Tempest

35 : Vertigo in a fixed state

Adria had been waiting for the right opportunity to contact Tempest again. The half moon shone down on all the captives in the arena as she quickly and quietly unlocked the silver collar around her neck. She gave a small hiss of relief as the burning sensation ceased immediately. There was no one within a couple of meters of her as she closed her eyes and focused on finding her daughter.

She had not heard from her husband since he had asked her to contact Tempest. She had tried repeatedly to contact him to no avail. She was sick to her stomach with worry but knew there was not much she could do. She had not seen many of her kin in the last year. They had made sure to separate them and place them with shifters from different clans. She assumed that most of them were dead and she had grieved for her people.

She took a deep breath from where she lay on her sleeping mat and focused again on finding her daughter. Their link vibrated like a live electrical wire, drawing her in and allowing her to call to her only child.

"Tempest," she called quietly into the link. There was no response. She called out a little louder and waited with baited breath for her response.

What she was not expecting was for a large man to suddenly appear right next to her like a genie from a bottle. Their eyes made contact and she saw his widen. He squatted down to her level and stared at her intently. He was big, obviously a shifter, with brown eyes and dark hair. Even in the near dark she could see his chiselled features and strong build.

"Adria?" he asked softly, before she could speak, his eyes filled with disbelief. He looked around quickly and seemed surprised that no one was bringing attention to him. Someone should have seen him and raised the alarm. The night remained quiet, however, and nothing happened.

"Who are you?" she asked in a loud hiss, getting into a sitting position quickly. Eyes turned to her with curiosity and it was then that she picked it up. The man was there but not quite there. She raised her hand towards him and it went through him. She looked around and noticed that no one was coming in her direction.

They could not see him.

The weres next to her believed she was talking to herself. They had looked away now, probably believing that she was another were that was going crazy. Other than the eyes that had now turned away from Adria, there was no other activity

"I am Tempest's mate," he said. "My name is Galan." He looked around and frowned. "I don't know how I got here."

"It doesn't seem like you are really here, though. I can see you but I can't smell you," Adria said.

Galan looked behind her and put his finger to his lip, shaking his head. Adria lay back down and quickly closed her eyes. She felt the guard pass by her, stopping briefly for a moment to look at her before he passed. He gave no indication that he could see a large man squatting next to her.

The question now was how they would communicate without being heard.

As though someone out there was listening to them, a buzzing resounded in Galan's mind and he heard Tempest's voice in his mind.

"Galan, where the hell are you?" she asked.

"I'm with your mother," he told her. "We can't talk though because she will be heard."

"My mother?" There was a brief moment of silence before Tempest said, "Hold on. I have an idea."

He saw Adria's eyes widen before a smail broke out on her face. "Tempest?"

"I'm here, mom. Aida and Samual are too. You will meet them soon."

Galan could hear them both. Aida's voice sounded in the link as well,

"I was trying a locator spell. Galan, it seems like you somehow tapped into that link and followed it."

"He's here but not here at the same time," Adria said.

"He's not here either," Tempest said. "He disappeared. I was looking at him when he disappeared."

"He's in a different realm," Aida told them. "I will try and bring him back."

Galan looked around and noted that there were many beings lying on the ground around Adria. They all had silver chains around their necks and he growled deep in his throat as he thought about the pain they must have been feeling. There must have been at least a three hundred weres locked up in the hell hole. He looked further and saw guards armed with weapons at a number of places. There wasn't much he could see from here though but what he had seen was enough to infuriate the hell out of him.

They would get justice for what had happened to them.

"Mom, how are you?" Tempest asked. Galan had never heard her voice sounding so vulnerable.

"I'm alive, Tempest. So is your father," she said.

Galan studied the woman who looked so much like his mate. Despite her obvious state of neglect she was as striking as Tempest. When he saw the raw skin around her neck he ground his teeth to stop the growl that rumbled in his chest.

He heard Aida chanting through their link and he felt his body get slowly colder and colder. He frowned, feeling like he had been placed in a meat locker.

"Galan, you're becoming corporeal. I can smell you now," Adria said urgently. She reached out to him urgently and felt his flesh beneath her hand.

The weres closest to them started looking towards them wondering who the new person was and where he had come from. It was just a matter of time before the guards caught sight of him. Someone would raise the alarm soon.

"Hurry, Aida," Tempest said.

Aida mumbled something in a louder voice and it was then that someone finally noticed that Galan had no right to be there. The guard who had passed there earlier finally noticed Galan and turned. He started coming towards them, his gun ready in his hands.

Galan growled, ready to pounce on him and tear his throat out, never mind that he was human. He had committed atrocities upon his kind and deserved to die. Slowly.

He didn't realise that Adria's hand was still on his arm as he turned to face the oncoming man. He growled deep in his throat, the sound low and menacing. He saw the man stop. As he prepared to attack, everything changed. He felt his stomach drop, which was very different from his first transportation, the coldness that has filled his body suddenly disappearing. He closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them he was in Aida and Samual's room.

He saw Tempest first and wondered at the eyes that were filled with tears. It wasn't until he looked down and released that there was a hand still holding onto his arm. He looked behind him and took a deep breath. Tempest came towards him and gave him a thankful smile before she looked at the woman behind him.

"Mother," Tempest said softly as she carefully wrapped her arms around her.

Then, she wept.

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7 December 2020

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