That, at least, was good news.
“Tell me what happened with the elf.” I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice, but dammit, it crept in. I’d just seen him. He’d just resolved to be a better person and not make weapons for the druids anymore. He couldn’t be … dead. I’d liked him, and I needed that staff he was making for me. Hopelessness crept over me like a heavy blanket.
Eva frowned. “I can show you, dear.” The ball suddenly lit up in her hand like the sun, causing all of us near it to shield our eyes.
I stepped forward and so did Isaac. “I need to see as well,” was all he said, and Eva nodded.
The ball pulsed light and Eva rolled it in her palm as she chanted under her breath. Around and around the ball went, a hypnotic rhythm, until finally it stopped in the dead center of her palm, dimming its glow.
“Touch it,” she whispered, and I nearly yelped at her freaky glowing yellow eyes.
Isaac and I shared a look. Me touching random magical objects had not gone well in the past. But I had to know what happened to Griddish. I’d grown fond of the quirky, morally-loose creature.
Reaching out, Isaac and I both touched our fingers to the cold copper ball.
Holy hell! I was immediately hit with a wave of nausea. It felt like I’d been grabbed by the ears and yanked upward. My vision went black for a few seconds, then my feet slammed down hard and my eyes opened up to Griddish’s backyard. I looked next to me and Isaac was standing on my right. Eva was on my left, holding the ball.
What the…?
“We’re not really here. You can’t change what happened, only witness it,” Eva commented.
I nodded, in awe of what was going on. I was standing in Griddish’s backyard! The ground felt real under my feet. I could see the elf tinkering away at his desk, working on my staff! A purple crystal shard protruded out of the top.
It hit me then, there was no sound, not even the rustle of leaves. Wherever we were, it wasn’t real, just some kind of memory. The elf turned to grab a tool and I could see from the shape of his lips that he was whistling, but I couldn’t hear it.
“No sound?” I inquired.
Eva raised one eyebrow. “It’s the Eye, not the Ear.”
Touché.
Griddish caressed his fingers over the staff, polishing the wood with an oil-soaked rag.
“So, what happened to him?” I asked, and in that moment the elf froze, as if he’d heard or smelled something.
He scribbled something quickly on a piece of paper and let the paper fall to the floor. Then he grabbed the staff with both hands and spun around just as Steven blinked into his back yard with his creepy air druid magic. I wondered what would happen if I stepped forward and punched him in the throat right now.
“You would pass right through him if you attempted to touched him,” Eva told me.
My mouth popped open. “You read minds?”
She smirked. “I read ‘I want to kill you’ glares.”
Accurate.
I wasn’t normally a violent person until I’d met that man.
Griddish had spun around, my staff in his right hand, now a small opal knife in his other. They were trading words but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. Suddenly, flooding over the gates of the elf’s property were a dozen druids. Not hunters—full-blown druids with crazy tattoos and gleaming, murderous eyes.
“Shit!” I said, feeling helpless. I looked to Isaac and noticed his eyes were glued to the paper on the ground. He hadn’t said a word since we’d gotten here. Eva must have noticed too.
“You can’t see what’s written there,” Eva shared. “I tried. It’s flipped over, and when he writes it he covers it with his hand so you can’t look over his shoulder.” Isaac nodded.
Interesting.
“Here it comes. Watch Steven’s lips,” Eva instructed. I moved forward a step and watched the druid. He was grinning ear to ear, no doubt pleased he had the elf surrounded. Then his eyes fell on the staff. The purple crystal, the engravings, all in a language I didn’t recognize.
Fire druid, he mouthed and his grin widened to maniacal levels.
I stepped forward and extended my foot, coming up between Steven’s legs and kicking him in the balls. But it sailed right through him like he was a ghost.
Eva rolled her eyes. “I told you.”
I shrugged. I had to try.
Eva looked uncomfortable. “You want to see him die or go now?”
“Go,” I said. I didn’t want to see the actual death. Knowing it was Steven was enough for me. I was going to kill that bastard a hundred times over.
“Stay,” Isaac said, and I groaned.
“Fine, let’s stay,” I agreed. I didn’t want to sound like a total wuss.
It happened quickly. Griddish used his freaky levitation power to rise high into the air and be at Steven’s meathead level. Some hundred-pointed sticks were floating behind him, ready to strike.
Without warning, Griddish sent the pointed sticks out into the yard, trying to pierce the flesh of the dozen druids waiting to kill him. It was no use, they all had shields up, and Griddish looked resigned then.
The elf mouthed something I couldn’t read— “You’ll fall…?” “You all…?” I was too far—dammit I needed “The Ear.” While Steven was busy keeping the elves attention with a glowing red ball in his hands, a druid off to the left threw a shimmering red knife with the speed and accuracy of a well-trained bowmen. It sank into the elf’s neck and his eyes popped wide. Then he … flickered out of existence, taking my staff with him.
What the…?
“Wait … where did he go?” I asked.
Eva looked at me. “When an elf dies, their body is reunited with their queen, whom they are sworn to protect even in death.”
My eyes bugged. The queen was long gone, her body rotting somewhere in Faery. “That is true,” Isaac spoke calmly next to me, before I could ask more. “But they do not bring their clothing and weapons with them. He didn’t die. He teleported.”
Okay … say what?
Eva frowned, her eyebrows creasing together. “Are you sure?”
Isaac nodded. “Somehow he tapped into Steven’s power. I need to see what’s on that paper. I think it’s a message for us to find him.”
Eva whistled low. “The druids could be lying in wait for us to come back for the staff.”
Isaac shrugged as if that didn’t bother him. “Without that staff, Sloane can’t control her power. It will eventually tear her apart.”
Fear trickled over me. “What?”
Isaac turned to face me as the druids in the memory started to leave the yard, their job done.
“When you released all that magic to help Dom and save Hemlock … it hurt you, didn’t it?”
I bit my lip, thinking back to the bar where the man in the canary-yellow suit had died. “Well … yeah, for a bit. I mean, I felt a little dizzy and had a headache. I might have gone momentarily blind.”
“Sloane!” Eva gasped. “Have you told Logan?”
Shame colored my cheeks. There was too much going on, I had honestly forgotten.
“She needs the staff,” Isaac pressed. “When did all this happen?” He gestured to the elf’s backyard. Now free of druids.