Page 48 of Catastrophe

My eyes widened in shock. That poor person. They don’t even know they are going to be sacrificed. “How? Why? Do the others know?”

She shook her head. “None other than the senior leaders.”

“How do you know?” She looked away, and her jaw tightened. I licked my lips and squeezed her hands desperately. “Nisha—Nisha, do you know where they are? Have you seen them?”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “The problem with being a seer is that I know you won’t drop this, even if I warn you of the danger.”

When her eyes opened, I held her gaze. “Whatever the danger, I’ll do it to rescue Zaide from the hunters and Fafnir. Do you know where he is?”

The world disappeared, and suddenly, I could see two men outside of a large building. They were muttering to each other, but their eyes were on the horizon, and their hands were on their weapons. They wore the same bow-and-arrow logo on matching black fatigues. I looked around, my eyes wide and trying to absorb every tiny detail so I could recall it well enough to create a portal. I would not leave Zaide to rot with our enemies. Who knows what they had already done to him?

Nisha sighed. “Concentrate on the corner over there for your portal. As far as I can tell, it is the only place hidden from cameras, but I don’t know what they have to detect magic or how they are protecting their warehouse from supernatural attacks. This is the risk you take. I can’t see anything clearly from here.”

“You really can’t see how it will go?”

I continued watching the guards as she explained, “When the variables are too many, it’s too hard to say exactly what might happen. I could give you a thousand scenarios, but none of them may come to pass if you know of them, and a thousand new ones will appear. Sometimes there are few paths. I cannot tell you what to do. You are a person with your own free will, after all. But I urge you to do the safest thing, because your future is a future for the rest of the realms and the titans. It’s important you all survive.”

We returned to the living room. “Is that it? You saw nothing else? What about the supernatural plant? You can’t show me them?”

“That glimpse is all I can offer without certain and deadly outcomes.”

I felt the blood drain from my face and nodded slowly. “If I don’t go, does Zaide survive?”

“Yes, of course,” Nisha replied quickly.

My lips pressed into a thin line. I caught what was unsaid and asked, “Is there a way he survives without unspeakable trauma?”

“No. His experience changes him forever.” She looked as ill as I felt, and I swallowed thickly.

My plan solidified in my head, and I’m sure my future must have too. I shook my head. “That isn’t acceptable to me. I don’t want him to suffer, so I’ll save him, even if it makes the future uncertain. I can’t do anything less, Nisha. He’s my soul pair.”

She nodded. “Beings from every realm have done dangerous, deadly, and terrible things for the people they loved. That is not special. But every one of them faced consequences, and it is how they deal with that which is the true test. I am one example of many. Please try to stay safe.”

I squeezed her hand and smiled shakily, her warning ringing clear in my ears. “I promise.”

Gasping, I woke up to the room I shared with Elizabeth and looked over to see her lying in the bed next to me. I listened to the rhythmic sound of her breathing before I threw back the covers and tiptoed around the room as I dressed and packed. I felt scared but determined as I left the hotel and created a portal behind the bins, which would take me right into the hunter stronghold.

CHAPTER 12

ZAIDE

My head banged on the smooth stone floor when I awoke sharply, face down and confused. I rolled onto my back and groaned as I pressed my hand to my head and allowed the events of the evening to come rushing back to me.

Hunters attacked the island, and just as Daithi had foreseen, I was now their captive.

Ice spread through my veins as though the damp of the floor had seeped under my skin, and I shuddered but didn’t open my eyes. I wasn’t ready to face the reality of my situation.

You have suffered worse than anything a human could throw at you. You will survive this. You have much to live for.

The memory of Clawdia telling us about her vision of children—our children—flashed into my head, and I sighed as my heart warmed at the thought; the ice melted.

I tried to reach out to her across our bond but found it muted and dulled. Panic surged into my throat, and I swallowed thickly as I searched further. I could see it in my mind’s eye, the purple bond that stretched between our souls, but I couldn’t touch or feel it.

Something blocked us from connecting.

Something here? A spell or the cage? Or something on her end? It reminded me of the terrible moment when she lay unmoving in the cave for days as she recovered. My mind blanked as panic rushed through me. Has something happened to her? And Charlie and Baelen, are they also hurt? Or taken?

Screams shattered the quiet, and I shot upright, my eyes wide open to see my new prison. Unconscious witches covered the floor, positioned as though the hunters had thrown them into the cage, not caring where they landed.

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