Page 108 of The Arcane God

“We know that Cole’s number one goal right now is finding me. What if Steig pretends to have found me, and brings me back to Cole?” he explained. “It would get the two of us in without arousing suspicion.”

“That might work, but there’s something else you don’t know…” Steig said, his tone heavy. “Cole gave me an imperae collar, and I was instructed to capture Ty and put him in it instantly, to ensure he can’t get away. If I come back with him uncollared, it will arouse his suspicion. How do we get around that?”

“There might be a way to disempower it,” Ena chimed in. “I’m not positive, but if I remember my rune research correctly, there is one that severs the Imbued Power from the object. If we add that, hidden, it would look like he is collared, but he’d retain his control.”

“That’s genius,” Kaya added, smiling proudly at Ena, who beamed back at her.

“It is,” Steig said, nodding gratefully at Ena. “But it brings us to our next problem—Cole will have all his cronies and his new army of imperi around him. Even if we get in, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be able to take him out, or survive against that many trained opponents with just the two of us.”

“Aren’t we all forgetting something?” Turner asked suddenly. “Witches’ Gifts work against daemons now. We’re overlooking the most powerful person here.” He turned to look at Ena, and everyone else followed suit.

“What do you mean?” she asked self-consciously.

“Your visanis,” Turner explained. “If we’re able to get you in, too, you could control him instantly, with just a word—make him an easier target. You could control anyone who acts against Ty and Steig, too, until the rest of us can arrive as backup.”

“Would that work?” Ena asked hopefully.

“It could,” Steig responded excitedly. “If I pretend to have captured both Ena and Ty, then it’d be three of us against them. That’s better odds.”

“No. No way. I’m not bringing Ena openly back into the Underworld, not even as a pretense,” Ty spoke adamantly. Even if Ena was okay with this plan, it made him extremely uncomfortable. “Cole could kill her instantly or separate her from us—any number of things. That’s too risky.”

“What if she is disguised as something else?” Max chimed in, and all eyes swiveled towards him.

“Disguised as what?” Steig asked skeptically.

“Her Change form,” Max said, his eyebrow raising as he looked at Ena.

The room fell silent as all eyes turned to her, and Ty felt her stiffen beside him.

“My—my Change form?” Ena asked, her hesitance palpable.

“I am not the only one who can Change at will, Ena. Because Ty is your bloodmatch, you likely can too,” Max explained gently.

“But, I-I’ve never Changed before. I have no idea what form I’d take, or even if I can,” Ena said, seeming agitated.

“Maybe it’s time you found out,” Max replied. He spoke kindly, but he looked at her with unspoken intent. He was challenging her.

Ena and Max stared at each other, the tension in the room palpable as they all waited to see what Ena would say to that.

Ty didn’t love the idea of her being involved at all, but he had to admit, having her Gift would be an incredible asset. If she was hidden until the last minute, that would help keep her safe, but she suddenly seemed…afraid. There was no way he was going to force her to be involved if she didn’t want to be, but he’d never known her to back down from a challenge, and something about her reaction to the topic had him curious. Why was she running so hard from this?

So he decided to push her, just a tiny bit.

“That would be ideal, Ena,” he said to her. “Depending on what animal you can Change into, of course. If it’s something that could be brought in without arousing too much attention, we could sneak you in.”

“This is all so hypothetical,” Ena said dismissively. “We don’t even know if I can Change.”

“Then why don’t you try?” Xena asked, seeming confused by Ena’s reaction. “I promise it’s not as scary as it looks.”

“I—” Ena’s eyes darted around the room, looking at everyone. What was going on with her? He could tell she was resistant to the idea—too resistant—but he also knew she wanted Cole removed as badly as he did. The fact that she wouldn’t even entertain this as a possibility without trying first was so unlike her.

All of a sudden, he saw tears form in her eyes, and he realized they’d pushed her too far.

“Ena, what’s going on?” he asked quietly, placing his hand on hers in comfort, but she refused to look at him.

“I need to go check on Ladon. Please excuse me.”

And without another word, Ena stood up from the table, and rushed away, leaving him and everyone else staring after her in confusion.