How could she get on that plane? And then she grinned. She grinned so wide it almost hurt. She would cloak herself under the Veil to get through security and then onto the plane. Surely that wouldn’t use that much energy. Certainly not as much as teleporting thousands of miles.
After sliding off her flats and replacing them with the new running shoes, she stuffed the protein bars and warm clothes into the backpack. She also zipped the phone and most of the cash into an inner pocket. The remainder of the cash was divided between her pants pocket and the pocket in the lining of her coat along with a couple of protein bars. She had no idea what she was getting into, but she wasn’t going to be unprepared this time.
She stepped out of the cab, certain that Nik was alive. She just knew it, and if all went well, she’d have him free soon. And when she did, she was going to tell him how she felt. He’d said he had fallen in love with her. No matter how mad he was right now, once he found out she hadn’t really betrayed him, he’d come back around… She hoped.
First, though, she needed to navigate the huge, intimidating airport. She scanned the boards and found a flight landing in Bucharest. Even with a direct flight, she’d be stuck on the plane for thirteen hours—a waste of precious time, but at least she’d be fully charged when she landed. The thought of Nik being tortured, like in her visions, made her want to teleport, but she knew she had to play it smart. She hadn’t seen him dead, and she had to hold out hope that she was truly seeing his future, horrible though it was. He was immortal and would heal.
Before she approached the security gate, she ducked behind a support beam and wished herself to not be seen. The same buzzing she’d experienced when she cloaked herself in New York hummed through her bones. This time, she was certain it had worked, but out of an abundance of caution, she stepped out from behind the column and cleared her throat as a man with a briefcase and wearing a suit walked by. He didn’t even look her way. Just to be sure, and because she was buzzed with adrenaline, she lifted her shirt like a spring breaker at Mardi Gras. As expected, the man kept on striding toward the security line. Not that he’d have gotten a real shock; she had on a sports bra, but there was no doubt in her mind now that she was invisible to humans.
“Very nice,” a familiar voice said from behind her. She lowered her shirt, forcing her fingers to unclench from the hem.
“Going somewhere, yes?”
Shit. “Hey, Stefan.” She pivoted to face him, every hair on end.
His gaze shot over her shoulder and then back to her face. She fought the urge to turn around. “Where is Aliana?”
“She is in Greece. She…” He took a shuddering breath, and his brow furrowed. “She is with the others of my kind.”
Nik had said there were two others on the planet. That they could not be parted from their mates. “Why?”
“To save us—me. It is complicated. But none of it will matter if you fail. I have come to be sure that doesn’t happen.” When she didn’t respond, his eyes narrowed. “Please remove the human Veil. I live in the human plane, and though I can see under the Veil, I can’t cloak myself. Right now, it looks as though I am speaking to the air.” She didn’t respond or comply. “Please. I am here to help you.”
She didn’t budge.
“You have lost trust in me.” He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “I have no intention of hurting you. I do not play games and am unable to lie effectively. Conserve your energy. Step behind the column again and lift the Veil.”
He was right about using up energy. She might need it to defend herself sooner than she thought. She stepped behind the column so no human could see her remove the Veil and did as he asked. “How did you find me?”
“You carry my phone, yes?”
“Yeah, but you said it was untraceable.”
“By others. Not by me.” His expression was smug and unnerving.
She backed up a couple of steps. If she screamed, one of the security guards would surely respond.
He put his hands up as if he were calming a frightened animal. “I have an interest in your success, Elena Arcos. My own existence depends on it.”
Aunt Uza’s shifters said the Time Folders were enemies. “I don’t trust you.”
“As well you should not. Trust no one but your own instinct. But know this: were I the enemy, you would have been dead the first time you appeared in my home.” He glanced over his shoulder, and this time Elena looked, too. The woman from his condo, Margarita, was there with a tall, well-dressed man with jet-black hair wearing sunglasses.
From the way people stared as they passed, she knew they were not under the Veil. Stefan gestured for them to approach, and as they got closer, her heart raced. If she were taken captive or died now, Nik didn’t stand a chance. She focused on concentrating electricity in her palms just in case.