Prophecy: Tome of Embers

9. We Need to Talk About Austin

Scrying did nothing, and when that failed, Myrna did her best to make up for it. Yet the spell of her own creation failed too, and she was regretful that there was nothing else she could try. Cliff didn't take that well, failing to understand why none of it had worked. Surely there had to be some supernatural means of locating Nina, seeing as the natural means he had been employing were of no help. Every moment that went by was another moment that something bad could happen to her-and that was hoping that nothing already had.

"It just doesn't make sense, the spell found the Anchoress, and she's some demon queen. Why can't it locate Nina?" He ran his fingers through his hair, doing his best to avoid placing blame on the redheaded witch.

"It's not so black and white, hon, there are plenty of reasons magic might not be able to find her. Remember the charm I gave Austin when he was in the hospital? That wards him against anyone who would want to find him." Myrna hoped that if he could just keep his head then he would understand that this didn't necessarily mean it was the end.

"Yeah but Nina isn't charmed, and she doesn't know any witches besides you. It must mean that I'm too late, I can feel it, I'm already too late." He covered his face as he said the words, unable to control his fears as they ate away at him.

"That's not true at all, if that were the case I'd still be able to tell you where she was-the target doesn't have to be alive to be found. So don't give up just yet." She attempted to smile reassuringly, but it didn't come across right. "We'll find her, don't worry."

"No, I'll find her," without warning, Cliff turned and headed for the door, believing that he had already done everything he could there.

"Hold on a second! Here, take this," Myrna hurried from behind the counter, her heels clicking on the tile as she caught up with him.

"What is it?" He asked as he looked down at the pendant that she held in the palm of her hand. It didn't look like much, just an ordinary crystal that was attached to a string.

"I enchanted this with the coat you brought from Nina's. Whenever you get close to finding her it'll heat up. I know it's not much, but I figure it might give you some piece of mind anyway." She nodded as she unfastened the clasp and put it around his neck. He looked down at it before pulling her into a hug and thanking her. She didn't have time to respond as he bolted from the shop, eager to continue the search with the aid of his newest tool. Myrna knew that the chances of him locating Nina were slim, but she still had to do everything she could to increase the odds.

They weren't the only ones trying, and Lorelei had added Nina to her search as she continued trying to find Qui'hara as well. Her luck wasn't much better than Cliff's, but at least she was doing something. Toby was concerned too, as was Austin, but right now the hotheaded hybrid was focusing all his energy on watching over his housemate. Now that it was time for him to go to work he was worried that Austin would go out on his own to try and look for Nina-even though they both knew how dangerous that would be.

"Will you please promise me that you'll stay right here while I'm gone?" Toby sat down beside him, where he stayed tucked at the end of the couch.

"I promise." There wasn't really anything that he could say, and he continued watching TV. Austin wanted to do more, to play his role the same way that Toby and his friends did. Yet he also knew that Toby wouldn't let him, no matter how much he asked. It wasn't like Austin begrudged him that-after all he understood why it was important for him to play protector. Secretly, he liked how Toby was so defensive of him, and he didn't want to push that too far just yet.