War (Book 3 in Destined Series)

20

"We've been at this for three hours. I don't understand." I say dropping the amulet once again. Echo squawks, then hops back into tattoo form and I bite my cheek at the flash of pain.

"Seems he's going to be unhelpful." I mumble.

"Let me see it." Nick says and I hand over the amulet.

"There's magic around it." he says and I raise an eyebrow.

"What, like a shield?" Luke asks and Nick nods.

"Yeah, it's barely noticeable, but it's there." Nick says squinting. I squint to, the blue light circling it.

"Of course she would charm it." I say then stand up and walk over to the book case.

"What are you looking for?"

"I saw a book on charming." I say running my index finger over each title then stopping on C. I move down a little bit then smirk.

"Aha." I say squatting down to pull it out. I grab it then walk over to the table. I drop it down and cough waving my hand to clear the dust that was lifted into the air. Luke and Nick both cough too then I turn it to open it.

"Charming." I say skimming the first, then the second, then the third, fourth, fifth. About twenty pages later I finally find what I'm looking for.

"When a charm has been placed only the one who put it on can lift it." I read then skim my eyes over the words.

"Blah blah blah. Alright got it." I say pointing at the words.

"But, if one with just as much power was to place their palm over it, the charm shall be broken and the spell will be cast away." I say then look between Luke and Nick.

"We aren't gonna get anywhere with the Queen, so who the hell has just as much power?" I ask

"A warlock." Nick says and I look over at him.

"Where the hell are we gonna find a warlock?" I mutter. They both shake their heads, with no response.

"Great so we have the amulet, but it can't do anything until the charm is broken. By either the Queen of Shadows herself, or a Warlock." I say and they nod.

"I'd rather take my chances with the Queen then search for a warlock that may or may not even exist in this place."

"How do you propose we get to the Queen? She lives practically in the middle of the dark forest and Alec's goons and now Shane are probably crawling all over the place." Luke says and I nod.

"We'll just have to be smart and quick. Nick and I can get in and out undetected the easiest."

"How do we even know she'll break it. She'll want something in return." Luke says

"Then we'll give it. But this amulet is the only way we'll have any lead in this war. I mean yeah Christina and I are Destined, but like Christina said earlier, they don't care if we're dead or alive. So that's not giving us much more of an option then to break the charm on the damn amulet." Nick mutters and I nod.

"Then I'm going with you." Luke says and I shake my head.

"I need you here to help-

"No, I don't want to hear it Christina. I'm going with you. You can't change my mind." he says and I sigh.

"We can't send you and Nick, the two Destined, both into the woods without protection. We need to keep one of you here. And I know that's not gonna be you Christina, cause you won't let it. So if you go, I go." he says and I look over at Nick wanting his help.

"He has a point Christina. Two Destined going to the Queen, alone... not smart."

"But they don't know you're a Destined."

"I'm pretty sure they can piece it together." Luke says and I sigh.

"Fine. Luke and I will go." I say and Nick nods.

"Just help us get in and out of there undetected by anything but the Queen." I say to Nick and he nods.

"On it." he says. He stands up, walks over to the table, grabs the laptop, and walks back over to us.

"Good." I say.

~~

"Take these." Drew says handing over four gold tipped knives. I take them then put them in the empty holster around my thigh. He hands Luke a wicked looking gun then turns back to me handing over the amulet. I put it around my neck then slip it in my shirt. The cold metal rests between my breasts as he hands over a sword to me.

"Thank you." I say and he nods. I put it over my shoulder and slide it into the holder on my back. My hand whisks across the feathers and I slowly drop my hand back down to my waist and nod at all the boys.

"We're ready." I say gently and they nod. Nick steps forward and hands out two ear pieces.

"I'll talk to you guys through these. You can also communicate to each other, if something were to happen, splitting you up." he says and I hand Luke his then put mine into my ear.

"Test." he says. I hear it loud and clear through the ear piece and nod.

"Good."

"How do I talk back to you?"

"It's automatic. If I'm talking to you, and you talk back I'll hear it. Same the other way. If you're talking to me, and I talk back to you, you'll hear it."

"Alright. How about Luke. How do I talk to him if we get split up?" I ask.

"Say his name. Then it'll switch the channel. So instead of me, you'll be talking to him." he says and I nod.

"And does it automatically turn off? Like, will you hear everything I do?"

"Yes. I will be unable to hear anything said or done, unless you're talking to me personally." he says and I nod.

"So, ya'll ready?" Mike asks and I nod.

"Let's get this over with."

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