Shit, he even had me convinced that the dragon marked were going to take over the world, and I was one of them. I continued spinning my head around the zone, trying to find the boys. It was very unlike them to not be with me or their family. Since I could see Jack and Jo close by, I knew they weren’t with their parents.
I smiled as I noticed the little boy huddled close to the vampire-sorceress’ side. Jo had an arm tightly wrapped around his shoulders as if she could keep him safe with her love alone. I was glad that Louis had managed to spell Nash’s mark and energy. He was too young to be able to access any of it yet, and for now he was undetectable from the Four. Once this thousand year thing passed, he might actually have a shot at a decent life. And if no dragon king rose, well, my hope was that the dragon marked would be free from this constant persecution.
I was a dreamer.
The First stepped back to join his brothers. “You have five minutes.” The four of them crossed their arms over their broad chests and raised their chins in unison.
Gah, that was like the freakiest thing ever, robotic almost.
Mischa and I had our hands tightly linked. Jonathon and Lienda were close to us also. The minutes passed in a slow blur of motion. There were no noises and no one stepped forward to offer up any dragon marked.
I turned my head out into the crowd again. I was starting to jitter on the spot and I knew I had to stop it. If I continued to act like a guilty dick, the Four were going to find me with absolutely no help from anyone. And where the effing hell were the Compasses? I was going to throat punch each of them when they appeared, worrying me like this. It was, well … very annoying. Yeah, let’s go with annoying.
Then I was going to hug the hell out of them. So the order of actions was clear: throat punch, then hug.
Spinning back to the fountain, my eyes widened and I felt more shivers caress my body. Where the hell had the Four gone? There was space where they’d been standing and I had not heard or sensed them move at all. My fidgeting was getting worse. Something told me they were searching the crowd. They were going to find us. I just knew it.
“Stay calm, Jessa.” Jonathon loaned me some of his power, easing my nerves. “You will be fine. I would never let anything happen to you or Mischa.”
His words were low and calming and yet I was not calmed at all. If anything, my nerves were increasing. Freeing my hands, I spun around and started to blindly push my way through the crowd. I knew drawing attention to myself in this manner was dangerous, but the fear was choking me. I needed to shift into my wolf. Problem being, my dragon was also stirring. She’d unfurled herself and was nudging at the thin, flimsy barrier that surrounded her now. I could almost scent the smoke from her nostrils, the shimmer from the scales and fur that coated her skin. She was just under my skin the way my wolf often was. If I lost control of her now, the Four would be on me faster than Maximus when he scented a sexy vamp girl.
People got out of my way, and finally I made it to the edge of the crowd, which, thankfully was close to the forest. I was going to be able to run, shed the human skin and be a wolf for a while. I hoped, too, that would ease the tumult of my dragon. I sighed as the cool dark of the forest canopy surrounded me. The earthy scent, a mix of dirt, plants, and flowers flowed over me, and in itself this was soothing.
“Going somewhere?”
The low voice came from the shadows and froze me to the spot. I straightened as I prepared for them to emerge. Sure enough, the Four stepped free from where they had been hidden in my forest. My beautiful forest now tainted by them.
One of them, no idea which, came at me from the east. The others fanned out to the other points. North, south, and west.
East started speaking. “We sent out a little energy. It stirs the dragon mark, causes fear and unease.” They seemed so casual as they closed in on me. “You’re a strong girl. We can feel the power under your skin. You could have resisted had you known.” He tilted his head to the side, sizing me up like a predator. “Which is why we like to minimize the information on dragon marked. Knowledge is power.”
“I’m not dragon marked,” I said, and I was grateful that my voice didn’t shake.
The west one bared his teeth at me. “There’s no point in lying, we have no doubt you’re the one we’re hunting.”
I was screwed, but there was no way I was going to let them take me without a fight. I’d end up buried in some prison somewhere, never to be found again. I knew this time they would not risk anyone breaking out the dragon marked. We would be locked in the bowels of the Antarctic. Or even that prison which was rumored to be buried under the ocean.