A Shade of Vampire 41: A Tide of War(55)

“We will,” he replied. “I think it’s still prudent to search for this group of jinn, if they haven’t already been found. There are still answers that I want—an assurance that this is the end of it.”

I nodded.

Yeah. Answers would be good.

“Queen Nuriya and Corrine will take you back.”

“Okay, thanks,” I replied.

“No, thank you, Hazel,” my grandpa countered. “I couldn’t be more proud of you and Benedict if I tried. You have both turned out to be… extremely impressive.” He smiled broadly and I fell silent, not really knowing what to say. I felt a flush appearing on my cheeks to see my grandpa so pleased with me, and turned away to tell Ruby and Ash that we’d be leaving.

They were sitting next to one of the fire fountains, both of them staring into space. At first I wondered if they’d had an argument, but they were holding hands. Maybe they were just exhausted.

“We’ve been asked to head back to Nevertide, tell the others what’s happened,” I announced. Ruby paled, but stood up with Ash, ready to go.

“If you want to stay…” I hesitated, looking at Ruby. Maybe she’d prefer to stay with her parents or head back to The Shade.

“No,” she replied quickly, “It’s fine, honestly. I’m just tired.”

Ash looked at her, worried.

She smiled that strange, empty smile at him.

“So, who’s getting us there?” she asked brightly.

Ash and I looked at each other. Something was up with Ruby, and I knew that it had to do with Ash and the danger he’d just been in, but there was nothing I could say to make her feel any better. We would just have to hope that it wore off in its own time.

“Corrine and Nuriya,” I replied.

The witch and the jinni appeared the moment I said their names.

“You know the drill,” Corrine muttered, “hold hands.”

A second later, we were standing in the star-studded vacuum of the In-Between dimension, traveling slowly away from the planets of the fae. The silence was uncomfortably oppressive, but I clutched Tejus’s hand, knowing that it would come to an end soon. Up ahead I saw the bluish, swirling portal that would lead us out onto the snowy peaks of Mount Logan.

We stepped inside the tunnel, the force of the wind knocking into us.

“Stay together!” Corrine called out.

She led us through, the jinni following behind. I glanced over at Tejus, both of our expressions probably matching—crossing through the tunnel was something I’d only ever experienced hours before on the way here, and it was strange.

Once we arrived at Mount Logan, Corrine and Nuriya transported us to the North Sea. There we hovered for a few moments over the ocean, while the mouth of the portal became visible. We followed Corrine in, traveling once again through the bluish tunnel that would lead to the cove.

When we arrived in Nevertide, Corrine and Nuriya helped us once again by transporting us to the shore. The sea had become unfrozen, waves gently moving against the sand beds.

“Hazel!”

Benedict was running toward me, his face set in a mixture of disbelief and joy at seeing us all alive.

“Miss me?” I laughed, wrapping his body in my arms.

“Where are Mom and Dad?” he asked, untangling himself a moment later.

“Not far away. They’re just finishing up, they’ll be here soon.”

“And the entity?”

“Dead,” I confirmed.

“Really dead?”

“The deadest.”

“Awesome,” he breathed.

I smiled. That about summed it up.





Benedict





I couldn’t believe that we’d won.

I was so relieved that they were all alive—and not wounded, miraculously—that I completely forgot all about the Oracle, who was still standing back from the shore line.

“Who’s your friend?” Ruby asked, glancing over at her.

Then everyone turned and stared.

“It’s the Oracle,” I replied proudly. She might be as useful as a wet blanket in a storm, but we’d still accomplished our mission and found the person responsible for locking up the entity in the first place.

“What?” Hazel replied, looking at her in confusion.

“It wasn’t a group of jinn that locked it up—it was just her. She’s half Ancient, half jinni. Apparently, she’s lived in Nevertide since she was little. I’ll be honest,” I continued in a whisper, “she’s kind of…weird. And not a very good Oracle.”

“A totally crap Oracle,” added Julian, less bothered about keeping his voice down. Then again, she’d probably seen that insult coming.

“I need to have a word with her,” said Corrine, looking stunned.