dead. She’s no good to either of us unless she’s alive.”
“I know that even better than you.” Kellyn hung up and tossed the phone onto a nearby chair.
She didn’t need to be reminded about anything. Especially not by one who had only recently joined in the hunt.
Kellyn had been waiting for this for centuries.
“Soon,” she whispered, chuckling as a pedestrian rushed into the street and was smacked by a taxi. “Soon, I won’t need anyone. Shea and I will take charge of the Awakening and nothing will ever be the same.”
Shea and Torin were the first to leave the ship.
Actually, they left before the ship landed in Southampton. The moment they were close enough to shore, Torin flashed them out, leaving behind the luxurious interlude.
But time was passing and she had no room for regrets or looking backward. Torin had been right, of course. The moment she had set foot on British soil, she had known exactly where they had to go. Was it a sense memory? Was it a clue left behind in her subconscious when her memories were unlocked, allowing her to recall her past lives?
“Shea?”
“I know where to go,” she said. “Pembrokeshire, Wales. But just get us close. I want to do a spell before we go to Haven. Make sure we’re not walking into a trap.”
“Good idea.”
They were on the final leg of their journey. In ten days, the moon would be full and their time would be up. As Torin’s flames enveloped her, Shea silently prayed that nothing would go wrong.
Deep in the heart of the Sussex Sanctuary, Odell and Rune relaxed beside a campfire. Flames leapt and jumped into the night sky. Swirls of sparks flew briefly and winked out like dying fireflies. All around them, the community of women worked to integrate the newcomers, freed by the raid on the internment camp.
“That went well,” Rune said, lifting his glass of beer in a salute to his friend.
“It did,” Odell agreed. “Only three guards dead and six women freed.” He grinned. “Was a good night’s work.”
“And they’ll be safe here?” Rune looked around. They were in a long-forgotten cavern beneath Ashdown Forest. In ancient times these carved rock walls and rooms had no doubt hidden away others, looking for peace from their pursuers. Today, it was alive again with the sound of desperate voices.
“Safer than they were, for damn sure,” Odell told him flatly. When he spoke again, he smiled. “It’s ten square miles of ‘protected’ land. There are the tourists, of course, but Ashdown was the ‘home’ of Winnie the Pooh,” he added with a snort of laughter. “There are deer and all other manner of wildlife running all over the bloody place, so there are conservation people rabid about protecting it.” He looked up at the rock ceiling above their heads. “And these caverns were forgotten long ago. No one knows of their existence and they’ve been magically warded so they won’t be found.”
“Sounds good,” Rune told him. “But they can’t stay here forever.” From down a long corridor came the sound of a woman softly weeping and his unbeating heart ached for the females caught in a web of treachery.
“No, they can’t,” Odell allowed. “But it’s a good spot for now. There are other Sanctuaries posted around Britain and we’ll move some of the witches soon, make it less crowded down here.”
Nodding, Rune said thoughtfully, “You know, the last time I entered a Sanctuary, I wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms.”
“Perhaps,” Odell told him with a grin and a wink. “But you come to this one as a friend of mine, so you’re trusted.” His smile faded and he shook his head solemnly. “These women have been pursued and tortured and terrified. Is it any wonder they’re willing to turn on the first male they see?”
“No. It’s not.” Rune stared into the fire and said softly, “If the Awakening goes as planned, this will change. There won’t be a need for witch hunters. Witchcraft can take its rightful place in the world.”
“Aye,” his friend said, a rueful note in his voice. “If it goes as planned. And how many plans my friend, have we seen blow up in our faces over the centuries?”
“Yeah,” Rune agreed somberly. “There is that.”
Torin risked the magic, using his powers, his energies, to flash them, in a series of jumps, to Wales. Their minds linked, thanks to the ever-increasing strength of the mating, he took them to a high, grassy knoll above the crashing sea.