Spring Rain (The Witchling #4)(63)

“Dawn,” Noah’s tone was hushed as he stepped in front of Biji.

“Your time is up, boy. Dawn asked me not to hurt you – unless it’s self defense. I find you too troublesome to care what she wants especially since you betrayed us,” Dawn spoke words Biji knew were Bartholomew’s.

“Where is she? Is she gone?” Biji asked, edging around Noah.

He took her hand to keep her beside him.

“You could say that,” was the chilling response. “Take the girl. You get one chance to walk away, Noah.”

The Dark witchlings closed in around them. Biji stepped out in front of Noah, not wanting him to get hurt if he had a chance to escape.

“No way,” Noah replied.

“Noah, go,” Biji peered up at them. “I can take care of myself.” She was gathering her air magick as she spoke, testing the power of those around her. At least one was also air magick, which her element was able to sense.

“Like hell you can,” he retorted. “Who almost froze to death in December?”

She rolled her eyes. “Then go get help!”

“I’m not leaving you, Biji.” He gazed down at her. “I’ve risked everything to be here right now, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Any other time, she’d swoon over the words. But right now, Biji viewed his ill-fated heroics as annoying. “Fine. Stay and end up murdered with me! You think I want that?”

“I don’t care.” Noah faced his sister once more. “If you take her, you take me.”

“Done,” Bartholomew said.

The Dark witchlings approached. One snatched Biji’s arm. She yanked away, and Noah nudged her behind him again. “We can walk. We don’t need to be forced,” he said.

“Fine. Go.”

Biji glanced at Noah once more. She wasn’t about to tell him her plan: if she were alone, she’d have a shot at flying away, assuming she could catch the Dark air witchling with Dawn off guard. But she doubted she was going to fly with Noah’s weight. She’d never tried to fly with anyone else before.

Worse, he was now in as much danger as she was. She didn’t think she could live with knowing she might’ve saved them both if she had known to practice flying with someone else before this.

The Dark witchlings herded them out of the café and into the parking lot. The storm overhead had broken, and rain dropped from the sky. It was colder out than when they’d gone into the café, and the rain left strange puffs of fog in its wake as it landed.

“You should’ve left,” she grumbled at him.

Noah’s arm went around her, and he pulled her against his body. A thrill went through her at the feel of his hard frame behind her. “I’m not leaving you, Biji. We’re stronger together anyway,” he said.

She turned her face to the sky and let the rain hit her features. He was right in a sense, but the Dark witchlings with them would be able to counter any magick they tried. In theory, air and water magick combined could unleash a storm with the power of a category five hurricane or major tornado, enough to blow the town away in seconds. The Laws of Light, however, dictated that they couldn’t hurt others in self defense or for any reason, which meant doing so risked the lives of everyone in town.

But escaping … at least with Noah, they now had the option of manipulating water magick to assist them in escaping.

Noah’s gaze was on Dawn, and Biji saw the sorrow in his face. It was hard to stay angry with him when she knew how much he was hurting. She had never liked Dawn a day in her life, but neither did she want to see Noah in pain.

Rather than approach the sixteen passenger van in the parking lot, one of the Dark witchlings led them around the strip mall towards the forest. There were several trails visible, some running towards the mobile home park nestled in the trees half a mile away, another in the direction of the witchlings school and a third whose destination wasn’t known to Biji.

They took the third. The path was too narrow for them to walk side by side, so Noah released her. Biji shivered in the cold rain, eyes on the trees and world around them. Three witchlings were ahead of them, two behind Noah, Dawn, and another two behind her.

“Why do you want us?” Biji asked loudly.

“Your Beck’s little friend,” said Bartholomew. “He’ll come for you.”

“Ah. Bait. Great.”

There was a strange sound, followed by someone smashing through brush. Everyone stopped walking to look.

Dawn was braced against a tree, holding her stomach with a grimace. She hissed, her eyes flashing from black to normal to black again, and straightened. “We don’t have much time,” Bartholomew said. “Walk faster!”

“Dawn,” Noah said in a hushed tone. “You need to go to the hospital.”

“Nothing they can do for me there. Shut up and walk.”

Come on, Beck. You have to know something bad is going down, Biji thought.

“We need to get help,” Noah whispered.

Biji nodded, uncertain if he meant for them or for his sister, but hoping he was aware of what she was. They weren’t getting out of there alive, if Dawn-Bartholomew had anything to do with it.

“Where are we going?” she voiced.

“Miner’s Drop,” another witchling answered.