Emersyn gasped and jumped up, the fuzzy blanket I’d wrapped around her mere minutes ago dropped to the blood-splattered ground. Her face paled. Her flames vanished. “What happened? Was it Saffie?”
I nodded. “It was.”
Deacon’s eyes widened. He gripped his chest and I knew he was thinking about why Saffie took that curse for him. “Where is she? Did you see her?”
Tennessee cursed a string of words so violent and vulgar it actually made me smile.
Deacon was trying and failing not to smile. “…that bad?”
I sighed. “We came out of my portal in the damned Arctic Circle. There were polar bears, y’all. It caught us off guard for literally a second and that’s all it took. We turned and spotted her and then the tunnel opened up and they grabbed her.”
Deacon groaned and cursed. “It’s not your fault. That damn tunnel. The damn fae.”
“How did she look?” Emersyn asked in a small voice.
“In that same purple gown you saw her in last night. But that doesn’t tell us how much time is passing for her yet.”
“What do you mean?” Em frowned. “Tenn?”
“It means for all we know last night for us could’ve been a month ago for her. Or ten minutes ago, or last night. We have no way of knowing. You know time works differently.” He shook his head and put his hands on his hips. “But we’ll be ready next time. They won’t catch us by surprise a second time.”
Deacon scratched his jaw and narrowed his violet eyes. “Why the Arctic Circle?”
My stomach turned. “I suspect she can’t control where she’s coming out. It’s obvious from the Knights chasing her that she is trying to escape and somehow bursting out of the tunnel on her own…and it drops her…wherever.”
“What does control the tunnel?”
At Em’s question, they all turned to me. I shrugged. “The only note on that I found in the Book of Shadows was from Althea…and she suspects Prince Thorne and Princess Sage control them.”
Deacon cursed.
Tears filled my twin’s eyes but I knew they were in anger. “So what now? How do we save her?”
I pursed my lips and tried to ignore the chill sliding down my spine. “We’re going to have to be creative if we’re going to get her back.”
Deacon sighed so hard I thought I felt his ribs crack. “So what now? Like right now, what do you want us to do?”
“You two need to stick around here for a few days, make sure everything is safe. Talk to Koth. Talk to the students. We’re obviously going to be here with you but if Tegan gets a track on her we’ll be going without warning. Once SOMA is safe, we’ll return to Eden and…plan.”
Deacon nodded. “Okay. Okay, you got it, boss.”
“We are going to get her back. I will raise hell if I must.” I grinned. “But for now, let’s get Emersyn some pants on?”
Chapter Two
Saffie
I gasped. “Tennessee.”
Tennessee’s mismatched eyes widened. He dove for me. “SAFFIE!”
And then a thick arm wrapped around my waist and yanked me back inside the tunnel. Hands gripped my arms and hoisted me in the air. I screamed and kicked my legs but all I saw was a sea of golden armor as the Knights tackled me to the ground—
Rainbow colored magic slammed into them and they flew into the air.
TEGAN!
And then just like that, like someone flipped a switch, my memory came rushing back.
I jumped to my feet as the tunnel sealed shut again. My magic shot out of me, wrapping around my body like it missed me. I missed you, too. Tennessee and Tegan were gone.
But I was back.
I REMEMBER EVERYTHING.
The Knights dropped like flies. Their bodies landed in weird positions, legs and arms bent up under them. They weren’t dead. I felt their life force still within them but Tegan’s magic would have them down for a while. Her rainbow magic covered them like ice over a pond in winter.
I grinned and an evil little chuckle escaped my lips as I dove for the sword lying on the tunnel floor closest to me. The second the golden hilt touched my palm, the blade glistened. Warm energy shot straight up my arm. My gold glittery magic coiled tightly around me like a second skin.
“Saraphina?”
I looked up and met Riah’s stare – he froze in his tracks, still twenty feet away. Heat flooded my veins like a volcano about to erupt. I narrowed my eyes and snarled, “Rot in hell.”