Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

"This is kidnapping!" Clara snapped as she righted herself in the seat beside Tegan.

He ignored her and looked over at me. "Can you make it in?"

I glanced at the seat occupied by their two butts and shook my head. "It's alright. I'll be fine."

Every bump was an exercise in grip function for my hands and I was glad when we rolled onto the familiar lane that led to the small woods. Clara sat in sullen silence but kept casting nasty looks in our directions. We finally reached the fresh trail and Tegan rolled us to a stop.

I hopped off backward and he exited on the other side before he turned to offer Clara a hand. "We're here."

She stared daggers at his offer and finally swatted his hand away. "I will help myself the rest of the way."

Clara hopped down and her legs buckled under the distance. She would have face-planted if I hadn't caught her. I grinned down at her. "We have a little farther to go than the ground here."

The witch gave me a wicked look and pushed me away. "I'll walk on my own power."

Tegan jerked his head toward the rough trail. "It's this way."

Clara wrinkled her nose but followed him while I brought up the rear. We marched through the tall grass and eventually ended up at the ring of stones. Tegan knelt beside one of them while our witch companion shuffled to the center. He brushed away some of the dirt and revealed the rune-inscribed face.

"We found these earlier this morning," he explained to her.

Clara grasped her hands in front of herself and closed her eyes. I tilted my head to one side and watched her stand there in perfect stillness. She could have been a statue were it not for the shallow breathing. I cast a curious look at Tegan but he pressed a finger to his lips.

Clara took in a deep breath and raised her hands. The emblems on the faces of the stones came to life with a bright almost luminescent red glow. I started back and Tegan jumped to his feet. The brilliance grew brighter the higher Clara lifted her arms to the sky until I could barely look at the light.

That's when I felt it, or rather, what I didn't feel. The ground. I looked down at my feet and saw that I hovered several inches above the earth and that distance was only growing wider.

"Hey!" I shouted as I tumbled forward as though I was in zero-g. "Let us down!"

Ah, the consequences of my actions. Clara brought her arms down in a sharp arc. The light from the stones vanished as did the magic holding Tegan and me up. We crashed to earth and I landed on my butt. Tegan with his superior experience landed like a cat beside me but graciously helped me up to salvage what little was left of my dignity.

I rubbed my derriere as I glared at our companion who turned to us with a mischievous smile. "What the hell was that about? You could have warned us you were going to do that!"

Her eyes twinkled with delight as she crossed her arm over her chest. "Think of it as making us even for the ride over here."

"So you know what these stones mean?" Tegan guessed.

She swept her eyes over the stones and her good humor faded. "Yes. These are the rune stones I set out for the spectators, though there are a few more here than I remember making."

I blinked at her. "You set out stones that can make people float?"

Her lip curled upward. "It was that fool's idea to have the audience float above the fields to watch the second trial."

"Does the audience know what's going to happen?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "No, but that would be the fool's fault and not mine."

"So you put some of these here?" I guessed.

"Not a one," she revealed as she shuffled over to one of the stones and kicked it with her foot. "These are supposed to be closer to the road. Someone's moved them and added their own."

"Would that person have to be proficient in magic to create more rune stones?" Tegan wondered.

She nodded. "They would've certainly gotten around. These things aren't easy to make in the best of times. It took months for the order of stones to come in from Blutstein and some time for me to carve the runes just right." She flexed the fingers on one hand and winced. "This Blackstone isn't easy to peck at with even the hardest of chisels."

"So vampires would know about them?" I asked her.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course. Some of them in that fool's employ brought them here themselves from the mines to the southwest of Brunnen."

"Do you recall who?" Tegan questioned her.

Clara cast a sideways scowl at him. "How should I know? Ask Miles, as soon as he's up to it. That rascal knows all his master's secrets, dirty and not."

I swept my eyes over the stones. "So why were the stones placed here away from the road?"

Clara shuffled around the circle and studied each of the runes on the faces. "Originally, I wrote the runes and placed them along the road to levitate the many people between them. They could look down on the contestants who are supposed to cut the fields into designs to please the brainless crowd. Now it looks like the Blackstones are set up to focus their power on the person standing in the center."

"What could someone do with that power?" Tegan wondered.

She wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure. I could easily lift you two with hardly a thought. I suppose someone could focus that power on a single individual and throw them into the ocean."

I looked up at Tegan. "Like Lusio."

He had a grim expression on his face as he nodded. "And they would have been hidden in here to work the magic if we hadn't escaped from the hut."

I furrowed my brow. "So if they had to get these stones over here does that mean they're not very magical? I mean, I guess they can't just throw Lusio into the ocean without them."

"That rules out Quinn," Tegan mused.

"Whoever or whatever it means, it means more trouble for me," Clara commented as she turned to face us. "These stones need to get back in their place or that old fool will throw one of his fits and then I'll-" She stopped herself.

"Then you'll what?" I asked her.

Clara's sharp eyes rolled up to Tegan. "Take me back to the road. You'll need help getting these into position before those fools watch the trial."

Tegan nodded and strode toward the path with Clara at her heels. She passed me by with her gaze set straight ahead.

I spun around to follow her and set my hand on her shoulder. She stopped and turned her head to one side so a sharp eye stared at me. "What is it now?"

"You're not really doing this just to save someone else from doing all this magic, are you?" I commented.

Her eye flickered over me in a quick study before she pursed her lips. "That doesn't matter now."

She shrugged off my hand and followed Tegan in the direction of the road. My heart fell but I tagged along behind them. I'd reached the end of the clearing when a strange sensation tingled the back of my mind. The sensation made me half-turn to the

"Kate?" Tegan called to me.

I turned back to him but I felt as if I was in some sort of dream. I was no longer in control but was a third party to the world around me. "Maybe I should stay here." Panic rose within me. Those weren't my words. I hadn't spoken.

Tegan walked past Clara and back to me where he searched my face. "Are you sure?"

I smiled and nodded, only it wasn't me in control. My real self was silently screaming inside my own head. Tegan! Tegan, something's wrong!"

"Yeah. Maybe I'll see who put these stones here."

He pursed his lips. "I'm not sure that's a good idea-"

"Are we going to stand around here arguing until the trial is over?" Clara snapped.

Tegan took a reluctant step toward the hag but paused and caught my eye again. "Be careful. Even if it is a vampire they may still be dangerous. Keep in the sunlight."

I nodded. "I will."

Tegan! I screamed as Clara and he disappeared into the brush. Tegan!

Their footsteps faded. I was all alone.

Or was I?