Chapter 12
1730 Words
Raine knew someone who was not law enforcement who could help them find Monica through her phone and make sure they were not walking into a trap.
She first helped Kayla change into something more appropriate to fit into this world and not draw unnecessary attention to herself. More importantly, not to scare Raine’s friend with her swords and deep, glowing purple eyes. Raine learned everything to be a human, clothing, styles, manners, etc. She handed Kayla contact lenses to cover up her eyes.
Kayla slipped a few of her knives and a dagger into her sleeves and her pants. Just to be prepared for anything. Byron seemed a bit surprised with her new look and she felt quite attractive with the way his eyes sized her up before his eyes burned with desire. She ignored the attraction and decided to find Monica to bring her back to Byron untouched and unharmed.
They headed over to Raine’s friends’ house. It was located on the far east of town or as Byron calls it. The poor side of town. Even in this world, they are facing wars, despair and fury.
Raine looked at Byron when they reached her friend’s house. “Put your badge and gun away. He doesn’t like cops.” She advised Byron and then softly knocked on the front door and waited patiently.
A few seconds ticked by before the door slowly opened but then opened fully when the guy’s gaze landed on Raine. “Hey, Raine!” He then paused. “Who are your friends?” He sounded a bit suspicious.
“My sister and her boyfriend,” Raine answered.
Kayla kept her face blank while she stifled a chuckle. He invited them inside and Kayla found herself surrounded by different ages of technology. Scattered take away containers lying all over the floor. A smell that wasn’t pleasant and she didn’t even want to know what it was. “He kind of reminds me of you,” Kayla said to Byron who gave her a bewildered look.
She tapped a finger against her temple to empathize with their bound and because she was a telepath.
“So, this is Joey.” Raine introduced her friend to us when they entered a room with big screens. “He can track anyone or anything.” Kayla arched an eyebrow which made Raine roll her eyes at Kayla.
“What is it that you need to track but can’t go to the cops?” Joey asked, sitting down in front of his keyboard.
“My sister is being held hostage by dangerous men and the cops don’t believe me. I've tried to convince them but they think I'm a joke.” Byron explained without a blink of an eye. “I need to see if she is alive and where they are holding her.” Joey still looked doubtful.
“Do you have some special army that is going to rescue her?” Joey was a bit on the sarcastic side.
“Can you find her?” Byron ignored Joey’s smart-ass comment.
“Do you have anything that I can locate her with?” Byron gave him all the information that could help us trace Monica. She even had a security system set up at her home. Joey pinged her location. It was set to her address.
“They are keeping her hostage in her own home,” Byron growled.
Joey then tried to get through her surveillance but it was disconnected. Byron didn’t look happy and there was the only way she could help him out. “There is a way,” Kayla mentioned. Raine gave her a look, wanting to know if she was really going to risk exposing herself. She had no choice. Byron’s sister could be harmed and it is the only family he has left. He is already blaming himself for their parent’s death.
“I need to find a pathway to her mind.” Byron frowned at her while Joey looked sceptical as usual.
“What are you some kind of mind reader?” Kayla felt a bit insulted but she brushed it off and sat down in front of Byron. She could wipe Joey’s mind clear and he won’t even remember this day.
“You need to open your mind to me completely. So that I can find a link to her. I need to get inside her head so that I can see where she is and if she is doing okay.” Byron looked a bit dubious but he nodded.
“Think of her.” He nodded.
Kayla removed the contact lenses from her eyes and moved closer to Byron. She would be touching him again and she didn’t know how either of them was going to react. She placed her fingertips against his temples and gazed straight into his eyes. Her magic crackled and sparked against his skin from their bound and the impulse of using her power to infiltrate his mind without using force.
Kayla arched an eyebrow when she caught him thinking about her. “I need to sense Monica.” She reminded him.
She felt a pang of sadness overwhelming him when he thought of their home when it burned down. “I need you to think about finding her now.” The sad memories vanished in front of her and then she slowly started to follow his thoughts of his sister. “Try to call out to her.” Kayla closed her eyes when she felt a link to Monica.
Her senses were overwhelmed by Monica’s fear. Kayla focused on Monica’s surroundings.
“Five guys. Each holding a weapon. More of them guarding her house.” She stopped talking when she felt a prickle of arcane magic on her skin as if someone pinched her. She gazed up and looked into the black eyes of an arcanist that was looming over Monica. He smiled when he sensed Kayla in her mind. Kayla gasp and released Byron. She jumped up from the chair and felt shudders running up her spine.
“Arcanist.” She muttered.
She caught Raine’s look of fear. “That’s impossible. They shouldn’t exist especially after the war.” Kayla shook her head.
“Rubeus sent me out on a mission after a rumour has surfaced. I canvased the coast where creatures last saw them. I didn’t find arcanists but I found their dark magic. It’s so much purer than the witches magic.” She explained.
“What the hell is an arcanist?” Byron asked.
“A mage that possesses the darkest of dark magic that there exist. They are the ones who were responsible for starting a horrific war and ending the lives of thousands of innocent creatures of our realm.”
“Is one of them there with my sister?” Kayla nodded.
“You fear them.” Kayla was surprised by his acknowledgement.
“Centuries ago, sorcerers were kept hostage by witches. They were tortured with black magic. Sorcerers learned to possess the dark magic to learn the weakness of the power. To control and condone it. They killed all the witches from the mountain and then made an oath that they will never teach other creatures the art of this power. But they found a way to beat it. They just never got a chance to because they stayed in exile for decades. No one has seen or heard from them since they went into exile.”
“Our father was the last strongest sorcerer of our realm. He was the last one who knew how to end them if they ever returned.” Kayla informed.
“But you are a sorceress,” Byron noted.
“My father never got the chance to take me to the mountain of sorcerers so that they could teach me their ways. He died before I could learn the path of our people.”
“It’s a secret path every sorcerer learns when they turn ten years old. The tribe masters teach you the prophecy in order for you to protect the realm and its people. It’s a secret oath that you are bound to forever.” Raine explained.
“I was bound to a sorcerer before I was banished from the assassin tribe, we grew up in. He walked among the sorcerers. Yet, I betrayed him when I fell in love with a villager boy from our kingdom.” Kayla lowered her eyes, feeling Raine’s despair for her actions.
“How does this save my sister?” Byron asked.
“I have to go alone,” Kayla confessed and she felt the tension of her sister not agreeing with her. Raine also knows how strong the arcanists were with the stories their mother always told them.
“An arcanist can control anyone’s mind. Kill you with a breath. Cast a spell to turn you into one of them. Resurrect your corpse and have you found among them.” Kayla explained.
“I have the power to protect myself against their magic. They’ve never faced one of my kind. And I have been raised by a wizard who taught me some extra skills.” Byron stood up from the chair and walked up to her.
“I know my way around her house.” He insisted.
“So, do I.” She reminded him. “I can’t let any of you die or be controlled by him.”
“I can’t let go in there by yourself,” Raine said. “I’m a trained warrior like you and we can take them by surprise. You still have to knock down the security outside before reaching your target.” She had a feeling that Raine wasn’t going to sit this one out.
She looked at Byron. “You stay here. I will stay in contact with you all the way. We will bring your sister back to you. That’s a promise.” Kayla never breaks a promise.
- Writer
