Essence of the Angels (The Starlight Chronicles #2)

Chapter Twenty Two

Lucy's POV

A feeling of dizziness swept through me as I stepped out of the gateway into Urenphia. It took me a moment to get my bearings—my head spun, and I stumbled, my vision flickering black with spots. I thought I was going to pass out, but an arm circled my waist, holding me steady until the blackness cleared.

I had no question that it was Jason's arm around my waist, and I could feel his heart beating in his chest. When I looked up at him, he met my concerned gaze.

"Easy there," he murmured, brushing a stray hair from my eyes. His eyes never left mine, and I found myself staring for a moment.

Someone cleared their throat, and we stepped away from each other awkwardly. I quickly took in my surroundings, preparing our next steps in my head. We were in a strange looking courtyard, surrounded by voids where Urenphians continued to come and go. It was crowded and bustling.

I gathered everyone and led them away from the swarm of people, off to the side so that we could get a better sense of where to go next. I didn't have a clue where to start, but a path seemed to lead away from this courtyard towards a towering manor. I also noticed that it was heavily guarded by Urenphian soldiers.

"So . . . any ideas?" I asked in a low voice, scanning both directions. "I'm thinking we should avoid getting close to that manor."

"What if Valarie's in there though?" Jason asked.

I grimaced.

"Well . . . where would they be keeping her?" I asked. My mind immediately envisioned her in a cell, but then I remembered that Shade was kinder than Titania, according to Chrissy.

Chrissy!

I turned to face Chrissy.

"Can you locate her using your ability?"

"Let me try," she replied, closing her eyes. She seemed to focus for a moment, going very still. We watched eagerly, waiting for something to happen.

Then her eyes opened. "I got nothing—she's not near anything reflective."

I mentally swore. "Dammit. How are we going to find her without drawing attention to ourselves?" I asked, glancing around at the crowd anxiously. I don't know what it was about this place, but it felt as if we were very unwelcome here.

Kyra snorted. "I think it's inevitable that we'll draw attention," she offered, looking around. "We look strikingly different to the Urenphians."

She was right, of course—every being around us had different physical aspects to us. Some had pointed ears, while others had shimmery skin. Weirdly enough however, most of the citizens were quite lean, with gaunt, hollow cheeks and slender limbs. It occurred to me that those who didn't share these physical attributes could be hiding their reality behind a magical glamour.

Needless to say, we were up against a lot of magic here —a lot of unexpected, potential threats. I hated feeling so unprepared and so out of place. I needed guidance.

"How about we simply start walking?" Jason offered. "It's better than standing around here."

Deciding this was the best course of action, we followed his lead. We walked the opposite way from the manor, towards what looked to be a street. Jason turned to Chrissy and added, "do you know a lot about Urenphia?"

Chrissy shook her head. "Not enough to be of much help," she replied in a low tone. "I only know that there are twelve kingdoms Valarie could be in. All are relatively small, but it still means we'll have to search each and every one."