Jeriad, Lethe and the rest of the dragons had transformed already. Jeriad spread his wings and shot up – hovering just above the tops of the trees. He circled the area, staying low enough to remain out of sight. A few moments later he swept back down to the forest floor.
“Head west,” Jeriad said, “there’s something there—ruins mostly, like the rest of the land, but it should provide some cover. The sky’s been ripped over it as well, so it’s as if it’s night there. There won’t be any need to cast a spell of darkness for the vampires.” Jeriad turned to Ibrahim, who nodded.
“Let’s get going then,” I commanded the rest of the team. “We stick together.” The dragons flew up and out of sight. I could have asked the witches to transport us, but they didn’t know this land any better than I did – without prior knowledge of the destination, I felt it was too risky. The rest of us headed out, grouping together as tightly as we could. Everyone was unnerved by the strange silence of the land. We were in the depths of a large forest, and yet I couldn’t sense or hear a single living thing.
“Look at this,” River said. She and Ben were slightly ahead, looking down at the forest floor. I joined them, seeing a small crack in the earth that grew wider as it jaggedly cut the forest floor in an eastern line.
“They must have had an earthquake,” River remarked, bending down to touch the edge of the crack. “The soil hasn’t been dried out—this was fairly recent.”
“It would explain why Jeriad saw ruins. Perhaps the land’s been heavily hit by natural disasters?” my son questioned uneasily.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Natural or unnatural? Nothing feels quite right here,” I replied.
We both looked up at the torn sky. No—nothing felt natural about this place. Whatever had happened here was the result of malevolent forces…something dark and deadly that held this land in its grip.
“Let’s keep going. The sooner we reach those ruins the better.”
I urged the team on, and soon the density of the forest started to give way to dry earth and a clear pathway out of the trees. Oddly-shaped hoof prints trampled the dirt. It was obviously a popular thoroughfare. I was still looking at the strange markings when a shout went up.
“What’s that?” Lawrence called out, gesturing us over to the side of the path, pointing back out into the trees.
“It looks like a colosseum,” Grace replied, heading off the path toward the structure.
“Grace, stop!” I ordered. I made my way to where my half-fae granddaughter and her husband were standing, my eyes lighting on the strange stone building off in the distance. From here, I couldn’t see an entrance to the building, though whatever it was had remained intact—none of its stonework had been damaged during the earthquake.
“We need to keep going. If the place that Jeriad directed us to is inhabitable, we might return here, but I want us out of the forest.”
“Okay,” Grace agreed quickly, wrapping her arms around herself. She looked up at me with her turquoise eyes. “I think you’re right—let’s get out of this place.”
We carried on along the path, all of us sighing with relief when we finally left the dark and oppressive shadows of the trees. Corrine fell into step beside me.
“We need to put barriers up as soon as we’re settled.” The witch spoke in a hushed voice, perhaps careful not to alarm some of the younger GASP members. “Mona, Ibrahim and I have been trying to get a sense of what this…thing is that we can all feel, but nothing is revealing itself. At first I thought it might be shrouded in some kind of magic, but we can’t sense any witchcraft. We have no idea what this is, and that worries me.”
“I know,” I replied. “It worries me too. But we’ve faced the unknown before, Corrine. We just need to make sure that we’re being careful. The barriers are a good idea. As soon as we’re settled get the rest of the witches on it—I don’t want any surprises.”
She nodded, hurrying back to Ibrahim and Mona.
The ruins that Jeriad had seen were the remains of a castle. The outer walls were still standing, with the path leading up to a portcullis, the drawbridge lowered and abandoned. The rest of the castle had been completely destroyed—black smoke was still billowing in places from beneath the gray rock, and hardly any of the foundation remained intact.
“This doesn’t look too promising,” Nuriya stated, surveying the dead lands that lay before us.
“Agreed,” Aiden grunted.
I looked back at the rest of the group. Sofia glanced over at me, her eyes wide. It wasn’t ideal, but, at the moment I still believed it was the best option we had—it was out of the forest at least.