Page 4 of Ruthless Fae
Chapter Two
“Sinasre!”
I tore at the ground, clawing it with my fingers as I shrieked his name. He was just here. He was in my hands, and now…
No. He couldn’t be gone.
Someone grabbed my shoulders and tugged at me, trying to make me stop. “Tally.”
“He was here. I had him.” I’d dug through the topsoil, yanking up clogs of dirt, but there was no sign of my cousin. He’d just been here. He had to be—
“Tally!” The gentle hands turned firm as someone hauled me upright.
Tyler whirled me around to face him. “Stop this. He’s gone. We can get him back, but not like this.”
Vinya stepped beside him until they formed a united front, a study in opposites—her face pale and hopeful, his dark and serious.
“They used magic,” the witch said. “I could feel it. He isn’t in the ground, Tally. They’ve taken him somewhere.”
“Back to the dome,” Tyler said, his dark eyes gazing out into the night as if he could see all the way there.
I pulled out of his grasp, still angry and not ready to give up. “Then we have to go after him.”
They both stared at me.
“We go after him,” I repeated. “Now.”
Vinya shook her head, her long, red hair falling over one shoulder. “We lost half our people on that raid when we rescued you, Tally. We can’t just pop in and out as we please.”
“They’ll be waiting for us,” Tyler added. “Going after him is exactly what they want us to do.”
“But he’s hurt,” I said, my anger and frustration not letting me accept their words. “You saw him. What they did to him.” Tears prickled at the backs of my eyes. My cousin. Mymelthelel.
“We did see him.” Tyler put a hand on my shoulder to calm me, or maybe to keep me from turning and flying through the jungle toward the dome. “We will help him, but we need to be smart. The longer we’re here on the ground, the more vulnerable we are.”
Vinya nodded, her voice tight with what sounded like fear. “Something is coming. I can hear it.”
Our heads darted up as we registered her words. “What’s coming?” I asked.
She shook her head, biting her lip. “Something big. We need to go.”
Pulling out the gun he wore on a shoulder strap, Tyler gestured for us to head out. “Move. Now.”
Fear zapped over my skin like a current, but I refused to give up on my cousin so soon. Yet, I could see that Vinya was right. There was no sign of Sinasre here. The Habermanns, and their evil island, had taken him from me once again, and I needed to survive long enough to make them pay. Besides saving Sinasre, making sure we destroyed them and their operation was my main goal.
The idea that my aunt was actively working with those monsters had haunted me ever since I’d learned that awful news. And now her son was in more pain because of her selfish actions.
Vinya tugged at my arm, then turned and began to trek back to the rendezvous point. The island was treacherous and full of magic that blocked Vinya’s ability to teleport us back to the ship. She’d made it clear when we’d left the ship that she couldn’t just beam us out of the jungle wherever she liked. We had to get to the pocket where the magic flowed freely, which meant hiking back the way we came, about a ten-minute walk in the dark.
We had to hope that whatever prowled the night would leave us alone until we got there.
By the sounds of things, luck was not on our side.
Twigs cracked, and the ground trembled. Whatever was coming sounded massive.
“We need to go faster,” Tyler hissed. “Move.”
I spurred my wings into action, choosing to navigate the tree branches rather than run clumsily along the jungle floor. Vinya ran forward while casting a protection spell behind us, the same one she’d used as we exited the dome only hours before. Tyler kept his gun at the ready, though I had a feeling a few bullets might not stop whatever chased us.
