Page 32 of Ever Dark Academy: Volume 6

“Take my hands and grab a hold of each other. I’m not trusting anything less than full contact,” Fiona said as she held her hands out, one to each of them.

Charlie nodded and took one of hers while he held out his other hand to Ryder. Ryder grasped both of them. They formed a triangle.

“All right. Now,” Fiona said.

Ryder expected the stomach dropping ride that teleportation brought. Except nothing happened. They remained quite firmly in place. They didn’t even move an inch.

“Ah, it worked more quickly before, didn’t it?” Charlie asked carefully.

Fiona let out a breath and shook herself. “Yes, I mean. Just a moment. The structure must have… It’s fine. Let’s do this again, shall we?”

She gave them a tight smile, but he saw the worry lines around her lips and eyes. They had no idea what the structures could do. Grayson had feared that they could hurt Vampires, maybe even kill them, if their powers were used on people who had the structures. Fiona was an Immortal. Maybe that was why they weren’t hurt, but that didn’t mean the structure hadn’t done something else to her.

“Of course. Take your time, Fiona,” Ryder said even as his heart was racing in his chest.

Grayson was alone out there. Or maybe not so alone and that was worse. If he was back in his old house with Roan…

He’s got his powers. But he’s weak. So much weaker than when we first met. It’s like they’re draining the life out of him.

“You’re doing quite well at lying, Ryder, and keeping your temper,” Charlie remarked.

“Ah… okay.”

He had never been close to Charlie. In fact, before he’d come to Nightvallen this time, he really hadn’t met up with Charlie before. Yet Charlie spoke as if they were well-acquainted. Though was his temper as Ryder that bad? He didn’t think so. Before, as Weryn, it had been out of control at the end… Could Charlie be referring to that timeframe? Was he that old? He hadn’t thought so. Charlie wasn’t even really the head of a House. His friend Darcie handled most things, but he’d managed to get all of the Mirryr to agree to Balthazar’s plans for that party.

“Ready, everyone?” Fiona asked too brightly and Ryder’s mind snapped to the present.

“We’re ready if you are, Fifi,” Charlie said. “I can already taste that drink.”

“We all can,” Ryder agreed. “After we get Grayson and recapture that son of a bitch Roan.”

“Absolutely,” Fiona said with a tight nod.

The teleported.

Thirty feet.

“Uhm, can mud teleport into shoes? Or did my feet teleport deeper into the earth? I suppose it's six of one and half a dozen of the other,” Charlie mused as he stared down at his mud-caked wingtips. He was dressed as a 1920s English dandy, which was definitely not made for the swamp.

“What is happening?” Fiona cursed. She stared down at her hands. “My powers… they’re not… I feel… something is wrong! This whole place is wrong!”

Charlie caught Fiona’s arm. “Don’t panic. Kaly’s creations are always nasty and have many bad side effects, but you’re Wyvern and nothing can take your gift away from you. The structure has just shaken you up a bit. It will be okay.”

She met his gaze. Her lower lip was trembling. “Are you sure?”

The logical thing to say to that was: of course, Charlie couldn’t be sure! How much would a Mirryr Vampire know about the Immortal Kaly? How old was Charlie? A few hundred years? But Fiona stared at Charlie as if he held the answers of the universe. And what surprised Ryder was how certain Charlie looked and sounded as he answered her.

“Yes, Fifi, everything is going to be fine. But I don’t think we’re going to be teleporting out of here anytime soon,” Charlie said. “That means that Ryder is going to find us the nearest city to get our bearings and we’ll need to use a gate.”

“I am?” Ryder’s eyebrows rose.

“You’re Weryn. So, of course, you are! You know every inch of the Ever Dark around the cities. You just need to orientate yourself and not worry about Ashyr,” Charlie said. “That’s distracting you. And he wouldn’t want that.”

“Roan let that out of the bag,” Fiona muttered.

“Grayson. I like the name Grayson. Gray and Ash. Goes together,” Charlie said with a shrug. “He’s strong even as a human, Ryder. He’s always been able to take care of himself. Mostly anyways. Well, except that last time, but what I mean is he’ll be all right for now and you can’t save him if we’re stuck here. Anyways, Ryder, it’s up to you now to save us.”

Ryder rolled his shoulders back. He had to save them. And that started by figuring out where the hell they were. He closed his eyes.