Page 119 of Wilds of Wonder
Bellamy hadn’t just taken the lightning bolt. She’d taken Annalee as well.
Chapter Fifty-Six
MAVERICK
Iwas going to kill her. When I found Bellamy—and I would find her—I would not be responsible for my actions. I’d told her my sister was off-limits. Annalee had been through enough already. She’d been fed visions and dreams of this place for years by some unknown source that I was starting to think was connected to Bellamy—maybe it was Bellamy herself, though that still didn’t make sense since she couldn’t have that much power. Maybe it was the mysterious stepmother who’d cursed Bellamy’s brothers. I didn’t know. But either way, my sister had been led here under false pretenses, and just when I’d found her, when I’d finally gotten her back, she’d been taken from me again.
I forgave Bellamy once, but I would not be so forgiving this time.
“Do we even know where they went?” Driscoll asked. “I mean Bellamy and Annalee have quite the head start. While we’ve been... occupied... all night, they’ve been traveling.” He held up a finger. “And let’s not forget that Annalee and Bellamy are like the Wilds whisperers. Annalee does the freaky shit where she can get any of these monsters”—he looked at Aron—“no offense—to become like cuddly little puppies,and Bellamy knows this place better than anyone since she’s the only one with her full memories intact.”
Well, Driscoll had laid it out about as plainly as possible. He was right. None of it worked out in our favor. But I hadn’t given up when I’d first realized Annalee had come here to the Wilds. I hadn’t given up in finding Spirit Sky’s bolt and stealing it. I wouldn’t give up now either.
“We’re going to find her,” Emory said from beside me, giving my hand a squeeze. “We’re the ones who find the hard-to-find things, right?”
I gave her a strained smile. “Right.”
Aron ignored all of us, crouching on the ground outside the castle, staring at the black-dusted road.
“I’m so sick of all this dust.” Driscoll kicked it up in the air, and it whooshed around him, pushing him this way and that. “It’s tickly and shimmery and pretends it’s all pretty and nice, but really it’s like an annoying swarm of gnats you can’t get rid of. You’re not special!” he shouted at it.
The dust blew around him with the breeze, then fell back to the ground.
“Driscoll, are you okay?” Emory asked, giving him a curious look.
“Fine,” he said, tone back to chipper. “Why do you ask?”
“No reason,” she mumbled.
“The dust is the least of our problems right now,” I said. “And with the wind blowing it all around, we can’t even use it to track them.”
“Maybe we should just start walking?” Emory suggested, biting the inside of her cheek.
“I can scent them out,” Aron said. “Not as strongly as in my wolf form. It’s faint, but they were here.”
“Of course they were here,” I snapped. “We’re right outside the castle.” I sighed. “I’m sorry. I’m just...”
“It’s okay.” Emory squeezed my arm. “I’m here for you.”
I pressed a kiss to her forehead, grateful for my wife. My wife. Even in the turmoil of the current events, those words would never get old.
“So what do we do?” she asked. “Let Aron track them for us?”
“Too bad he’s not in his wolf form,” Driscoll said.
“Unfortunately, I still cannot control that,” Aron said. “And even ifI could, I don’t know that I would retain much of myself, be of much help.”
“You brought that lightning bolt to El,” Driscoll said. “Also, you took us to that crypt. I think you knew we needed El, needed guidance, so you brought us to a place she’d find us all together.”
“Perhaps.” Aron shrugged. “But I would rather not test that out when we don’t have the luxury of time.”
Driscoll rolled his eyes. “I’m just saying, I think you have more control in your wolf form than you realize.”
The dust blew up in my face again, swirling around me, and I swatted at it. “I’m sick of it too,” I said. “Does it ever stop moving?”
“Not really,” Aron said. “It’s harmless, but it can be annoying.”
“Too bad Annalee isn’t here,” Driscoll said. “She’d probably sing to the wind or something and it would just magically calm the dust down.”
