“Not the future?” That was a new one. Normally, Cadmus saw the future.
“No. I know, weird. But in that vision, Lexa was seriously whacked out, covered in blood and crying. She looked younger than she is now, which isn’t saying much, I guess. She was really torn up by her family’s death. For the record, she didn’t do it.”
I frowned. “You’re sure?”
Aerolus nodded. “Someone else killed them, and it wasn’t Sin Garu.” When all of us stared at him, he shrugged. “Alandra and Sava were talking about it yesterday when I overheard.”
“Overheard?”
“Okay, I eavesdropped. But the bottom line is that Arim and Lexa have a history, and we need Arim to defeat Sin Garu.”
Marcus sighed. “So what? Get to the point, Aerolus. You’re giving me a headache.”
Aerolus gave him a dark look. “We need Arim, so we need Lexa. Once we find her, he’ll follow. Arim will never admit it, but he needs closure on the past. It’s all about balance. Ask Cadmus. Tanselm has been telling him the same thing for months. The time, my brothers, has finally come.”
I waited for Cadmus’s response, not disappointed when he rolled his eyes at Aerolus and his dramatics. “Yeah, well, the time can wait. I was going to mention needing Arim and Lexa after we’d eaten. Tanselm has waited this long. I think she can wait until we’ve had some food.”
“Cadmus.” Aerolus tapped his foot. “We need to hear everything you saw.”
“Oh hell. Fine.” Cadmus sighed. “Lexa’s going to help Arim. In my last vision, I saw them together, and they were definitely not fighting.”
I snorted. “For as much as he nagged you and Aerolus about having Dark affai, our uncle is involved with a Dark Lord? That takes balls.”
Cadmus snickered. “Yeah. I can’t wait to throw that in his face.”
“I won’t argue with you on that. But first we need to find Lexa and bring her back here. I think we should start —” Aerolus broke off and stared at the ground near Marcus. “Marcus, is there something wrong with your shadow?”
We four studied his shadow, which was more than a lack where moonlight should be, but a Dark spot upon the ground. As I readied my flames, the Dark spot took shape.
A familiar presence separated from the shadow and coalesced into human form.
Marcus drenched him with a wave of his hand. “Damn it, Jonas. This is a private discussion.”
Jonas slicked his hair back. “Thanks a lot.”
“I hate when you do that.”
“Me too,” Cadmus agreed.
“Sorry, but someone has to keep you four out of trouble.” Jonas looked at Aerolus. “Help a Djinn out?”
My brother folded his arms across his chest and said nothing.
Jonas sighed. “Look, Sava and I have this under control. You four need to focus and keep that crooked Church of Illumination in check. They’re awfully close to working up a spell to kill Darklings.” Aerolus frowned at that. “The Netharat are going to keep on coming until Sin Garu gets what he’s after. Sava’s not sure, but we think the Dark Lord’s looking for something. Something or someone.”
“Is that all?” I growled, more than annoyed a Djinn had the nerve to order four Storm Lords around on our own land.
“Not yet.” Jonas flipped me the finger, and Marcus had to restrain me from launching myself at the Djinn. “Arim will be out of pocket for the foreseeable future. If you need him anytime soon, get in touch with me or Sava.”
Angry, I broke through Marcus’ hold and launched myself at Jonas. Unfortunately, he teleported off the hillside before I could reach him. “Do you believe this shit?”
“Actually, I do.” Aerolus sighed. “I’m going to have a good, long talk with my affai about her bothersome uncle. She had to know Sava was up to something. She warned me in that subtle way she has that always precedes trouble.”
“You need to beat her,” I seethed, only half-joking.
“I already do.”
The three of us stared at Aerolus, the quietest of us all. To our further astonishment, the Wind Mage gave us a large grin before breaking out in laughter.
