”

  “Yeah, I know. My mom’s the same way. Gets tired and has headaches.”

  My eyes popped open. “What?”

  The teen blinked. “Um...”

  “I thought she was a wolf shifter, like Rourke.” Well, Logan had thought she was, based on her scent.

  He wrinkled his nose and scoffed. “How could she be a shifter if I’m not?”

  “I’d wondered about that, but hell, who knows? The world’s changed.” I closed my eyes again and massaged my temples.

  “No, she’s a natural mage, like you. Rourke is her boyfriend.”

  Apparently, we natural mages preferred having shifters as our significant others. “How long have they been together?”

  “It’s kind of new. They’ve been friends for years though.” He paused. “It’s okay. I like Rourke. He’s... well, like Mom puts it, he’s more reliable than my dad.”

  Ah, another child from a split household. We had something in common. Not wanting to toot my dad’s horn—he was reliable—I simply nodded. “Does your mom have telepathy?”

  “Yeah, and I haven’t heard her. Guess we’re all out of range of each other.”

  “Guess so.” I dropped my hands to my lap and sighed, trying to decide if I should be worried about the proximity of another natural
mage. My first meeting with others like me hadn’t turned out so well, what with them being psychos bent on world domination. Opening my eyes again, I regarded Josh’s profile.

  He seemed like a nice kid, and they’d come across as a nice, relatively normal couple. This Tasha was probably a decent person. She had gotten pretty dirty, lying on the ground to let those wolf cubs maul her. I could worry later, if she proved otherwise. At least I had an explanation for how they’d shown up on the path behind us so quickly our first evening. But we had much larger fish to fry right now.

  The shifters were flopped down, ears erect as they scanned our surroundings with eyes and noses. I looked up, catching a glance of the sky through the branches. Still dark. “Some sun would be nice about now.”

  “Being home in my own room, playing games with my friends would be nicer.” Josh rotated his ankles, first one then the other. “This isn’t my thing, hiking the in woods. If it were, I’m pretty sure hiking in scary woods in the dark wouldn’t be my choice.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, it’s not really my thing either. Do you live in Santo Trueno?”

  “Just moved there from a little town you’ve probably never heard of. Most people haven’t.” He shrugged. “It’s called Spur. That’s why I’m online a lot. Only way to keep up with my friends from there.”

  Maybe I could introduce him to Tonya, Terra, and the other tiger teens, help him find some new friends? Assuming we all made it out of this damn place alive. Boy, had my opinion of Talledon Sanctuary changed. Not that I blamed any of the residents for whatever had happened—at least not until I learned how it had happened.

  We rested for another twenty minutes or so, long enough for me to begin to doze off, before Patrick stuck his nose against my left eyelid. I shoved his muzzle away. “Okay, okay.”

  Nick was keeping his distance, which suited me fine. I didn’t want to end up shooting off my mouth if he made me mad. Also didn’t want him to keep thinking that if he just talked to me, I’d throw Logan over for him.