Page 92 of Touched

I don’t even think about it—I crawl through the opening. Aeris quickly follows. Devyn comes in after her, and Cyrus brings up the tail. He’s broader than I am, and he barely fits through the opening. As he stands, he brushes the plaster and wood chips from his skin, and we all look around.

The room is bigger than it appeared. It’s clearly enchanted. It’s easily twenty-five feet by twenty-five feet, and the entire thing is packed with rows and rows of industrial shelving, stacked floor-to-ceiling high.

It looks like the damn room in that one Harry Potter movie where those kids fight the creepy cloak-wearing weirdos while they’re surrounded with the glowing balls of memories.

Only these aren’t magick snow globes!

Leaning down to the closest shelf, I try to make out what it is I’m looking at.

“What the hell is this?” I exclaim as I take in the multitude of small, corked clear liquid-filled bottles. They’re only a couple of inches high, but there are thousands of them. Probably hundreds of thousands. My forehead furrow as I see a separate shelf, nearer to the door, that has rows and rows of small velvet and canvas pouches.

Stomping over to them, I swipe one and open it, dumping the contents into my palm. It’s one of the corked bottles, but within the clear liquid is a tiny, luminescent, almost neon green-colored flower. It’s not wilted, and it looks perfectly pristine, though it’s floating within the liquid.

“No. It can’t be… But it is…” Devyn breathes. She turns to look at Cyrus. His lips are white, and his jaw is tight. He exhales rapidly.

“It’s the athraigh flower…” Cyrus says.

The ahrah flower? What? What the hell is an ahrah flower?

Aeris looks at me. I see the fear within her eyes as she says, “The athraigh flower… in Gaelic it means the transforming flower. It’s sacred. The Elders of the Fae—all Fae—used to use it inmicro-doses when they were appointed to the Council because it was intended to provide clarity. It was intended to be used to allow the Elders to use the utmost insight and heart. Its purpose was literally to transform them into leaders…”

Uh, okay… so why would the Rougarou want that?

She looks at me, continuing, “Because it was banned. Forbidden. The fields were destroyed. They wereallsupposed to be destroyed.”

“It didn’t transform them into leaders. It just transformed them. Many who were given the tincture became power-hungry… willing to destroy anyone and anything to gain the ultimate power. Many Fae died. It created what are called the FaeDorcha… the Dark Fae.”

Devyn stares at the bottles morosely, before returning her troubled gaze to us. “This is how the Rougarou will create their Army of Fae. If they have this flower… we have a much bigger problem than we imagined…”

Cyrus mutters, “Oh, hells. The Rougarou are working for the FaeDorcha.”

The sound of voices and footsteps causes us all to freeze.

“Did you hear that?”

My eyes lock onto Callum’s as fear causes my body to stiffen. He nods, responding to my silent question. Reaching for the flamethrower, he pulls it out of the harness on his back.

“We have to destroy these before they create an even bigger problem. We cannot allow these to leave this warehouse. We have enough on our plate as it is, dealing with the Rougarou,” he says urgently. Before any of us can voice our opinions on what he’s about to do, he pulls the trigger. Streams of flames shoot across the room, hitting the bottles as he moves his torso, turning to spray them with flames. The intense heat causes them to loudly explode. Shards of glass and hot liquid fly about the room as the heat becomes almost suffocating. My eyes meet his before quickly moving to Cyrus and Devyn. We all wear matching expressions as the hidden room quickly becomes engulfed in flames.

Callum’s face conveys that we need to leave.

“We can’t fly.The room is too small.”

I nod. He’s right. We don’t have enough space in here for even one of us to release our wings, much less the four of us. Callum nods back. His voice sounding within my mind.

“We’re going to have to get out of here the old-fashioned way. By hauling ass.”

I swallow, fear consuming me. We do not have a single second to spare.

The angry voices outside grow louder and the footsteps pound against the metal stairs harder and faster, getting ever closer. We can hear them over the roar of the inferno.

“We need to get out of here! Now!” Cyrus bellows. Heat from the angry flames burning around us is intense, practically scorching my skin. I fear my wings will melt… or ignite.

Cyrus firmly grips the ax in both hands, preparing for battle. Ready to take on whoever is approaching. We’re all packed in and practically trapped in the tight space.

Callum is closest to the door with Cyrus behind him. Devyn is directly at Cyrus’s back and I’m only a few inches behind her. Callum jumps through the hole, pulling Cyrus by his thick arms to get him out faster. Then, they both grab Devyn. Then, it’s my turn. They’re not gentle as they yank on our arms, and grapple with our waists, but neither of us seem to care. The flames continue to grow and spread, seemingly snarling behind us. It engulfs the entire room, attacking the walls and boxed cargo. Looking up as I straighten, I gasp. The Trahan brothers are almost directly in front of us.

Oh, hells! We can’t escape.

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