Page 25 of Gift from the Nexus

“You all right?” I ask Corentin as he comes to stand beside me. I know the answer. It’s the same as mine, but he obviously has something he wants to say.

“No. Are you still blocked from her?”

“Yeah.” I grunt.

I’ve tried tirelessly since banging on the doors at the gym to reach her mind. At that point in time, she was purposely blocking me out. I could feel her pushing me away, but now, there’s more than just her effort keeping me from reaching her. There isn’t a shadow of a doubt that she’s still alive, though. My weeping bond that’s going ballistic in my chest is fully intact, begging for hers to respond to it.

Cracking limbs and heavy footfalls draw our attention back to the tree line where Ry and his Nexus reappear through the covering. There’s no hint of fear or worry etched on any of their faces, so whatever they’ve picked up, they’re either not concerned about, or like everyone else, their fury is fueling their motivations.

“The ward’s just a detection enchantment. The moment we bring it down, it’ll set an alarm, but it’s not going to keep us out,” Nikoli, with a twitch in his nose from using his gift, states confidently as soon as they approach.

“Fifty-three outside and another forty inside. In addition to those inside, there’re another twenty-one motionless forms. I’m assuming hostages,” Ry reports. Turning to Oakly, I know her answer just based on her facial expression.

“She was here. Not anymore.”

“So they’re bringing her in, then moving her. Why?” Lyker asks.

“’Cause it messes with my tracking. Little bits and pieces of her signature are left behind but not enough to follow her path. It would’ve been stronger if she’d used her magic at any point in time, but she didn’t, either location. I don’t know if it’s because she couldn’t or wouldn’t. Now wherever she is, she’s completely blocked off from me,” Oakly says angrily.

She’s fighting back tears of rage. Her thoughts aren’t as wild and murderous as ours, but she’s beating herself into the ground. Blaming herself for Willow being in this situation and she can’t find her.

“You’re the best tracker I’ve ever met. None of this is your fault. You and I both know Willow wouldn’t be happy with your train of thought,” I tell her sternly.

“I don’t see how Willow tolerates all that eavesdropping. It’d drive me mad,” she teasingly snarks back with watery eyes and a tilt of her lip.

“This is what they’ve been doing with all the hostages, this whole time. Bouncing them from location to location to throw off the tracking. Based on what Oakly just said, I’d bet the reason Lucas’s team was picking up anything with the tracking spells was the hostage used their magic. Then wherever they end up, they’re in concealed locations, pocket dimensions, or the nonmagical realm just like you learned from Layton.” Corentin pieces together.

The revelation makes my gut revolt and I squeeze my eyes shut. Firmly planting my feet in the ground to stop my swaying, I swallow down the bile that’s threatening to spew everywhere.

All three of those possibilities would be exactly why I can’t get through to her mind, why my bond can’t reach her, and why Oakly can’t track her. If they’ve moved her out of Elementra and into the nonmagical realm, we’re nowhere near prepared to get her. Gaster’s never taken someone out of Elementra. He’s only ever brought Willow in, so there’s no telling if he could transport us there to search.

There’re too many unknowns about the Forbidden Forest to get to the portal. Going in ill-prepared is a suicide mission. And as ready and willing as I am to do that to bring her home, if she isn’t there and something happened to one of us, she’d lose so much of herself.

No, she’s still in this realm. I won’t accept anything else.

“Ry, try to get in touch with the other two locations. If they’re cleared like ours was, have them come here. We’re taking down this location, then moving on from there,” I command.

Another hour passes before both other groups arrive to join us. The Aeradora location was taken down first, with only thirty soldiers and six live hostages. The Aquaria location posed more of a problem with a little over fifty soldiers, eighteen hostages, and three of my men were hurt.

All three of those men belong to the Nexuses that lost their brothers today. I’m positive their carelessness stems from the pure adrenaline and hatred brewing in their souls right now.

I can’t or at least won’t hold them at fault for that. They’re hurting. A piece of them is dying inside right now. So if obliterating members of the society that caused them that pain is what they need, despite how reckless they may handle it, it’s completely up to them. I won’t stop them from joining us when Jamie finishes healing them.

“Everyone knows the plan. Let’s—”

A hiss to my left has me pausing as I stare at Draken to see what he has going on. His face is a mask of confusion mixed with a little discomfort, and he looks at me, Corentin, and Caspian.

“What’s wrong?” Caspian asks, taking a step closer to him.

“I’m not sure. It feels like something—Ahhh,” he cries out, dropping to his knees.

Caspian’s shadows shoot out, barricading us in as Draken’s screaming gets louder and louder. Every time one of us tries to touch him, he shoves us away. We watch in confused concern as he frantically starts ripping his shirt to shreds. I hear Uncle Dyce’s gasp the second it falls from his lips, and my attention zeroes in on the beacon of light blazing from Draken’s body.

There at the junction of his shoulder and neck, his silver mating mark is shining brighter than a diamond and he’s desperately trying to rub at it as if he can rub the pain away.

“Draken, what’s going on? Tell me what it feels like.” My uncle kneels in front of him and grabs his face between his hands.

“It fucking hurts. It’s killing me. What kind of stupid question is that?” Draken growls out between his locked teeth.

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