No Witch Way Out (Maeren Series Book 2) Read online

  What could they do about it, anyway?

  It was better to keep quiet.

  Fly Away

  They made it to the thick forests that were a good dozen miles from the castle, crossing a river that provided a good landmark.

  Their mother still urged them on, spooked herself, and determined to put as much distance between Elizabeth and her ill fated suitor.

  That was when the dragon showed up again.

  It was dark and he, doubtless, could see nothing useful as she peered at Victoria’s back.

  Even if Elizabeth looked around, it would only show him trees in all directions.

  They couldn’t risk sticking to the main paths for this escape, with a royal princess in tow.

  “Hello, sparks. Did you miss me? I was worried about you.”

  The male spoke in that honeyed voice again.

  She ignored him. “Let’s make camp. I’m going to get set up, in this tree, to keep watch,” Elizabeth offered.

  “You need to eat,” her mother said.

  “We’re good and lost,” Jill stated happily, despite the expected sentiment to being lost.

  “I know,” Elizabeth said. “I want to check for anyone following our tail, while you set up camp and make supper. I’ll come down once it’s ready. Besides, I’m not sure Victoria wants to see me, first, when you remove her spell.”

  “Carry Victoria,” her mother said to Jill.

  “Sorry,” Jill said.

  All happiness drained from her voice as she bent in front of Victoria and hefted her paralyzed body over her shoulder.

  Elizabeth turned immediately to the tree behind her, so the male in her head wouldn’t get a glimpse at her family.

  “My name is not ‘sparks’ and I don’t care if you were worried,” Elizabeth muttered, although speaking out loud.

  She used an air-barrier behind her to block her mother’s excellent hearing from catching the words.

  “How far do you plan on running?” he asked her casually, like it was a mere curiosity.

  He was seated by a fire. It looked warm, but all she could perceive were bright flames that blinded her as well as if he held a flashlight to the face.

  She didn’t trust him one iota.

  “We’re going as far as needed to get away from your unwanted intrusions on my privacy, lizard,” she answered.

  She wished she could simply float herself up into a tree to check out their surroundings for anyone following them.

  Floating without her sight to guide her way up the tree would be difficult. She supposed she could go extra slow to feel for any branches overhead.

  He didn’t react to her announcement of his dragon heritage. It was as good as an admission as far as she was concerned.

  “You can run but you can’t hide,” he warned her, although he almost sounded disappointed.

  He probably would have liked the chase.

  “Well, that’s where you’re wrong,” she whispered, knowing he could hear anything she said no matter the volume. It was still her habit to keep her family's secrets quiet. “I’m very good at hiding. You might say, it’s my superpower.”

  The male poked at the fire in front of him, sending up sparks that lit the night as he looked at it.

  There were millions of stars, more than she had ever perceived on her own, as if she was using a special lens or telescope to look.

  Did the male have better vision or something that improved his night vision?

  Dragons might. They had to be hunters, carnivores with those big, pointed teeth.

  God, she hoped dragons didn’t really eat witches for breakfast!

  “Nothing to say?” she asked to break his silence. “As beautiful as the sky is, where you are looking, I would prefer my view be unhampered by the stars when I climb this tree to scout for danger.”

  He’d left her mind before to keep her from tripping and getting hurt. Maybe he would offer to do it again?

  “You already know how to take control over your own vision. As well, how to take it over for others, from what I’ve been told. A trick over the senses, by using lightning on the mind.”

  The male sounded impressed as he revealed secrets he had no business knowing.

  The grey dragon must have given away her tricks!

  Those damned dragons! They’d forced her to show more of her powers in Maeren than she’d ever planned on revealing.

  “Are you afraid to show me your power, sparks?”

  She scoffed. “I’m saving my magic for trouble. You’re nowhere near here and not worth expending my energy, after such a long day.”

  Thank goodness they were still in Maeren, deep enough that the magic was heavy in the air. She would need to eat well to replenish her blood, so she could bind all the magic floating around, if she wanted to keep up the pace they were going.

  The plan was to keep drugging Victoria each day, unless she agreed to stick with them and their plan, once they revealed it tonight.

  Elizabeth had never used her power continuously for such a length of time.

  “I would come to you, right now, so we could have this conversation face-to-face, but your attack has left us in an unpleasant fix.”

  The male didn’t sound angry, but more, frustrated.

  “What fix? And you guys attacked first,” she insisted.

  Hugging the tree trunk, she pretended to be climbing the tree, going slow, and using air stealthily under her feet.

  It let her feel around for branches as she went up.

  “That was dragon territory you invaded with the Maerenian Princess at your side. Worse, you were in the banishment caves when we were escorting the prisoners.”

  “Really, I couldn’t tell by all the cavemen in their tunnels. I thought we had popped into an earth settlement, until you all started breathing fire and pounding your chests.”

  He chuckled. “Earth lords pound their chests to impress. Dragons burn your clothes off, like any good fire lord.”

  “Hot pants, literally?” she asked, ending on a snort. “That only sounds good in theory. I would not want my short curlies smoking, thanks.”

  How had this conversation progressed to her undressed, anyway?

  These Maerenian males, seriously! If she didn’t know better, she would think it was Daemon talking to her.

  He had been able to set her panties on fire, without needing to use his magic. Before he turned evil. Now, she had to resist and ignore his sexy badness.

  It was wrong to lust over her enemy.

  “Easy enough to shave you bare, so there’s nothing between your soft, sweet thighs to set aflame but the jewel of your—”

  “Fuuuck,” she gritted out as her head smacked into a branch, distracted.

  She had bitten her tongue, tasting blood. She opened her eyes, finally, but all she saw was the male’s fire.

  “Well, eventually I would fuck you, but first, I would need to get you wet enough that you don’t catch fire when we finally—”

  “Shut. Up. Now,” she said, spitting the words, along with a mouthful of blood. “You are distracting me, when I’m climbing a tree blind. I nearly split my head open. Thanks for providing the headache I was lying about earlier. Fucking karma!”

  “Use your lightning to do whatever it is you normally do to control your illusions. Do it now, else I’ll bind you, and forget the consequences!”

  He barked at her like she was a soldier under his command.

  That binding obviously didn’t sound good.

  The order she understood, but the threat that followed . . . ? What was binding? He couldn’t have anything to do with blood, given the distance that likely separated them.

  The dragons resided in Dragos, the mountains near the desolate Wastes. It was a few days journey just to reach the Wastes from here.

  He must have some other magic trick up his sleeve.

  Why was he pushing her to use her lightning?

  “If you try getting in my head, I’ll shield myself with so much
lightning it will blind you, until I’m out of this godforsaken place,” she threatened back, not letting him think he could get away with forcing her compliance.

  She had her own weapons.

  “Interesting terminology. There are no gods in Maeren, but you’re planning to go outside of our borders, right?”

  The male sounded way too pleased as she slipped up and provided more information than she had intended.

  “The human realm is huge,” she said, pulling on her lightning. She was sick of being blind. “Didn’t you hear about what I did to your eager dragon friend? I’ll put a bolt into your chest if you try tracking me down. That won’t end simply in dust and a trip home, lizard.”

  The tree trunk in front of her eyes swayed and doubled, despite her using her lightning to clear her sight. This time it wasn’t just a double vision from her vision overlaid by the male’s vision.

  She might have a slight concussion from hitting her head.

  She blinked and forced herself to see straight.

  Jill would fix this concussion before it could really take hold, once Elizabeth made sure they weren’t going to have any unwanted company trailing them.

  “I can still see where you are looking,” the male revealed, without prompting. “Tit for tat. Perhaps you would like to share a bit more about your destination and I can answer all the questions I know are burning up your thoughts.”

  “What is your name?” she asked, not agreeing to anything.

  She easily made her way up the rest of the tree to sit on a sturdy branch, now that she could see past his vision, then looked down at the far away ground below her.

  Ideally, she would look around for trouble, but she wondered if the dragon could figure out her location from what she saw at this height.

  He should be used to a bird’s eye view.

  “My name is Geer.”

  She remembered hearing that name. The big grey dragon shifter had said that Geer would want to keep her.

  Geer hadn’t lied to her about his name, and it was a small thing, but it mattered.

  “I’m Elizabeth,” she volunteered, revealing her own name, after all. He probably knew it, already. “What will it take to get you out of my head?”

  “Elizabeth.” The male said her name as if testing out the sound of it on his own tongue. “Don’t you know who I am to you? Why we are connected?”

  Clearly, she did not. His question, however, seemed genuine.

  “No,” she replied, nothing else.

  Her mind was furiously trying to figure it out.

  Had he stolen a blood bond and this was some yet unknown effect from it?

  Was this like the times she had slipped into Daemon and George’s minds because of their blood bonds to her?

  Except, it really didn’t feel like telepathy.

  She hadn’t been using her lightning at all during the initial climb up the tree. Geer had still been in her head.

  There was only one way to completely know.

  She shielded her entire body with lightning.

  If he was using lightning telepathy, her shield would block him from accessing her mind, vision, or anything else with the same power.

  “That is a lovely glow. Are you planning on luring any shadows following you by flashing your light so temptingly?”

  Geer had a dangerous edge to his voice as he posed the sarcastic question.

  Definitely, he wasn’t in her thoughts. No one could penetrate her lightning when she fully shielded.

  Whatever this connection was between her and Geer had to be some new type of magic.

  Dragon stuff.

  She dropped the lightning and looked up, peering around at her surroundings.

  It was dark, and if Geer was in the Dragos, she doubted he could fly all the way here.

  He might not even be able to make out her location in the dark glances she was taking.

  He had said he was in a fix, anyway, and couldn’t come after her.

  Geer didn’t lie to her. Not yet.

  “This isn’t lightning connecting the two of us,” she stated out loud, finding no fires or suspicious movement as she looked at her surroundings.

  She wished she had Geer’s superior vision to help her.

  “Is it a blood bond?” she asked.

  “Nothing so simple. How can you see anything? Are you night blind?” he asked.

  He blinked in an annoying way that made her own vision darken and lighten as it overlaid with his, although less noticeably, with her lightning separating their individual sights.

  “I have a mild myopia. It’s worse in the dark,” she answered, a bit on the defensive. “I left my night vision goggles in my other pocket,” she mocked.

  “You are literally blind!” Geer said, sounded more disturbed.

  “I am not blind,” she rebutted. “I’m visually impaired, and barely, at that.”

  “You are not going to be able to do a proper reconnaissance from up a tree, unless you’re planning on sprouting wings and checking out your surroundings properly, especially nearly blind. I’ve seen moles with better vision than you.”

  She got another view of the stars as he looked up, probably lying on his back.

  “I can fly without wings,” she informed him, deciding that holding back on her magic was worthless.

  He was stuck where he was right now, lying down in acceptance.

  She and her family would be out of here as soon as they had a quick rest, moving on to get to their destination as soon as possible.

  Geer wouldn’t be able to catch up.

  Giving herself a boost of air, she leapt fearlessly into the night. She popped above the trees to get her first real look around at their surroundings.

  She made not a whisper of noise, making sure there was no turbulence of the currents under her feet and dissipating the air as soon as she got her lift.

  The leaves in the trees were louder than her, as a natural breeze tickled the branches below her.

  Geer made a soft sound, a kind of surprised murmur at her easy use of air.

  Flying using air wasn’t as simple as it looked. The balance of currents tended to lead to bobbing and weaving for the less practiced.

  Her mother had made her perfect her weaker magic, never wanting Elizabeth reliant on just lightning. There were many times revealing her magic could be just as dangerous as using it.

  A weak air witch would make the most of what power she had, and naturally, she would be expected to be better than the average witch at flying. This level of skill, however, was showing off.

  “You are perfect.”

  Elizabeth fought a blush, then gave up when she realized he couldn’t see her hot cheeks.

  Nobody had ever admired her for her air magic, always looking at it as a weakness.

  She took advantage of that tendency to underestimate and judge her by the simpler power she showed on the outside. She held onto her real strength inside.

  “I’m sure you can fly without the need for directing air. Makes me kind of jealous, to be honest,” she said to him.

  Flying with real wings was a dream. Of course, riding on top of a flying unicorn was more typical of little girl fantasies. Elizabeth should know, she had created such imaginary fun for her sister when they were young.

  Geer grunted a response, then an order.

  “Focus on the ground. Look for movement, and there should be no light this deep in the woods.”

  There were trees for miles, literally. It was a good thing her mother knew how to navigate using her earth. Come to think of it, her mother probably would have noticed the vibrations of anyone following them too closely, as well.

  Unless, the tracker used air, like herself, to keep off of the ground.

  Nothing could hide from Elizabeth’s lightning magic. Thoughts always spoke to her.

  She hovered over the trees and reached for her more powerful magic, sending it out like a radar to listen for the ping of another mind.

  Animals, mi
nds different enough that it was immediately apparent, were all that were close by her position.

  About a couple miles out, she could sense witch and vampire minds.

  A quick dip into their thoughts revealed a family sitting around a pot of stew and discussing the chance of rain tomorrow.

  “What are you doing?” Geer asked.

  He lazily shifted onto his side, so she got a sideways glance at his dying fire as he poked it with a stick.

  Her lightning telepathy, and whatever new magic Gear was using to communicate with her, collided together in her mind.

  She had to blink to focus her sight again, then tighten her control over the lightning as she left the thoughts of the family eating supper.

  “Listening,” she whispered to Geer.

  Could he sense she was using lightning?

  She floated down to the ground, not too far from where she sensed her family setting up a rough camp.

  “Can you leave my mind, so I can sleep now?” she asked Geer.

  There was no way she could rest with another person sharing part of her mind, even if it seemed limited to her senses of sight and sound.

  “You shouldn’t tempt me by telling me when you might dream,” Geer said.

  He delivered his cryptic advice with another poke at the fire, sending up a crackling spark that popped.

  And then, he was gone.

  She felt the difference around her, like his magic had been blanketing her body and then pulled off. Her vision and hearing became her own again.

  It wasn’t as relieving as she thought it would be when he left.

  His presence had been an unexpected intrusion, but talking to him, not being alone as she faced the dark woods?

  It had felt more like the comfort her family provided than a smothering presence.

  She had an imaginary friend.

  Fall For Me

  Human Realm

  Present Time

  Elizabeth might not have the nightmares her family suffered, but her torment seemed worse.

  Her mind was no longer her own.

  It was a secret she was not ready to share with the others.