Aislinn thought about explaining she’d only been trying to be polite and considerate by giving Bella a choice before touching her, but decided against it. Laying a hand on either side of the feathered body, she ran the Healer equivalent of a scan. Surprise sent her brows crawling up her forehead. Just to be sure, she scanned Bella again, but the information was the same. Even the broken wing bone was completely healed. “My,” she gasped, “you’re better than good.”
“Exactly.” Fionn joined her next to the raven. “Even more reason we should tell each other…everything.”
“I disagree. We should leave.” Rune paced nervously.
Trusting the wolf’s senses, Aislinn exchanged glances with Fionn and said, “We can talk once we’ve put some distance between us and D’Chel.” She held out an arm. Bella hopped onto it.
“Uh-uh. This will work better if Bella’s with me.” Fionn gathered the bird into his arms.
“Send me an image of the next jump,” Aislinn told the wolf, already drawing the mix of energy that would get them out of there.
“I need it, too,” Fionn said.
“Ready?” Aislinn asked. Fionn moved next to her. Rune closed in, too.
“Okay, everybody.” Familiar power built within her. The previous night’s meal and a decent rest had worked wonders. She felt as if she could move them all, even if no one else did a thing. Fionn put his arms around her, sandwiching Bella between them. Taking care to hold everyone’s life force separately so no one would get lost in the transition, she loosed her spell. Aislinn felt magic flow around them and waited for the weightless sensation, but it didn’t come.
“What the hell?” she sputtered. Magic was thick in the small space. They should be gone. She couldn’t gin up any more power. Had D’Chel trapped them in some way? Fear surfaced. Her heart hammered against her chest.
“Here.” Fionn added to her working. “Let’s try it this way. As you guessed last night, we’re deeper underground than you might think, and there’re my wards to get through. I should have disabled them before you began.”
Pathetically grateful to have a reason her magic had failed, she pushed her power outward again and was rewarded with the buoyancy that told her it was working. “Thank God,” she muttered. Then Rune was in her mind, and she saw through his senses. Fionn hadn’t been kidding about being far beneath the earth. They were at least five hundred feet down, with ward bands every fifty or so. She developed a new respect for his magic as she passed through each of them.
They came out on a long stretch of deserted asphalt. It was so open that it gave her the creeps. Aislinn fanned magic in all directions, but didn’t feel anything that gave her pause. “We need cover,” she said.
Fionn looked around. “Pretty barren.”
Rune padded in a large circle, looking in all directions and scenting the air. “This is not the image I sent.” He flooded her mind with another.
Aislinn wondered what had happened. Now that the wolf mentioned it, this stretch of roadway certainly wasn’t the image she’d held in her mind. Why hadn’t she realized that? Christ, am I losing my mind?
“I’ll take us from here,” Fionn said. “Ready?”
Grateful no one commented on her lack of stewardship for the current jump, Aislinn just nodded. The next jump brought them back into forested terrain. She sank into a shaded spot under an oak tree. Oaks. That means we’re fairly low.
“Feel like hunting?” Bella asked Rune.
“Stay close,” Fionn cautioned.
“We will.” Bella flew off, with Rune tracking her from the ground.
Fionn sat next to her and asked, “What happened?” Concern etched deep into his features, making little crinkles around his eyes.
She shook her head. “I’ve been asking myself the same thing. It’s like something—or someone—got into my head and swapped the first destination for the second. Makes me nervous. Once I set the traveling spell loose, there’s no way I can control it en route.”
“I know.” His jaw closed in a firm line. A muscle twitched beneath one eye, which probably meant he wanted to say a bunch of other things, but was holding his peace.
“Tell me about yourself.”
He looked at her, half a sour smile on his face. “Not much to tell. I was an archaeologist. I’d just finished my doctorate and begun teaching at Oregon State. I had a wife and two kids.” The muscle twitch got worse. “They were culled. I was spared, though at the time, I wished they’d sent me through the gateway, too. Sometimes I still do.” His blue gaze bored into her, as if testing how much truth she could stand.