“Oh, wow,” Ben breathed, the shock on his face visible.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I think the seven hundred and forty-two fae landed,” Vesta said. “Or something related to them, anyway. I felt fire, water, air, and earth vibrating through me, as if I’d manipulated all four of them at once.”
Ben shook his head slowly. “We’ve been running for hours. They couldn’t have been flying for so long, not with Perfects flying around the colosseum. They were meant to come down fast and hide. But I do agree it might have something to do with them.”
“We’ve all experienced this weird… pulse, or vibration, or whatever you want to call it,” Lucas replied.
“So, what, the Hermessi were doing a tally and decided to communicate that we definitely have the right number?” Ibrahim asked.
Vivienne shrugged. “It could be. I felt a tingle, too. And I’m no fae.”
Elonora raised a hand. “Me, also.”
“Yeah, I’ll hop on that train, then.” Kailani sighed.
“And I,” Lumi added.
I couldn’t help but frown, trying to see the connection.
“We’re all creatures who had contact with the Hermessi, one way or another,” Elonora said, her voice wavering slightly. “I had that weird dream, weeks ago, before we knew what we know now. Kale had her Hermessi episode, too. The fae, well, they’re fae. They’re the conduits. Of course they’d react.”
“And I had my first vision in years,” Vivienne replied. “It was the same as Lucas’s and Kailyn’s and the other fae’s dreams.”
“So, this is what, an approval nudge from the Hermessi?” Taeral asked. “It felt awkward. Like someone poking at stuff inside me, stuff I’d only let a qualified surgeon or witch healer handle.”
“It means we have one thousand and one fae present on Strava,” Lumi interjected. “We are one step closer to the end of our mission here.”
Bijarki stepped forward. “We need to get a plan together, and fast. We can’t let the fae stay out there on their own for too long.”
“I agree,” Ridan replied. “We need a search party. Maybe two or three actually, to find Amane, Amal, and the others. If they’re not back by now, something clearly must’ve happened, and we don’t have our comms to help us anymore. We have to work with this setback, now.”
There was a sense of urgency in his voice that struck a chord in me. From what Rose and Ben had told me, Ridan had fallen for Amane. I’d seen enough of Amal to understand why—if Amane was her twin, she clearly had the beauty, the intelligence, and the grit to steal a dragon’s heart like that. I sort of sympathized with him, as I did with Dmitri, regarding Douma. They were both in love with powerful creatures, and I didn’t want to let the likes of Ta’Zan win by crushing them and their newly formed bonds. I just couldn’t.
“Okay. We’ll pick a group, fast and quiet, able to move around easily without the Perfects—” I started saying, but stopped when Vesta collapsed.
Ben, Zeriel, and Elonora rushed to her aid, but all three of them froze when water started pouring out of the young fae’s mouth and nose. I held my breath, instead, ignoring the murmurs and gasps erupting from the crowd behind us.
“Oh, crap,” Zeriel murmured, his gaze fixed on Vesta.
“What? What’s happening to her?” I asked, increasingly alarmed, as she twitched a couple of times.
“It’s the Hermessi,” Ben replied. “The water Hermessi, to be precise.”
As if manipulated by puppet strings, Vesta clumsily got herself up into a standing position and opened her eyes. They were strange, pasty white and glimmering. I’d never seen anything like it before. Her voice was raspy and low, completely different from Vesta’s usual sound.
“Aya… You’re back,” Lumi said.
Vesta, or, better said, Aya, looked at Lumi and nodded once.
“You’ve done well,” she said. “One night is left between us and the full moon. Once it reaches its highest point in the sky, tomorrow night, we will awaken and course through this world with our full strength, just like in the ancient times.”
“Is that why you’ve taken over Vesta again? To tell us what we already know?” Zeriel retorted, clearly unhappy with this development. Then again, he was head over heels with our Nerakian fae. This was personal to him.
Aya coughed lightly, water still trickling from her mouth. “No, Tritone King. I’ve come because we will not be able to do anything tomorrow night if the Perfects get to your fae before you.”
“We’re getting ready to go after them now,” Ben replied.
“You must hurry,” Aya said, her brows furrowed. “Even when they’re not looking, the Perfects have eyes in the sky. We felt your diversion. We did our best to help, as dormant as we are. But there is only so much we can do, going forward. Soon enough, Ta’Zan will send people after your fae, if he hasn’t already.”
“Whoa. Eyes in the sky,” Dmitri repeated after her, and cursed under his breath. “Crap. Crap! Scanners. They’ve got scanners. They’re monitoring air traffic, so to speak. Argh!”
“Which means our fae aren’t safe where they landed,” Elonora concluded. “But even if, say, Ta’Zan captures them, we’ll still have one thousand and one fae on Strava. It’s still good for your activation ritual, or whatever, right?”
Aya cocked her head to the side. “Can you guarantee that all the seven hundred and forty-two fae out there will survive capture? How many will fight back? How many will get killed? You cannot be certain of anything right now.”
“They might not deem all the fae necessary for Ta’Zan’s work,” Sofia replied. “He’d have enough genetic material from a couple-dozen of them, so the Perfects would be given some leeway in killing some of them. They would be labelled as invaders or, worse, the creatures responsible for the colosseum’s explosion. They’re with us, after all.”
“Even if one fae dies, we will not be able to fully awaken,” Aya warned us. “You must hurry. You must go to their rescue and make sure they’re all standing when midnight comes tomorrow. From there on, we’ll take over and finish this, once and for all. We’ll help our Fire brother cleanse this world. Believe it or not, I’m aching. My oceans are suffering. They’re slaughtering my pashmiri whales to fuel their warmongering…”
Just as Vesta dropped on the ground again, and the equivalent of a small pond poured out of her and seeped into the hard ground, I fully understood the gravity of our situation. And, as Vesta came to in Zeriel’s arms, I knew we couldn’t waste another second.
“Rose, Ben, Elonora, Nevis, Kailani, Hunter, Lumi, and Heath,” I said. “Grab whatever weapons and supplies you need. You’re coming with Sofia and me. We’ve got some fae to rescue.”
“I’ll take Dmitri, Zeriel, Vesta, Jax, Hansa, Jovi, and Anjani, then, and go find Amane, Amal, Douma, and the others,” Ridan replied firmly.
We gave each other an approving nod.
