Hyacinth - By Abigail Owen Page 0,49

Alex lingering in the hallway, and she led them toward her chambers.

“We need to talk. Can you gather the others without anyone noticing?” she asked once they were safe inside her room.

“Yes, that’s easy enough,” Ellie nodded.

“There’s a clearing about two miles southwest of here. I’ll show Charlotte, and then we can all meet there tonight. Let’s say midnight?”

They all nodded, and Selene ushered them out of her room. She quickly found Charlotte and showed her where to bring everyone later that night. She returned to her room alone and gratefully collapsed onto the vast four-poster bed. She’d been waiting impatiently for this moment for several days.

Selene closed her eyes, slowed her breathing, and concentrated on her gift. Sinking into a trance-like state, Selene opened her eyes to find that she was standing in a gloomy, misty nothingness. She knew exactly where she was… on the edge of dreams where she could pick and choose whom she visited. So Selene willed herself into Griffin’s head.

“Griffin?” she called.

Before she could enter the dream, Griffin shocked her as he came walking toward her in the mist. He’d never found her there before.

“I’d hoped you would contact me,” he spoke without preamble. “But I can’t talk right now. Where I am, I need to keep half my mind aware while I sleep in case I need to wake quickly. I can’t do that when I talk to you in our dreams.”

“I understand. Can you just tell me –?”

Griffin jerked his head to the side, as though he was listening to something.

“I have to go, Selene. You have to let me wake up.”

The urgency in his voice spurred Selene to act quickly. “Go. Be safe,” she called and let Griffin’s mind drift away from her.

She opened her eyes and stared at the intricately embroidered canopy above her bed. With a long breath she flipped onto her side, determined to get some sleep before she met her friends in the clearing. As she drifted back to unconsciousness, she had one final thought,

Please let him be okay…

Chapter 31

“Hey, watch it!” Lila dodged as a fireball flew past her and crashed into a tree.

“Sorry!” Ramsey called from across the clearing. He turned to Selene with a sheepish grin and shrugged.

“You do realize the goal is to try to herd our opponents, not to actually light them on fire, don’t you?” she asked, her tone dry.

He held up his hands in surrender. “I know, I know!”

Charlotte silently teleported in, appearing beside them. She had Lucy in tow. “I still don’t understand why you can’t just turn off all their powers,” Charlotte said as she pushed back her dark hair that the wind had blown into her face.

This had been a constant debate among the family members for the last two months. Two very long months with Griffin nowhere to be found. “These are not our enemies, Charlotte,” Selene said patiently. “No matter how much Maddox tries to make them so. They’ve suffered enough at Vyusher hands, and I won’t perpetuate that situation.”

“Besides,” Ramsey chimed in, “Do we really want to be responsible for significantly decreasing the numbers of our own race?”

Lila rolled her eyes, and Ramsey frowned. Selene’s lips twitched in amusement as she cleared her throat.

“Is everyone here?” she called out to the group. After receiving a round of nods and yesses, she signaled for Ellie to go ahead.

“Defenders, you know the drill,” Ellie reminded everyone. They’d been secretly practicing battle techniques for a while now. It was the defenders’ role to direct, guide, or manipulate the offenders in such a way that no one got hurt.

“And remember, the goal is to keep a full on battle from breaking out and, fates willing, gain enough time to convince them of our relative innocence and future good intentions. Ready? Go!”

Ramsey, Selene, Lila, Nate, and Charlotte stood shoulder to shoulder. Ellie, Alex, Lucy, Adelaide, Hugh, and Dexter charged, running straight at them. But they were stopped short by a wall of flame that sprang up, blocking them from their intended targets. Just as swiftly, the fire was doused. Selene nodded at Ramsey. They’d discussed the use of his powers very specifically, finally deciding that any action he took should cause no harm and be removed as soon as any immediate threat was reduced.

Adelaide and Hugh threw everything they could up in the air, directed at the defenders. Dexter instantly turned those items into lead, and Alex used his power to thrust them into a greater speed. The result was