Page 57 of Jacinth

***

Sky was pacing around Jacinth’s clearing, the agitation in every inch of his countenance. As soon as he spotted us, he raced over and threw his arms around Niko.

“I’m so glad you’re safe.”

Niko/Jacinth nodded, and a moment later she stepped out of my brother and smiled.

“That was really fun. Can I do it again?”

The resounding “No” came from Niko and me, perfectly in sync, and it would have been splitting hairs to decide whose denial was more emphatic.

Once we were all settled, Sky repeated the information he had relayed during our brief call, starting with Birdie’s disappearance and finishing with Jacinth in the amulet.

“That is not happening,” Niko growled.

“I agree, but how can we change it?” Sky said calmly.

Three sets of eyes focused on me, all looking for an answer. I tapped my phone in my pocket and was comforted by its solid presence and the information I knew we now had.

“I have a plan that could work. It’s not risk free, but if we can organize it perfectly, then we’re in with a chance. It’s a one and done thing, though, so if we screw it up, the fate of Silver Springs is all our fault.”

“Man, you really suck at pep talks,” Jace said, and shook her head in mock disappointment.

“I’m telling you what we’ve got. No good sugar-coating it, is there?”

By the look on her face, I read her desire for sugar all the way over this mess.

“I won’t send you in blind, Angel. We don’t benefit from ignorance.”

Her face softened, and she appeared to mentally shift gears.

“What about Birdie? Do we have any idea where she could be?”

No one spoke. We were all thinking the same thing.

Maybe not the ‘where’, but we knew the ‘with whom’, and it was that fact that had us all nervous.

What was he going to pull? And how the hell could we get her out safely?

Dagny let out a whine from over where Sky had tied his leash to a tree.

“It’s so quiet here now,” Jace said, wrapping her arms around her as if the cold of the place surpassed mere temperature.

If we had blinked, we could have missed it.

A small ball of light came hurtling through the clearing and pierced Jacinth’s chest. She gasped in shock, patting her hands over her sternum as though trying to feel what had invaded her.

The clearing filled with tendrils of black smoke, creeping along the ground, weaving among the trees like snakes waiting to strike.

“Alisdair,” Sky growled.

I took a wide stance, facing the approaching threat.

“Angel, you need to ghost out. Get into the spirit realm and hide.”

I was going to stop this. I needed time, though.

Now was going to be all about the fall back and fight another day. He couldn’t see her on that other plane of existence, thank god.

---