Free Ensnared (Sorcery and Science Book 5) by Ella Summers

the job, the more likely the Crescent Order is to take it,” said Isis.
    “Sounds like a bunch of masochists to me,” Everett commented.
    “It’s about the money. The more peril involved, the more they can charge,” Jason explained. “The Crescent Order has made their fortune taking on tasks no sane person would.”
    “Even you?” Everett posed.
    “Jason is not scared of anything,” Cameron boasted, just as Jason said, “I am hardly the epitome of sanity, Everett Black.”
    “Yeah, I’ve gotten that idea by now,” he muttered.
    “We can assume the Crescent Order will come for the Book of Memory eventually,” Isis told them.
    “That means they will come here to Eclipse,” said Cameron. “Will they be able to find us?”
    “About half of their numbers are human. The other half are rogue Elitions, meaning they can see the portals. Eclipse is protected by masked portals, ones that only those who have been led inside can see.” Jason looked at Isis. “Led in while conscious. You were unconscious when we brought you in last month. Yet you still made it back here. How did you find us?”
    “I…I don’t know,” she stuttered. “I could just feel where you were, Jason.”
    A second spark popped along their joined hands. Jason dropped her hand, but the sensation remained. There was something bizarre going on between them. Phantoms could sometimes sense other Elitions, but it didn’t go in reverse. Isis was no Phantom, and she’d found him. It was almost as though they had joined somehow. The idea was laughable. True, in some of the old tales, a few Elitions were shown to have a special connection, though it was always some ritual that had joined them. A serum, an act… Jason tried to discard the idea. He hadn’t so much as kissed Isis, let alone done more than that. They were just silly tales anyway.
    “Perhaps the magic that masks Eclipse is not as sound as we’d thought,” suggested Lana.
    “Does anyone outside of the town’s residents know how to get to Eclipse?” Isis asked.
    “Only you,” Jason replied. Or was she now part of Eclipse?
    “Actually, that’s not true, Jason. Remember Spice’s band?” Lana said.
    Jason hadn’t forgotten about Spice. He and four other disgruntled Elitions had abandoned Eclipse a few years after the people of Pegasus had fled there. The life of seclusion had not agreed with them. Just as Jason had not agreed with their putting Eclipse at risk by leaving with knowledge of its existence. He’d eventually hunted down and killed every last one of them. Lana had a point, though. The hunt had taken him years, and who knew if they’d spilled Eclipse’s location to anyone else in that time.
    Jason only said, “That could be a problem.”
    There was no reason to burden them with the details of his gruesome deeds. They didn’t understand the necessity of them the way he did.
    “Perhaps the Crescent Order will save the hardest for last,” Isis said. “If it’s easier, they may track down the other pieces first. The Book of Vision, the Book of Prophecy, the Stones of Resonance.”
    “We have the Book of Vision too,” Jason told her.
    “Oh,” she replied. “Well, that’s good.”
    “But the stones are with the Avans.”
    “They’re after the Recovery Scrolls as well?” she asked him.
    “Perhaps. Likely.”
    She paled. “We’ll figure some way to get them from the Avans.”
    “We?” Jason repeated calmly. And—he hoped—casually.
    “You helped me rescue Hayden and Ian Selpe from Nemesis. I will help you now.”
    She stared at him, never blinking. Jason was hit with the sudden desire that the others weren’t sitting right there beside them.
    “Ok,” he said finally.
    Isis nodded, then broke eye contact. “The Selpes know what you’re up to, Jason. They know you are looking for Terra Cross. They think they can get to her first.”
    “They have gone too far. They have hurt Elitia too much. One way or another, this will not end well for them,”