Everyone’s Bonded shifted to their large, natural forms. My Blaze into a dragon, Ailin’s Seraphina into a manticore, Thayer’s Narenthea into a Pegasus, and Jorah’s Kiwi into a giant eagle—not the regular bird kind, the magical kind even bigger than Narenthea. All of us, including Toby, climbed on their backs and took to the sky.
I’d recognized the old house—a place human children always told spooky stories about and teenagers dared each other to go inside—and my brothers and Ailin all knew where it was as well, so we headed in that direction.
It wasn’t far, less than ten minutes flying, but knowing how badly injured Hiro was and that the warlock had to be planning something big, had me ready to come out of my skin by the time we landed a hundred yards away from the house. We needed to be stealthy here, and our gigantic Bonded wouldn’t help with that.
Blaze shifted to his bearded dragon form and crawled up to my shoulder. I almost asked him to stay back, but I knew he was planning on using his body to shield Hiro from the warlock’s magic if need be. That was one good thing about having a Bonded; we could read each other’s intentions easily and without words.
I took the lead, and to my surprise, no one argued with me about it. They probably saw the crazy in my eyes that I was feeling in my soul. If I didn’t get to Hiro soon, I was going to lose it.
We quickly and quietly made our way to the house, then stayed behind some low bushes for recon. I’d only be able to wait a few minutes before storming inside, but I logically knew we needed to get a sense of the place first.
Should we scan the place magically? Jorah asked Thayer and me through our link.
That will notify them of our presence if they pick up our energy, Thayer said.
Well, what do you suggest then? Do we just barge in, take them by surprise, and hope there’s only one, or do we scan, lose our surprise, and know for sure how many?
Ailin leaned in close to me and whispered, “You think he’s in the basement?”
I nodded.
“There’s a basement window over there.” He pointed to a small window. “I’ll go check to see if there’s anyone else down there, if not, we can melt the glass off the window and slip inside.”
I glanced at the window—big for a basement window, but still kinda small—then at the five of us. All of us Ellwoods should be able to fit seeing as we were rather small—Thay and Jor were taller than Ailin and me, but they were thin—but Toby was a huge muscular vampire. There was no way he’d be able to slip in. When I nodded at Toby, Ailin sighed.
He waved everyone close, then pulled a shield over us that would cover us from sight and sound. Ailin repeated what he’d just said to me, but added, “Toby won’t fit—”
“I’ll come in through the first floor. I can clear it if there’s more of them up there, then meet you in the basement,” Toby said.
Thayer chewed on his lip for a minute. “I should go with Tob in case there’s another warlock or something.” He looked at his viramore. “You’re fast, and a crazy good fighter, but warlocks are tricky and dangerous.”
“You don’t think it’d be better to stick with your brothers?” Toby asked him.
Ailin shook his head. “Thay’s right. He should go with you. A warlock took me out before, if you remember.” His eyes bounced between Thayer and me as if we could forget the time we thought he’d died in front of us.
“Yeah, Dad, we fucking remember,” Thayer said, rolling his eyes. “That warlock was hyped up on blood magic.”
“Blood magic is powerful as hell,” Jorah said. Which was true. Blood magic was like a huge sudden burst of magic powerful enough to overtake Ailin, but the thing was, it didn’t last very long. So in a fight with someone using blood magic, you just had to survive long enough for it to run its course, and pray that the person didn’t have access to more of it while you were fighting them. “We’ll have to watch out for that since that’s not uncommon for warlocks. We could also have demons to contend with.”
I sighed. Also true. The way a warlock became a warlock was by letting demons use them as a portal from their realm to ours. Having demons pass through their bodies gave them some power, but it also turned their skin an ugly shade of green. Warlocks were kinda nasty, truth be told… demon magic and blood magic—they were dark, evil magics.
Ailin said, “Alright, Thay and Tob upstairs, Jor and Bas with me in the basement. Tob, give us a five-minute head start so we can watch through the window for a minute before we go in and get into position. Once you break down that door, the warlock’s going to know he’s being attacked. I want to be as close to Hiro as possible by then so we can properly shield him and take that fucker out.”
Toby nodded. “Five minutes.”
After everyone nodded, Ailin squeezed the back of my neck in a show of support that I appreciated even though I didn’t say anything. I tried to offer him a small smile, but I was pretty sure it looked like a grimace.
Tob and Thay hung back while Ailin, Jorah, and I headed for the basement window as quietly as possible. As soon as we got there, Ailin put another shield over us again so no one would see us looking through the window. Normally, I’d be the one using my shadow magic to cover us, but Delaro had been coming up with some creative spells that Ailin had apparently started using.
Peeking through the window didn’t offer much since all we could see were shelves a few feet away. So Jorah placed his hand on the window, muttered a spell, and we watched the glass melt away. It was a much better method than breaking the glass since it didn’t make any noise and there weren’t any shards left to cut us. If the warlock had been smart, he would’ve put wards up to stop people from breaking in—although, there was no way he would’ve been able to stop the Power of Three from coming inside, but this guy had no idea who he was messing with when he’d kidnapped my viramore.
Since Hiro was inside, I didn’t wait even a second. Once the window was gone, I pushed through the opening and landed on my feet in a crouch. A second later, Ailin dropped beside me, followed by Jorah. With a nod to them, I moved to the edge of the shelving unit to see what we were dealing with.
I scanned the old basement that was filled with old boxes and books and dilapidated furniture. Everything was covered in dust and possibly mold. There were spiderwebs everywhere— Seb would’ve been having a heart attack.
But then I saw it on the far side of the basement.
A small gasp left my lips.
A green warlock was standing in front of a pellet stove with a fire going inside it. He was chanting and moving his arms up and down. In front of him was a circle drawn on the floor in what I was sure was blood. And in the center of that circle was Hiro.
I knew exactly what that warlock was planning. He was going to bring back a demon and let it possess Hiro, let it wear him like a human skin.
I was going to be sick.
Hold, Bas, Jorah said telepathically. Wait until Thay’s in place.
I’m fucking trying to. I almost growled out loud in frustration, but I managed to hold it in.
There’s no one up here, Thay said. We’re at the basement door. We’re ready.
I nodded at Ailin and Jorah, then quietly moved closer to the warlock and my viramore with them behind me.