Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,131
outside of the eerie paradise? The dead pixies hadn’t morphed back into Chaos mist to be returned from whence they came, but I would’ve bet good money that they would as soon as they were out of there. And that probably went for the other lost souls. If Fergus’s physical body had rotted away in that place, leaving him as a spirit, it wasn’t a huge stretch to think that the same might’ve happened to the older residents. They wouldn’t last out here in the real world, because they didn’t belong here anymore.
Does that mean I’d be killing them, in a way? I shivered uneasily, having a crisis of conscience. That kind of purgatory wasn’t living, but it wasn’t dying, either. And I’d be taking the choice away from the people who would likely die the moment they set foot outside. Or, perhaps, like Nathan had suggested, I couldn’t defy the order of things. Maybe it was their time to pass on, and Fergus’s realm was holding them back from that. It felt impossible to know which was the right way, but I had to save my friends. That part was clear. Plus, I had the added guilt of knowing that pixies had died for me, in there. The creatures I’d given life to couldn’t pass on and return to Chaos, and I didn’t want them stuck like that. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure what happened to a Purge beast if it couldn’t return to the Chaos stream after death.
“Did you think you could hide from me? Did you think I wouldn’t find you?” A familiar voice cut through the silence, followed by the comedic squeak of someone sliding down the pole from above. A shadow descended, and I staggered back.
I clenched my jaw. “Not now, Charlotte. I’m busy.”
“Busy causing problems.” She hopped down onto the ground and raised her palms. “And I’m here to take you in.”
I ducked a lasso of Telekinesis while the pixies regrouped around me. “Then why are you here on your own? I thought you’d have gone straight to Victoria!” It seemed odd that she hadn’t brought a hunter entourage with her, so I decided to try and call her bluff. Maybe she wanted to take me to Victoria to get the glory, or maybe it was payback for toppling her in bear form.
“This is my family’s Institute. I let you get away, so I have to clean up my mess.” She lashed out with another lasso, and I kicked my leg out to avoid it slithering around my ankle. “Victoria has enough on her plate. After all you’ve said to me about fixing your own problems, I know you’ll understand why I have to do this.”
“Then, for Chaos’s sake, would you listen for one freaking second! Our goal is the same!” I shouted. Boudicca led a quartet of badass she-pixies in a bombardment, all four of them slicing through the air, legs extended, preparing for their trademark dropkick.
Charlotte yelped in surprise when the pixies made contact. “I knew you were involved! I knew it!” She threw out two lassoes in an attempt to wrangle the pixies, but they were too fast. Boudicca managed to land a dropkick to her cheek, and two other she-pixies snatched up her hair and wound it around her eyes, blocking her vision. “Why are you doing this, Persie? Why are you getting these monsters to kidnap people?” she spluttered, trying to clear her hair out of her eyes.
“I’m not!” I resisted an eye roll. “They’re on our side. That’s what I’m trying to tell you, but you need to quiet the heck down so I can explain!”
My tone threw me—I rarely got this riled, and never with people I didn’t know—but I was thin on patience these days. Fergus had already pissed me off, and now Charlotte was intent on getting on my bad side. If I showed weakness, she’d eat me alive, and I couldn’t risk getting marched down to Victoria’s office. No one would pay attention to the truth there, either.
Boudicca chattered something back at the remaining pixies and they swarmed around me, forming another defensive circle to protect me against Charlotte’s Telekinesis. This time, however, it looked like they’d adapted yet again. They gripped hands and dove toward the floor, bright violet light sparking between them. An ancient chant rose up from them, and they rose with it, spinning faster and faster in their circle until a translucent veil of purplish Chaos rippled around me. These incredible