“You guys stay here. We’ll be right back,” I told the three. One was a baker with broad shoulders and strong arms. The other two were farmers. A dude and his sister. Both quiet but calculating. None of them really spoke much, for which I was grateful.
With that, Trissa, Elle, Jasper, and I headed out into New York.
“I hate this gods-forsaken city.” Jasper gave each passerby the stink eye as we passed, causing Elle to smirk.
“Why?” Elle asked.
“It smells like dog pee when it rains, and the normies are…. everywhere. You can’t escape them.” A woman got too close to him, and he shrank away as if she had cooties.
“Elitist,” Trissa snarled.
Jasper nodded as if the comment made him proud. I liked the city. It was thriving and alive.
I ignored their banter as we wound through the city streets and into Central Park. “It’s just up he—”
My words died in my throat at the sight of the yellow caution tape blocking off the Shakespeare Garden. A police officer stood at the entrance, arms crossed over his chest. Our group slowed as the cop’s gaze tracked us, and Trissa and Jasper splintered off on their own as Elle and I stopped. “Hey… what happened? This is my favorite spot,” I asked the cop whose eyes were still on Jasper and his snake tattoo.
“Sorry, kid. Some thugs trashed the place. It’s closed until it can be restored.” His voice was gruff, and I stood on my tiptoes to peer behind him at the stone. My stomach sank as I gazed upon the Seeker Stone… or what was once the Seeker Stone. Now it was cracked in half, two sides of the metal plaque broken on the grassy floor.
Fuck.
“Alright… thanks,” I muttered.
Elle and I turned around and walked back to the entrance of the park where Trissa and Jasper were waiting. My mind was racing a mile a minute. Liam wouldn’t destroy the stone, would he? No.
It was the Winter King. Probably before he came and took all the crystals. Dammit!
“What’s with the Po-Po?” Jasper glared in the direction of the cop.
“The Seeker Stone is broken,” I growled.
“Winter King?” Jasper questioned.
“Probably.”
“We will have to go about it the old-fashioned way then. Come on.” Trissa gave us a curt nod and spun on her boots, heading back to the apartment.
“What’s the old fashioned way?” I asked.
“We go city to city, country to country, until you get a feeling,” she declared.
Oh, gods. That could take a lifetime.
Coeur D’Alene, Seattle, Portland, they all came up with nothing. In each city, we did a two-hour sweep, first with my feet buried in the earth calling on my seeker power and then blindly driving around and searching for a pull, anything to let me know the crystals were near.
“Maybe we should take a break?” Mara suggested, eyeing Trissa and Elle, who looked dead on their feet.
I shook my head. “No. Let’s sweep the entire country from the West Coast inward. Phoenix next, please.” I clipped into my seat in her office, preparing for the pull of the room as Mara traveled us through space and into another state.
Trissa and Elle strapped in too. We’d long lost the two farmers and the baker. They were resting inside Mara’s house with Bashur. Too much of a day for them.
“I wish I had a spell to find the crystals, but they are magically protected from prying eyes. Only a seeker can feel or find them,” Jasper called from his place perched on the edge of Mara’s desk.
The keeper of the portals glared at him, and I was surprised they had kept it so cordial up to this point. “Strap in, or prepare to be thrown across the room,” Mara growled.
I noticed Mara never needed to strap in, something which fascinated me.
Jasper’s bottom lip stuck out. “You used to be fun.”
She raised her wrists, showcasing the cuffs there. “Yeah, well, lifelong imprisonment will do that.”
Lifelong imprisonment.
Oh, my gods, I was so fucking selfish. I’d just been crowned Queen, and in my first five minutes, I should have ordered Indra to free Mara. What was wrong with me?
“Mara, shit. I forgot.” I rubbed my temples. “When we get back, I’ll order Indra to free you.”
She gave me a sad smile. “The cuffs are life bound. They only come off in the event of my death.”
What the fuck?
Indra made cuffs that powerful? And I merely kicked her out of the Tree of Life home but let her continue to waltz around Faerie? Some Queen I was turning out to be. That was seriously messed up. And she’d made two more pairs for Liam and me!
Okay, new plan. Find the crystals and then lock Indra up with a pair of her own cuffs. She was clearly more dangerous than I thought.
The second Jasper clicked into a seat, the room spun.
“Phoenix,” Mara called out when we stopped.
I jumped up as Elle groaned. “I’m hungry.”
I looked back at my bestie. “Go to Mara’s and make dinner. I’ll be fine.”
Mara snorted. “Dinner? It’s breakfast time.”
Shit, it was? We’d left with Liam to get the Sword of Night, and then the crystals were taken, and I hadn’t stopped moving since. Time was hazy. I was so damned tired but determined.
“Why don’t you make us some food? I’ll go with Lily,” Trissa told Elle, who had become our group’s unofficial cook.
Elle looked wearily at me, but I nodded. “Go.”
As she opened the door to Mara’s house, we stepped out into the desert of Arizona.
Jasper scowled at the barren patch of land. “I hate the desert.”
“You hate everything.” I waved him off.
After placing my feet on the dirt and getting nothing, I felt desperation claw at my chest.
Where the hell were they?!
“New Mexico,” I barked to Mara when we got back into her office. But there was nothing there either.
I clipped back into the seat and mumbled, “Utah,” as my eyes closed involuntarily before snapping awake.
Mara and Trissa shared a look. “Lily, I think it’s best if we sleep
