"Well, did you find something then, oh great one." Tyson's tone was mocking, and even more growly than before.
"You can call me Louis. Great One is so formal," Louis said without missing a beat. "And yes, actually, I have picked up on the same energy. It's across the country though, so we're going to have to take a step-through, and we need to hurry the hell up."
My eyes shot to Braxton, who had landed and was in the process of shifting back. "Clothe the man and let's move our asses."
Jacob's hand landed on my shoulder, and I could feel the soothing energy of his fey power as it tried to calm the beast. His essence was all elements, nature, and ancient gods, but I was not in the mood.
"What's up with you, Max?" Jacob said as I knocked his arm down. "I mean, I know the girls are gone, but we don't know anything bad has happened yet. Usually you're the calm one keeping Braxton from losing his shit. Now we have to hope Ty and I can manage the two of you."
Good luck with that. Braxton and I were both stronger physically and energy-wise than our younger brothers. Not by much, but just enough that Jacob and Tyson would be in trouble if they had to contain both of us.
"Lucky I'm here then, isn't it?" Louis was back to being annoying and cheerful, although I could still sense that undercurrent of fierce supe he'd tapped into before. He was worried about the girls, especially Jessa. He had claimed her as family, and that meant something very real in our world.
His purple-hued gaze locked in on me. "I think I can handle a few mated males losing their minds."
A sort of blankness descended over the red rage and I remembered for the first time in forever that Cardia was dead. Shit. Had I even reacted this strongly when she died? Despite Louis' assertion about mated males, Mischa was not my mate … and yet my vampire was murderous, absolutely inconsolable in its rage. We craved to find her. We needed to make sure she was safe, and not just because of the child. No … because of her.
I was so fucked up.
Tyson magically clothed Braxton, and by the time the pair got to us Louis already had the swirling portal ready to go.
Braxton's voice was guttural: "Did you find them, sorcerer?" Even though he was no longer wearing scales and claws, his eyes were still blazing yellow.
A few months ago, when the dragon king stole Jessa out from under him, he'd lost his soul. What was left became a pure killing machine, and it was only through the quad bond that we managed to pull him back from that insanity. I wondered if I would even bother this time, or if I would simply join him in the killing.
"I haven't found the girls yet, they're not on this realm." Braxton didn't look surprised, which meant he'd already figured that. "But the transportation magic used had a distinct, dark magic feel to it. I've locked in on a similar vibe, somewhere around Sequoia National Park in California."
The dragon shifter didn't say another word, he just stepped into the portal, and the rest of us followed. The journey was short. As we exited the step through into a woodland of massive trees, warmth hit me hard. Definitely west coast weather here.
I stood shoulder to shoulder with Braxton, and for once I think both of us were in the same mental space – completely losing our minds. His anger was palpable and it elevated mine. Neither of us were able to stand still as we waited for everyone to make it through and for Louis to close down the doorway. Luckily, he started to move immediately, practically running as he led us across a mile or so of forest. Braxton and I kept pace on either side of the sorcerer. Our main priority was to keep him safe while he was following the energy. We'd be screwed without his guidance, and the girls were relying on us.
"It's much stronger here," Louis muttered. "The energy. It's all part of the spell to make it difficult for other magic users to pinpoint the location … but they need to get up earlier than this if they want to try and hide magic from me."
Braxton was growling again. The sound died off as we crossed a small trickling brook and found ourselves staring at a clearing in the forest. Normally I'd think the sight before us was completely insane to find in the middle of protected national parklands. Except of course we'd just come from the candy house from hell, so it was all starting to seem normal.
"For fuck … is that real?" Tyson said, his eyebrows raised, mouth open. "Are they the three little pigs' houses?"
I looked to Louis. The sorcerer was doing that shrewd gaze thing as he tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Finally, he gave a strangled laughed. "It's freaking genius. It really is."
"What the hell is genius about this … scene?" I snarled. "And how is this supposed to help us find the girls?"
Three tiny houses. The points of their roofs stood no higher than my waist. The first was made of straw, the second was made of sticks, and the final, you guessed it, was made of brick. In our world, kids weren't big on human stories, but some of their "fairy tales" were really stories passed down by supes, just modified for humans. Have you ever actually read the Brothers Grimm? Dark stuff, and not all of it made up.
Louis took a few steps closer to the straw house. "What better way to lure powerful creatures than using the magic of fairy tales."
The magic of fa-what was the mage talking about?
Braxton, who was still in full yellow-eyes mode, let out a bellowing roar. "Explain yourself now and get us to the girls. They need us. I'll not wait a moment longer."
Louis dropped all pretense of joviality and went into scary, badass sorcerer mode. His voice was low; power twanged across the air on each syllable. "Fairy tales are powered by the energy of humans and supes. Every time a story is read, every time a child believes in it, there's a certain power to the tale. Someone has tapped into this, has sent out a spell which will recreate the fairy tales using the energy contained within each story. They then lure in unsuspecting humans and supes. Don't you feel it, the way it's drawing us in? Don't you want to step forward and touch the houses?"
Now that he mentioned it, there was a power struggle going on inside of me. I wanted to be closer to the little houses, and it was more than innate curiosity. It was a spell, subtle and slow moving, insidious enough that I wouldn't have noticed anything until I was snared. That's why Louis had not moved any closer. He'd known that to step into its boundary would initiate the spell and he'd be unable to escape.
"So how do we break the spell?" Jacob said. "It's not natural, the forest does not like it. We need to end this now."
Louis' grin was back, but it wasn't nice. It was hard and scary. "Oh, that's easy enough. We go and introduce ourselves in person. Easiest way to get to The Great Divide."
Okay, so much for not stepping into it. He crossed the space and the rest of us stayed close to his side. Just like with the girls, a massive wind blew up around us, and the whirling vortex started to usher us closer to the houses. I didn't bother to wait for it to suck us in though. If Louis said this was the way to Mischa, there was no more time to waste.
Of course I had no idea how I was supposed to fit inside a house which stood only at the height of my waist. Or even which of the three houses to choose.
With no time to debate any further, I ran straight at the middle house, prepared to emulate the big bad wolf and smash it down. Just before I hit it though, the vision changed, and as my hand touched the side of the stick wall, the entire scene vanished, changing into a cage.
My sprint did not halt, and with Louis and my brothers right behind me, the five of us dashed straight into the box. The moment the last of us crossed the threshold, there was a whirring, followed by the crash of the entrance closing.
Louis was still looking all fascinated sorcerer, examining our prison. "Generally the magical illusion would hold much longer than that. Definitely until the lured was inside of the house. But we're too strong. Maximus smashed the spell. All that's left is the portal. We should be on our way now to the land between. I'm just hoping we don't register as a threat. If that happens there's a possibility the prison will reject us and dump us out halfway."
We should have gone in one at a time. We were some of the most powerful supes in our entire world. Add Louis in there and nothing could stop us. If there was some sort of magical security system on this place, we could very well find ourselves floating in the abyss. Which I did not have time for.
The whirring grew louder and darkness descended around us, so all encompassing that if I hadn't been able to feel my brothers crushed against me I wouldn't have known anyone else was there with me.
My heart clenched and I had to fight through the pain in my chest. Since losing Cardia I'd tried not to be in darkness. When my eyes had nothing to focus on, my brain started to demand attention – the pain started to demand attention. And I did not have the energy to give into it.
This time, though, all I could see was Mischa, with her soft green eyes and rounded belly that held my child. The image was so strong. Why could I see her as if she were standing right before me, and yet when I tried to recall my true mate there was barely a shadow, no detail, almost as if she was fading away from my brain and soul, which, if she'd been a true mate, was damn impossible?