My husband gazed ahead then shrugged a shoulder. “We’d better hurry.”
With his back to us, his long legs taking him through the forest at a fast clip, Tipkin threw his hands up in the air. “That’s what I’ve been saying!”
Hunkered behind brush, downwind from the scents of Com blood floating in the air, I pointed my gun where we had spied Philip Masterson high in a tree, his own silver arrows aimed. He appeared to be waiting as he watched the horde of Coms surrounding Ezra and his Prodigy. My past self hadn’t yet arrived to the scene.
“With this new surprise,” I whispered, not sure what I thought about this dangerous aspect, “that hybrid Mages can travel back in time, I bet he’s how the Coms knew who the next Prodigy was. He could have traveled into the past and told them.”
I knew what I was waiting for. In the past, there had been two arrows that had hit us. Now I knew where they had come from. We could not alter time, so we had to wait for him to fire two before we attacked.
Ezra grunted. “It makes sense. Only two people know how to do the spell to find the Prodigies. Elder Harcourt and Elder Farrar. The spell is protected that way. And we already know they were questioned. Though Philip could have found out later who she was if he had any contacts inside King Cave.”
Where our Prodigies now stayed for their own protection.
That didn’t give me warm and fuzzy feelings. “We’ll need to move them when we get back.”
Ezra’s Vampire growled in confirmation.
Ten minutes later, Philip fired his first arrow.
Ezra and I held our aim on Philip.
Tipkin put on gloves and notched a silver arrow on his bow, targeting our prey.
Philip’s second arrow fired.
Ezra and I pulled the triggers on our guns.
But…nothing happened. Just an empty click.
I blinked, gaping at my gun.
Ezra’s dumbfounded gaze was the same as mine.
Just as Philip was taking aim again, Tipkin’s arrow flew, piercing through the air like a bullet. It hit Philip square in the stomach, shocking him. His pained shout could not be heard over the gunfire, but we watched as his jaw dropped and his features contorted in agony. He lost his footing on the branch and tipped backward. His mouth was open in a scream as he released his weapons and grabbed the end of the arrow jutting from his stomach. At the last second before hitting the ground in a death fall, he jerked the arrow from his body and tossed it aside…and disappeared in a flash of gold.
My wolf growled furiously. “Where the fuck did he go?”
“Our next destination,” Tipkin replied, standing from his crouch and stretching. Staring up at the sky, he pulled a flask from one of his cloak’s pockets. I blinked as he proceeded to down a few swills of what smelled like whiskey. Just as easily, he capped it and put the flask back into his pocket — like this was just an average day out with friends.
What the hell?
Ezra’s nostrils flared. “Why the fuck didn’t our guns work?”
Tipkin shrugged. “If a weapon’s made after this time period, they won’t work.”
Ezra’s Vampire growled quietly. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”
Our guns were the newest models.
“Eh, now you know,” Tipkin stated cheerfully, taking off his gloves and stuffing them into his right cloak pocket. He extended a hand to each of us. “Let’s go. I don’t know the layout of King Hall like you two do. There were Mys all over the place on graduation day. I’ll need your memories to help find him. I won’t be able to sniff him out as easily as I did this time.”
My wolf huffed. “You need to tell us shit like that, so we don’t get killed!”
Golden eyes stared down at me, a seriousness entering them. “I just did. When you needed to know.” He jerked his hands at us. “Are you coming? Or are you staying in the past?”
Chapter Seventeen
We hung on for dear life for two more rough trips in Tipkin’s sphere: one to take us to the forest surrounding King Hall in the present — that was filled with the scents of decay — and the second trip to go back in time where we landed in the same forest…but it was different.
It was graduation day. Before it had become a war zone.
The sun was shining, and there was music blaring in the distance.
The sweet aroma of the buffet foods tickled my nose.
When my stomach growled, Ezra glanced at me.
I scrunched my nose. “The brownies were really good that day.”
His lips twitched. “Yes, they were.”
Tipkin waved in agitation. “Don’t even think about it.” He stared pointedly. “Now, where would Philip target the Elders, Kings, or Prodigies? He knows where to get weapons in this time, since he started the damn war. Was there a point during graduation that the Rulers were alone? Possibly defenseless?”
My brows puckered as I thought through that day.
But Ezra instantly nodded. “All of the Rulers here were defenseless at one point.”