A Shade of Vampire 40: A Throne of Fire(29)

“What was that?” he asked, groaning in the same way I had as he pulled himself up. We both got to our feet, looking at the rest of the GASP team, all doing the same—staggering to their feet with baffled looks, some still clutching their heads.

“Dad?” I called, seeing him standing and helping my mother up. “What happened?”

“It must have been Abelle,” he muttered angrily, looking around for the woman. It was pointless. Unsurprisingly, she was nowhere to be seen.

“Was it some kind of magic?” I asked.

“I’m not sure what it was… Mona? Corrine? Ibrahim?” he questioned the witches as they approached us, looking very annoyed.

“No idea,” Mona replied, “certainly the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like that.”

The jinn came forward, looking equally irritated that they’d been knocked down by the same magic.

“That was horrible!” Aisha snarled. “What did that bitch do to us? I feel completely drained.”

“As do I.” Queen Nuriya shook her head furiously. “Where is that rotten creature? She’s going to pay for that one day. Mark my words.”

“Do you think it was creatures like her who damaged the children at Murkbeech?” Claudia asked menacingly, her claws extending.

I nodded slowly. It would make sense. If a human brain was exposed to that kind of treatment it was bound to leave an effect. I wondered if Abelle herself had been involved in the kidnapping of our children?

“I’m going to kill her,” Claudia raged. “If she’s done that to my children—if any of them have—I’ll tear them to pieces!”

For once I didn’t think Claudia’s torture fantasies were an overreaction. I was very tempted to get my hands on Abelle again as well, see how well she fared with a pair of fangs sunk into her neck…

“She’ll meet justice,” my father barked, “but if she’s free, then we need to get to the children before she can warn the army, or get to the kids. Lethe, Azaiah, Field, Blue—will you all fly on ahead and see how far away we are?”

They nodded, the dragons shooting up into the air to join the half-Hawk brothers.

While we waited, I tried to work out how long we’d been out. Maybe a couple of hours? The light didn’t seem very different, but it was hard to tell with the massive gashes in the sky.

“I really hope Hazel and Benedict haven’t been on the receiving end of that,” I muttered to Caleb. “It was so painful.”

I shuddered, thinking about them being subjected to the same treatment… perhaps more than once. It didn’t bear thinking about.

“I know,” he replied with a growl. “I’m looking forward to getting my hands on their captors. They’re going to regret crossing this family…”

Corrine walked up to us, placing a hand on my arm. A second later, the remains of my headache were almost completely gone.

“Oh, thanks,” I said, smiling at the witch.

“The same treatment I gave the Murkbeech residents we took back to The Shade,” she replied. “It helps soothe the mind.”

I felt grateful that when we did find the children, at least we had a team well-equipped to heal whatever they might have endured. I just hoped none of them were in the same state we’d found the human boy who’d known Hazel. He’d been so far gone…

“They’re different, Rose,” Caleb muttered, as if he’d read my mind. “They’re stronger.”

“I know,” I whispered.

But they’re still just kids.

Corrine, Mona and Ibrahim started to heal the others and we all waited impatiently for the Hawks and dragons to return. I started to notice that one benefit of Abelle’s mind-attack was that before now, most of the GASP members had been weirded out by the strangeness of the land, baffled as to how another dimension like this could have gone unnoticed for so long. Now they weren’t unsettled. They were furious. They were ready for revenge, to destroy the creatures that had taken our kids, to fight against a force that could knock us all out like this. We’d be ready for them next time.

Lethe and the others landed, informing us that the castle was a few miles away, still protected by the strange force-field they’d erected around it. They hadn’t seen any sign of Abelle.

“Let’s get moving,” my father commanded.

We continued the journey, moving a bit faster than we had been. As we crossed the floor of the silent forest I heard the quiet and melodic mutterings of the jinn contemplating magic that might repel another attack, and the witches discussing how they might expand the strength of Corrine’s mind-soothing skills.