“Okay, I’m gonna make sure everyone inside is asleep before we break in,” Max said. “We don’t want them to sense our magic and be on alert before we even get close enough for me to manipulate one. You guys should make sure your mental shields are up or you’ll find yourselves snoring too.”
I nodded along with the others, tightening my hold on my barriers, though they didn’t really need any reinforcing. I’d been keeping them locked up tight recently anyway, my thoughts too scattered and my emotions too confusing for me to want him picking up on them. I didn’t need the drama involved with his questions if he detected some of the shit I had running through my head, especially when some of it could pose a threat to the balance we all maintained between the four of us.
I glanced down the street, this area pretty familiar to me seeing as it wasn’t too far from my family home. My mom had contacted me a few times through the journal to say they were alright, and she’d been letting us know Lionel’s schedule so we always knew his movements. Not that it helped us a whole lot considering the entourage of Dragons he often travelled with, the FIB who attended his events in force, and the Shadow Princess hounding his every move. But Gabriel had a team who was working to push his defences at public events and figure out how easy it was for Vard to detect our movements.
I felt the brush of Max’s power against my shields, and I couldn’t help but yawn despite the strength I held against his gifts as he worked to take down anyone close enough to sense us while we were here.
I glanced around at the empty street as he worked, wondering how long we could risk hanging around here before one of the Nymphs felt our power and raised the alarm. Best we worked fast to avoid that.
Max nodded as he finished and Darius gripped the door handle, melting it and the lock in his grasp before pushing it wide so that the four of us could step inside.
We dropped the illusions the moment the door was closed behind us and I shot away from the others, pulling my twin Phoenix fire daggers into my grip. I raced in and out of every room in the house to check how many Nymphs we were dealing with, only discovering one in the kitchen, slumped over the counter and fast asleep beside the stove.
I skidded to a halt before the others who had only made it a few steps into the house and gave them a cocky grin as I stowed my weapons away once more and pushed my fingers into my blonde curls to tame them.
“He’s in the kitchen and he’s a big fucker. The rest of the house is clear,” I announced, earning myself a grin from Seth and a nod from Darius.
Max strode past me in the direction I’d indicated, pushing his gifts out before him and sending a sense of peace and trust vibrating through the air as his navy blue scales crept across his skin to peek out from the edges of his clothes.
We fell into step behind him, keeping close as he headed into the kitchen and approached the Nymph who was still sleeping in his Fae-like form spread out across the kitchen counter.
My heart began to race as we closed in on this creature which was the enemy of our kind and yet looked so like us in this form that it was hard to even comprehend how dangerous it could be.
Max reached out to place a hand on the Nymph’s arm and I stepped closer, touching Max’s shoulder so that I could see what memories he was coaxing from the Nymph too.
Seth caught my hand just as I was tugged into the mind of our enemy and I curled my fingers around his, holding on tight.
Darkness shifted around us as Max worked to sort through the memories and I caught glimpses of a life lived by this creature with locations and faces shifting all around me so fast that it was impossible to fully distinguish them from each other until one jerked to a halt before us and I found myself watching it play out.
A Nymph in shifted form was stalking through the trees of a dark forest with patches of snow on the ground, his hand clamped tight around something red which caught in the dappled light spilling between the trees.
The creature whose mind we were currently trespassing in walked behind the other Nymph, listening to whispers which seemed to come from within his own mind as they urged him further up the sloping path.
The taint of the shadows coated my tongue and I was half aware of Seth whimpering at the feel of it and Darius stiffening in recognition where he held onto Max’s other arm.
“Feed it to me. Make me stronger,” the Shadow Princess breathed into the mind of the Nymphs and they upped their pace, passing through thicker and thicker woodland before stepping out into a huge clearing where a pyramid of onyx stone arched up towards the heavens.