Page 194 of Monsters in Love

Rage filled me, but I needed to maintain focus. Capricorn was in trouble, and every second could count. “Call the team at Coventry. Anyone and everyone. Get them down here. Now!”

I rushed to the door, Rothgar fast behind me. The scent of old magic hit me, a foul taste on my tongue. Jalen shouted a spell, melting whatever barrier was in front of me. I didn’t pause, trusting in my blood brother to get the job done.

He did.

I was through the front door and tearing through the house when multiple popping sounds signaled the arrival of Coventry agents. I let Jalen brief them on our situation.

Panic seized my chest. It was a pain I’d never felt before, full of longing and loss. Regret.

When we crashed through another door, Rothgar tearing through a wall when the threshold was bespelled. I could finally smell her. Capricorn. Her sweet scent wrapped in foul magic and the tang of blood.

Her blood. She was hurt. But where the hell was she?

We were clearly in a library. Capricorn’s belongings scattered about. I pushed the rage back, needing to think clearly so I could find her.

And then the most heartbreaking sound echoed in my entire being, filling my soul.

Declan!

I roared her name, willing her to hear me. Willing her to show herself to me.

“Declan, move!” Jalen said. He tossed something at the space before us, and the air shivered. The Coventry agents threw their combined might together, and with one blast, the obscuring veil before us shattered like glass.

A man with an aura of shadows laughed, stabbing the air with his crooked wand. I threw myself over Rothgar and Jalen, pushing them away from the spells flying toward them.

“You’re too late!” the creature that was once Professor Snowden proclaimed. “He will rise once more, reborn from the sacrifice of flesh!”

No! I could not let myself believe Capricorn was dead. Not while her soul screamed for me.

The creature stood above a spiraling scrawl of glyphs. I nudged Jalen, pointing to the portal.

A savage gleam flickered over his eyes. “There is still hope,” he said. “The portal isn’t closed. There’s an anchor spell.”

I did not know what that signified. All I cared about was the part that Capricorn was alive and we could still save her.

“The Coventry team are armed. They will draw his fire. I will tap that spell to push the portal open. You and Rothgar need to drop him through the portal instead.”

“Consider it done,” Rothgar promised.

Jalen communicated the strategy to the others, and we readied to go. The team drew the creature’s attention at the same time Jalen focused his magic toward the anchoring spell that Capricorn left behind.

Though miniscule, it was enough of a crack to wedge the portal open once more. Rothgar and I pushed him back. It was just enough force for the darkness to snake around Snowden’s body and swallow him down.

I crept slowly to the edge of what looked like a Hellmouth. Rothgar and Jalen linked to hold on to me in case I got captured by the darkness as well.

I couldn’t see Capricorn, but dammit, I could feel her. She needed me. She yelled for me.

A shining spot on the edge of the portal caught my eye. Her anchor. Of course. It was an elegant spell, one I had not seen before. I covered the spot with my hand and instantly felt something like a rope grow taut beneath my hand.

I pulled on it, careful not to pull too hard, or risk breaking the tether. All the while, I imagined Capricorn, reaching for her in the place between my hearts. The place where I felt her pulling, calling for me.

The Rothgar and Jalen received help from the rest of the Coventry unit in anchoring us so we did not all plummet into the darkness.

I worried it was taking too long, that somehow this magical rope would not have been enough when I saw a wash of teal hair followed by Capricorn’s tear-stained face.

I scooped her up from the black, earning a protest from the rest of the team that had anchored me. I could barely care. Capricorn was where she belonged, in my arms.

I moved her away from the abyss, crushing her to me.

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