But it wasn’t too late. Not yet.
I had to move. I had to do something. I had to fight. One more time tonight. I had to find it in me.
And then the power came. Rising up. Filling me. First, from Dastien, and then Lucas and Claudia. In the next breath, the power of twelve people answered a call I didn’t realize I’d sent out. I was filled with three types of supernatural magic, and I knew that I could do this.
“We’re coming.” Dastien’s words broke over me, spurring me into action. “Where are you?”
He was already moving. He grabbed keys, shoved them in his pocket as he crossed the small one-room cabin to me. His eyes were still amber, still ready for a fight, but I wasn’t prepared for this. I wasn’t prepared to lose my brother. Not tonight. And if I looked in the mirror, I knew my own eyes would be a very non-human shade of glowing, molten chocolate.
Dastien grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the door. It took me a second for my feet to catch up, and then we were sprinting to the car. “Where are you?” Dastien asked again. His voice was calm, but I could feel his fear and panic through the bond.
“I don’t know.” His voice was weak. Too weak. “A warehouse. I can’t…I don’t…They brought me here and I…” His voice broke. “I’m so sorry.” His voice grew softer with every word. “Tell her I’m so sorry.” He took a raspy breath. “Don’t bring her here. I called to warn—”
The call cut off and panic like I’d never felt before crashed into me, making me double over.
It felt like he was gone. Like it was over. Like he was dead.
But he wasn’t. Something or someone had disconnected the call.
There had to be time.
Please. Let there be time.
“Don’t slow down!” Dastien threw me over his shoulder as he ran, and my vision blurred until we were in front of Dastien’s car. He put me down and slid behind the wheel while I jumped in the passenger side. It wasn’t until another car door slammed that I realized Claudia and Lucas were with us, too.
“Where do we go?” I hadn’t heard anything about a location. We were rushing to nowhere.
Dastien turned to me. “You tell me. Where’s your brother? What do you see?”
Me. Me? He wanted me to tell him where to go? “It doesn’t work that way. I get the vision that I get. I have to touch something of his. I have to—”
“Your brother is a part of you. You share blood. You don’t need anything of his to find him.” He grabbed my face with his hands. “Tell me where he is.”
“I don’t know.” I tried to jerk away. If I knew, I’d tell him. What did he want from me? I didn’t have my brother on LoJack. I didn’t track his phone. The pressure to answer was making me panic, but there was nothing for me to say.
And if there was nothing for me to say, then how the hell was I supposed to find my brother?
And if I couldn’t find him, then he would—
Oh God. I couldn’t breathe.
“Answer me!”
“Don’t you think I’d tell you if I knew?” My throat hurt from how loud I screamed it, but the panic was growing by the second.
How could I save my brother if I didn’t know where he was?
Someone grabbed my hand, and Dastien dropped his hands so that I could look.
Claudia was squished between the front seats. “You can do this. He’s your brother. It’s the same with me and mine. Axel might not be your twin, but he’s your best friend. Your family. And you’re not without magic. Close your eyes and think of him. Find him.”
I did, but all I could think of was panic. And how I couldn’t breathe. And how he could be dying and was alone and that I didn’t know where he was and that I couldn’t help him and—
And I wasn’t sure I could do it. But if I didn’t, my brother would die.
Axel would die.
“How? Tell me how. I don’t know—I can’t—” I felt something hot running down my cheeks, but I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t care.