Chapter 422

“Holy shit,” Jesse breathes, and I glance up to see him staring in awe at the little flame floating before me, even as Midnight squeaks in fear and tucks herself behind him, clinging to his hand. “Are you – can you do anything with it?”

“I think I can,” I whisper, looking over at Jacks, who I know feels the magic more intently than the rest of them. To my surprise Jackson doesn’t even look at the flame, staring at me instead, like I’m the marvel. I laugh, leaning closer to him, loving him a great deal.

But then, before anyone can say anything else, I lift my hand from Gabriel’s neck and dismiss the flame, standing up.

“What?” Ben gasps, looking at me. “Ariel, you were just getting started –“

“Magic show has to wait,” I say, glancing down at Gabriel’s pale face. “I have to go get Pippa.”

And then, before anyone can say another word or protest, I tilt back to Atalaxia and appear in the room. Almost at the same instant I do, the door opens and Pippa comes bursting through, a plastic box in her hand, her eyes wide.

“Oh, Ariel,” she says, shaking her head as she dashes to my side, shoving the door shut behind her. “It’s…it’s getting very bad out there. They’ve noticed that Gabriel is gone, and the protective shield has fallen, and apparently Moon Valley is sending planes – it’s all very bad – the King is very upset –“

“Well then we’d better hurry,” I say, taking her hand in mine.

“Ariel, the King can come to the Land of Darkness, and he can send soldiers,” she says in a rush, looking at me with wide eyes. “He is corrupted too – has a talisman –“

I nod to her, understanding her point. That we can’t fool around there either – that time is short, even in the other realm.

“You have the antidote?” I ask, glancing down at the kit in her hand.

“Yes,” she breathes, nodding eagerly.

“Okay, then let’s go. Um…it’s a little different, than when we left.” I grimace.

“What?” she asks, her brows bunching together in worry.

But there’s no time. I squeeze her hand back and tilt us away so that a moment later we appear in the Land of Darkness.

Pippa takes a single moment to look around before she squeaks in fear and then ducks behind me, peering over my shoulder at the whole new collection of Alphas.

“Is that…” she whispers, her voice shaking. “Is that Darkness’s girl!?”

Midnight peers from behind Jesse but doesn’t say anything.

“My girl now,” Jesse says, reaching behind his back to giving Midnight a comforting pat. Then he gives Pippa his best royal smile. “Hi, I’m Jesse, I’m Ariel’s cousi-“

But Pippa squeaks again and hides as Elias comes to my side. “Pippa…isn’t used to being around this outnumbered by men without a matron,” he says, gathering her close to him.

“Well, they’re very nice!” I say, stepping aside so she can see and waving a hand at Ben and Jesse and Jacks. “That’s Jackson, he’s my mate –“

Jackson gives an awkward little wave but I give up on introductions when Pippa’s eyes go wide when she catches a glimpse of Jackson’s full, moderately feral visage, his imposing height and breadth, and tucks her head tight against Elias’s chest, frightened.

“Sorry,” Jackson murmurs, looking down at himself.

I just laugh a little and take the cyanide kit from Pippa’s hand, sitting again at Gabriel’s side.

“So, I’m going to give Gabriel the antidote and try to make him…not die,” I say, glancing down at his face, which has grown paler since the last time I looked. “But things are apparently very bad up in the Castle. We need a plan for what the hell we’re going to do next. How we get out of here.”

“Are the routes in the castle impassable?” Jackson asks, slipping easily into his Commander line of questioning.

I glance at Pippa, who gives me a little nod. Elias looks down at her and then speaks for her. “I imagine the entrances and exits are locked down and guarded, even without Gabe to magically do it,” he says, grimacing a little.

“Well, can we get out…here?” I say, gesturing around at the Land of Darkness. “Run and then shift back into the world when we’re outside of the palace walls?”

Jackson nods to me, clearly indicating that he thinks it’s the best plan.

“He’ll come for you here,” Pippa says quietly, her voice still shaking. “He’ll figure it out soon, and then he’ll come, he’ll chase you here too.”

“Well then we’ll go to the yurt,” Jesse says, and I frown because…what? “Right Mids? Mids can take everyone to the yurt.” He steps aside, trying to let everyone see the girl, and at first she steps with him, still hiding, until the two have a hushed little fight and she sighs and steps forward.

Midnight looks around at the group with a frown and then up into Jesse’s eyes. “Are they family?”

“Yes, Mids,” Jesse says, smiling down at her and stroking a hand softly over her hair in a way that makes my heart swell to see, even if…well. Even if another part of me is remembering Daphne sobbing on her knees, Mittens clutched to her chest. “They’re family. Everyone here is family now.” I bite my lip against the emotion that races in me – because none of it is a lie.

“Okay,” Midnight says, shaky. “Um. If they’re family, I’ll take them.”

“And then back to Moon Valley?” I ask, hopeful, knowing that Midnight can do it.

Midnight’s eyes fly wide.

“We’ll talk about that part of the plan later,” Jesse says, shooting me a warning look. At the same moment, Midnight bares her teeth up at him, shadows beginning to leak from her skin. My eyes flash wide because – wait, she can do that too?

“The Ambassadors,” Ben says quickly, turning my gaze to him. He shakes his head. “We can’t leave them, Ariel,” he says. “They’ll kill them all if we do.”

I curse, glancing at Elias for confirmation. Quite sad, he nods, indicating that it’s true.

“All right,” I say. “We’ll get everyone out. But…this first, yes?” I wave a hand at Gabriel, who looks dangerously close to death. I bite my lip, wondering at my imprecise measurement of the cyanide and how much time has passed. Has it gone too far?

“Can I help?” Ben asks, kneeling across from me.

“Sure can,” I say, taking out the IV pack and the two syringes of liquid medicine, explaining quickly to Ben how to use them.

“I have…a new respect for espionage track,” Jesse murmurs as Midnight again peers out from behind him, her curiosity getting the better of her. “You know how to do all of this from memory?”

“Neumann trained us so we could do it in our sleep,” I murmur, glancing up at him as I hand the IV to Ben to hold high as I search for a vein in Gabriel’s arm and insert the trocar needle there. “It’s not all just studying chemical formulas.”

“I want to double major now,” Jesse murmurs, fascinated. I grin a little, even as I concentrate.

“Um, what’s the plan here?” Ben asks. “Why are you bringing him back – isn’t he all…corrupted? And violent?”

“Yes. He punched her,” Jackson growls, still livid. Ben and Jesse gasp, appalled, which is very satisfying to me and my wolf. But I push beyond that.

“He also made me rub his feet in public. But no, um, we’re going to heal him up on the outside…and on the inside.”

“What do you mean?” Jesse asks, turning his head at me.

“Well,” I say, looking up at Jacks, wanting his reassurance. “I think…that that flame does more than what a normal flame does. I think it’s more than just heat and fire – I think it’s Goddess-blessed.”

Jackson nods solidly, agreeing with me – he felt it too.

“Well with that dark blue color,” Jesse says, nodding consideringly. “That makes sense.”

“Why does that make sense?” I ask, turning my head to him and cocking it to the side.

He smirks at me a little. “It’s just…a very goddess-blessing-y color. Part of the story for another time, cuz. Just keep going.”

I frown at him for a moment, not getting it, but then I move past that too. “I think that I can use the flame to help Gabriel, to help his wolf. Perhaps clean up his corruption.”

Midnight gasps in horror and I attempt to peer around Jesse to see what has frightened her so much, but she ducks away. Jesse takes a deep breath, again reaching behind him to comfort his strange little mate, even as he keeps his eye on me.

“Do you really think you can do that?” He asks, working hard to keep his voice serious, though I can hear the hope in it.

Midnight, Jackson says into my mind in explanation. She’s corrupted too. But I think she’s afraid – so…maybe don’t say anything.

Shocked, I turn my eyes up to Jackson and then whip them over to Jesse, who intuits what just passed between us and nods to me very seriously.

I nod back and then fight every instinct I have to reach for Midnight, wanting to help and comfort her too.

But I turn my eyes back to Gabriel instead.

“Do you…really think you can do that, Ariel?” Pippa asks in a whisper. Surprised, I turn to see her peering at me, still pressed against Elias’s chest with his arms around her.

I look up at her and give a little shrug. “I can only try. And if it doesn’t work I’ll reject him and hope that it doesn’t go further than that.”

I turn my face back to Ben, giving him a few more details of the treatment and asking if he thinks he can handle it. He assures me that he can – it’s fairly simple, after all – as Jackson folds his long legs beneath him and sits at my side, offering me his hand.

“Thank you, Jacks,” I say quietly, taking it. Because this is a choice he’s making too – if he wanted, he could refuse to help heal Gabriel. But he’s doing it for me, because he loves and trusts me. I sent him a warm pulse of gratitude down our bond.

“I still think we should let him die,” Jacks says softly, a little rueful, his eyes moving to the bruise still livid on my jaw.

“I know but…” I shrug. “If I can help him? Surely that’s better.”

He sighs, turning his eyes on Gabriel, his voice dour. “It’s what Ella would do.”

I smile, squeezing his hand. Then I look around at our collected little group one last time before I reach out and again put a hand on Gabriel’s neck, close my eyes, and begin to concentrate.