“Lyle Morgan?” Nathan scoffs. “Give me a break. Kid’s slimier than algae.”
“Maybe,” acknowledges Silas, “but he said you might have a charm we need.”
Nathan crosses his arms. “Depends on the charm.”
“Shifters are being brainwashed,” I say, not wanting to beat around the bush. “Our best guess is that a witch shifter is responsible. We need some way of tracking them down.”
A slow smile creeps onto Nathan’s face. “Interesting,” he says, nodding. “I think I know what you need.” Without any ceremony, he begins to rummage in his fanny pack before withdrawing what looks like an intricate wire medallion hanging from a cord. “I lifted this from a coven in France,” he says, sounding proud. “This’ll lead you to the caster of any enchantment you can think of. Trackers everywhere would kill for it. There is a catch, though,” he adds somberly. “The person wearing it needs to be under the same enchantment.”
“So…” I clear my throat. “We would have to put this on someone already being mind-controlled.”
“Bingo.” I reach for the amulet, but Nathan snatches it away. “I have a lot of buyers asking about this,” he tells me. “You want it, we’re going to have to talk numbers.”
“Let’s just take it from him,” snaps Shade. “He’s a human. It’ll be easy.”
He advances on Nathan, who takes a step back and holds out his arm. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, wolf boy,” he advises. “You wouldn’t believe some of the charms I have on me. You’ll be dead before you hit the ground.”
“It’s fine,” Hunter says, stepping forward. “Name your price.” His wallet is already out, a wad of bills in his hand.
“That’s more like it,” Nathan crows. “Let’s say an even thousand and we’ll call it good.”
Hunter rolls his eyes, but concedes. “Fine.” He forks over the requisite amount of money, making Landon raise his eyebrows, before extending his hand. “The amulet.”
But a wicked glimmer is already flickering in Nathan’s eyes, making his heart sink. “You really are a bunch of pushovers, aren’t you?” he says, grinning.
I see him reaching back into his pack and I cry out, but not even my new reflexes are enough to prevent the subsequent explosion.
Chapter 7
At first I'm not sure what's happened, which, added to the fact that the world seems to have fallen into slow motion, makes for a few panic-inducing seconds. The explosion is relatively small, like a burst of fire from an unattended tank of gasoline, but we're already confined by the bridge above us and the water below us. The heat wave strikes me painfully in the chest, scorching my face and bringing with it the smell of singed hair, but the force of it is what sends me stumbling back, careening into Shade in the process. The wolf shifter lets out a startled cry as he tumbles to the ground, shifting into his form as he goes, and that's all I get a glimpse of before the fog is back in full force, like a tarp hasn't just been thrown over my face.
"Shit!" I hear Landon say. And a steadying hand touches the small of my back. "Everyone okay?"
"The amulet," Silas yells, and a flash of fire and the flapping of wings next to me alerts me to his presence, speeding past with enough force to ruffle my tangled chestnut hair.
"Shade," I cry, throwing my hands out in front of me, "Hunter-"
"He's getting away!" Shade exclaims, charging past me in a blur of fur as his superior sense of smell guides him through Nathan's obfuscation.
Thinking fast, I shift into my vampire form, using my now superior speed to keep up with Shade's enhanced agility as he bolts through the mist. It's thicker than butter, but in this form I can sense every vibration of the air and water vapor around me, giving me a handy idea of which direction the wolf shifter is going.
I can smell human blood, too, and the source is moving rapidly away from us. He was trying to screw us over, I think as I continue my mad dash, just not in the way we thought. This prompts a fresh flood of anger and frustration, which propels me forward with a newfound enthusiasm. Hunter is somewhere to my right, keeping up with me, and a splash below tells me Landon has jumped into the river where he'll benefit most from his impressive swimming ability.
A column of flame briefly descends on us from above—Silas' doing, no doubt—and illuminates the space: we're headed for the green patch the river passes through, and I'm able to briefly make out the form of Nathan, running at a speed that should be impossible for a normal human. Although he's only barely outpacing us, it's clear that whatever charm or enchanted artifact he's using isn't something to be sneezed at. Even as the mist breaks for a moment, he turns around and throws something into the air—it looks like a stone, similar to the one used on us in the Boston Academy dorm. As soon as it makes impact with the ground, a pulsing wave of magical energy expands around him. I'm barely out of range, and can feel the force of the spell against my face, but Shade, just in front of me, isn't as lucky. He freezes in place, stalk-still, like a statue of a wolf in motion.
"Shade!" I yell, immediately dropping my pursuit of the items dealer to attend to my boyfriend. Thinking fast, I shift into my witch form, surprising myself again with just how easily I'm able to do so, and place my hands on his stiff fur. I remember learning about spells like this at the Academy, but I never learned how to undo them—one of the downsides to finding out your college is actually an authoritarian regime .
Hunter immediately comes to a stop next to me. "Boots—"
"Go!" I yell. "Stay after him! Silas will need your help!"
Hunter pauses, looking at me reluctantly for a moment before nodding once and taking off into the mist. Alone again, the sounds of the chase receding in front of me, I close my eyes, wrecking my brain for something to undo Shade's paralysis, but nothing comes to me. I'm barely able to stave off the panic long enough to allow my magic to the forefront, and do the only thing I can think of, something Shade himself taught me to do a long time ago. Taking a deep breath, I concentrate on my magic and visualize him moving again before sending a controlled wave of energy into his stiff body.
For a moment, it seems like nothing will happen, but then the wolf shifter springs back to life suddenly, his muscles vibrating with unreleased tension. He turns and stares at me with his golden eyes. "You didn't need to do that," he tells me.
I stare right back at him. "Yes, I did," I state. Shade looks at me with the closest thing to a smile that a wolf can manage before resuming his hunt, seemingly unfazed by his momentary crippling. Falling in beside him once more, I shift into my siren form, which slows me considerably, but I'm starting to think this will only end one way.
The fog thins as we give chase, and as we reach the edge of the enchantment's area of effect, I can make out the forms of Silas and Nathan in an empty clearing. They're staring each other down from opposite sides of the field, apparently at an impasse, with Hunter watching them. Silas' enormous dragon form dwarfs the squat man, but Nathan looks surprisingly confident as he glares defiantly up at him. I make a move to help, but the vampire shifter seizes my hand in an iron grip. "Wait!" he hisses.