My heart literally stopped at the idea of the familiar that wasn't ours getting hurt, but she went right through the space between the bars like there wasn't an intense barrier of static around it.
We stood there speechless as she walked up to Alaric and sat down.
"Mewr!"
She blinked her big, cute eyes and stared at Alaric with love. All Alaric could do was blink in shock before he glanced up to us. "Who's familiar is this?"
"Silver Spell Solange's," I replied. "She's from this universe and is helping us get back before Charles tries to escape."
Hope seemed to glitter in his tired eyes, and he took a steady breath.
"Then we may actually win this," he whispered.
"Well, we have no choice," Lisette commented like it wasn't obvious. "I didn't sign up to be a loser Tracker. It's not my style."
The made me smirk and I looked back at Alaric.
"Is there a way to get you out?"
"There is," he admitted. "But not without sacrifice."
"Why am I not even surprised?" I complained and rolled my eyes. "Let me guess. One has to go in for the other to come out. Familiar's don't count, of course."
"Yes," he said with a sad smile and looked at Star, who was still looking up at him. "When a new person enters the cage, the other is moved out of it. I have enough energy to try and get back, but that leaves you and Lisette behind,"
"Hmmm." Lisette thought about it. "We'll be fine, but we’ve got to make sure we know you arrive back into our world."
She suddenly pulled out her pink phone, and we stared at her in confusion as she pressed a specific button and put the phone on speaker.
A loud crashing sound rocked the entire platform, and we all looked to see Shadow Jade and Ceil were fighting with Charles, who was evading their attacks. Shadow Jade was up close and personal, twirling and slicing at Charles, who seemed to be struggling even with his blurring movement.
This was all while Ceil was moving a single hand like he was some sort of conductor of a symphony, strings of white and blue moving at a swift pace to capture Charles.
The phone rang once before a voice picked it up.
"Lisette! Dammit. You scared us!"
"The R-squad?" I asked.
"JADE!" four equally flabbergasted voices called out, and I knew right away that my Trouble Four were with them.
"Hey, sexys," I teased, which was so out of place in a time like this, but their voices sparked overflowing joy within me as my fears were replaced with added strength.
My Hive.
"First off, every time I go off the grid you guys are scared as fuck. Maybe if you tried to act like you cared, I wouldn't scare you all the time!" Lisette snapped back at the R-squad before she added, "Hey, Maxwells. Where's Puppy?"
"He's with Bianca," Zackery answered seriously. "She's on life support but he was able to get her heart to beat again with Jade's Light Shadow."
Thank goodness.
I fought not to tear up at the news and looked over to see the swarming relief that took over Alaric's pale face. We shared a look of hope before I returned my attention back to the conversation at hand.
"What's going on? We were forced to come to a site in the middle of the ocean. There's a beaming light that's coming from somewhere in the sky, but none of us can fly high enough to see who's causing it," Zion declared.
"No way," I whispered and looked at Lisette, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Fucking perfect! Are the eight of you there? And where is Leonardo?"
"Yes," Zeke replied, and Royce followed with, "Leonardo is securing the area so no one interferes. We noticed an uptake of peculiar individuals at the shore of both ends of this particular spot. Looks like Charles informed his groupies that he's in a pinch."
"Other forces," I muttered and bit my lip. "This is going to turn into a big battle, isn't it?"
"Maybe," Zeus replied. "But we'll handle it. Focus on the priority of getting back here in one piece. We'll defend you guys once you arrive."
His reassurance was helpful, and Lisette nodded before getting to the main dilemma.
"Ceil and Shadow Jade are distracting Charles while we get Alaric out of this trapped cage thing, but if we get him out, we have to teleport him immediately. I don't think he has enough magic to protect himself if things get real ugly, but we need reassurance that he'll teleport to somewhere safe. That's why I need you, R-squad."
"Are you actually calling us R-squad?" Rock inquired. "I mean...it's kinda hot when you say it."
"Really, Rock?" Rick questioned.
"He kinda has a point," Royce admitted. "It's hot."
"Says the one who ruined our chances of apologizing to her in the first place," Ruke argued.
"Oh no. Don't go fucking blaming me when it was all your stubborn-ass fault! You're the one who said 'Oh! Lisette would love if we make ourselves hard to get’ and look what fucking happened!"
"He's right, you know," Rick muttered. "Now she's with Jade in another universe. They could easily just bring Alaric back and be like duces."
"T-They wouldn't do that!" Ruke argued.
"Says who? Your shriveled up ball sack that died with your pride when she cut us off for only emergencies and is now dating Jade? Huh?! Huh?!" Rock pressed.
"Uh, guys?" Lisette was actually blushing as she looked at me with a bit of nervousness. "Is this really the time?"
"YES!" the four of them replied and continued arguing.
"Uh..." I started, but piercing pain hit my side, which made me gasp and cling to my left side.
Lisette hissed and had her hand on her opposite shoulder, leaving Minx to drop on the floor and hiss loudly as all her hair began to stand up.
We both turned to see Shadow Jade and Ceil were on the ground and quickly scrambling while clutching their injuries. Charles, on the other hand, was cloaked with cuts and bruises but his eyes were a dangerous red as his hands now clenched onto a pair of red daggers.
"Are you two okay?!" all eight of them seemed to question, but I got right to the point.
"We need to get Alaric to you guys now!" I urged.
"Rock, Rick, Ruke, and Royce, teleport to where Calvin is! He's wearing a device that's in the prototype stage but can lock onto Alaric's energy and call to it. Inject as much magic as you can into it. I'm going to use myself as a catalyst to teleport him to where you guys are! That way, it'll guarantee his safe return."
"What about Jade?" Zeus questioned.
"I'll be fine!" I knew if I didn't stress it enough, they wouldn't listen to me. "We're going to be emerging on the other side shortly. When I arrive with Charles, we have to do everything to try and capture him, understand?!"
"Understood," the four Maxwells replied. "Be safe, Jade." Zion added.
"I will be," I reassured them.
"Get in position! Ceil and Shadow Jade can't hold Charles back much longer," Lisette stressed and hung up the phone. "Gotta love universal phones. Remind me to get you one," she stated to me and reached out to gently stroke my cheek.