Page 56 of Empowering the Wolf's Heart

More footsteps pounded outside the door. I shut it and put a wobbly, wooden chair beneath the handle. It wouldn’t hold for long.

Shen had the nymph free and riding on his back as he darted out the window.

I followed him out, wondering too late how the heck I was going to get back across. Shen was using his claws to gouge out the pure rock face, but I wouldn’t be able to scale it before?—

The door crashed open at my back just as Shen reached the window eave.

“Jump!”

I jumped.

CHAPTER 18

Trust

SHEN

She listened.

Nearly before I was ready, she had leapt out the window, arm outstretched. I grabbed it and used her momentum to send her around me and through the open window. She rolled when she landed, coming up and breathing hard. “We gotta move,” she said.

“Hold tight,” I whispered to the nymph. He held tighter to my neck, his skin slimy yet crusty. A very disconcerting texture.

The mage was still in the room when I arrived, and her eyes were open.

“What happened—” Her vision cleared when she saw us. “You?”

“Your friend is dead, killed by your own. Your choice is to come with us and live or stay and die,” I said.

Alia glared at me, but this was not the time to mince words.

“He’s a little rough around the edges. You get used to it. Kinda. I’m sorry about your friend, but you really need to come with us, ok?” Alia held out her hand.

“I have my powers back. I could turn you over,” she said.

“We do not have time for this,” I said.

Alia sent me a look that told me to shut up. “You could, but you won’t.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” the mage asked, her face tensing.

“Because you need more than what they can provide.”

The mage blinked as if not expecting that. Alia had a way of saying things that meant no sense to the average person, but had a connection to an individual that struck their soul.

The mage nodded and followed us out the door. A yell rang out behind us, and I threw a blade as a guard rounded the corner, arrow cocked. The blade sunk into his shoulder, making his arrow thwack into the wall beside the mage.

Alia darted downstairs and then took a right instead of a left.

“The outside is—” I cut myself off and hid a smile as I realized where she was headed.

She smiled at me, eyes crinkling.

“What coocoo pot did I manage to emerge in?” the mage muttered. She followed us down the steps and into the cellar. Alia turned to the nymph, gesturing for me to set him down.

“Can you sense the water?” she asked.

He held out his hand. His eyes turned black and hope showed in the way he eagerly stretched forward. Then he slumped and shook his head. “No,” he sighed.

---