Legacy of the Necromancer [Legacy, BK1 - Completed]

Chapter 10.2

Dad and Lyssa turned to leave, disappearing through the trees. Avery paused only a moment to squeeze my hand. "I'll find Thea. Meet you back here?"

I kissed her. "Sure."

Following her to the tree line of the grove, I stood next to John as she left.

"Who's Thea?" he asked.

"Avery's younger sister. She'll be Head of the Manser Family one day, once she's old enough. She has the strongest gift of Sight that any Necromancer has had in centuries." I smiled, remembering what she'd said only a few months ago. Finding my power and being betrothed to Avery, it was all her doing. "I owe her quite a lot."

John looked back over my shoulder. "Is he going to be ok?"

I turned to follow his gaze. Poe had sat back on the ground again, resting against the altar with his eyes shut, his breathing labored. He even looked a little pale in the growing darkness.

But he'd been nearly wiped of his power when we'd arrived in the Half-world, then had used the little he'd recovered to meld with me to create the portal to return us here.

That gave me an idea.

"Keep watch for the others."

John nodded.

I walked back over to Poe and knelt next to him, slipping into the meditation with some difficulty. My body was tired, and asking it to do more spell work more than it really wanted to do. I reached into myself anyway, going slightly deeper into my mind than I had the first time I'd tried this spell only hours ago, and gathered a ball of energy.

Mentally, I pushed the energy at him the same way we'd created the portal together. Except instead of filtering the energy into a spell, I guided to him and gave a metaphysical knock on the door.

Poe stiffened, and with a deep gasping breath, took the power within him. He closed his eyes and leaned forward, breathing heavier. When he opened them again, they were clearer and more alert.

He gave me the side eye. "You shouldn't have done that."

I sat back and shrugged. He looked ten times better easily, already sitting up straighter, looking more like himself. It was worth it.

"Someone's coming," John said.

A few moments later, Avery crossed the tree line, looking frantic. "We can't find her. She's gone."

I stood. "What do you mean 'she's gone'?"

"Have you tried searching for her?' Poe asked, standing.

"Of course I have!" Avery's glare at him could have melted ice.

"Through your connection to her as Head of the Manser Family?" he amended as he stood.

Avery looked liked she'd swallowed a sour candy. "No," she said.

She walked over to the altar to brace her hands on it. I walked around to the back side of the stones, so that I could see Avery's face as she concentrated.

Seconds passed in tense silence before she let out a shout of rage, slapping the altar with her bare palms.

"Avery?" I asked, growing concerned

She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "She's not here. Nathan took her."

I fought down the panic that threatened to squeezed my chest as we raced back to the house, only to find it frantic with activity. Dad was outside the back door, waiting for us.

"Liam is missing as well," he said, looking grim.

Avery stopped in her tracks. "What?"

"Nathan must have taken them as well." I scrubbed at my face with my hands. This was going downhill fast.