Will of the Witch [Legacy, BK 2 - Completed]

Chapter 13.4

EZRA

The house was quieter when we returned. Benji and the others had yet to come back, but I found Kaylee and Thea curled up together on the couch in a nest of blankets with the baby demon between them. Kaylee had offered to look after it while we investigated Lyssa's house and I'd let her.

It chirped softly at me, flapping its wings in a way that could only be described as a 'pick me up' motion. I obliged, before the demon decided it was upset and screeched.

"Shh," I whispered to it, cradling it in my arms. There was no need to wake the entire house.

"William, is that you?" Mom's voice called softly from the kitchen. Avery and I followed Dad as he went to find Mom. Her eyes watered as soon as she set eyes on us, as if she already knew what we'd found.

"How bad is it?" Mom whispered.

"We think Nathan took her-"

"No, we're pretty sure he took her," I corrected.

Dad frowned at me, but continued. "The house was fine, all locked up. But there were signs of struggle upstairs."

Mom brought her hands up to cover her mouth, horror growing in her eyes. "What now?"

Focusing on the demon bird in my hands, I thought hard. What could we do? We had no idea where Nathan was now. We only knew that he wanted to bring the warriors over from the Halfworld as he worked to get more of us under his control. Thea, Liam, and now Lyssa? That was the only explanation I could see, but why?

The back door slid open, breaking the kitchen's silence. I felt the portal close as my attention shifted to it. "That must be the others-"

The words died on my lips as Hunter and Benji came in through the door with grim expressions. But no John.

I felt my stomach drop. "Where is he?"

"He took off on his own," Benji started to explain.

"Not just that," Hunter interrupted. "He opened a portal to God knows where and left us behind. Ezra, something is wrong with that new power of his. It's twisted and the more he uses it, the less like himself he is."

The demon fluttered free of my grip to settle on my shoulder instead as I tried to process what they were telling me. Hunter was right, but I thought everything John had been through recently and what little I knew of his family.

"What did the other Hedge Witches have to say?" I asked, hoping there would be some clue to where John had disappeared.

As Hunter's frustration grew, he paced to the kitchen table and back. "Nothing! That's the thing, they were more concerned that the three of us were necromancers than anything we were trying to ask about."

"Wait, the three of you?"

"Yeah," Benji said. "They thought John was one of us."

Silence overtook the kitchen for a moment as Hunter kept moving.

"Would that have bothered him, do you think?" Mom asked. She moved over to the coffee maker, pulling out the old grounds to toss them in the bin. Everyone, including Hunter, looked at me. I felt uncomfortable as I realized I didn't know the answer. Would he have been?

I shrugged. "Let's focus on finding him. We can ask him twenty questions once he's back."

Avery gave me a quick hug. "How are we going to do that? If he can portal, he could be anywhere by now, right?"

A thought struck me hard. "But if he can make a portal like a Reinhardt, then maybe I can track him like one?"

The others looked at me in surprise, but Dad nodded. "It'd be a good place to start."

I went over to the kitchen table, and pulled out a seat, the exhaustion gaining on me. Traveling from the Halfworld, then another portal out to Lyssa's. The demands on my power were growing the longer this war went on. How had Poe managed this?

The demon on my shoulder shifted its weight awkwardly, nearly losing its balance. It was young and still had much to learn. And perhaps, so did I. At least now I knew I could go to Poe. I could ask him for help, and the others. I could do this.

Looking up at the others, I also realized I wouldn't have to do it alone.

Deep breath, eyes closed. I'd done this so many times over the summer it'd become second nature to reach out to the family's web of power and follow the threads to each of the Reinhardts.

Benji was the closest, just across the table from me. I could feel how tired he was, could sense the nightmares that haunted him when he slept. Hunter's energy was a nervous buzz, twisted tight with his deep feelings for John. Tessa and Anissa were upstairs, stretched out asleep in sleeping bags on the floor of Avery's room.

My senses stretched way out to the last of the Lost Children. I could still feel him, in New York. At least it seemed like he was still safe from Nathan. I took another deep breath, and widened my search along the web. Were there any others? Someone I'd missed?

A faint pulse rippled along a line, like a smaller echo of something I recognized instantly. A hint of Poe's power.

"I think," I whispered softly, "Yeah, I can sense him."

It was definitely John. While an overwhelming sense of Reinhardt infused the power, a hint of his old Earth magic was still swirled in, too. He was Northeast of us, but not nearly as far as the kid in New York. Kentucky, maybe?

"Where is he?" Hunter's voice was urgent, but relieved. "Is he okay?"

I could see him surrounded by trees, his portal still open behind him. He stood on the edge of some sort of town or compound. Small log cabins were lined up on either side of a cleared area where the grass had worn away.

John moved, looking straight at me. I could sense the hardened determination in him, the unwavering force of his will, and the destruction he held in the power of his hands. John meant to burn the area to the ground. But why?

His mouth moved, framing my name. Almost as if he were trying to tell me something.

"Ezra?"

With Dad's voice speaking over John's at the same time, the connection shattered. I slumped forward, unable to hold myself up any longer. Noise surrounded me, worried tones of people talking over each other that I couldn't make out.

"I'm okay," I mumbled as I sat up stiffly and leaned back.

"You don't look okay," Benji commented, sliding into a chair across from me.

I shook my head, then rubbed at my face with my hands. The lingering feeling of being out of touch bothered me. Something was not quite right about my connection with John, but honestly, what should I have expected? Nothing was normal about John's power.

"Did you see where John is?" Hunter's eyes glistened, but there was a hard look on his face.

"Yeah, and we need to get to him. Now." I pulled myself up to my feet, ignoring the ache in them. It was time to rally the troops, and then we were going to bring John home. 

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Hello my friends! Thank you so much for your patience as I've figured out my health stuff. I'm on yet another new course of meds, but so far these seem to be doing the trick (knock on wood!).

And, as of last night, I officially finished the rough draft of this book!

I'm now busy editing the chapters and getting them ready to post as well as scheduling a cover artist and editor for Will of the Witch's publication! Are y'all excited?!