Of course, until we freed Ash, we would need all the power we could muster.
Victoria had calmed down by the time we pulled off the main road and bounced down the narrow dirt road that was Doc's driveway. I breathed a sigh of relief once we passed through my wards and were once again in relatively safe territory.
"Are you okay?" I finally asked.
Victoria nodded. "Yeah. Wow, that was pretty intense. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I just hope no one can identify us. Hopefully there aren't a lot of street cameras or anything." I shuddered.
Victoria nodded.
I dropped the invisibility spells and weariness tugged at my limbs. I parked next to Doc's truck and leaned back in the car. By the time I had mustered enough energy to get out, the guys had come over.
Ed opened the driver door and I climbed out and fell into his arms. Doc offered a hand to Victoria and pulled her into a quick hug before we all trailed down the path to the yurt, my hand held tightly in Ed's. I avoided looking at the remains of the cabin, knowing it would only piss me off again. Hopefully soon, we could go back to normal. Though I wasn't even sure what normal was any longer.
Chapter 8
Ed
Victoria sat in the passenger seat while Doc, as usual, drove. Ed was squished up against the door with four of them in the back seat, but Sofia was pressed against his other side and that more than made up for any discomfort.
Nikolai had pressed in against her, and Allan sat between the mage and the door. It was tight with six people in the truck, but Sofia, with Nikolai's direction, had cast some sort of seat belt spell that would keep everyone safe if an accident did happen. No one in the back seat minded being squeezed in with the others.
Some of their classes had exams the following week and Victoria was quizzing Sofia with the occasional input from Allan. Ed stared out the window, having a hard time concentrating on school when they were about to go meet with other supernaturals.
For many reasons, they had kept separate from the rest of the supernatural community. He and Allan hadn't wanted to run the risk of being forced to join an established wolf pack. Now that they were both over eighteen it wasn't as much of a concern, though truth be told, neither of them knew enough about werewolf society to know if that was even a valid concern. Doc was naturally a bit of a loner anyway, though Ed and Allan had changed that to some degree. Nikolai and Sofia had completely broken that tendency in Doc, though Ed doubted anyone would ever call Doc outgoing or social.
He and Allan had stayed apart from others for fear of discovery, not because they didn't want others around. Having Sofia and Nikolai join them made their small pack larger and even more comfortable to a wolf's way of thinking.
Sofia sighed. "I'm going to fail everything."
"You won't," Doc replied. "You answered everything Victoria asked you correctly."
She muttered under her breath. "I still don't feel like I know it. Clearly the knowledge is there somewhere, but it's... I don't know how to explain it. It's like it's not mine and it might vanish at any moment."
"I sincerely doubt it is going anywhere," Nikolai said.
Sofia shifted slightly as Nikolai put his arm around her and squeezed her tightly.
"You will be fine."
Sofia sighed again but fell silent.
Though she didn't say anything, Ed could smell her emotions and she still felt guilty. He hadn't been lying when he had told her they would have ended up in this situation without her anyway, but she didn't believe him. She had stopped apologizing, but he hated that she felt guilty about anything. To him, and the others, there was no blame and they would all rather have Sofia in their lives than the fragile truce they had with the Andersons before she came along.
He hadn't been down to Denver in quite some time and went back to looking out the window as they descended out of the mountains into the more heavily populated suburbs of the big city.
Sofia tucked her hand into his and squeezed.
Her touch warmed him. When he had thought they may never be together again, that had been the worst feeling ever. Now she was nearly as badass with magic as Nikolai was, she just needed practice. She could protect herself, and the rest of them, against magical attacks. That made Ed glad.
Nikolai leaned forward, looking between the two front seats and staring out the windshield, eyebrows rising as he took in the sights. As well as he had adapted to modern technology, he had yet to see a big city.
The snow from the storms had mostly melted in true front range Colorado fashion and the interstate was crowded with midday Saturday traffic.
Sofia put her hand on Nikolai's back. After a moment, Allan did the same.
"Is very different than Sunnyglade."
He remembered Nikolai's reaction the first time he had returned from being down in their small mountain town. He had adapted quickly and he didn't seem nervous now, simply curious.
Traffic thickened as they went deeper into the city. Victoria's parents lived in one of the nicer suburbs and Doc changed interstates to head south.
He glanced at Allan. His brother had clenched his hand around a bit of Nikolai's shirt and looked more nervous than the mage did. Ed probably was, too, if
