“Thanks.”
Silence descended, and I struggled to keep my eyes closed. Curiosity won out, and I peeked through one eye only to squeal and stumble backward when I saw Fenris’s grinning face inches from mine.
“What is wrong with you?” I smacked his arm and looked around for the other wolf.
“He already left, and I was wondering how long you’d keep your eyes closed.”
“So you got in my face?”
“It was pretty funny.”
I shook my head at him, slightly amused but unwilling to admit it. The last thing Fenris needed was encouragement.
“Are you ready to find your druids?”
“More than ready.” Blood pumping from the scare, I managed to walk on my own for quite a distance before Fenris caught me shivering again. I didn’t protest when he picked me up, but I was careful to keep my hands and eyes to myself.
“I smell smoke,” he said softly. “They aren’t far off now.”
“I can make it the rest of the way on my own.”
He snorted.
“And how are you going to find your way back? Just accept that I’m here for the whole thing.”
I wrinkled my nose, wondering how long it would take him to figure out the druids and I were responsible for Ashlyn’s disappearance after I told them she was missing. Probably seconds.
The girls weren’t camped in some nice clearing or anything. They had a tiny, one-man tent set up in a space between two large oak trees. Anne popped up from her spot by the fire as soon as she spotted me.
“I’m going to kill Tegan,” she said, the anger in her eyes glittering more than her makeup.
“You didn’t give me much of a choice.” I wiggled in Fenris’s hold, and he set me down. “You could have just texted me.”
“We were busy.” Annoyance laced Meg’s expression and tone. “We—”
“Need her,” Lauv said, looking at the other two. “I’m cold and tired, and she’s the answer. We’re ready to call in that favor, Eliana. We want you to seduce a dryad.”
“Favor? I don’t owe you anything. My mom is still in Uttira, and Ashlyn is missing.”
All three frowned.
“It should have worked,” Anne said.
“Maybe if we’d kept to the spell, it would have,” Meg said. While Meg and Anne glared at each other, Lauv stood and brushed off her butt.
“We’ll cast it again. This time, we’ll get it right.”
“No, you won’t. And you’re not listening. Ashlyn is missing. She disappeared, and the last time I saw her was in the bathroom. You need to find her. Now.”
The three of them shared glances and, almost as one, looked at Fenris then me.
“Who knows?” Lauv asked.
“Everyone knows she’s missing. They knew the moment she didn’t show up to teach her class that same day.”
“The wolves that passed through here are looking for her,” Fenris added. “I’m guessing they won’t find her though?”
I refused to look at Fenris, and he sighed.
“Fine,” Lauv said. “We’ll do a locator spell for her after we’re done here. We’ve invested too much time to just drop everything and return with nothing. Adira would be suspicious.”
The whole reason I’d sought out the druids instead of waiting for the Council to pick one was that I’d thought it would be faster. Lauv’s refusal to immediately fix the mistake they’d made didn’t sit well with me.
“Adira is going to be suspicious about a lot more than you returning empty-handed. The mermaids know,” I said.
“Damn fish,” Anne mumbled.
“We’ll deal with them,” Meg said confidently.
My irritation only grew, and Lauv noticed.
“If you’re in such a hurry to find Ashlyn, help us,” she said. “We can be out of here in minutes.”
“I am not seducing a dryad.” I crossed my arms. “Besides, we’re all going to go down for what happened if we don’t fix it fast.”
“And, like we already said, we’re not leaving empty-handed.” Lauv mimicked my stance, and I felt my eyes flicker between black and brown.
Fenris stepped between us, his usual humor missing from his expression.
“If Eliana helps you, you find Ashlyn and you remove the tracker spell on Eliana and prevent another from being placed on her.”
My mouth popped open in protest, but Lauv beat me to it.
“Not happening. Removing a tracking spell is hard. Preventing another is nearly impossible. That’d take some powerfully pure life essence.”
Fenris shrugged. “You have five minutes to decide if you’re capable before we leave and you have to figure out what you’re going to tell the Council when they finally figure out why Ashlyn is missing.”
“Your girl here is just as much to blame,” Anne said.
“She’s not the one with the magic.”
I understood that Fenris was playing on their fears of blame, but he was playing on mine, too. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t magically inclined. I was the one who started the whole mess.
Yet, the three girls exchanged worried glances.
“There might be enough,” Meg said, a hint of question in her tone.
“Only if she can coax two dryads out instead of one,” Anne added.
“If we do her spell, then we can’t do ours,” Lauv said.
Worried that they were actually thinking about the deal, I spoke up.
“I’m not helping with anything until I know what spells you’re planning to cast. I’m not going to be responsible for someone else’s ruined life.”
“Dramatic much? We came out here for the last ingredient for a simple cloaking spell with a twist. We’re going to merge a pure life essence with a cloaking spell to mask ourselves. We think it’ll get us through the barrier without our marks.”
“Through the barrier?”
All three nodded, and I looked at Fenris. Druids were only dangerous due to their magic whereas most of the other creatures in Uttira were dangerous because they wanted to eat humans. So, three semi-trained druids out in the world was, in theory, not disastrous. Especially at the skill level of these girls.
I knew Fenris thought the same when he shrugged. However, his indifference wasn’t helping me find a way out of this.
“I can’t seduce a dryad,” I said desperately.
“Based on what we’ve heard about you, that’s probably right,” Anne said.
Fenris snorted.
“O, ye of little faith. Watch and learn.” He reached into his pockets and produced his phone and a set of earbuds. Warily, I took the earbuds he offered.
“Put them in and take your coat off.”
“This isn’t going to work,” I said, already guessing what he intended.
“If it doesn’t, then I’ll let you out of one of our bets.”
“And if it does work?”
He grinned.
“Then I want your unconditional trust.”
My heart and stomach both did a scary little flip.
“That’s not something I can just give,” I stammered.
“Nope. It’s earned. And if I’m right, maybe you’ll see that I’ve earned it. Coat off; earbuds in.”