Page 1 of We Steal The Flight

Chapter 1

This world is…interesting. I stare at the towering buildings of Edinburgh in nothing short of amazement. This is nothing like the pocket world I grew up in. For the first time, I can see how this world has been duplicated in mine, but…badly. Some of the older brick buildings are familiar, but that’s where it ends. Something called planes fly across the cloudy sky as rain pours down on me, and the planes look tiny, but I’ve been told they are as big as dragons. Cars sweep past, most of them shiny and new and a million miles away from the broken ones I’ve grown up seeing.

People just live here. No fear of the Mindless killing them if they wander into the woods, no poverty or human slaves as far as I can see. They have it so easy, and it’s hard to see all of that and know what my life could have been like or what it could be like. The witches could have a chance at real freedom here, but the Umbral Authority is not going to just let them walk out of the pocket world that easily. I could stay here, but I’d give it all up to be with my bonded.

It’s been two weeks. Two weeks of travelling, first by car and then by boat, getting to this place called England, which was full of more humans than I’ve ever seen. They all carried around phones, their faces glued to the screens, and they talked of the “lost” cities that were apparently destroyed by the Nexus and Vian war. Then we travelled to Scotland, to this city called Edinburgh. This is now the capital of the United Kingdom, and it is packed with people. No one looks our way as we head to a hill, called Arthur something, to meet a witch who can apparently help us. I personally think we need more help than one witch.

An army of witches would be the best bet, but I doubt anyone is giving armies out for free around here. It looks like they’re just recovering from their own wars.

My mother, Lyra, watches me closely as we walk. Her brown hair, just as wild as mine, falls to her shoulders. We look very similar, but her eyes are the darkest brown, and I assume my gold eyes are from my father, Obsidian. I haven’t been brave enough to ask her much about Obsidian yet, not when I can see it hurts her to talk about him. Lyra’s bonded Zephyros likes to fill any quiet moments with questions for me about the shifters. He hasn’t liked most of the answers, unfortunately. I guess he hoped shifters would have been treated somewhat better, and they haven’t been.

Lyra has called back the other one of her bonded, who has been helping the Vian race, and I haven’t met him yet. I’m kind of glad for it, as getting used to them both has been different. I’ve never had family, not really, and I don’t remember much of the parents I had before. Now I have two overprotective parent figures, and I’m not sure how to handle them. I think Rue might have been the closest I ever had to family who loved me…until my dragons. My bonded. I place my hand over my chest, the pain of missing them stabbing me like a knife.

The higher I climb the hill, the more of the city I can see until all of it stretches for miles, in a wave of gray and green. The castle is the most visual point, situated on a huge hill and towering over the city. There are a few humans hiking up the hill as we find the bench mentioned in the message to meet, and we all sit down. This is where the witch wanted to meet us. The only witch other than my mother and me left in this world now, and I have to believe she will be useful in some way.

“How did she survive, this witch?” I murmur. “And how can we trust her?”

Lyra touches my hand. “She was trapped in a…well, what became a black market. A place where people go to sell things that aren’t exactly legal. Nexus rule pretty much on their own here, and black markets are a middle ground for all supernaturals. This world? Nexus rule; they have their own cities, although they’ve been having a messy war recently with something called the Vian. I don’t know if you⁠—”

“I do know about them.” I stop her from explaining. “They taught us that in the academy. Vaguely. They carefully let out that Nexus and Vian are not extinct, old supernaturals.”

Zeph snorts. “If we could convince the Nexus to pop into the witches’ world, they’d be free overnight with the power I’ve seen them have.”

“It isn’t their world to fix,” Lyra softly reminds him. “And they’re dangerous.” She squeezes my hand. “This witch got bound in an old spell and only recently escaped. I’ve spoken to her a few times over the years here, asked her for help, and she has always told me no. I honestly don’t know why she has changed her mind and decided to help us now. She’s powerful. Old. Stubborn.”

“So we can’t trust her?” I murmur.

“You can’t trust anyone in this world except for me and my bonded. Don’t make the mistake of trusting anyone easily,” she warns. “Your bonded family are it, Juniper. Letting people in is a risk.”

I look forward. I don’t think she is right. There are people I can trust outside of my bonded and them. “I have a friend; her name’s Winifred. She’s the daughter of one of your old friends.”

“I guess their children are grown up now. I never imagined them as much more than babies.” Lyra tenses. “How nice they got to bring up their child when they destroyed my child’s life.”

I touch her arm softly. “Wini’s good, pure. She was stabbed and I don’t know if she’s alive…but my point is, some of them can be trusted. Gods, I need to get back. Kane was badly hurt. Black, Maz and Vale were fighting to get to me. They don’t even know if I’m alive.”

“They know you are alive, and you know they are too.” Zeph touches his heart. “Losing a bonded can be felt across the worlds. It’s a pain that cannot be missed.”

“It’s true,” Lyra whispers sadly. “Your bonded are alive and one is your mate…that is a strong bond to have. I look forward to meeting the men who have my daughter’s heart and soul.”

“They dislike you,” I admit, “mostly because of the rumors, but also—” I pause, looking forward as I sense the change in the air. Someone is here, and they are powerful, so much so that the world seems to pause. No humans come near; most have walked away from us except for one tall female who is heading our way.

“We will continue this conversation later,” Lyra murmurs, moving an inch closer as we all stand up. Zeph moves slightly in front of us both, something my bonded would do too. The woman walks slowly, like she has all the time in the world, her heels clicking on the pavement, loud, even over the tapping of the falling rain. Lyra said the witch was old, but she doesn’t look old at all. I’d guess she wasn’t much older than me. She has long, very wavy black hair, braided. The braid falls over her shoulder, right down to her thighs. She’s wearing casual clothes, with sunglasses pushed up on top of her head. Even though it’s not exactly a sunny day, it’s still spitting rain, but none of it is touching her. The witch is completely dry even in the downpour. I want to know that spell.

She looks right at me, and something in her dark eyes seems to spark to life. “Juniper. In many of my visions, you’ve appeared like this, or broken, or dead.” A chill goes down my spine. “Oh, how I’ve waited to see which version of you would stand in front of me. The child that time swallowed again and again but it did not break. When it’s over, will you be the savior of the witch race or the one that curses them? You are destined to fall for love or power, Juniper. Tell me, which do you want?”

“I don’t really like prophecies, and power is only useful to save the people I love,” I carefully begin. Whoever this witch is, I get the feeling every one of my answers is being judged. “What’s your name?”

“Name? What a mortal thing it is to need a name or title. I have one you may use: Hell.” She offers the name with a smirk of her red lips. Hell is quite a name. I share a look with Lyra. “Don’t you have better questions for me, child?”

“She is hardly a child anymore, Hell,” Lyra interrupts. “And you know damn well why we asked to see you. We are asking for the same thing I’ve asked for years. We need to go to the witch world and save them. I won’t have my daughter continue to pay for the mistakes of my generation.”

“How many shifters did you feed to that evil to keep it sated? How dark is your soul, Lyra?” Hell laughs, and I wince at the high-pitched noise and deep shiver that rattles down my spine. She may look like a normal witch, even pass as a human, but things like her laugh give her away. There is something so different, ancient, about this witch.

Lyra pales. “Too many to count. I am sorry for each of them, but it was a different time and their lives protected others. I am no angel, but I want to fix things. Isn’t that enough?”

“No.” Hell shifts her gaze to me. “You only need one of the three treasured heirlooms of the goddess to power a spell, along with blood from a powerful Nexus and rare herbs for the base spell. You have most of what you need, and the spell? You already know it. It’s similar to the one you made to bring your mother to Bloodstone Academy, but the part you got wrong is power. You need more of it to open a portal. I’ll help you find the blood of someone powerful and the herbs you will need. The rest is up to you, Juniper.”

“Juniper doesn’t have the heirlooms⁠—”