I knew the last Seventine wasn’t free yet. I was tied to those evil-suckers, and for now I sensed no change in their energy.
“Looks like it’s time to head back to First World,” I said. “As long as we join the seven half-Walkers together and perform the ritual before the last is freed, it doesn’t matter if they have the energy.”
Let’s hope it ended up being as easy as that.
Girls! My tether shot out in five different directions. We’re on our way back and there’s no time to lose. Find Jedi and meet me at the mountain entrance. We need to perform the ritual.
I hadn’t included Eva in the call. I was getting good at controlling who I connected with. I was heading straight for Jedi now, he had the information on the ritual. It was time to lock the Seventine away for good.
“You ready?” I asked Eva.
She was still looking skittish.
She took a deep breath. “I’m ready. Nervous, though … what if they don’t like me?”
I was sure that since her family’s death she hadn’t given a shit about anyone liking her, but already the half-Walker magic was working on her.
I gave her a one-armed hug. “Girl, if everyone can like Fury then you’re going to have no problem.”
Lucy snorted. “Word on that. Double word.”
A warm, furry body hit me right around the time the screams of Abby rang out. I’d traced us to the spot near the dark mountain entrance. Cerberus was enthusiastically greeting me and I was grateful he managed to keep the majority of his bulk from crushing me. Luckily he was only in his horse size. When I finally managed to untangle myself from the two-headed hellhound, I found myself surrounded by the half-Walkers.
Sapha cleared her throat. My gaze was drawn to her dramatic red eyes, which practically glowed at me.
“Jedi will be here soon. He said to meet him at the … prison.” She still struggled with some of our words.
All the worlds spoke English, as that was a main dialect of Walkers, but they had their own languages also. So some of the halves were a little rougher at it than others.
“Everyone,” I said, capturing the group’s attention. “This is Eva.” I pulled the blond female forward. “She’s the Earth half-Walker. Eva …” I left my hand on her shoulder while I introduced everyone and also their sacred animals.
I knew she wouldn’t keep them all straight. There were a lot of names to learn, but it was a start.
Eva met each of their gazes, before giving a brief nod. She wasn’t overly friendly, but not rude either. Cautious was what she was.
Delane and Ria exchange a glance. Those two were the more mature, least hotheaded of our girls. They would be wondering how Eva fit into our group, what her skills were. Delane especially would want to know how she would benefit us during the fight.
Talina shuffled closer, and smiled gently. The Spurn half was the softhearted one. She would want to take Eva under her wing, and hug away all her hurts. She wouldn’t actually do it, of course. She’d learned that the hard way after Fury, but she would be the one to empathize the most with Eva.
Fury didn’t have much time or attention for our newest member. The Crais half was hard to please, but brutally loyal once you earned it.
Sapha seemed ambivalent; Eva and she could bond over the way they didn’t really want to be here helping us, but were still doing it because of the mystical ties between us.
“Alright, now that we’re at full power, let’s lock the Seventine away.” Delane was the one to usher us toward the mountain entrance.
Brace halted me. “I’m going to check on Abernath. My men tell me that the fighting has increased. They require a few moments of my time – and my guidance. Don’t do anything until I return.”
I stood on my toes and placed a kiss on the closest spot I could reach. His chin. “The girls and I will take a few moments to connect and share the power before we do any rituals. I’ll let you know when we’re about to start.” I flashed a cheeky grin at him. “So you can hurry back to me.”
His lips curled up, revealing perfect teeth. He looked wolf-like right then. He must be channeling Colton or something.
“I’ll always hurry to you, Red.” Then, with a brief but sweet kiss, he was gone.
Colton followed him. He was Brace’s second and didn’t let his princeps go off into danger without him.
Lucy remained with me and the half-Walkers.
Her blue eyes clashed into mine. “Yeah, Colt wanted me to stay by his side. I informed him that I wasn’t his leash and he’d just have to take himself for a walk.”
I snorted. “Must be interesting inside your head, Luce. The conversations are …” I trailed off, unable to think of the right word.