Ariel still hadn’t received a reply from Jett, so it was with some reluctance that she shut off her phone.

The private jet taxied onto the runway and its engines buzzed to life. Ariel had a good view through the window across from her, and she watched as in moments they were airborne.

“Are we in the air yet?” Brian asked.

“Have a look.” Ked nodded toward the window behind him.

“Holy crap this plane is quiet!” Tina said. “I thought we were still idling on the ground.”

“Noise canceling tech,” Hugh said. “Built into the engines, and the fuselage. Like I told you, the creme de la creme.”

“I’m so excited,” Michelle said.

“I’m not,” Katelyn said. “I miss my crew. I miss Philip.”

“How did an elk end up with a bear anyway?” James said. “My crew is all panthers. I couldn’t imagine mixing with outsiders.”

“What do you think you’re doing now?” Ariel said.

“Good point,” James told her.

“We shifters have a sixth sense,” Katelyn said. “A nose for each other. I was shopping for groceries in town when I bumped into Philip. I swear, it was love at first sight. I’d never seen such a gorgeous man. And I knew he was a shifter right away from that aura about him. I just didn’t know what kind. In fact, I didn’t want to know. I only found out a few weeks into our relationship that he was a bear. I told him I was an elk the same day. It was too late for either of us to change our mind by then.”

Ariel was reminded of when she met Jett, and she missed him. She pulled out her sat-phone and glanced at Mathis. “Can I use my phone now?”

“Is it a sat-phone?” Mathis asked.

“Of course,” Ariel said.

“Then you can use it,” Mathis said.

She turned it on, unlocked it, and saw that Jett had replied to her earlier text.

I own two of them.

She had forgotten what they were talking about, and glanced at the previous message, where she’d asked if he’d seen the insides of a Gulfstream G650.

She sent a reply. Braggart.

Not bragging. I’ve logged over a hundred hours of flight time behind the controls of a G650. Flying across an ocean as a dragon is a very tiring thing.

She replied: Yup, you’re definitely bragging. ‘Look at me, I have two Gulfstreams, and I’m the best pilot in the world!’

I never said I was the best pilot in the world.

But you were implying it, dragon boy ;)

Ha.

Why would you even need to fly your own private jet anyway? What’s the matter, you spent so much money on the Gulfstream that you couldn’t afford to hire a pilot?

Oh, I have my own pilots. This was mostly for fun.

I see. Your definition of fun is different than mine, obviously.

In some things. But I think we can agree that in others, namely sex, our definitions are the same.

Maybe. You’re just mad because I don’t let you take control in bed more often.

You’re right, I am mad. And I’m going to punish you for that.

Yes please.

Anyway, check in with me in a couple of hours.

Will do. When are you going to be in Belgrade?

Have some loose ends to tie up with the pride here, but I should get there a day or two after you. Probably Thursday. Just in time for a little weekend loving.

Loose ends? You’ve been avoiding talking to them haven’t you?

I’ve talked to them. I’ve agreed to stay with the pride until you arrive in Serbia. Then I’m leaving.

She sighed at that, and didn’t answer. She still wasn’t really sure he’d actually be able to see her, even if he flew to Belgrade. Still, it was nice to imagine that he would find a way.

She put the phone away and saw that most of the other Potentials were absorbed in their own phones. Everyone else had a satellite enabled device, it seemed. That could be expected, she supposed, since most of their crews lived out in the boonies like her own pride.

“Can I borrow your phone?” Katelyn asked Ariel sheepishly. Okay, so not everyone had a sat-phone.

Ariel nodded, and showed her how to set up the area code to text Philip’s number.

“What are you, Hugh?” Brian said. “Hey, that rhymes. You Hugh. But poetics aside, are you a shifter, or a witch, or what?”

Hugh folded his arms, accentuating his big biceps. “I’m human.”

“That’s it?” Brian said. “So you’re like his personal assistant? Personal trainer?”

“Something like that,” Hugh said.

“He’s my Keeper,” Mathis said.

“Keeper?” the wolf shifter asked.

“Essentially my bodyguard,” Mathis said. “You’ll learn all about them during your training. Basically, when a witch graduates and is assigned to live among the humans, he or she is given a Keeper. They watch us, and protect us from dangers we can’t see. You may not realize this now, but even high level witches aren’t all-seeing and all-powerful. All it takes is a well-placed bullet to kill a witch. With the proper Keeper, that bullet will never leave the gun.”

“Vampire witches don’t have Keepers?” Ariel asked.

Mathis gave her a cool look. “We don’t talk about those creatures. They are a stain on our order. Those who would leave our ranks and pervert their affinities by becoming vampires are considered dead to us.”

“Was that a pun?” Brian said. “Because everyone knows vampires are dead.”

“Actually, they’re not,” James said. “One of my friends is a vampire. Not witch, of course. But a vamp.”

“What do you mean he’s not dead?” Brian said.

“Exactly that,” James said. “Blood still pumps through his veins. The only difference between him and a human is that he feeds on blood. Human, preferably. Though he has been known to dine on the occasional shifter.”

“Where does he get his blood from?” Ariel asked. “I thought killing for blood was illegal.” At least that was what Jett had told her.

“He doesn’t kill,” James said. “Like all vampires in North America, he has a steady stream of volunteers. There are sex clubs set aside specifically for vampires to meet humans and shifters.”

“Sex clubs?” Ariel said.

“Didn’t you know?” Katelyn said. “Submitting to a vampire is considered one of the most erotic experiences. They suck your blood while they make love to you... the act does something to you, makes the pleasure so much more intense.” Her irises shrunk, as if she were remembering ecstasy at the hands of a vampire. Presumably before she met her mate, Philip.

“So wait, humans go to these clubs?” Ariel said. “I thought humans didn’t know vampires live among us.”

“Sorry, I meant human witches,” James said. “Though I’m sure a few humans occasional stumble in. All of the clubs employ witches of some sort, high-ranking enough to perform any necessary mind wipes.”

The conversation fizzled out shortly after that, and Ariel pulled up a book on the ereader app she had installed on her phone. These days she liked paranormal and urban fantasy, but she also read romance and mysteries. Her current novel was about a big bad dragon who had slept for centuries on a pile of gold, and had his rest rudely interrupted by a woman treasure hunter. He could shift into human form, like Jett, but otherwise he was nothing like the man she loved. Still, it was an enjoyable way to pass the time.

Five hours into the flight almost everyone was asleep. The lights had dimmed, and the Potentials had spread out across the spare couches to lie down.

Mathis was awake beside her. Hugh was up, too, but he was using a laptop on a different couch on the far side of the cabin.

“I could never sleep on a plane,” Ariel said, looking up from her ebook. “Something about trying to catch some Zs while sitting never really works for me.”

“You want to try the bedroom?” Mathis said. “No one has claimed it yet.”

“Hmm,” Ariel said. “That’s an interesting idea. I might take you up on that offer when I feel tired enough.”

She waited for him to say more, but the witch was a man of few words. Ariel hadn’t really gotten to know him in the preceding days. Maybe it was time to change that.

“How did you become a witch?” she asked him.

“Same way as you,” Mathis said. “I was discovered by a tester.”

“So it has to work different with normal humans,” Ariel said. “The testers can’t just go into cities and towns and round up the people for testing. That would ruin the whole under-the-radar thing you Wayfarers have going for you.”

“No you’re right,” Mathis said. “A little over two hundred years ago I was found by a Wayfarer in Scotland. I was a prince of my clan, and traveled to Venice to learn the trade of glassblowing. My works were renown, treasured by nobles across Europe. I didn’t know it at the time, but I tapped into the Strength and employed Weaves while I worked, imbuing my glass works with a little bit of magic. A Wayfarer bought one of my works in a faraway country, and sensed the Strength imprint I had left in the glass, then tracked me down.”

“But I thought humans had to touch dragon bone to siphon?” Ariel asked.

Mathis nodded. “There was an heirloom passed down to me when I came of age.” He held up his finger, indicating one of his bone rings. It contained a bright blue ruby in the center. “I didn’t know it was made of dragon bone, of course. Not until the Wayfarer showed up at my clan and took me away under the cover of darkness.” He shook his head.

“It must have been hard to leave your clan,” Ariel said. “Especially if you were a prince.”

“The first year was hard, very hard,” Mathis admitted. “But it was also the best year of my life. The camaraderie, the learning… there was a certain other apprentice whom I bonded with immediately. A dragon shifter, from Midnight in fact.”

“A dragon shifter?” Ariel said. “What was her name?”

“You’re assuming it was a her,” Mathis said.

“Well, wasn’t it?” Ariel said.

Mathis smiled, his eyes looking distant as he vanished into his memories. “Yes. She was so beautiful, that first time I saw her. And every day thereafter. It was like someone had taken the rays of the sun and sculpted them into a living and breathing person with hair of gold and eyes of fire. I was smitten.”

“Sounds like she was a huge distraction,” Ariel said.

He laughed, sounding sad. “That’s one of the reasons the first year was so hard. But I’d never take back those memories. Never.”

Ariel considered everything he had told her. “Is that why you stopped to look back one last time when we were boarding the jet? To stare out across the open hangar, toward Midnight? Wishing a silent farewell to the dragon you left behind all those years ago?”

Mathis looked at her a moment, and she thought he was going to say something, but then he looked away.

Ariel wanted to press him further, but it was obvious their relationship hadn’t ended well. So instead she decided to change the subject.

“So you never really did answer my original question,” Ariel said. “The Wayfarers found you because of the ring, but how do they normally find humans who don’t have dragon bone heirlooms?”

“There are a few ways,” Mathis said, clearly relieved by the subject change. “If someone is exceptionally bright or talented, the top of their field, there is a good chance they are Potentials. We have testers who specialize in humans. They’ll arrange a meeting with one of these candidates, come up with an excuse to have them wear the testing device, and then it’s done. We also set up events at exhibitions and fairs, under the guise of ‘aura reading.’ We usually snag at least two or three a year that way.”

“Jett told me the Orions also search for witches among the humans,” Jett said.

“They do,” Mathis told her. “The hunters use similar methods, going after the best and brightest. Sometimes they’ll set up a watch on a given person, and when the Wayfarer comes to test them, they’ll attempt to capture both. The hunters have special compulsion collars they give to captured witches, similar to what the dragons of Midnight use on their vampire slaves. Those collars only work on the youngest witches: if I was captured, they wouldn’t bother with a collar, they’d just execute me.”

“What about Hugh?” Ariel asked.

“If I was captured, he’d already be dead,” Mathis said.

“The hunters sound like such a friendly bunch,” Ariel said. “Do they know about the Steel Tower?”

“Of course they do,” Mathis said. “But just like Midnight and the other big dragon dens and vampire covens, they wouldn’t dare attack. You’ll understand why when we arrive. Let’s just say, there are more than a few defenses.”

That didn’t bode well for Jett intending to visit her every weekend…

“What’s going to happen to us when we reach the Tower?” she said.

“You’ll be assigned rooms and begin your training,” Mathis said.

“Will we dorm with human Potentials?” Ariel asked.

“So many questions,” Mathis said, sounding exasperated.

Ariel had to smile. “That’s what Jett always tells me. I guess I just like to know what I’m getting myself into.”

“You’ll dorm with everyone,” Mathis said. “Lions. Wolves. Bears. Humans. We make no distinctions. The moment you set foot in the Tower, you all become apprentice witches to us. Men and women have separate dorms, however. We do have some rules...”

“I guess it would be bad if an apprentice got pregnant...” Ariel said.

“Very much so.”

“What happens?” Ariel asked.

“What, if an apprentice gets pregnant?” Mathis said. “They’re relocated to Belgrade until their pregnancy is done. And until they find an appropriate nursery to care for the child in their absence. If their pregnancy is because they slept with another member of the Tower, both of them are reprimanded of course.”

“So having relationships with other apprentices is a no-no?” Ariel asked.

“Not really,” Mathis said. “But getting pregnant by another apprentice is.”

“Strange rules,” Ariel said. “But I guess you witches have had a bit of time to come up with them.”

“Just a little bit,” Mathis replied. “After four hundred years of training apprentices, you tend to collect a few rules. Some perhaps odder than the rest.”

On schedule, nine hours later the private jet landed at the Belgrade Nikola Tesla airport and taxied to the FBO provider: Euro Jet, the sign proclaimed in big bright letters.

Ariel sent Jett a quick text to let him know she’d landed.

“We’ve prepared passports for all of you,” Mathis said.

Hugh handed out the passports. When Ariel got hers, she opened up to the photo page. Her mug shot stared back at her against a white background.

“When did you take this picture?” Ariel asked.

“Didn’t have to,” Mathis said. “You forget, I’m a witch.”

“He came into the room I shared with Ked while we slept in one of the motels,” James said. “He thought I was sleeping, but I watched him hold his phone in front of my face. He took a picture from the front and the side. My guess is he was creating a 3D model of our faces. I’ve seen apps that work similarly.”

“So nothing magic about it after all,” Brian said.

“Hey,” Mathis said with a shrug. “We witches are practical people. Why expend energy on magic when technology will do?”

After the jet entered the private hangar, a Serbian customs agent dressed in a black suit and tie came aboard and stamped their passports.

“Welcome to Serbia,” the agent said in accented English after stamping Ariel’s passport.

When the agent was gone, Ariel deplaned with the others. An attendant was waiting for them with their luggage piled onto a cart, and Ariel collected her backpack from the man.

Outside the hangar, they crammed into an SUV, this one a bright red and made by a company called Skoda. Ariel, Katelyn, Michelle and Tina took the middle seats. The rear cargo compartment obviously hadn’t been designed to fit passengers, and James, Ked and Brian were forced to sit with their knees jammed right up against the seat backs of the middle row. Ariel kind of felt sorry for them, until they started repeatedly kicking the middle seats that is. A scolding from Katelyn set them straight.

Hugh took the driver’s seat of course, and Mathis rode shotgun.

In moments Hugh was driving them out of the airport and onto the main road to Belgrade.