I stood straight, though the earth shook again beneath us. “I’m right behind you, gorgeous. Go.”
She whimpered, then turned and ran. Kyle took off after her.
Xander started to follow them, but he halted and turned back to me. “If you’re staying to fight, I’ll stay too.”
Damn heroic man.
I ran at him, clipping his shoulder as I went by. “Come on.”
He followed me toward the veil opening. The whole place continued to shudder, as if the land were a rug and someone was roughly shaking it out. I slammed into a tree trunk three times before we reached the veil.
The weather had shifted while we ran, and snowflakes fell from the sky.
I shivered. “Dad is being an asshole.”
Monique was already on the other side of the veil with Kyle.
“Come on!” she called through the gap. “Hurry!”
I lifted the veil door higher and pushed Xander ahead of me and through the gap. “Go to Eagle Point. Take Monique. I’ll follow if I can.”
Monique gasped. “Don’t say if! You have to come with us.”
I smiled at her but didn’t respond. At this point, I couldn’t guarantee anything. And I was okay with that. The only important thing was that Monique was safe, and the evil capture of the wolves was reversed.
Xander held out his hand to me, and even though it was wasting time, I shook his hand.
I managed a grin. “Take care of my wife, wolf.”
He growled, but the sound held no anger. “I will.” His eyes shifted to yellow. “Thank you, warlock. I won’t forget we owe you our lives. And I won’t forget that she loves you, too.”
I stepped into the gap to hold open the veil, then waved at them, swallowing down a lump of emotion in my throat.
Monique grabbed onto my shirt and stared up at me with tear stained eyes. “Promise me you’ll be right behind us.”
I kissed her, hard and fast. Then said, “Go. Run. Don’t look back. I’ll follow.”
Monique whimpered, still clinging to my shirt. I flicked my gaze over to Xander, who read my look correctly, and came to pull Monique away.
“Come on sweetheart. If the high warlock catches us, we’re all dead.”
The two men shifted into huge, powerful wolves. Monique climbed onto Xander’s back, and the three of them disappeared into the forest.
I turned back to face my realm, where the weight of my father’s anger was turning the landscape on the other side of the veil into a gigantic snowstorm.
My magic was weaker this side of the barrier, so I stepped back through into my realm, magicked up a coat for myself, and pulled out my notebook once more. I wanted to seal this door shut. At least for a short time. We needed time to be able to escape my father’s wrath. If he managed to catch up to us now, the three of them would be done for. And probably me, too, given the level of craziness he’d been displaying lately.
The closing spell was difficult and required my blood. The process wasn’t easy, as I had to juggle the notebook and a conjured knife, all while my magic drained out of me like someone had turned on a tap.
When I was ready, I stepped into the human world and dropped the veil. My magic dimmed, so I had to work fast.
I sliced open both of my palms, the pain not registering over the panic rushing through my veins. I stared down at my notebook lying on the forest floor and placed my bloodied hands on the edge of the veil’s opening.
I closed my eyes and spoke the words from my soul, from my heart. The blood poured out of me, staining the invisible veil, and the incantation did its job, finally sealing the door shut.
When the spell was done, I staggered several feet away from the barrier, and then fell to the ground as dizziness overtook me. I was still bleeding, and I didn’t know how I was going to stop it.
I placed my palms together and rallied what little magic I had left to try and seal the wounds, but as the spell began to take hold, my body gave out.
I passed into the black depths of unconsciousness.