Her First Mistake

Chapter Thirty-Three: Oh, Hell No

    In the same second something hit my gut, one of my ribs snapped and water burst from my mouth. I snapped awake and spat it out, hacking. "Shit!" A hand caught my arm. "I heard that break, I'm sorry."

   Sitting up set a fire alight in my gut. I aborted that idea and slumped with a groan. My eyes cleared to see Tate still gripping my arm. The swelling in his eye had gone down, but he had a new gash across his forehead and down the side of his face. We were both soaked.

   "You okay?"

   "Oh, h-hell no," I coughed. "You?"

   Tate shook his head. "Not much better." He sat back, and I saw what he meant. His side was covered in criss-crossing slashes, and his shoulder looked dislocated. I let my head fall back and blew out a breath. "What's your excuse?"

   "Erm, well, first that fae really had a punch to him, and second, several nekels got mad at me when I fended them off. They could smell your blood. Then I had to deal with that yellow-eyed crythal."

   I realized where he'd been. Tate was the nekel that had dragged the fae into the water. He hadn't run away -- he'd waited for someone to get into the lake. I looked at him, stunned. "And the demon?"

   Tate grimaced. "Still alive, somewhere under the lake. But the vampire and the shifter are dead. I somehow doubt the fae made it out."

   Considering I was halfway out of the lake, I had to assume Tate was the one who dragged me out. I'd be dead without him. I groaned loudly. "Shit, I'm tired of this place. Where's my branch? I'm finishing that thing and then we're out of here."

   Tate handed it over with the knife from his belt. "Please." I pushed myself upright with a painful grunt. My ribs felt like they were playing ping pong with my organs. Setting the branch across my lap, I dug the knife in and started to whittle it down. I just needed to get it a little thinner on one side before it would be tolerable.

   We sat in silence for a while. Eventually, Tate picked a blade of grass from his side, not meeting my eyes. "I heard when they ambushed you."

   "I figured you would have." I didn't understand why he had brought it up.

   Tate finally looked at me, his eyebrows drawing together. "Dani Darhk finally took a human source, didn't she?" My hand briefly fumbled for with the knife, and he noticed. "You're her source. That's why you keep saying that she's after you. That's how you knew she had taken someone before anyone else knew. You were there."

   I never looked at him, choosing to focus on the knife in my already-cut hands. "You're not stupid, I'll give you that much."

   Tate nodded slightly, his face falling. "And Alexie Albers is dead, isn't he."

   It felt like he'd dumped cold water on my head. I pressed my lips. "What brought you to that conclusion?"

   "She spoke briefly about how she was going to get rid of him and one other person while I was there. That and I heard your heartbeat get faster when you said Dani kidnapped him. It's a common sign of lying."

   "You can hear my heartbeat?"

   Tate's lip quirked up slightly before it quickly fell. "Are you sure he's dead?"

   My lips pursed. Yeah, pretty damn sure. Instead of snapping at him, I said, "He had a spell on me that kept me protected from the Dani's link. He swore it would never break, as long as he was alive. The minute he disappeared, the spell disintegrated."

   "He was protecting you?" Tate frowned. "You met him and he actually helped you? That's completely against his reputation. They say he doesn't care about anyone."

   I shook my head. "I don't know if he cared for anyone, but he had favorites. I'm pretty sure. At least, he didn't kill me in the five months I antagonized him."

   "I don't follow."

   "I was his apprentice, Tate."

   He stared at me and I could see him trying to figure out if I was serious. The gears churned in his head. "You know, I want to say that's impossible, but I've seen you use magic in the Ghost Realm numerous times in a day. I'm not sure anyone else would be able to teach you how to do that."

   A curl of wood fell of the branch as I sliced it off. The branch was getting the thicker I got to the center. Tate tugged off his shirt and started tearing it into strips. "So why were you so happy that the hunters were working with Dani? She's trying to drain your magic, isn't she?"

   A snort made my ribs throb. "Because I know that she's going to come straight to me. I won't have to find her."

   "You aren't scared at all?"

   A little. "Nope."

   "You're crazy."

   "She's worse. Besides, she started this." I shook my head, my jaw tight. "She killed the one person who never doubted me. She's a murderer and a coward. She had better hope I can never find her, because the moment I do, she'll be able to count her last minutes alive on one hand."

   The moment the words left my lips, it felt as if something had sunk into the flesh of my forearm -- and painfully. I yelped and the knife fell from my hand. The skin throbbed and started to cool down, as if it were wrapped in an ice pack.

   The last time I'd felt that... "Oh, no," I whispered hoarsely. Tate watched me in confusion as I unwrapped my bandaged arm hastily, my heart starting to race. I finally got the bandage off and sure enough, it was the mark on my arm that was beginning to freeze. Goosebumps raced across my skin.

   "Shit," I hissed.

   "What is it?" Tate asked.

   "We've got to move." I grabbed for the knife, hastily stabbing it into the top of the partially-completed staff. I had to complete the final rune, and quickly. "Dani's in the Ghost Realm."