Impassion (Mystic) (38 page)

“Agreed,” they said.

Layla smiled as her excitement spiked. She hadn’t played hide and seek in years, and she loved that she could be immature with her new friends. “I’ll get a head start, and I’ll stay on this side of the walking trail so I don’t accidentally cross the property line. Are you guys ready?”

“Yes,” they replied, and Layla laughed. The coven members often spoke the same words at the same time, and she figured it must be a result of their close connections and tight-knit living arrangement.

“Don’t look,” she stipulated, “and give me three to five minutes.”

They nodded and turned their backs on her, so she magically jumped the stream then waited for Hypnos to amble across a bridge of mossy stone. Once he was at her ankles, she headed northeast, keeping her mind open for mental messages.

After a few minutes, she experienced the same sensation she had the night Quin searched her out at the beach. Her head swarmed with three different point-of-views—her own, Skyla’s and Brietta’s. The foreign connections occasionally blurred or faded away—probably when Skyla and Brietta got distracted—which disoriented Layla until she figured out how to organize the links. If she concentrated, she could separate the point-of-views and shift her focus to each of them in turn or all at once.

She halted and searched for a walking trail, but it hadn’t come into view. “Come on, Hypnos,” she said, patting her thigh as she headed north.

Farriss smoothly landed and looked around, hesitant to lift his concealment spells. This was where the stranger instructed him to be, but no one was there.

The situation didn’t feel right. The location was too damn convenient, and it had his hair follicles charged. He stood still and silent, tensed for a possible ambush, his wide pupils scanning his surroundings.

“You’re right on time,” someone whispered.

Farriss flicked his gaze to the right and caught a shimmer of evidence. “Reveal yourself,” he demanded, squarely facing the area.

“Shut up,” the air hissed, “or you’ll ruin everything.”

The stranger’s tone pissed Farriss off, but he lowered his voice for self-preservation’s sake. “Ruin what?”

“You’ll see. If you’ll stay hidden and can manage a quiet trip through the woods, a surprise awaits you to the south.”

Farriss caught another shimmer then spared a short glance to the south. “I’m not turning my back on you. What’s this about?”

“Take a walk and you’ll see, but I’m not going to bear witness.”

“Enough with the cryptic crap,” Farriss seethed. “We were told you know the witch’s location. Is she with her family?”

He waited for the stranger’s reply, but it didn’t come. He watched closely, but saw nothing. The stranger was gone. He’d left without divulging one shred of useful information.

“Damn,” Farriss sighed. Agro wasn’t going to be happy with this outcome at all. What in the hell was the point of all this?

He looked to the south and peered though narrow gaps between tree trunks, trying to decide if the stranger’s advice would yield fruit. Going back to Agro empty-handed was never a pleasant experience, so Farriss strengthened his concealment spells and silently floated forward.

After traveling for several minutes with nothing of interest to see, he prepared himself to face Agro with the bad news. Then, like an angelic song, a woman’s laugh echoed through the timber. Definitely a witch.

He took a deep breath then hovered higher from the ground, stealthily moving forward like a phantom drifting on the wind.

‘
This is going to be too easy,
’ Brietta teased, speaking straight into Layla’s mind. ‘
We already know you’re north. You’re not very good at this game.
’

Layla laughed as she glanced in their direction. She could tell they were about three minutes away. ‘
I could move, you know? We didn’t make any rules about that
.’

‘
That might make it more of a challenge,
’ Skyla returned.

‘
Let’s try it this way first,
’ Layla suggested,
‘
and see how long it takes. If we need to, we’ll make the next round more interesting.
’

‘
Okay,
’ they agreed, harmonizing in Layla’s head.

She smiled and looked to the treetops, wondering if she should wait up there to make things more difficult. Then she decided the height probably wouldn’t make any difference when it came to mind searching, and when it came to magicians, standing in the trees was as easy as standing on the ground.

She looked back the way she came, straining her ears for an audible sign of them, but they were still too far away. Two minutes and twenty seconds away, she guessed, checking their mental links.

“What do you think, Hypnos?” she whispered. “Should we stay here or find another spot?”

The dog whined, and Layla looked down, immediately alarmed. Hypnos’ saggy layers were alert, and his droopy eyes were glued to the north. Layla looked north as well, but saw nothing save for nature. Not even the walking trail had come into view.

Hypnos’ whimpers rolled into growls, and the hair along his spine spiked, provoking the hair at the nape of Layla’s neck to do the same. She tried to keep her cool by telling herself it was just a small, woodland creature, and the encouragement did help, but she was beyond ready to get out of there.

She carefully walked backward, trying to remain calm as she tapped into Skyla’s and Brietta’s minds; she didn’t want them getting worked up over nothing. ‘
Stop walking, guys. I’m coming back to you. I um...
I don’t think it’s hard enough. We should do something else.
’

‘
Okay,
’ Brietta agreed, sounding confused. ‘
Is everything all right?
’

‘
Yeah. Well... I don’t know. Just stay there, I’ll see you in less than two minutes.
’

Layla deserted the mind connection and scanned the trees and foliage, continuing her even trek backward. “Come on, Hypnos,” she whispered. “Let’s go home.”

The dog raised his head and howled, practically jolting Layla out of her skin. Then he took off, disappearing behind wild underbrush before Layla had recovered.

Damn
. She didn’t want to leave him. She called his name as loudly as she dared then waited four seconds. Nothing. No barks or whines or howls, not one sign of life from the untamed terrain.

She’d had enough. She felt bad for only giving it four seconds, but her skin crawled. The damn dog could fend for itself.

She spun around, intent on flying away as fast as she could, but her plans came to a halt when something gripped her body—appendages, trunk and head—and yanked it to the forest floor. Reflexes had her bouncing back up, ready to flee once more, but it was too late. She’d waited too long to get out of there; now her chance was gone.

She caught a glimpse of red hair and yellow eyes. Then a large hand closed over her mouth, jerking her around and pulling her against a hard body.

Her scream muffled into his palm as her eyes widened and her heart practically exploded. Every rapid and forceful beat registered in her mind, and burning rivers surged her veins, rippling her muscles. A huge arm wrapped around her torso, pressing her elbows into her sides, and the hand over her mouth squeezed, twisting her neck.

Oh
god
. No. Brietta and Skyla could come along any second. She couldn’t let that happen.

‘
Stop,
’ she screamed into their heads, focusing all her energy on drilling the message in.
‘
Someone’s here. Get help.
’ She mentally screamed the frantic plea over and over again, and she didn’t stop to see if they answered. She couldn’t let them get near. They had to get as far away as possible.

A wicked voice snapped her out of the mind connections, and her heart rate spiked. No longer could she discern individual beats. The organ palpitated far too quickly.

“Here you are, Layla Callaway,” the man breathed, steaming up her ear. “You’re even prettier than your graduation picture made you out to be. I can’t say I’m crazy about the green hair, but it seems to be fading.” His foul lips trailed from her ear to her temple. Then his slimy tongue licked her face. “Mmm...” he hummed, smacking his lips.

She fought his hold on her torso while breathing fire into his palm, but it did nothing to loosen his grip.

“Looks like I’m going to have to teach you some manners, witch. Agro doesn’t like his women disrespectful.”

His fingers and arm tightened with a jerk, and an agonizing scream gurgled in Layla’s throat as the sound of cracking bones resounded in her head. Red spots swarmed her vision as her eyes rolled back, but she shook the dizziness away, forcing the world into focus once more.

With enormous effort, she threw her pounding head back, trying to make contact with his face, but she merely hit his hard chest and jarred her panicked brain.
Damn.
She kicked his knees and threw a stomping fit on his toes, trying to fling herself from his arms, but he didn’t budge.

She was going to die. The forest was in front of her, but she faced death. Its putrid breath swarmed her senses as its decomposed lungs rattled her name. This was it. She’d found the end.

And in the end, when eternal peace was at her fingertips, a final reprieve from the heartache and guilt, she longed for Quin like never before. She wanted to hold him and kiss him and listen to his sexy voice whisper lovely sentiments in her ear. She wanted to touch his deep dimples, look into his dark eyes and find them looking back. She wanted to curl into his chest and press her lips to his heart, lose herself in his strong pulse. In the end, she wanted it all, and more than anything else, she wanted to tell him she loved him. But she’d lost her chance and he would never know. There were no goodbyes to be had, not for him or anyone else. She’d never see any of them again.

Her heart throbbed hard. Five days wasn’t long enough. She wanted more time.

She forced herself to fight, summoning heat and electricity to every inch of skin the bastard touched. Then she pushed it into him with all the mental force she could muster through the terror and pain. His body jolted, but his grip stayed firm.

“You stupid bitch,” he cursed, and a loud thwack echoed through the timber.

Layla tried summoning more flames, but her concentration snapped when something rough and hard slammed into the side of her right knee. Another scream gurgled in her throat as the bones shattered, but she fought the bright spots popping up in her vision, desperate to stay sane and aware. He was beating her to death, but she couldn’t let him take her to Agro.

She magically planted her feet to the ground, moaning as agony ripped through her broken knee. Then she gagged when more sickening snaps echoed from her jaw.

Employing the same spell she used to peel apples, she sliced at the hand covering her mouth, but he barely flinched as his blood splattered her face.
Damn
. She tried fire yet again, but her effort was so feeble, the singe just pissed him off, and electricity surged her veins, searing her insides while snapping the spell gluing her feet to the ground. She was losing the will to fight, and tears blurred her vision as pain overwhelmed perseverance.

No
... She was going to die. After days of contemplating her death, she didn’t think it would come as such a big surprise, yet here she was, terrified and utterly unprepared. She went limp, groaning as wounded flesh and bones shifted.

Her captor bent at the knees, and she closed her eyes, unwilling to see a bird’s eye view of her home while being taken away from it. As his legs straightened, she tensed, waiting for her soles to leave precious earth, but the dreaded moment never came.

Time seemed to stand still as waves of blood thundered in her eardrums. Then a whoosh of air left his lungs as his hand fell from her mouth.

She sharply inhaled and opened her eyes, finding the forest floor as his tumbling body drilled her toward it. She made a tenacious effort to catch herself, but her arms remained pinned to her sides, so she turned her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

Her face slammed into the ground, shooting intense pain throughout her battered body. Then her tortured world went black.