Page 22 of Phoenix Rise


Font Size:

But there was no response.

Trix greeted the Watchers with enthusiasm, but Cara’s fingers were twisted together, and I’d never seen such chaos in her eyes. I stopped dead only feet from her.

“Is it true?” I asked. I barely recognized my own voice.

Cara’s mouth twisted, but it was Bess who answered. “Someone has cut off Sebastian’s horn. Every Liberi would have felt it.”

“Galeran.” Cara spat the name. “It was the barbaric act of a monster.”

Mari’s breath hissed through her teeth. “Why would anyone do that?”

“Because it severs his ties to the life energy,” Bess said through gritted teeth. “But it is so reprehensible that it hasn’t been practiced since ancient times.Thousandsof years.”

Stricken, I couldn’t speak. I stared at Cara like she was the only port in the storm.

She rushed to me and wrapped a hand around my arm. “He’s alive, Anna. But trapped, now, in his beast form. He will slowly die unless we can find him.” Her hand squeezed. “Can you talk to him?”

I shook my head. “I was dreaming—I felt it happen. And I tried to reach him, but he either can’t hear me, or he isn’t listening.”

Her lips pulled straight. “If he can send you Galeran’s location, he will. You are our only chance to find him.”

I swallowed. “How can we save him? He’ll die without his horn?”

“Yes.” It was Bess who answered. “There is no greater travesty than to deprive a Unicorn of its horn. It is worse than killing him.”

Cara glared at Bess. “But he is alive. And where there is life, there is hope. If we can find his horn, we may be able to reattach it.”

“There are no guarantees that it will work.” Bess’s voice was laced with despair.

“We can search the records,” Cara stated firmly. “I am sure I have stumbled across references to the procedure.”

Bess’s eyes slid from her to me. Then she said, “Of course. I will get to work on that.”

As the other Watcher stalked back toward the academy, I stared at Cara. “It all hinges on me. What if I can’t find him?” I swallowed. “What if we can’t find any of them?”

She linked her arm through mine as we followed Bess. “Sebastian will contact you if he finds out where they are. I am confident about that. He may be blocking you because he doesn’t want Galeran to sense you.”

Impressions popped into my mind. “And the woman,” I interjected, “did something to him right before it happened. Using red energy and crystals.”

Cara stopped dead. “Redenergy?”

I nodded.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. He was surrounded by it, and the crystals glowed red.”

Cara’s face lost all color. “Isobel. What have you done?” She didn’t seem to be speaking to me.

“Is that significant?” I asked.

She bit her lip. “The life energy that Watchers exude is usually green or blue, or combinations thereof. You only get a red aura if you infuse crystals with blood. If you use enough of it, they turn black.”

I swallowed. “Not Sebastian’s blood?”

“No.” She continued walking, pulling me along. “It only works with the ‘blood of death’—blood taken as an individual dies.”

I swallowed. “Are they killing people for this?”