“Tejus!” my grandpa barked.
I stepped back, and Tejus grinned at me.
“I’m coming!” he roared, grabbing my hand. We made our way over to the GASP members, standing with Ash and Ruby.
“I’m going to divide the teams up,” my grandpa instructed us. “We can’t afford to stay together—won’t get there in time. From Tejus’s visions it’s likely that the entity is going to focus its own efforts on one location, sending its shadow army, the ghouls and the queen elsewhere. Sofia, Rose and I discussed the locations using Hazel’s description. I think we’re looking at Paris, Brussels, Berlin, London, and of course the In-Between. The fire planet. Each team will get a full briefing on the exact locations—Hazel, will you do that?”
I nodded, frantically trying to recapture the memories of the mind-meld Tejus and I had shared…what if I left out a detail and sent them to the wrong place? Thousands of people could die! Ruby’s arm brushed up against mine and she smiled reassuringly.
You’ve got this, her expression said.
I inhaled a breath, trying to calm down.
“Each team will be assigned a leader,” my grandfather continued, “and each team will be assigned at least one witch or jinni to assist with transportation. As soon as any of you come into contact with the entity, those who can portal easily need to be sent to find me and my team—we will consolidate our attack. I think, or rather, I hope, that the shadow is going to lose power once the entity is destroyed. Vivienne, you’re leading the Paris team; Kiev, Brussels; Ben, In-Between; Bastien, you will lead the London team; and I will lead the Berlin team. Team leaders, speak to Hazel, and I will organize the rest of your team members.”
I stood back, suddenly confronted with expectant faces all looking in my direction. My great-aunt Vivienne was the first to approach, her intense blue-violet eyes latching on to mine. “Tell me everything you know—don’t leave out any of the details.”
I nodded. Taking another deep breath, I started to describe what I’d seen. Tejus approached halfway through, helping me fill in some of the details that I’d missed. Next came Kiev, Bastien, then Sherus and Ben who wanted to double-check the location of the vision, and finally my grandpa, who brought my mom with him—she’d spent some time in Berlin on a mission, and could remember it well.
I felt light-headed when I’d finished.
“Grandpa.” I stopped him before he could walk away. “Whose team am I on?”
“You’re with me.” He smiled.
I nodded a thank you. Huh. Fighting side-by-side with the famous Derek Novak?
Benedict would have a fit when he heard…which reminded me—somehow we needed to get word to my brother and the others that we were leaving Nevertide. I didn’t like the idea of him remaining here without us. I’d always envisioned us walking out of here together, having finally made it, despite the odds stacked against us.
When Tejus and I walked over to my mom and dad, they were already discussing it with my grandpa.
“We’ll send the other Hawk boys to tell them,” he agreed. ‘The important thing is that they keep searching—and hurry. Using the stones might be the only way to trap the entity; if that’s the case…”
My mom placed her hand on my grandpa’s arm, stopping him from finishing the sentence.
“We know,” she said firmly, “but they won’t fail—and neither will we.”
I turned away from my parents. I hoped my mom was right.
“You’re fighting with us too, right?” I asked Tejus. I had assumed that he would be—my grandpa tried his best not to split up families and friends during a battle, though often it was unavoidable.
“Like I’d let it be any other way,” he muttered. I knew he wasn’t pleased that I’d be fighting, but there was nothing he could do about it.
I looked at Tejus. “I can’t wait for you to meet the twenty-first century.” I laughed, thinking more of Tejus’s old-fashioned values than the cities we’d be traveling to. He would have seen some of Earth’s urban areas before anyway, but perhaps only from a distance.
“If you think a dimension change will stop me from being so over-protective, you’re sadly mistaken,” he replied dryly.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I meant it. As much as I valued my independence, knowing that Tejus was watching my back as I was watching his made me feel safe—no matter what the danger. I hoped that would never change between us.
Tejus
We waited for the teams to be assembled, and the villagers and human children to be ushered out of immediate sight at the opposite end of the cove, moving them as far away from the rotting corpses of the dead Acolytes as we could. When the guards arrived, I would ask them to set the bodies on fire – we didn’t have time to hold proper funerals. I knew that Ash was worried about the safety of the villagers, but if we needed to get them out of Nevertide quickly, the cove was the best place for them. I had other concerns—mainly that we were putting a lot of faith in the visions I’d had. I still wasn’t convinced they weren’t some kind of trick, images placed in my mind by the entity to mislead us. I’d shared my thoughts with Derek while we’d waited for the rest of GASP and the sentries to arrive. The vampire felt that, as it was the only lead we had, we should follow up on it, otherwise we’d be traveling from continent to continent across Earth without any direction. It would take too long. I had agreed, eventually, but I still couldn’t shake my misgivings.