“Oh screw me sideways,” I groaned, frantically looking left and right. I knew this place, I’d seen it before … in a dream.
It was a stone tunnel, about five feet wide and twenty long, ending with a massive symbol against a rocky wall. A compass symbol, the four points perfectly clear in the dim light.
“What the hell is this weapon?” I snarled, moving closer, almost as if I couldn’t help myself. The symbol was calling to me. I had a burning need to see it more clearly.
Orange and Lemon were already standing before the image, one on either side, facing me. “The dragon king had a scepter that he used to rule the races. It is needed to free him.”
I shook my head. “I won’t help you. I don’t care what you want from me, I’m taking my sister and getting out of here.” I spun on my heel, forcing myself to leave. It was tough, like dragging myself through sticky taffy. The compass pulled me back to it. I had to focus all of my energy just to take a step.
Laughter rang out, washing down the corridor, but I didn’t stop. I made it to the doorway in the stone, turning sidelong so I could fit back through again. Truth was, I preferred the hall with all the serial killer sociopaths over the twins.
Orange’s voice followed me along passageway. “Two things are going to happen, Jessa. Firstly, Mischa will never stop bleeding without us. The knife was coated in silver, and a spell which cannot be reversed by any but us.” No matter how far I walked, her voice continued to follow. “Second … every guard you have to go through to escape from Krakov is going to bring you back to us. We control the male mind, you have no chance.”
Shit. She was right. I could not get out of this place on my own. It was too narrow for my dragon, and in animal form I couldn’t carry Mischa. My sister was now slipping in and out of consciousness, and considering her blood was starting to soak the floor beneath us, I knew they were right about the wound healing.
I growled as Orange spoke again. “Help us and we will make sure your sister is healed, and we’ll give you the weapon. You can have it. The dragon king will not rise for two more days, so you will have time to try and hide it from us.”
It wasn’t as if I had much of a choice.
I exhaled deeply before turning back to the direction I’d just come from. The twins were a long way from me now, still standing on either side of the compass mark. Knowing I couldn’t run from this, I stomped along, my arms barely registering the strain of holding Mischa. It took me no time to reach them.
“What do I have to do?”
I spoke each word slowly, trying to figure out how to kill them with jagged words and angry looks.
“Blood,” Lemon said, “we just need a little of your blood.”
I took a step back, before gently lowering my sister to the floor. Straightening again I made my way across to the twins. They must have sensed my compliance, because they turned their backs on me and faced the compass. Knowing this could be my best chance, I slipped my hand beneath my shirt, my hand slick with Mischa’s blood. I could feel the spell on my skin. Laying my palm across it, I called for Braxton. Out loud and mentally. Just in case it required one or the other. Orange flipped her head around, looking first at me and then down the hall.
“Your friends can’t save you. Just give us what we want and no one else needs to get hurt.”
I trusted them about zero out of a million, so it was easy to ignore every word they shot at me. Braxton. I tried again, but … shit, something was wrong. The spell was still cold against my skin, and I knew if it had been activated I’d have felt heat. What the eff was going on? Louis would not have made a mistake. He said I needed to say the name of my mate, which was Braxton. So what was wrong?
“Blood!” Lemon was more demanding than her sister.
I flipped her off, and with a pounce quicker than a shifter cat, she had Mischa in her arms. “You want to see your sister suffer more? She still has one lung functioning, but maybe if she was drowning in her own blood, it would hurry you along.”
Shit. Fuck. Ass. Balls. Why had I put her on the ground? I needed free hands to fight, but I’d also let them have their only leverage back. I must have hit my head on the way in here or something. This time it was Lemon who had the knife in her hand, and as she lifted her arm to plunge it into the other side of Mischa’s body, I lurched forward.
“Stop!” I screamed. “Take my friggin’ blood, but you better hope that Mischa and I die after this, because I am making it my life mission to kill you both.”
I leveled a hard gaze on each of them so they knew how serious I was.
Orange snatched my right hand. I almost wrenched my arm back. Touching her was like touching poison ivy. My skin immediately itched. My palm burned as she slashed across the fleshy pad. Silver would keep this wound open for a lot longer. Blood immediately eased to the surface before spilling free.
Orange dragged me two steps to the wall and slammed that palm down onto the north groove in the compass. So this was what they meant by me being north. Damn jinn, and damn everyone else for not giving me more information.
Lemon took my sister’s hand and placed it on the south point. No need for a cut, Mischa was already bleeding everywhere. Then the twins sliced their own hands, the final blood for east and west. As the four of our palms sat in the divots on our compass, an unnatural wind flooded along the corridor. I shivered as the first icy strands touched me, and then gasped as it turned to a burning heat. It was as if two seasons had simultaneously flooded across the prison.