Page 45 of Dark Witch: Twin Destinies

As they entered the hotel's dining room, aka the big tent as they all called it, everyone was already there except for Aru and Gabi.

The moment Edgar set Jasmine down, Margo and Frankie hovered over her like two mother hens, forcing him to sit across the table with the two gods.

"Where are Aru and Gabi?" he asked to start a conversation.

"Aru needed to make a phone call," Negal said. "The Clan Mother insists on him calling her every day at one o'clock in the morning, her time, to tell her about our history."

Edgar frowned. Everyone knew that Annani was a diva, but this was eccentric even for her. "Why one o'clock in the morning?"

Dagor shrugged. "Maybe she has trouble falling asleep and Aru's stories help her relax."

That actually made sense.

Things weren't going well in the world, and with how much Annani cared about the humans, she was probably too perturbed to fall asleep.

Edgar didn't care as much, but even he often lay awake at night, worrying about what would happen to all the work the clan had invested in advancing human society.

He had a bad feeling that humans were being pushed into another dark age, regressing to the tyranny of theocracy and barbarism or, conversely, anarchy and brutality. Both extremes were bad, and both were fueled by religious fervor but of different flavors. Anarchists were usually atheists, but their rejection of God did not mean that they had no religion.

Their ideology was their creed.

34

JASMINE

It was the third day since they had arrived at Darchen and the second day since Jasmine had injured her ankle. Aru had allowed for one day of rest, and in the meantime, he had worked on a strategy that would get them in and out of the Chinese military base without being noticed.

That was why they were all gathered in his and Gabi's room.

Jasmine had worked on strategy as well but in her own special way. Last night, she had been too drowsy to seek advice from her tarot, but this morning, it had been the first thing she did while Edgar went to bring her breakfast.

As she had expected, the cards had still shown her the prince like they had done all those times before, but they hadn't given her any clues about a more precise location or whether the prince was still alive.

Shifting uncomfortably on the chair, Jasmine tried to school her expression and not wince as her injured ankle throbbed. The cramped space in Aru and Gabi's room added to her discomfort, making her feel claustrophobic even though only the five of them were there.

Margo, Frankie, Ella, and Julian had ventured out to explore the local shops and gather information on the military base.

"So, here is the plan." Aru lifted a tablet with a blurry, enlarged map of where the base was located. "Edgar will push it again and deliver us to the same ledge he picked us up from last time, which is here." He pointed on the map. "From there, we'll start trekking in this direction," he again pointed on the map, "away from the base, so we won't suddenly disappear when we start shrouding. Once we reach a spot out of sight, one of us will start shrouding the group, and we'll double back and begin our climb."

As Jasmine listened to his explanation, she couldn't help a prickle of unease. Messing with the Chinese military was dangerous. They wouldn't hesitate to shoot at a bunch of intruders before verifying who they were. The gods would most likely survive, but she wouldn't.

"We'll have to take turns shrouding," Aru continued. "When the first one gets tired, the second will take over, then the third, then back to the first one, and so on. Hopefully, by the time we cycle back to the first, he will have had enough time to recover. Naturally, we will also take turns carrying Jasmine."

It was so awful that she was adding to their burden, but what choice did she have?

She had to be there to use her scrying stick to guide them to the twins' pod. No matter how much it galled her to be so utterly dependent on others, she had to push through the pain and the humiliation for the sake of the mission.

Aru smiled at her. "By the way, did you have a chance to scry again?"

Jasmine swallowed, her mouth suddenly feeling dry. "I did, but the stick didn't respond. It was like it had gone dormant, like the connection had been severed."

As a ripple of unease passed through the room and the gods exchanged worried glances, Jasmine quickly added, "But I checked with my tarot cards, and they still showed me the prince."

She risked a glance at Edgar, her heart clenching at the sight of his tight mouth and furrowed brow. She knew that her connection to the prince was troubling for him, even if he didn't comment on it.

It wasn't fair to him. He had stayed by her side even though she hadn't allowed him into her heart. He had supported her and believed in her even when she doubted herself, and the truth was that she cared for him, too. But her connection to the prince and the sense of destiny that tugged at her soul were impossible to ignore despite how utterly alien she expected him to be.

She tried to imagine what the prince would be like, picturing his tall, slender frame and his huge, luminous eyes. What would happen when they finally met? Would their connection be as strong and undeniable as the cards suggested?

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