fierce opponent, now broken on the ground.
“What happened?” Gabby whispered.
“Jax is gone,” Aston said, his voice gruff with emotion, his eyes on Elias as he spoke.
Tara wrapped her arms around her soul bonded as Elias stumbled.
Gabby watched as he wrapped his arms around Tara and buried his face in her hair. His shoulders shook as he held her tight. Gabby had to look away from the intense emotion, but her eyes fell back on Zuri, and the woman’s sorrow was even more painful to watch.
“Were they soul bonded?” she asked Liam.
“Not that I know of. But Elias mentioned a few times that they were an on-again-off-again couple. He said that neither of them would admit it, but they loved each other. Elias never heard of Jax or Zuri dating anyone else.” Liam looked at Aston. “How did it happen?”
Aston’s eyes glanced at Elias before stepping closer to Ra and Liam. “The portal opened, and a damn dragon flew out of it. I’ve never seen anything that big move so fast. Jax was standing at the front of our group. One second he was there, and the next, the dragon had taken him.”
“Like in his claws?” Shelly asked.
Aston shook his head.
Liam leaned even closer to Aston and asked in barely a whisper, “In his mouth?”
Gabby gasped as Aston nodded his head.
Zuri let out another anguished shout, and Gabby looked to see Professor Fernis kneeling beside her, speaking softly as he wrapped an arm around her. He must have just told her the same thing Aston had told them. Jax had faced a horrible fate, and there hadn’t been a damn thing anyone could have done about it.
Gabby looked around the area and noticed a significant number of warriors and professors had joined them while they’d been talking. Most of the experienced warriors who were no longer students had formed a circle around their group and were staring up at the black sky. Their hands glowed with power.
To her surprise, even the royals joined them. Aviur, Kairi, and Nasima were standing about ten feet from the shimmering portal. They were each glowing and shimmering with their own elemental power.
Gabby saw Aviur’s fire began to flow up his body, starting at his feet. Kairi had water flowing through her hair, moving down her body until she looked like a human waterfall. And Nasima’s blew all around, her dress swirling yet somehow none of it was tangled. Gabby could feel their power from where they stood, which had to be a good fifty feet away.
The trees swayed, and their branches groaned under the onslaught of power the elementalists were releasing.
“Shit is about to get serious,” Shelly muttered under her breath.
Liam put his hand in Gabby’s, and she felt the water flowing over him. She glanced at him and saw his skin glowing blue while water seemed to ripple under his skin. She reached for the fire inside of her then lit up like a human torch. Ra and Shelly were the next to light up. Josie and Miles, the water bonded couple, came over. They, too, were covered in their power.
One thing was for sure, Gabby thought, they weren’t doing a good job of hiding, not that that was their goal.
“You guys all right?” Miles asked as he looked at Elias, who was running his forearm across his face. The grief had been replaced with resolve, and he looked deadly. His hands glowed green, and the ground beneath his feet rippled, but he didn’t stumble.
“We are ready,” Ra said, answering for their group.
Miles looked as if he were going to say something more, but before he could, three guys came bounding up. They were covered in fire, except for their faces. Gabby noticed immediately that they were identical triplets. The second thing she noticed was that they were grinning, and a crazed look danced in their eyes.
“Josie,” all three of them said at the same time with the same grin stretching across their faces.
Josie rolled her eyes. “Triplets,” she said dryly. “You guys are way too chipper for the situation.”
“Who are the kids?” the one in the middle asked.
“These are academy students who are helping,” she answered.
“Guys, these are the fire idiot triplets.” She pointed to the one on the right. “That’s Atticus.” Pointing to the middle one, she said, “That’s Shaw, and that’s Omar.” She nodded toward the last one.
Beneath their fire, Gabby could see that their skin was the color of melted chocolate. They were handsome and obviously trouble … which made