“How are you feeling?” I asked, rubbing Electra’s shoulder.

Her skin still looked a little pale, which made the dark circles under her eyes stand out further. She was still a little sweaty, but I made it a point not to grimace as I ran a hand over her slightly damp hair.

“Like somebody wrung out my insides,” she groaned. “That was terrifying.”

It had terrified me, too, but I didn’t want to let on. Not when the three of them had needed me, poor things. I’d always had a strong stomach, so the fact that I had nothing more than a little nausea hadn’t come as a surprise.

If anything, the sound of the three of them vomiting had caused the nausea, not the turbulence.

Plus, he’d been watching. It sounded ridiculous even as I thought it to myself, but there was no denying it. It had been important to hold it together in front of Dallas. No matter how the jet’s bouncing and tilting had turned my knees to water and made my heart race painfully fast, I’d put on a smile for the girls and maintained my shield in front of him.

It would be better if we didn’t talk at all, since all I seemed able to do was make a fool of myself. I couldn’t control my mouth when I was around him. Why? The sting of humiliation hadn’t worn off yet as we stood inside a cavernous hangar, still grouped off the way we’d been during the flight.

We would travel together, but that didn’t mean we had to spend time getting to know each other.

An older man with a very clipped, precise way of speaking and moving approached from an office inside the hangar. We’d been waiting there since the jet pulled in, offering us shelter from the insane storm blowing outside. The fact that it spanned so much of the country at once was, according to reports we’d read on the phones we carried especially for this trip, unheard of.

The fact that I was carrying an actual smartphone was also unheard of. We’d never had a need for them while living together in seclusion. Now, there would be little service on our way up the mountain, but we would be able to use them to communicate with Alan and Mother once we reached the caves.

“Your rental vehicles are gassed and ready to go,” he announced.

Ex-military, I would imagine, or perhaps current. He had that bearing to him which spoke of a life lived beyond the everyday. I’d watched enough television to know it.

Then, his expression softened just a touch. “Though I wouldn’t recommend you driving out there in the middle of this. We’re due to take a pounding.”

“This isn’t a pounding?” Dallas quipped as the rain came down on the metal roof overhead, the sound echoing almost deafeningly. I couldn’t shake the childish urge to cover my ears with my hands.

“This is only the beginning,” the man replied with a grimace.

We all looked to each other.

“Is there anywhere to stay?” I asked.

“It would be at least a half-hour’s drive, we’re rather remote at the moment,” he explained, only heightening my sense that our presence was a bit of a secret. While I appreciated not having to travel with humans, there was a line between privacy and secrecy.

It came as little surprise that Mary would arrange this with secrecy surrounding it. What surprised me, based on what I’d heard of her and what I’d seen so far, was how negligent someone on her team had been. Scheduling us to fly straight into a massive storm. It couldn’t have popped up out of nowhere.

What in the world was so urgent that we couldn’t have waited a day or two?

“And what’s the route to the mountain?” Dallas asked as he examined a map. The two of them worked together and pinpointed our location, then the roads we’d need to take. “It doesn’t appear to be a long drive at all.”

“No, but in a storm such as this? I don’t know that I’d take the chance on those mountain roads. There’s no telling what you’ll come across.”

“But couldn’t it get worse from here?” Owen asked as thunder shook the hangar. “What if the roads are impassable by the time it lets up? I’m sure cleanup efforts won’t be focused on the mountain, not at first.”

“I say we try, at least,” Iris decided. “Why don’t we put it to a vote?”

We decided to continue on, though I sensed the reluctance in all of us. As if no one wanted to be the one to step back and voice deep concerns over whether this was the best course of action.

Though I could see Owen’s point even in the midst of my reluctance. We could face another several days, if not more, without access to the mountain if we didn’t get started soon. Waiting would only tack even more time onto our journey, and the notion of spending time with the dragons with nothing to do but wait didn’t suit me.

Once again, this could’ve been avoided if we’d hung back rather than flying out immediately. I had half a mind to contact Mary and let her know what a terrible planner she was.

“I’ll ride with some of you ladies, and Owen can ride with the others,” Dallas decided.

As usual, his attitude got under my skin. “We don’t need you to ride with us, either of you,” I added with a glance at Owen. “Women are perfectly capable of driving in a storm.”

“You know how to drive a car?” he asked with a knowing smirk.

“I was referring to Leslie and Isla. I know everyone in your clan can drive.” Whether they were any good at it was another story altogether, but I guessed we could always use our powers if need be to keep the SUV steady.

I hoped I was right.

“I’m sure I can handle it,” Leslie offered.

“And I can drive the other,” Owen confirmed.

Dallas’s face fell, but only for an instant before he regained control of himself. He’d wanted to drive, I could tell. This was another way for him to prove himself, to stand out. It was tough not to laugh as we divided our numbers, grabbed our bags and each went to one of two SUVs.

Callie split off from my group, making my heart sink.

“You’re riding with them?” I asked, crestfallen.

“Someone has to,” she shrugged. “I’ll be fine, sister. See you at the cave.” She said something else, too, but a deafening clap of thunder drowned her out before she climbed into the front passenger seat of a shiny, black SUV that looked as though it had never been used. I even heard her light, carefree laughter before she closed the door.

I took the same seat in the second almost identical vehicle, my heart heavy. Something about the way this had worked out didn’t sit well with me. I hadn’t been without Callie—or any of the coven in my entire life, but especially not Callie—not even when it came to something as simple as travel.

But this wasn’t simple travel. This was watching her SUV roll away as we brought up the rear, knowing she was the only witch inside and wondering if all would be well. I didn’t know this Owen from Adam. There was no guarantee he’d be able to maneuver the vehicle through the storm.

Then again, I didn’t know Leslie, either. She always struck me as sort of a silly, flighty thing. Always giggling, ogling men on the TV—athletes, mostly, while the men watched games for the sake of enjoying the sport.

The look of determination on her face as we started was completely foreign. Her sharp jaw, so like Owen’s, was set hard, as was her mouth. “Don’t worry,” she said, eyes forward. Like she felt me watching and knew what I was thinking.

Had my shield slipped or weakened?

“It’ll be okay,” she assured me with an easy smile, glancing my way from the corner of her eye. “I haven’t killed anyone yet.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” I muttered.

To my surprise, she laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh with her. It was all so ridiculous and unpredictable.

Soon, however, it became clear that this was no laughing matter.

“Whoa!” Iris cried out as a tree limb blew across the road. We just managed to avoid it thanks to Leslie’s quick reflexes, when she cut the wheel to the left to steer around it before bringing us back into our lane.

I shuddered to think what might’ve happened if there had been oncoming traffic, but the roads were mercifully free of other vehicles.

“Nicely done,” I breathed.

If there weren’t so many trees, so many obstacles, and potential hazards, we might have been able to control them and create a bubble around the car. But there was just so much—signs rattling and threatening to fly free, sagging power lines and the wooden poles which held them up, some of them looking as if they were ready to blow over, entire trees swaying in the wind. The ground was saturated and loose, leaving virtually anything vulnerable.

“So long as Owen maintains a steady speed and doesn’t bolt off, we should be fine.” But the tightness in Leslie’s voice belied her words, as did the way she clenched the wheel as though her life depended on it. Perhaps it did. Perhaps all of our lives depended on it.

A sick chill ran through me at the thought, and I suddenly felt more nauseous than I had in the jet. My heart thudded like a bass drum, and once again I questioned whether this was the right course of action. A sense of dread settled over me, wrapping itself around my heart and my mind, squeezing painfully tight.

“This is certainly a sink-or-swim situation, isn’t it?” She grinned. The woman was a maniac, plain and simple.

“How can you be so flippant?” I asked as lightning lit the sky as bright as day.

“Come on, now,” she coaxed. “I’m the one driving on the opposite side of the car and the opposite side of the road from that which I’m used to. If I can grin and bear it…”

“Oh, don’t tell me that,” I begged with a shaky laugh as she steered us around a fallen tree. We ran off the side of the road, two tires in the mud, but somehow managed to make it out.

“Nothing to worry about,” she assured me.

Meanwhile, a glance over my shoulder revealed Iris and Electra clutching each other’s hands. Surely, nothing to worry about. Cold sweat broke out along my temples and the back of my neck.

If only there was some light! Only the car’s headlights provided illumination, and even that was pitiful in the face of such heavy rain, not to mention wet leaves which clung to anything they touched. I considered offering to clear them away, but that would mean stopping and losing sight of Callie. I couldn’t let that happen.

To hell with the rest of them. I wanted my sister.

The road grew steeper, and the engine worked harder as a result.

“Good thing this has four-wheel drive,” Leslie muttered.

I didn’t know what that meant, but if she was glad, so was I. The wipers moved back and forth and barely made any impact as we climbed, bouncing and rocking until it was almost like being aboard the jet again.

My jaw hurt from gritting my teeth, and my hands were cramping, pressed together as they were. Whose idea was this?

“He’s going too fast,” Iris whispered. “They’re going too fast. What’s he thinking?”

“Probably trying to muscle through this mud,” Leslie grunted, eyes narrowed, leaning over the wheel. “You go too slow, it can stop you.”

“You go too fast, it can kill you,” I whispered, then hated myself for even thinking the word.

Good thing there was too much noise all around the car—deafening, ever-present, maddening—for anyone to hear me.

Then, Leslie let out a strangled cry. “What—no—look out!” she shouted, taking one hand from the wheel and pointing ahead, where the two red lights which marked the second vehicle swung wildly back and forth before coming to a stop.

I screamed, my heart in my throat. “Callie!”