Beyond the Fairy Gate

Chapter 7

Damien

Damien surfaced on the other side, his lungs gasping for breath. His scouts surfaced and looked at him with calm expressions on their faces. Damien gaped at them as he pulled more air into his chest and started to swim to the edge. Unlike the pond in his world, this one seemed to be deep to the grey rocks surrounding it. On the other hand, His scouts looked as if they had just been on a leisurely swim as they swam over and pulled themselves up onto edge.

"How did he make it through that with a baby?" Damien mumbled as he rolled over onto his knees, still gasping for air. He glanced at his scouts again as he stood and rang out the corner of his shirt. They weren't winded and stood waiting for him to gain his feet so they could continue. He shook his head; it must be a scout thing.

"Prince Damien!" Jake spoke as he appeared in the clearing, "I didn't expect you to arrive so suddenly." Jake went down on one knee and looked at the ground.

"Jake! You've done it! I don't know how you did it, but I'm so happy." Damien grabbed him around the middle and pulled him into a hug.

"What are you talking about? I haven't been able to confirm if my led is correct or not. Yes, I found someone matching the description, but I haven't spoken with her yet." Damien placed him on the ground and looked into his eyes.

"I saw you, though her eyes. You were right there." Jake's mouth was open in a gape as his eyes grew wide.

"I've spoken with a lot of people, but I have confirmed nothing. I'm sorry I should have worked faster." Damien smacked his head as Jake seemed to panic a little.

"This is bad. We need to find her quickly." Damien paused and looked around as he ran his fingers through his hair. Jake looked confused.

"Is there something that I need to know? I'm sorry I don't have any more information; I honestly didn't know that you were going to show up this soon." Jake asked, his panic turning to confusion as he looked at the other scouts.

"Jake, it's fine," Damien clapped him on the shoulder. "This is my fault, not yours; I chose to dive headfirst into this situation without thinking." Damien paused, glancing at Rebecca as if expecting an 'I told you so,' but she held her tongue and simply crossed her arms. "Can you take us to where you were looking for her? Alright, we'll head that way. Angelica, fill Jake in on the situation, please." She nodded before she walked over and touched her hand to his shoulder. Jake paused for a moment as they looked into each other's eyes. Damien watched and waited for it to be over as the images of the past few hours flashed in Angelica's eyes and went into Jake's mind.

"I thought I felt something off when you arrived," Jake spoke quickly before they all paused.

"Jake, take Ryan and Nathan and go ahead. Rebecca and Angelica will wait with me before we follow." They all nodded before Jake, Ryan, and Nathan darted off. Damien paused for a moment before he looked at Rebecca. "Focus on your mate and be aware of their wellbeing. Angelica, focus on the area." They both nodded their heads as they started at a much slower pace.