“Hunter, you’re his father, I want you opposite side from your wife.” Cassandra pointed to my right. “This ritual is creating the wormhole Bentley needs to find his way back. Think of it like trying to blast a tunnel under a mountain. So we’re making a half circle with Saffie at the top point.”
“Cassandra, where do you want us?” Cooper gestured between him and his uncle.
“Coop, between Saffie and your dad. Kessler, on the other side of Saffie.” Cassandra skipped to the middle of our circle. “Tegan, next to your father at the edge of the water. Emersyn, between your mom and the water.”
They all sprinted to their positions, then looked to her like puppies expecting a treat.
“Saffie, place both of your hands on my shoulder blades.” She dropped to her knees in the sand and then reached up and over and tapped on her back. “Tegan, you’ll put your hands on Hunter’s back. Hunter, on Cooper. Emersyn and Devon do the same on the other side. But then Kessler and Cooper will press one palm to each other’s and the other on Saffie’s back. Got it?”
Tegan cleared her throat. “Are we channeling magic from us all the way into Saffie?”
“Yes. I’ll be performing the spell since I’m the past Hierophant, so as soon as I start chanting just give me all you’ve got. Saffie will be pushing all of yours and hers into me. Ready?”
I stepped up and pressed my palms into her back, then steadied myself with one leg in front. Cooper’s warm hand landed on my right shoulder. Kessler’s massive hand dwarfed my left shoulder. I looked to my right – Hunter and Tegan were ready. On my left, Devon and Emersyn were ready.
My pulse quickened.
My stomach tightened into knots and then flipped around.
Every nerve ending in my body was singing. My magic pulsing.
This was it. The moment we actually tried to open up a wormhole into Seelie Realm.
Cassandra took a deep breath, her shoulder rising and then falling. Then she began chanting in the ancient language, so I pushed my magic into her as hard as I could. Golden glitter rained down her back. Pink and purple flowers sprouted from her white t-shirt.
Stars danced in my vision as Cooper’s magic hit me.
My magic pushed out of me harder once Kessler gave me his.
I felt the calm, warm emotional balance from Hunter followed immediately by the sharp protectiveness of Devon.
Black smoke coiled around Emersyn’s body in my peripheral vision. When her magic hit me, smoke billowed out from under my feet. My wings popped out of my back and fluttered.
I felt Tegan’s magic hit my back like a bolt of lightning. Electricity surged through my body, lifting me off of my feet. I gasped and my back arched. Rainbow mist clouded my vision. It was like I’d been plugged into an electrical socket. Every inch of me buzzed and tingled. My bones hummed.
I clenched my teeth and shoved all of it into Cassandra’s back.
She chanted louder and her words grew sharper. I couldn’t hear them over the heavy pounding in my own head. She threw her hands in front of her and held them together. A bright orange beam of light shot out of her hands and into the horizon.
With every passing second the beam of light grew bigger and bigger until it stood over six feet tall. The light glowed like lava and heat rushed off of it. My whole body trembled but I wasn’t giving in yet. I screamed and pushed with every ounce of magic I had.
There was a pop and then it was gone. We all crashed to the sand like she’d dropped us.
I rolled to my side and looked to the horizon. “Come on, Bentley. Please.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Saffie
Sunday January 27th 2019
As the sun dropped low in the sky and tap danced along the surface of the water, I had the sickening realization that we’d been out here all day. It had been sunrise when we did the ritual and now the sun was setting again.
None of us had moved.
None of us had spoken.
None of us had eaten.
And none of us were leaving until Bentley appeared in front of us.
We would wait as long as we had to.
Chapter Sixty
Saffie
Monday January 28th 2019
Nothing.
Chapter Sixty-One
Saffie
Tuesday January 29th 2019
Still nothing.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Saffie
Wednesday January 30th 2019
Still nothing.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Saffie
Thursday January 31st 2019
Four days later. Four days.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to cry.
I wanted to puke my brains out.
But more importantly, I wanted to set every inch of Seelie on fire and laugh as it burned to ash. They would pay for this. They would hurt for this.
Even if we got every single one of them back completely unharmed…I was going to ruin them. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know when. I didn’t know if I’d make it out alive. But this was an act of war and I refused to lose, even if I had to take the whole damn realm down with me.
I’d just have to convince Tennessee and Tegan to let me go by myself.
I glanced around to everyone else and found rage to match my own blazing in their eyes. None of us had moved since we did the ritual with Cassandra. We’d barely even slept, and when we did, we did so in shifts. Some of the civilians in town had been bringing us food and water but none of us had left this beach.
If Bentley didn’t show up tonight we were going to do the ritual again.
I’d do it every day if we had to.
Tension was high in the group. The air was so electrified it kept sparking. Everyone’s magic was now spilling out.
The first day we’d all been terrified and panicked.
Then it changed to despair and desperation.
Overnight, it’d turned to rage…and this morning it was volcanic.
One of us was going to blow and it could’ve been any one of us. Koth, Silas, and Maddox kept shifting into dragon form randomly. Emersyn sat with them, the four of them their own personal bonfire. There was a cloud of red lightning around Deacon at all times. Braison paced up and down the beach while Albert watched. Olli kept trying to comfort me but every time he whimpered it made me think of Riah.
Riah.
This was all our fault. Mine and Riah’s. If the others hadn’t been standing next to him they’d still be here today.
I couldn’t even look at the Bishops anymore. The guilt was too much.
And the bright, beautiful sunny day around us was salt to the wound. There wasn’t a cloud in sight. The temperature was only seventy-eight and there was a cool breeze blowing off the water.
With every gust of wind my mood turned more volatile. Which was fine by me, anger was easier to handle than sadness. Another giant gust of wind ripped off the water and slammed into me. My hair blew back from my face and off my shoulders. Sand swept over my feet— wait a second. That’s not normal wind.