“Your Graces,” I said, bowing politely before them. “Thank you for making yourselves available on such short notice.”
“Of course. I understand one of your people is missing?” Acheron asked, looking genuinely concerned as he leaned back into his ornate chair.
The more time I spent on Visio, the more dazzled I was by its hazy skies, its superb architecture, and the artistic attention to detail. It was truly a unique world, predating vampires and Earth itself, and there were layers of mystery that begged for us to discover more.
Despite its beauty, however, Visio also harbored dark and terrible secrets. They did not want anyone to come poking around, but since one of our own was now missing, there was no other way. Chances were we’d have to stick our noses where they didn’t belong, whether the Lord and Lady Supreme of Visio liked it or not.
“Nethissis, our swamp witch,” Sofia replied. “We haven’t seen her since last night, and we haven’t been able to get in touch with her, either.”
“Are you sure she’s missing? Perhaps she’s still wandering through the city,” Danika suggested, seemingly not as worried about this as Acheron. “It’s a big place with many gorgeous sights. Even I lose track of time, sometimes.”
“We’re connected through a spell,” I said. “It allows us to communicate when our equipment fails or isn’t available. She would’ve responded by now, and she hasn’t. It is not like Nethissis to do such things. We would have known, Your Grace.”
Danika sighed deeply, her brow furrowing.
The doors behind us opened, and in walked Zoltan Shatal, Petra Visentis, and Corbin Crimson. I figured that Danika and Acheron had summoned them to participate in this mission, since the Lord and Lady Supreme certainly weren’t going to personally help us conduct a search of the palace and its surrounding grounds.
The three looked sullen, as if they had better things to do with their time.
Zoltan’s tone, in particular, irritated me. “What is this about?” he asked. “I heard something with regards to your witch, but would you care to clarify?”
“Nethissis is missing,” I replied, the uneasiness tugging at my nerves. “Our swamp witch. Surely you remember her.”
He nodded. “I do, yes. Are you sure she’s missing? What if she’s—”
“We’ve already gone over this!” Esme cut him off, rolling her eyes. “She’s not out for a stroll. She didn’t get lost in the city. She’s not wandering around. She’s missing, okay? Missing.”
“Forgive my sister,” Tristan interjected when Zoltan scowled at Esme in response. “She’s on edge, much like the rest of us. This is truly a serious and worrying situation. We have strict protocols on our team, and Nethissis would never break them unless… unless something happened to her.”
Petra offered a sympathetic smile. “I’m truly sorry,” she said. “Whatever we can do to help, please, don’t hesitate to ask.” She briefly looked at Zoltan. “The chief councilor has good intentions. It’s his tongue that gets ahead of him sometimes.”
“I’ll have the golden guards scour the palace and the gardens,” Corbin replied.
His gold-plated armor shimmered in the soft amber light of the overhead chandeliers, and I could make out the mythical beasts immortalized on the torso of his uniform—a lion-like creature wrestling a dragon of sorts, their bodies furiously tangled, their eyes made of precious gemstones and their fangs encrusted with mother-of-pearl.
“Thank you, but we have a better and faster solution,” I said, drawing a glare from Zoltan. “A tracking spell.”
“And you couldn’t do that for yourselves?” he shot back.
“Councilor!” Petra exclaimed, downright annoyed.
“We only remarked upon her absence less than twenty minutes ago,” I said, my blood simmering. His attitude irked me. “We felt it was necessary that the Lord and Lady Supreme should be notified, as well.”
Amal placed a copper bowl on the marble floor, kneeling as she filled it with herbs and powders from Nethissis’s backpack. She added one of the swamp witch’s bracelets on top before setting it on fire.
Silence settled over the great room as the green flame swallowed the contents of the bowl and gradually morphed into a bright emerald spark that elevated itself. Amal looked at us. “Get ready to run,” she said.
The spark crackled and flashed furiously, then bolted away from us and through the double doors. I gave Acheron and Danika a brief nod. “If you’ll excuse us,” I breathed and ran after the spell.
Sofia, Amal, Esme, and Tristan joined us as we ran past the guards and through the double doors. Kalon and Valaine were on their way in but quickly turned around and followed us, instead—likely curious as to what it was that we were up to. Nethissis’s disappearance had affected everyone, not just our group. We followed the green spark as it flew above and ahead. It made sharp and unexpected turns, left and right, through the wide hallways, but it maintained a steady speed.
Light on my feet, while my heart thundered anxiously, I led the group as we made it outside through the garden doors.
“What the hell are we doing?” Kalon asked from behind.
“Finding Nethissis!” Esme replied.
Kalon said something else, but I didn’t register his words clearly, my attention focused on the green spark. It dashed across the hedge maze and sprawling flower and orchard patches and stopped inside a blossoming bush. A thin line of smoke was left in its wake, and my chest tightened. It didn’t feel right.
If Nethissis was there, why couldn’t we see her?
“Over there!” I said, pointing ahead.
We moved fast, like shadows across the garden. Sofia, Esme, and Tristan quickly pulled up their hoods, before the sun could hurt them, even through the dim reddish haze. Every time I stepped outside, unbothered by the light, I was reminded of how fortunate I was, but also of why it was so important for me to get the day-walking cure from Visio.
All that was set aside, though, as we finally reached the bush.
“Where the hell is she?” Amal muttered, then dropped to her hands and knees to get a better look. She froze, her orange eyes wide with shock, her lips slowly parting… and I knew she’d found Nethissis. My heart was already breaking as she screamed with grief and horror. “Nethi! No!”
She scrambled backward, tremors taking over. Shaking, Amal cried uncontrollably, shattered by what she’d just seen.
“Oh, no…” Esme managed, carefully pushing one of the bush’s flowery branches to the side. She revealed Nethissis’s bare body, parts of it still hidden by grass and pale pink blossoms and diamond-shaped leaves.
The air left my lungs as I groaned softly.
Sofia covered her mouth with both hands, pain flickering in her wide eyes. “Nethi…”
“How… Why? What the hell happened?!” Tristan growled. He kneeled next to Nethissis and checked her pulse, shaking his head slowly. “Dammit… Dammit…”
