Skyborn (Dragons & Druids #1)(57)

“Should he shift?” Nadine was asking Eva.

“No way! His arm could sever. Stay in bird form, Gear.” Eva pointed a finger at the falcon and then crisped her suit, turning on me.

“You!” She pointed.

I shrank back as if I was being scolded by my mother. “What did I do?”

Eva’s face softened. “You need to tell me everything about that spell Jeanine did on you. I think it was a two-part spell. One part to keep you from transforming and one part tracker.”

At the word “tracker,” my insides dropped and I felt sick. “No,” I said, in denial.

“Quickly! Tell me.” Eva waved her hand and now Danny was standing next to her; he was all ears.

“She had a … a jar and she was putting stuff in it. Umm … a match—”

Eva cut me off. “Tell me it wasn’t a spell where you had to breathe in smoke?” Eva’s face and hands were frozen as she awaited my reply.

I just winced and Eva and Danny both let a curse word fly.

“She didn’t know! It’s our job to teach her these things,” Logan said in my defense, stepping closer to me.

I sighed. “What did I do?” Oh God. Was Gear going to be okay? The look in Nadine’s eyes gutted me.

Eva motioned for me to stand. “Get up, honey. The druid is tracking you and they will be here any moment. I need to remove the spell and it’s going to hurt like the fire of a thousand suns, but it’s the only way I know how.”

Logan stepped in front of me, blocking the car door. “No way! We’ll kill the druid and find another way.”

Keegan stepped beside Eva. “What if that druid brings his boss? That’s right, what if Ardan is on his way and we all die and your mate can’t even shift and fly away? We need to remove the tracker spell. Now!”

I reached out and let my hand stroke Logan’s arm. “It’s okay. I got myself into this. I need to face the reality of it.” I was a major wuss with pain. Like, bump my foot on the edge of the couch and scream like a dying cat wuss. But I would do what needed to be done to keep the pack safe.

Logan sighed, resigned. His body moved to the side, opening up room for me to stand just in time to see Danny turn to Eva. “What are you thinking of doing?”

Eva looked at me sadly and then turned to Danny. “A complete blood eradication spell.”

I could tell from the way Danny winced, every muscle in his body flinched, that this would hurt like nothing I had ever experienced.

“Feel free to just knock me out first,” I said nervously, using humor as my fallback, but secretly hoping someone would just hit me over the head and knock me out for reals.

“You need to be conscious for the spell to work dear.” Her voice held a sadness and I knew she didn’t take pleasure in what was about to happen.

Logan slipped his hand in mine, glaring at Eva, no doubt wanting to intervene.

‘I got this,’ I told him, but his face didn’t change.

Gear’s falcon gave a soft caw and I frowned. “Can we help Gear? Do you need a scale?”

Last time, one of Logan’s scales had fixed Nadine right up, so maybe we could patch Gear first and then hit me with the pain of a thousand burning suns.

Eva was rubbing her hands together to warm them. “Gear will be fine. I’ll heal him next. This must be done now. They’ve been following us ever since we left the club. Gear says they are about twenty minutes behind us. We need to break the spell and get back on the road.”

I looked around. We were in the field of a heavily-treed rest stop and it was pitch black. It must have been the middle of the night.

I dropped Logan’s hand and stepped forward. “Do it.” I flinched, balling my hands into fists and tensing every muscle I had.

Eva looked at me and then at Keegan. “Hold him,” she murmured, and Keegan rushed forward to pull Logan back.

“Hey, what the hell!” Logan yelled, fighting his friend.

“I’m sorry,” Eva muttered, and clapped her hands together loudly. When she pulled them apart, there was a yellow glowing geometrical shape between her palms. “I’m going to cleanse every one of your cells of any magical spell. They will all be broken, including the one I put on you to cover your scent.”

I just nodded, feeling the urge to run. Knowing something was going to hurt and willingly walking into it was against my self-preservation, but I forced myself to stand there. As she held her hands over my head and brought the yellow glowing geometric shape over my face, a white-hot pain seared my skull. A scream tore from my lips and it haunted me to know that it was my own. I didn’t recognize the sound.

“Hold her!” Eva yelled, and suddenly arms were around me, holding me up, keeping me from falling. My sense of smell told me it was Sophie.

“You got this,” Sophie said firmly in my ear as her grip around my elbows tightened.

Eva moved the shape farther down my face towards my neck and the pain intensified. “No, stop!” I screamed, as the searing heat nearly brought me to my knees. A black smoke was coming off of my face, and I had a horrible thought: Was she burning me? I could hear commotion behind me as Logan struggled against Keegan’s hold.

“Eva!” Logan growled, and I knew his dragon was close to the surface.

Eva looked like she was in pain herself, her forehead covered in sweat, her hands shaking. “Danny, ground me,” she called out, and Danny rushed up behind her, placing a hand on each of her shoulders. The moment his hands touched her, he winced.