Page 77 of The Stone Survival
An alchemist.
Our suspicions had been right. They were involved.
“Well, we’re here. Where’s Yarrow?” Serath asked.
The alchemist didn’t reply.
There was no sign of anyone else. Had he come alone? This didn’t make sense. Something was off, and Serath must have sensed it too, because he took a step back, taking me with him.
The alchemist tensed, then he ran toward us, drawing something from the bell sleeves of his cloak.
An orb.
“No!” Serath boomed.
The orb smashed, and the world shattered.
CHAPTER 38
ORIX
“What do you mean they vanished?” Sharniza demands.
“I can’t sense her,” Derek says, pacing in panic. “Nothing. Nothing at all!”
All concerns about the place being bugged are forgotten. What’s the point? They have what they want. “Calm down! We need to think.”
“What is there to think about?” Curi demands. “We fucked up. The faction has Serath and Cam, and we havenoway of finding them.”
“A tracking spell?” Palia suggests. “Flora, can you?—”
“I can’t,” Flora says, wide-eyed. “I don’t have that kind of power.”
“Then what powerdoyou have?” Curi snaps.
She flinches, her bottom lip trembling.
“Stop it!” Ginia glares at Curi and puts an arm around Flora. “This isnother fault.”
“We need to fix it,” Levi says. “Fuck. We have to go to Lionel and Ivor.”
“I’ll go now.” Derek vanishes.
Levi rakes a hand through his hair and takes up pacing in Derek’s place.
The faction has Serath and Cameron. They have them, and there is nothing I can do.
“We need to find a witch or a magi who can do a tracking spell on them,” Selas says from the couch.
“Did someone say they needed a witch?” The breath explodes from my lungs, hope burning a path through my veins as I turn to face the door and the one male that might be able to guide us out of this shitstorm.
Willowman stands in the doorway clad in jeans and an oversized coat. His dark hair is tucked into a cap, hands pushed into his pockets. He’s obviously supposed to be incognito, but I’d recognize my friend anywhere.
He tugs off the hat, rakes back his hair, and flashes me a smile. “Did you miss me?”
“You have no fucking idea.”
The pleasureof having Willowman back wears off quickly when it hits me that if the faction is still spying on us, then they’ll also know he’s back and that we have help.
