Page 162 of Ash

All he knew of the Watchers was the obscenities Rindek and his family had hissed about them. Not one had hinted that they were Unicorns.

The figures were ethereal. Constructed of energy, rather than flesh. But with his mind in its current state, Ash doubted he was seeing them at all.

They’d been working on this collar for days now. Despite their efforts, it had stubbornly refused to yield. But now, it shifted against his throat.

Ash’s eyes widened. Something was happening. When Rindek used the collar to punish him, he’d often felt red-hot tendrils writhing through his brain. Now, there was an odd stinging sensation, as though they were pulling free.

The collar moved again, and the Watcher’s expressions, along with their energy, grew more intense. Their hands drifted closer, until Cara’s touched the collar.

Then, with an abrupt movement, she yanked her hands back.

A sharp clink echoed through the room, and for the first time in his life, Ash felt cool air touch his throat.

“Sit up.” Cara’s voice was hoarse with exhaustion.

Ash pushed himself upright, and the collar rolled off the table and hit the ground with a harsh clang.

The sound reverberated like a gong through Ash. The second the collar fell away from him, Rindek’s presence vanished. And it was replaced by another. An energy that flooded through him, filling his heart and soul. It washed away the pain then rooted deep within.

His heart fluttered. It had to be his imagination. He’d never been without that collar, and Rindek’s dark energy had been a permanent resident as a result. He’d learned to live with it. It hadn’t meant the Archmage could read his mind, only that he could control the Oracle.

This energy was different. This wasn’t about control. This was about a merging of souls.

He flinched away from the sensation, too raw, too unsure to embrace it. But when his crazed talent took another wild run, flying from the past through the present and reaching for the future—the energy stopped it cold.

Ash grabbed for it as though it were an anchor in the storm, and managed, for the first time since Demeti last fried him, to hold firm to the present.

“Ash, are you okay?” Aphostra leaned close, the Watchers to each side of her.

He glanced up at her. “Yes. Thanks to your work, I think I am.” When he saw the expression on her face, he added, “Why do you ask?”

She tilted her head and picked something up from the table alongside him. It glittered in the overhead lights.

Crystals—no, not just crystals—Dragon tears.

“Because you’re crying,” the Gryphon said.

* * *

Something was different.

The Gryphon’s mountain had a profusion of places to soak up some rays. Tyrez had just got himself arranged on the lovely warm rock to catch the last of the evening sun when he experienced the strangest sensation. It was enough to cause him to shift to human, and puzzle on it. An energy surged through him that he couldn’t quite define.

“Hey, are you okay?”

He turned to see Dani climbing up the stone path to his ledge. She was human, but her clothes looked as though they’d been pulled on in a hurry.

“Yeah.” He smiled at her, and her eyes widened in shock. “Yeah. I’m good.”

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “The meeting went well, then?”

Meeting. Right. To his shock, it had fled from his thoughts. “Yes, it went well.”

Dani eyed him uncertainly but remained surprisingly quiet as Tyrez filled her in. Almost as though she wasn’t quite listening to him. Or perhaps, it was more that he was distracted.

Despite the situation and the difficulty of the task ahead, he felt curiously buoyant as he finished. “Some Dire packs will come on board, but I have no idea how many. Alex and Jacques are trying to get a tally of what Rindek has recruited.”

Dani frowned. “I think he had seven packs in the forest. They each had about thirty members and an alpha female with abilities. Another Mover like me. A Reader. A couple of Shakers. But Rindek spoke of more.”

---