Orange’s face was hard, her dark eyes flashing at me. “It is not common knowledge that we’re fey, we work very hard to conceal it. We would appreciate it if you didn’t spread this information around.”
I flipped them off. “Appreciate this, bitch. I owe you nothing. Let’s get this freaking show on the road. I have no interest in any sort of girl bonding.”
Yeah, I was pissed. But they had pushed some sensitive nerves, threatening Mischa. I was not playing nice.
Orange hissed, lurching forward as if to attack. Her sister halted her with a little shake of her yellow hair and the fight died out of Orange’s eyes. They seemed to be communicating silently again. I knew they could do that mind speak like Mischa and I, and since they were old and powerful, probably didn’t even have to touch.
Speaking of, my zombie-like sister continued to just stand there observing and not reacting to anything. Despite my worry, there was also a portion of my anger reserved for her. Dad seemed to have the same thoughts, his icy eyes locked on her as well.
I knew one thing from growing up with him – he was pretty lenient in lots of ways, but the few rules he had, he expected them to be carried out without question. And one of them was to have your pack members’ back, no matter what. Mischa was majorly failing at that one today. There was no time to deal with her right now, we just had to hope we lasted long enough to have the family fight I was seeing in our future.
The twins led us along the edge of town. A couple of faces turned in our direction, but no one approached us. We ended up at the base of a massive cliff face. There were a few craggy overhanging crevices scattered over the surface, but mostly it looked like a single sheet of bumpy rock.
Orange turned just enough for me to see her beaky nose and squinty eyes. “Follow our footsteps exactly.”
Ominous words. No doubt there would be plenty of security measures we had to circumvent to make it into Krakov. Prison securities were not to be taken lightly.
The twins approached the wall and I sighed as they placed their hands onto the rock. Fan-freaking-tastic. We were climbing. I was a wolf, we didn’t climb. Mischa moved in right behind them and I watched as she positioned her hands exactly where Lemon’s feet had just been. The divots they were using to climb seemed to be invisible, so unless you knew where they were, you were not getting up the rock. Jonathon pushed me forward, nodding to indicate I should follow them.
“Are you not coming up this way?” I blinked stiffly, the icy air freezing my eyelashes.
He shook his head. “Sorry, Jessa, this is not the main entrance.”
Louis tilted his head to capture my gaze. “Don’t forget about…” He trailed off, pointing toward my stomach. He lowered his voice further. “We can be there within minutes, but for our plan to work we must check in to our official appointment.”
Jonathon brushed a hand over my cheek. “The twins explained earlier that if we all followed, there was more chance of us getting caught. Their powers only extend so far.” His blue eyes softened. “We will be close by though, so call if you need us.”
He stepped aside and let Braxton crowd into me. The dragon didn’t look happy. “This goes against my better judgment, Jess, but promise me that you will not let your guard down for a second. Not even with Mischa.”
I bobbed my head a few times. He didn’t have to worry about that. A part of my sister had gone to the dark side and she wasn’t to be trusted.
“I choose you.” I leaned in closer. “I love you.” I’d said it a million times before, but now it meant something more. And I was running out of chances to tell him.
He growled. “Don’t do that. I will see you again very soon.”
“Just in case,” I murmured.
His lips hit mine then, and the kiss held a taste of fear, before it softened up and I could feel his true emotions. That kiss told me he loved me. Desperately. Passionately. Forever.
Somehow I pulled myself from him, turning to face the cliff. Shit, the girls were already halfway up. So much for me following their exact path.
“I can help with that,” Louis said.
My feet were suddenly off the ground. Looked like this wolf was both climbing and flying today. Lucky I was part dragon too.
Despite the strange sensation of floating into the sky, I didn’t flinch. I was hardening myself, to prepare for what was coming. The bad feeling I’d had for days was increasing, my instincts were screaming at me to bail, but unlike my sister I was loyal and wouldn’t throw her off the cliff. Not yet anyway. But she’d better start proving she was worthy of all of us.
My eyes stayed locked on the three men for as long as possible, especially Braxton, who had both hands pressed into the rock as if he was a heartbeat from following me. I had to look away when I reached Mischa; Louis deposited me against the cliff. The magic held long enough for me to find the divots. My gloved fingers slotted into the deep spots, and it was actually pretty easy to scale up. I glanced back down again, but there was no one at the bottom anymore. The ache in my heart deepened.
I again pushed down my sorrow, focusing my thoughts on what the hell the weapon might be; if the twins wanted it, it had to be important.
About halfway up the massive cliff Orange disappeared. Hanging out as far as I could, I tried to see what was happening above, but she had definitely vanished. Then, as soon as the next twin poofed into nothingness, I knew we had reached Krakov’s entry point. I hurried up after Mischa, making sure to stay in her foot grooves.