Trust From Within - Book 3 Daughter of a Monster Series

Chapter 36- Retreat, Recover, Respond

"The connection has been made," Stacy says, her magic swirling closer to her, wispy and free. I clench my fist harder, fear strangling me, my own and Nathan's over the bond. He's approaching, I can feel him, drawing nearer, closing the distance.

"You better get rid of that, or Kayla gets her neck broken," I growl out, the white in my eyes flashing threateningly, fingers clenching slightly around Kayla's throat.

"The connection cannot be broken once it has been forged. We now wait for it to be completed."

"What does that mean?!"

"The connection can be started, but not fully completed, that process is fostered over time. It can not be interfered with, so do not waste your energy on it. I would rather beat you at full strength than half." And with that, she disappears in a flurry of golden-yellow smoke.

Along with Stacy, Callum also disappears, and Kayla seems to dissolve beneath my hands. Magic rushes out from my own hands, trying to find the trail, sense their tracks. But eventually I come to the realisation.

They're gone.

As that sinks in, Nate rushes to me, his human form landing before me and his long arms enveloping me in a hug. "Are you okay?" he breathes out, voice sounding shaky and his breaths coming quickly.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," I answer before I remember who else is around. I pull back from him and look over to the two people still contained by netting. "We need to get them out of that."

We both run over to them, wary of the Imorphia laced throughout the net and the larger panels of it on the joins of the rope. The sand from our running hits Cole in the face, causing a groan to emit from him, eyes opening and rolling before locking onto Nate as he approaches. "N'than?"

"Yeah Cole, you're safe now, Jade and I are here," I hear him murmur back. He holds his hand out to me, waiting for me to give him my sword. I hand it over to him and watch as he steps away from the netting, and using my sword to lever the Imorphia drenched netting up enough for me to wriggle under and drag Cole out.

As soon as we have him clear of the Imorphia we move onto getting Dad free. Using the same method as what we used on Cole, we drag him out onto the vast expanse of sand, but unlike Cole, Dad is unconscious, having lost consciousness sometime when I was threatening Kayla.

Cole groans again and attempts to sit up, his hands slipping in the sand before he lands flat on his back again. Dad doesn't stir.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Nate asks, eyeing the two men on the ground.

"I'll go back and get Karn and Tara. Stay here with Dad and Cole, make sure they don't die before I get back with the magical healing enderman," I order, looking into his eyes to show how much I mean it.

"Yes Boss," he replies with a little smirk on his face before turning back to his two patients.

I teleport back to Karn and Tara, startling both of them accidentally when I appear out of thin air. "Stop stop! It's just me! We found Dad and Cole, and we need to get them both back home." I reach a hand out to each of them, offering a teleport. Each of them grabs a hand and I teleport all four of us back to Nathan.

Strangely, Tara is the first to react rather than Karn, collapsing between Cole and Dad, checking who is responsive and how bad they're each drained. Karn comes up behind her, laying a hand on her shoulder and gazing at the two in the sand. "Tara, they're okay, they just need some time to rest."

"We need to get them home. Karn is there anyway you could stabilise them?" I ask, locking eyes with the deep sapphire that are his.

"No," he responds, eyeing the Cole and Dad. "They need time to let their magic recover, but they'll be fine. It wasn't too bad, more like an external injury."