Understanding, he looked around more carefully. “You are right. That is why this appears familiar. It has changed a bit since I transitioned to the human plane, but Ezekiel and I were captured not far from here.”
She smiled. He realized then that she had her mother’s charming dimple in her left cheek, but the fierceness of that smile was all her father’s. “Tell me everything you can about your capture, Quincy. We’re coming to get you.”
Caleb was lying with his eyes closed on Skye’s mattress, but wasn’t yet asleep. So when she abruptly sat up with a sharp intake of breath, he sat up, too. He realized her eyes were glowing light blue.
“Caleb, we have to help him,” she said in a rush, turning on the bed and grabbing his upper arms. “He’s near where I had the dream. They’re going to kill him. They’re torturing him, probably even right now!”
He could see she was rapidly approaching hysteria. Her breathing was harsh and far too rapid. Tears streaked down her cheeks. Her grip on his arms was crushing.
“Skye, you must calm down,” he said in a low, level voice. He lifted his hands and placed them on either side of her face, unthinkingly rubbing her tears away with the pads of his thumbs. “You won’t do whoever you’re talking about any good until you do. You must clear your thoughts. That’s right…deep breaths.”
She listened to him. Her eyes slowly dimmed to their normal color. Her breathing evened. It all took less than a minute, a testament to her dedication toward learning her meditation techniques.
Then she stunned him by reaching up and pulling him into a kiss. And then he couldn’t think at all with her lips parting beneath his and her exquisite taste on his tongue.
As she held him tightly so she could deepen the kiss, he was suddenly imbued with emotion. He knew it was hers and she was somehow projecting it toward him. It was more powerful than anything he had ever expected, and he discovered that the emotion made the kiss have all the more impact.
When she pulled away, she held his gaze. “I’m sorry I was so hard on you after the Foretelling,” she said in a near-whisper. “I know you all had your reasons for not sharing everything with us. And I know you’re not sure how you feel about me. But you should know how much I love you, Caleb. We may have all eternity to say such things, but then again…”
“Who did you see in your dream?” he asked, understanding that whatever she had seen was prompting her words now. He would absorb their meaning when his head stopped reeling.
“I’ll tell everyone at once,” she said. She again reached up to stroke his cheek. “Thank you for believing in me.”
He simply nodded.
Gabriel and James were standing side by side in the common area when Caleb and Skye emerged from her bedroom. Caleb had sent a thought out to them the moment he saw Skye’s eyes glowing. They glanced up with concerned expressions. Neither seemed surprised that he had been with her, he noticed.
“Amber and Olivia haven’t awakened from their sleep yet,” Gabriel said. “After the last ritual, they were about thirty minutes or so behind you, Skye.”
She nodded. “Fine. I’ll tell all of you first.” She took a deep breath. “I had another dream—or vision. I returned to that same meadow.”
Caleb’s jaw clenched, but he kept his expression contained.
“I sensed another presence with me. When I turned around, there was this horribly beaten male standing there without a stitch of clothing on. Someone had done a hack job on his hair. His scalp was bleeding in some places and most of his hair was gone. He looked…puzzled, I guess. And relieved. When I got closer, I saw his eyes were silver. He said his name was Quincy, and he was a friend of my father’s.”
Gabriel blinked in obvious shock. “Quincy?” he repeated, reaching out to grab Skye’s shoulder. “You’re sure?”
“Yes. He looked young, as we all do. Maybe in his early-twenties in appearance, at most. The hair he had left was blond. He had a few silver pairing markings. Not too many. And he had an accent. Maybe like someone from Australia or New Zealand.” She paused as if to steel herself, then added, “He said he was taken prisoner by the Mercesti after he returned from a transition. The new Estilorian, a Wymzesti named Justine, escaped with an Orculesti, Mei-Li, and a Scultresti, Fatimah.” She looked around at all of them. “There were at least eight Waresti killed. The Gloresti was captured along with Quincy. His name was Ezekiel.”
“Ezekiel,” James said with an alarmed expression, looking from Caleb to Gabriel.
Gabriel had gone from looking shocked to having no expression. “You said ‘was.’ His name was Ezekiel.”
Her eyes filled. “Yes. I’m sorry.”
Clenching his hands into fists, Gabriel started pacing. His eyes transitioned from blue-gray to the Gloresti dark blue. They all knew he was sending out this information to the elders.
“But Quincy is still being held prisoner by Grolkinei and his commanders,” she said, wiping impatiently at her cheeks. “He said he had transitioned back to this plane not far from that meadow and was taken prisoner from there. He was able to give me more details about the location.”
Caleb stared at James as she relayed every last one of those details to Gabriel so that he could forward them to the elders and thus down the chain to the Waresti who were actually away from the Estilorian base and trying to find Grolkinei’s lair. He and James had both known Ezekiel rather well. He had done a great deal of training with them before they took on the duty of watching over the girls’ Estilorian forms. He had even assisted in identifying the best spots to keep the girls’ forms safe.
He had been a model Gloresti. And they grieved the loss.
“It will take some time to get the word down to the Waresti engaged in the search,” Gabriel said, impatience lacing his voice. “Our thoughts can’t pass through the enchantments around the stronghold, so Uriel has sent Harold from Central on an express platform so he can spread the word.”
“But I told Quincy we would come for him,” Skye said. She had been sitting, but now got to her feet. “He’s being tortured right now. We can’t just—”
“I know,” Gabriel interrupted, “but there is nothing we can do from here.” He resumed his pacing and cursed softly. The pain in his dark blue gaze was evident. “I paired with Quincy the first time he ever transitioned. He’s remarkably gifted. Every time he has Embraced a human soul, it has resulted in success. That doesn’t usually happen.”
“If you paired with him before, can’t you somehow connect with him?” she asked.
She was wringing her hands together. The anxious action made the discs around her waist chime musically. Caleb frowned over how pale she looked.
“I could, but not with him on the other side of this enchantment,” Gabriel responded. “I’m telling you, mental connections are impossible through this boundary, except briefly one time per day for the Lekwuesti to send hospitality items, and you said the Mercesti have even dampened that possibility. They must have learned after the incident with Olivia.”
“But I did it!” she said, throwing her hands out to the side in frustration. “I was able to connect with him somehow.”
Caleb saw Gabriel give her a considering look. “I suppose we could try.”
Obviously relieved, she hurried forward and took Gabriel’s hands by the wrists. He grasped hers, as well. Caleb exchanged another look with James. He supposed they wouldn’t be much help, and might actually hinder any success Skye and Gabriel might have.
While the two of them stood and concentrated, Amber and Olivia woke up within minutes of each other. James filled them in while Caleb stared at Skye.
Eventually, she and Gabriel parted. She shook her head as she stepped back. “It’s just not working. I keep seeing him like he was in the dream. It’s like a repeated clip from a movie playing over and over again in my head. But it isn’t something that’s happening now.”
“What if we all try?” Olivia suggested. “Combine our powers?”
“I’d like t
o try that,” Skye said, looking around at all of them. “I know we just stretched our powers for the ritual, but I think I’ll be able to figure out really quickly whether it’s going to work.”
They all nodded and moved to a part of the room where they could connect hands. Caleb saw Skye’s eyes settle on the flowers outside her room. She blinked briefly as she studied them, then seemed to dismiss them so she could focus on what they were about to try. Reaching out, he took her right wrist. Olivia stood on his right, so he took her left wrist. Soon, they were all joined in a circle.
After a moment in which they all focused their thoughts and energy, they were all standing together in the meadow. They all watched Skye interact with Quincy, all saw his deplorable condition. Caleb felt empathy and fear for the tortured Corgloresti circle through him and his family.
But in the end, they were no closer to finding Quincy and offering him aid than before. It was just as Skye had said. A repeat of what she had experienced.
After a few minutes, she sent out the thought that they weren’t making headway. They pulled back. As Caleb refocused on their surroundings, he felt her withdraw from the circle. The look on her face was heartbreaking.
He also wished there was something they could do. It sickened him to think of any Estilorian suffering at the hands of the Mercesti. And although he didn’t know Quincy personally, he didn’t want him to die. Then there was the fact that he had known Ezekiel. Caleb would enjoy nothing more than retribution for Ezekiel’s tortured death. But they were quite powerless.
Skye walked over to the side of the common area closest to Caleb’s room. She was now pacing and once again wringing her hands. Her long hair and her skirts flared every time she spun. The lights bouncing on the ceiling glittered on the light pink discs at her waist. He had removed her slippers and her earrings earlier so she could sleep more comfortably, but she still wore her bicep bracelets and the single comb in her hair. Each of those details had appeared in her dream, making him understand how significant and real it had been.
She was muttering to herself. From what he could decipher, he could tell it was in her native language. For some reason, perhaps because she was half-human and had retained full human awareness when she transitioned, the words she spoke in her native tongue were the only ones he had ever heard on the Estilorian plane that he was unable to interpret. All language was universal on this plane, as all Estilorians had inherent translators in their brains. It was strange that he heard the sounds she made but couldn’t comprehend them.
He caught the word, Qel’a. That was when he realized she was talking to her spirit guardian. Although he didn’t know why, his attention was heightened. Concern mounted. He took a step closer to her.
She stopped pacing. She looked calm…and resolved. He felt a surge of panic.
“I can’t sit here and do nothing,” she said, her gaze sweeping the room. Then she looked directly at Caleb. “Quincy is suffering and will surely be dead within the hour. I know I can get to him. And I have to believe that you can then get to me.”
“Skye, what do you think to do?” he asked, his mouth going dry with sudden fear.
“You already know,” she said quietly. “I have faith in you.”
She closed her eyes. And then, with a flare of light blue light, she was gone.
Chapter Twenty
Skye hadn’t ever considered the idea of physically transporting herself. No one on the Estilorian plane had ever mentioned it was possible, after all. She was quite sure if it had been, Estilorians would be doing it all the time. But as her mind had raced with the options available to her in her determination to save Quincy, it hadn’t hit upon a single helpful possibility.
That simply told her she had to consider the impossible.
She had started by consulting with Sky Tomaganuk. Her spirit guardian was a high holy being. He had stood guard over her when she had been injured by the Mercesti after the Becoming ceremony. The Mercesti had avoided him because he had manifested as a form comprised of holy light. He wasn’t able to maintain the form for long, however, as it caused a considerable drain on her energy.
“Can you get to him, Qel’a?” she had asked.
You already know, he had responded.
She had muttered a very unladylike curse over that. She did know. She had been trying to send him through the enchantment since waking from her dream. And she couldn’t do it.
“I have to get to him,” she said. I promised.
I know.
How? How can I get there in time? My thoughts are leading me nowhere.
Then you should look outside of your mind.
Others may have completely dismissed the spirit’s suggestion. She, however, had merely shuffled the idea into her rapidly churning thoughts. Physically travel to Quincy, like teleporting. It shouldn’t be possible to go from physically existing in one spot to physically existing in another. It sounded like something out of a Star Trek episode.
But her wings did it, didn’t they? Faded in and out of existence. And the Lekwuesti could generate things with just their thoughts, couldn’t they? And the elders could to some extent, too.
And she had known then that she could do it.
She had looked down at her hands. They were stained with some of the dirt and blood that had been on Quincy’s hands. The detailed description he had given her of his current location would make it easy enough for her to summon up an image of it. She intuitively knew these elements would be more than enough to get her to him.
The look on Caleb’s face almost swayed her from her course. He looked terrified for her. But she hoped that his fear meant he would try all the harder to get to her. Because she would need him before it was done.
When she felt herself fading, she heard him call her name. Heard the raw emotion in it. And despite her outrageous fear, she was bolstered by the knowledge that his emotion-filled cry gave her.
Then she pulled Quincy into the center of her mind. She allowed his need for help draw her to him as she pictured the stone cell serving as his prison. She didn’t know how he had found her and managed to get into her head, but he certainly had her focus now.
“You have been rather disappointing,” she heard in her mind as she sensed herself growing closer to Quincy. “I had hoped to get another day out of you at least.”
The room started coming into focus. Dark. Lit only by one dim, red ball floating near the ceiling.
“The cuts I have administered thus far have been superficial,” the blond Mercesti standing over Quincy’s still form said in an unemotional tone. “Painful, of course. But not lethal. Perhaps I should leave you to heal for a few hours and begin again. We Estilorians heal rather quickly, after all.”
She found herself hoping he would follow through on that threat, just to get him out of the room. She felt her transition speeding up and realized she couldn’t stop it.
“Oh, never mind,” the Mercesti said. “You are too dull to bother. Hardly any screaming.”
Just as the Mercesti changed his hold on the hilt of his dagger, she zoomed fully into the cell with a flash of light.
The Mercesti flinched in shock and stumbled away from Quincy, much to her relief. She felt light-headed from the transport, but hurried closer to Quincy, prepared to do what she could to protect him. She would have to teleport him out of the cell, but she would need some time to regain her energy first.
The Mercesti remained relatively unfazed by her sudden appearance. He wisely stood a few feet away from her, gauging the threat she posed to him.
“How interesting,” he said at last, giving her a careful once-over. “Skye.”
It didn’t surprise her that he knew her name. Grolkinei would have made certain his minions had as much information as possible about her and her sisters. But she heard Quincy’s chains rattle in response to the Mercesti’s comment and knew then he wasn’t completely unconscious or unaware.
She considered and dismissed the idea of bringing forth her guardia
n for added protection. The drain on her energy would be too much. Hoping to buy some time, she gave the cell a disdainful glance and sniffed. “Hmm. Grolkinei could stand to find some better digs.” She focused on the Mercesti. “And you are…?”
“Eloy.”
He remained expressionless. It was extremely disconcerting in light of the tension in the chamber. He held his dagger with a great deal of familiarity. It glistened with blood. Fury shot through her at the sight. Knowing that emotion wouldn’t help her, she kept her expression contained and focused on restoring her energy and opening her mind to her family.
Caleb would lead them to her. She was sure of it.
“Eloy.” She raised an eyebrow. “What, exactly, do you hope to elicit this way?” she asked, waving a hand toward Quincy.
“Who said I was eliciting anything?” he returned blandly. He took a step closer. She held her ground, but kept her attention centered on him, bracing for his attack.
“He did, of course,” she answered, matching Eloy’s lack of expression with as much intonation as she could manage. Her tone this time said she thought her answer should have been obvious.
That did appear to give him pause. “This Corgloresti has been communicating with you?”
“And now I’ve come to get him,” she said by way of response, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt.
She guessed she didn’t when he jerked forward and sliced at her with his dagger. Because she had been anticipating the move since she entered the cell, she easily evaded it. Then she realized her movement pulled her away from Quincy, leaving him vulnerable. Eloy quickly moved to finish what he had started before she arrived.