Page 19 of Hybrid Heroics

Novak cleared his throat. “If there’s a problem here that’s not related to our current problem, then we need to leave.”

“We have to stay,” the demon calmly responded.

Briggs shook his head. “We should take her home. It will be easier to defend on familiar territory.”

“No, we shouldn’t,” Stone snapped. “We. Can’t. Leave.”

“You keep saying that,” the vampire pointed out, “But you haven’t once backed up your argument. I don’t understand why this is so important to you.”

“Because it’s important to her, Novak,” the demon murmured, conviction thick in his voice. “Grow the fuck up for a minute. Look at everything that’s been stacking up around us. It all leads back to Alric, and she knows it. So why wouldn’t we do this?”

I shook my head, hoping for a moment of silence on the trek to my aunt and uncle’s home. Talia and Latharian Briar were Sterling’s parents, and Talia was my mother’s sister. While my cousin considered herself a dryad because of her connection to her tree... She was part druid, too. And she could manipulate the earth better than I could.

At least that was the case the last time I saw her. As much as I knew I’d leveled up, I was betting she had, too.

And if she could feel the damage the moment it started, then she was more in tune with the realm than I was. Her opinions on this matter would be useful.

One thing I was absolutely sure of was that Alric wanted Sloane. What he wanted after he got her was beyond me, though I knew death was involved. Knew he would do whatever it took, everything in his power to get to her... Including all the magical bullshit we’d been dealing with.

I didn’t know how to get the guys on the same page as me when it came to this. All they wanted to do was bicker and argue over how to make the right call.

There was too much speculation being thrown around. I’d never seen them so divided.

“We don’t know what we’re doing,” Briggs growled. “And neither do you.”

Novak nodded in agreement. “We shouldn’t keep moving forward if we’re blind to what’s ahead. We should still take her home.”

“If he’s after her,” Sterling cut in, raising her voice to speak over them. “And he assumed you would go to the palace when you got here, then he would be expecting you to take her home, too. His need to find her also explains why there’s so much extra magic layered over the area surrounding the palace. He’s looking for her there, so I think it goes without saying that your house is probably a trap right now.”

I studied her for a moment, replaying her words in my mind. “He understands our magic better than he knows hers. That’s why he targeted her mental security. It gave him the chance to poke around her thoughts and learn things about her that no one knows.”

“Sloane doesn’t believe in coincidences,” Vaughn reminded me.

“Which makes me wonder if finding Raguel was an accident or a set-up.”

Stone frowned at me, his stride steady and his steely eyes unwavering. “Does it change anything? So what if coming to this realm was a trap? We stay and fight. That’s what she would do.”

“She’s fighting now,” I told them, having witnessed the circus once before. “In her own way. The inside of her mind is... Illogical. You’ve wondered why she hums the circus theme music? That’s what the inside of her mind is like.”

“We’ve been inside her mind,” Novak pointed out, gesturing to himself and Vaughn.

“No.” I shook my head, rubbing my hair like that would make everything make sense. “You were on the surface level of her mind. It’s much deeper and darker than that. But it revolves around games and rides and chaos. I’ve been there, seen the prisoners she keeps tucked away and the madhouse she doesn’t dare open.

“I know her. Not just because we had more time together, but because I’ve seen parts of her she doesn’t let anyone explore. That’s where she’s got Alric now. That’s why she closed the bonds. She’s unstable right now, but she’ll be fine—”

I coughed, shaking my head again to clear my thoughts. “The point is, she wouldn’t ask us to come here without a reason. She just couldn’t tell us because then Alric would know whatever it was she was hiding.”

“That makes less sense than I was expecting,” my cousin muttered.

“But did she know all of this was happening?” Novak inquired, waving his hands around to encompass the entire realm while nearly hitting Murphy in the face.

“We don’t even know what’s happening,” Sterling affirmed. “But until we know, you should stay away from hot spots, like the palace.”

“It’s the safest place in the realm,” I repeated.

She frowned. “It’s no longer safe. Not with everything that’s going on. Foreign magic surrounds it, but I haven’t checked the tunnels.”

“Right,” the demon drawled. “Again, I’d like to bring everyone’s attention to this line of thought. Everything we’ve dealt with leads back to Alric.”