Page 77 of Kingdom of Chaos
Ensley shakes her head in awe. “This is everything you always hoped for.”
I give a nervous laugh. “Yes and no. I always wanted magic, but not like this.”
She cocks her head at me. “What do you mean?”
“This isn’t reallymymagic. It’s Talon’s. Or at least the magic he used to have because of Shadow Striker. It kind of feels like I’m stealing them from him.”
“How does Talon feel about this?” she asks.
I take a deep breath. “He doesn’t seem concerned. I was worried I was hurting him, but he said I wasn’t. But every power I develop, he loses.”
A pit of worry churns in my gut. What if I keep taking powers from Talon until he has none left, including his own?
I voice my concerns to Ensley, who then asks, “Are shadow and fire magic even Talon’s original powers, or are you just picking up what he obtained through Shadow Striker?”
“I think just the magic he got from Shadow Striker.”
“Well, there you have it. You’re not actually stealing anything from him, then. Those weren’t his powers to begin with.”
I chew on my bottom lip. “I suppose you’re right, but still?—”
“You have enough on your plate right now. It won’t do any good worrying about things you can’t control. Just take it one day at a time.”
I nod, agreeing with her, but the sick feeling churning in my gut doesn’t disappear.
Twenty-One
“Is this the place?”Ensley asks as we walk through one of the entrances to Central Park, the large central green space in the middle of the biggest city I’ve ever been.
“I think so,” I answer. The sign I read said “Central Park,” so this has to be it, right?
“But it doesn’t look familiar?” she asks, a pleat between her eyebrows.
“Not exactly,” I say as I glance around.
“It’s a big park,” Talon says. “We just have to find the right spot.”
“Should we split up?” Titus asks.
Imogen stays quiet, which is weird. I’ve gotten somewhat used to her quips and barbs over the last several days, but all day she’s been strangely subdued. Especially around Titus. She’s gone out of her way to avoid him as much as possible, and I wonder if she’s embarrassed about how she needed him last night. I guess I’ll just have to wonder though, because if I’ve learned anything about Imogen, it’s that she’s not a sharer.
Talon is already shaking his head at Titus’ question when Imogen steps forward and loops her arm through mine. “That’sa great idea,” she says brightly. “I’ll go with Locklyn. The three of you can search together.”
Talon starts to argue, but his cousin snaps back at him. “You do want to find this dragon shifter, right? If we split up, we can cover ground twice as fast.”
Talon presses his lips into a hard line. I can tell he’s not a fan of dividing the group, but Imogen has a point.
“Only you and Locklyn saw through this portal, right?” she asks and he nods. “So we’ll make two groups. I’ll go with Locklyn, and you with Titus and Ensley.”
Talon doesn’t look happy about it, but he nods. “Fine, but everyone meets back here in two hours.”
“Sounds great. Let’s go,” Imogen says, and before I have a chance to argue, she starts dragging me away.
“Wait a minute,” I say, but she’s a vampire on a mission and her iron grip on my arm is solid.
I regret that I missed the old Imogen for even a second, because over the next two hours I have to listen to her complain and berate me as we search for the field where I last saw Becks. We don’t expect to find him here anymore, but the hope is we’ll be able to pick up some clue as to where to start looking for him.
I bite my tongue, keeping my mouth shut for most of the two hours, but as time slips by and we don’t find the field, my anxiety and fear grow and my patience for Imogen’s sharp tongue wanes.
