The Forever Blaze [3]

C H A P T E R - 1

"What are you waiting for?" Meredith shouted over the howling wind and the roaring sea. "Don't tell me the great Sophie Foster is afraid."

"I'm just trying to concentrate!" Sophie shouted back, wishing her voice didn't sound so shaky.

Not that she could fool them.

As an Empath, Keefe could feel the terror coursing through her veins like a herd of stampeding mastodons al Meredith just knew her too well. All she could do was tug out an itchy eyelash—her nervous habit—and try not to think about how very far down the ocean was.

"You should be afraid," Sandor told her in his strange, squeaky voice. He placed a gray gobliny hand on Sophie's shoulder and pulled her back from the edge of the cliff. "There has to be a safer way to teleport."

"There isn't."

Most of the time Sophie was grateful to have the constant protection of a burly bodyguard—especially since her kidnappers had proven they could find her anytime, anywhere.

But sometimes she had to take risks.

She shrugged off Sandor's hand—which took quite a lot of effort, considering he was seven feet tall with biceps like giant boulders—and inched forward, reminding herself that she liked teleporting better than light leaping. Despite the nexuses she had clamped on each wrist, or the force fields they created to hold her body together during a leap, she'd faded too many times to truly feel safe.

Still, she wished free-falling wasn't an essential part of teleporting.

"Want me to push you?" Keefe offered, laughing as Sophie jerked away from him. "Come on, it'll be fun—for me, at least."

Dex snorted behind them. "And he gets to go with you today."

"Uh, more like she gets to go with me," Keefe corrected, flashing his trademark smirk. "Go on, tell Dex who the Council contacted first."

"Only because your dad's in charge of arranging visits to the Sanctuary now," Sophie reminded. "Mer was connected first anyway."

"That I was." Meredith said with a smug grin on her face.

"Eh, firsties is still firsties. Mer's a favourite. She doesn't count. Just admit it, Foster. You need me."

Sophie wished she could argue, but unfortunately the Council did want Keefe and Meredith to go with her. Apparently Silveny was having some sort of trouble at her new home in the elves' special animal preserve, and since Sophie, Meredith and Keefe each had a connection with the precious alicorn, the Council had asked both of them to head to the Sanctuary immediately.

The Councillors had to be pretty concerned if they were willing to rely on Keefe. . . .

"I'm sorry, Dex," Sophie said, trying not to worry. "You know I'd bring you if I could."

Dex smiled—but not enough to show his dimples—as he went back to playing with the lock she'd asked him to open.

Sophie hadn't wanted to tell him she was going with Keefe, afraid it would make Dex feel left out again. But with Grady off on a classified assignment, and Edaline helping rescue a verminion—a rottweiler-size, purple, hamsteresque creature—before humans found it, Sophie needed a Technopath to get past the Cliffside gate.

"If it makes you feel better, Sandor's not allowed to come either," she added, regretting the words as Sandor reeled on them.

"Yes, and it's completely absurd! I'm supposed to be protecting you—not banned from entering because of arbitrary new rules!'"