eternity, Comet looked up toward the female and yowled.
Phaedra remained where she was. She shook her head and cried, mewling pitifully. Comet bared his teeth and called to her a second time. The female looked around her slowly, tentatively. Julija heard Isai’s breath hiss out of his lungs.
I told you it was a trap, Julija said. She wanted to shake him. They could have been halfway out of Yosemite had they taken to the air.
It is only a trap if we are unaware of it, Isai pointed out. You warned me earlier and I believed you. It was necessary to expose ourselves if we wanted to save Phaedra and Comet.
The large cat looked at Isai as if he’d heard every word. Once again, he called to his mate. This time she obeyed, slinking down the narrow trail toward them, her head swinging cautiously left, then right.
Without warning, something cracked hard almost against Julija’s thigh and then up near her shoulder. Shockingly, cracks feathered out around her as if she were sitting in a glass house and the glass had shattered but held. Isai leapt for the female cat, taking her off the trail as more bullets struck where she’d just been.
“Go, brothers, hide yourselves,” he called to the shadow cats as he tumbled down the rocky hill toward the cover of brush with the large female.
Phaedra had been startled enough to rip across his thigh with a hooked, venomous claw, but then realized he was saving her life. She held herself very still as they rolled together. More bullets hit the brush, but Isai had thrown up a barrier to prevent them from being hit.
You could have told me, Julija said, touching the shield her lifemate had erected around her. Clearly, he had been protecting her not only from the large cats should they attack, but all along he’d been expecting her murderous family to catch up with them. They’d shot the owl, so it stood to reason they had a high-powered rifle and would use that in the first phase of their attacks. Why don’t you have a shield around you?
You are much more important.
Was there laughter in his voice? Maybe not, but certainly amusement. She wanted to shake him. This isn’t a game. Anatolie is very, very dangerous. If you knew Xavier, or heard of the despicable things he did, then you should realize that he raised Anatolie to be as bad as he was. He wanted an heir. He kept Anatolie secret from everyone, so he could teach him everything he needed to know and help him take over the world. That was the ultimate goal. Do you think he would raise someone to be wimpy?
Wimpy? Now he was laughing. What does that even mean? Is it slang?
She was not going to laugh. You’re impossible. More bullets hit the shield surrounding her and the cracks webbed wider. Should I run for it?
Go invisible. Become mist and fade away. Once you have done that, I will follow with the cats. Do not worry, I will be right behind you.
Her heart jerked hard. She took a deep breath and shook her head. Isai, I can’t possibly do something like that. It’s too scary.
The moment she sent the words to him, he flooded her mind with soothing warmth and filled her visually with mist, so it felt as though it was building in her mind rather than outside around her, yet when she looked up toward the stars, she could no longer see them. The mist had crept in, a few long fingers at a time until it surrounded her, thick and impenetrable.
The change always starts in your mind, just as your illusions do. Think of it as an illusion if that helps you, little mage. You must hold two things in your head at all times. You will be mist and you must be lighter than air, taking to the sky to escape. Moist air is heavier than dry air. You can do both.
The moment he said that, she realized he was right. She lifted her hands and began to weave a pattern of mist so that she felt it twisting around her body, those wet, cool, very fine droplets. She began to chant softly.
Mist made of water, I call to the light.
Moonshine surround me with your beams so bright.
Take that which is water transforming its light.
So I may transcend, becoming mist and take flight.
Her body dissolved, a stranger feeling even than when she’d become an owl, or