Page 6 of Witch Untold
I rounded on him. “Exactly. Something’s wrong.” I turned back to the room. “Jasper!”
The air rippled, the hairs on my arms stood to attention, and Jasper materialized, looking cool and collected as if he’d simply stepped out to use the bathroom.
“Are we ready to go?” he asked.
I stared at him. “What the fuck happened to you?”
He frowned. “Happened to me?”
“You were here one moment and then you were gone.”
His gaze flicked away, and his frown deepened. “I was with Sloane, and then I came here to tell you…” He trailed off as his gaze settled on Sloane. “You’re here.” He closed his eyes. “Fuck.”
“I was with you an hour ago, Jasper,” Sloane said.
My pulse hammered in my throat as I approached him. I placed my palm against his cheek, nudging him to look at me.
“Jasper, where were you?”
He blinked down at me, and for the first time since I’d known him, I caught a flash of fear in his eyes. It was gone too quick to latch onto, leaving me wondering if I’d imagined it.
“Jasper?”
“I don’t know.” He pulled away from me. “It happens sometimes.”
“And that doesn’t bother you?”
He shrugged. “It is what it is.”
“Wait, is this what happens when you leave me?”
His gaze tracked across my face and then his expression softened a fraction. “Sometimes.”
Anxiety writhed in the pit of my belly. “We need to figure this out.”
He pulled away. “No. What we need to do is get to Barrow and find Elijah and Bramble.”
No way was I allowing him to brush this under the carpet. “Jasper. This could be dangerous. What if you vanish while you’re in Barrow?”
“I won’t.”
“How can you be so sure?” Sloane asked.
“It doesn’t happen that frequently. It’ll be a few days until the next one.”
Sloane pursed her lips, her electric blues shrewd and sharp. “When you get back, we’re going to look into this.”
“I’ll help,” Conah added.
Jasper shrugged, nonchalant. “If you want to waste your time, go for it.”
He was acting as if this didn’t matter, as if it didn’t bother him, but the tightness around his eyes and mouth told me his indifference was an act. I knew better than to call him out on it, though. If this was his way of coping with something that was out of his control, then so be it. Hope could be a deadly thing, and I understood why he didn’t want to entertain it. Still, if anyone could figure this shit out, it was Sloane and Conah.
Conah slung the backpack over his shoulder. “Shall we?”
Jasper walked up to him, placed a hand on his shoulder, and fixed his emerald eyes on me. “I’ll see you soon.”
They vanished and my heart sank. I’d forgotten to give him Tor’s message.
