Free Forever by Chanda Hahn Page B

your own mind.
    He stared at her, and his
eyes still glowed. He turned to walk away, probably to try and find a gate
still open between the planes.
    Oh,
and one more thing. She
mentally called out after the giant. He paused in his step and turned.
    Thank
you for saving me.
    She wasn’t sure, because she
was still controlling him, but she thought she saw the barest hint of a smile
cross his large face.
    Teague stood before her. He
looked irritated as he signaled his horde to fall back.

 
    Chapter
9

 
    They weren’t happy at
Teague’s orders, but Claire released Brody and backed away to be quickly
surrounded by Grey Tail and Lone Tree. Ever yelped as the ogre dropped her on
her bottom. One by one, members of his army moved away and scattered among the
wreckage of the fairgrounds.
    As soon as the giant
disappeared, fire and rescue teams swarmed the area. Men in uniforms ran to
those injured on the ground, and the GMs quickly phased and tried to hide their
true selves again. Those that couldn’t hide their Fae side quickly made
themselves scarce.
    Nix got up from the ground
and helped Charlie to his feet. His red hair stood out against his pale skin.
“That was too close.” He reached out and ruffled Charlie’s hair. “And what
about you, Mr. Siren? I’ve got a distant cousin.”
    Mina ran over and hugged
Charlie, fresh tears of relief pouring down her face. “Oh, Charlie.”
    She ran her fingers up his
face. He was still warm to the touch, and his fever seemed to be out of
control, but he looked fine. In fact, he glowed with power.
    Ever waddled
over to Mina as she rubbed her backside. “How are your wings?” Mina asked.
    “Could be better. I thought
they were goners for a sec there. But it’s going to take more than an ogre to
ground Ever Farindale.” She turned and slowly flapped her deep purple and blue
tinted pixie wings, wincing in pain.
    Mina turned and scanned their
group for Brody, but he’d disappeared. She couldn’t see his blond head
anywhere. She was about to turn and go look for him when Constance called her.
    “Mina.” The muse spoke
softly.
    She turned to her high school
music teacher, with her short gray spiky hair and wing-tipped glasses. Her
skirt and top were torn and dirty, but she didn’t look injured.
    “You came?” Mina said
incredulously.
    “We got our injured safely
hidden with another inactive sect of Godmothers down in San Francisco. This one
wasn’t going to let us abandon you.” She pointed to Nix, who blushed until his
skin matched his hair and shoved his hands in his pockets.
    “But how did you know where
to find me?”
    Constance sang a few notes
and held out her wrist. A small dragon landed there and immediately began to
dance around in excitement.
    “Of course. Anders. How could
we have forgot about him?” Mina exclaimed.
    “You were meant to. He was
supposed to follow you, and—when you were in trouble—come find us.
There was a small group of us already on our way back to the Guild to try and
salvage some of our archives when he found us. Sorry, this is all we had.” She
gestured to those standing behind her.
    Mina couldn’t help but zero
in on Ferah, with her untamed red hair, standing among the GMs. She spoke
wildly to the others.
    Ken Wong separated himself
and came over to them, whispering hurriedly to Constance. “Ferah says we have
to leave. The police are asking questions, and we are a very large group
standing in the open. We’re sure to draw speculation.”
    Constance nodded her head.
“She’s right. We must leave. But first I need to ask you, Mina, what happened?
Why did he leave?”
    That was one question she
wasn’t ready to answer, especially not in front of her friends and brother.
    She turned away. “He’s toying
with us, trying to intimidate me by showing he can strike any time and
anywhere.” She turned back to Constance. “What I want to know is what about
Charlie? Did you know he’s Fae?”
    “Part-Fae,” Constance
answered.