CHAPTER FIVE
The scenery during the travel was beautiful, but Simon Alison was having a hard time enjoying it at the moment. Firstly, there was the fact that despite Isaac being no longer their enemy, this still wasn’t friendly territory to begin with, and every precaution was needed if he was to protect Robin at all costs.
Accompany her, he corrected.
Secondly, there was the fairy, whom he still couldn’t figure out even while he tried to. She surprised him by not being the breathtakingly gorgeous being he was expecting, but there was an energy about her that was addictive. He found he couldn’t tear his gaze away, even while his mind rebelled and told him she still couldn’t be trusted.
Thirdly, Robin was making her uncomfortable.
Her animosity with the fairy had only escalated since they got there, and while she was doing a good job of hiding it from the others, he knew her enough to know she would probably attack the fairy if given the chance. It was irrational, and he wondered if it was the same energy he was feeling from this Roxie woman that was making Robin react contrastingly to his own reaction. He wanted to ask, but he doubted they could talk freely in front of the other two.
Last but not least, Isaac was making him uncomfortable, too. The Isaac Hart he knew was ruthless and calculated, and helping anyone outside the clan just wasn’t his style. If there was an agenda somewhere here, then Simon didn’t get the memo, not from Dylan or anyone else.
Isaac and Roxie weren’t talking to each other, that much was clear. Whatever politeness they had back in the main hall when they discussed the travel plan was gone as they deliberately stood far apart from each other. They had just entered the city of Rio de Janeiro, but Roxie said the place she wanted to access wasn’t made available until a certain time at dawn, which meant they had to wait it out.
Now that was puzzling.
But Isaac didn’t question it—another oddity—as he booked an acquaintance’s apartment unit for the night and ordered them all to rest up. He then went ahead and got into the biggest room, closing the door and not coming out well into the night.
Simon looked at Roxie, who looked back at him. Then Robin was pulling him towards the third available room, and his plan to chat with the fairy to feel things out disappeared as soon as he stared at the mid-sized bed.
His cheeks colored. “Uh…I could stay on the couch—”
“Quiet,” Robin hissed. Then to his surprise, sparks kept coming out of her hands, red and gold that surrounded the bed as she muttered under her breath. He then got pulled in the bed, and he colored further as she stared at him with those solemn green eyes.
“Um. Robin? I don’t know what’s going on…”
“Something’s not right,” she said to him. “And I know you can sense it, too. Now talk. I’ve protected the bed from prying ears.”
He raised his brows. “Just the bed?”
Robin shot him a look. “I’m conserving my energy.”
Oh. “Well, yes. Something’s not right. What do you propose?”
“I propose we get out of here as fast as we can.”
He blinked. “No, we can’t. We’re on a mission. You are. I’m just your guard.”
“My companion,” she corrected. “I can defend myself.”
He highly doubted she could beyond her spells, but he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he asked, “What do you think of the whole thing?”
“I think Isaac has gone bonkers and it’s freaking me out.”
Well, at least they agreed on that. “And Roxie?”
Robin scowled. “I wouldn’t trust her to save my life.”
“She seems nice enough.”
“And so do all other fairies,” she pointed out. “Until they drop the act and curse you for life.”
“They can do that?”
“Yeah.” She sighed. Then Robin began to explain fairy details she knew that had Simon shuddering as she painted a vivid picture of violence and death games. It definitely wasn’t the fairies he read about in books, and it was all the more fascinating. Fairies, apparently, weren’t really believed to be true in this world, and only a few people like Robin’s witch mentor had seen them in person.
“Don’t you think everything is just too suspicious?” Robin prodded. “Isaac acting odd and leaving his precious clan? Dylan not telling us anything about this mission?”
Simon nodded. “It’s odd, yes. But it’s our mission, and backing out would mean failure. How about we just protect each other and see what happens?”
She looked absolutely reluctant but finally agreed. He couldn’t really blame her, because as a witch, she didn’t exactly fall under shifter clan jurisdiction to be loyal and all that—she was only lent to them for the time being to get trained and used to do missions while helping Dylan out, who was an ally of her witch mentor—the infamous witch named Red.
“Fine,” she said. Then she looked at him oddly. “You don’t need to sleep on the couch, you know. The bed is big enough for the both of us. I won’t bite.”
Now that made Simon nervous. Sleep with a…girl in the same bed? He stared at Robin, who looked dead serious as she removed the spell and patted the space beside her.
He gulped. Then he realized he was putting too much thought into things and should just think of her as a colleague. He slipped in bed as carefully as he could, waiting for her to do the same and trying not to smell her. She always smelled like lemons, and he’d grown pretty fond of it.
A few minutes later, he could feel her steady breathing and knew she was asleep. He stared at the ceiling for a while, feeling out his surroundings and sensing nothing but silence.
Then he closed his eyes with the hopes of a power nap.
*****
They woke up at three in the morning to prepare for the rest of the journey. Roxie led the way, and soon they found themselves in a forest area similar to the one at Isaac’s, except the trees were more brown than green. They stood at a clearing in the middle, where the fairy looked at Robin and asked her to open the portal.
“Where?” Robin asked. She was visibly less antagonistic towards the other woman since her and Simon’s talk.
Roxie pointed towards the center, and Robin stepped forward and began using her witch magic to create a portal. Simon knew portals weren’t easily created and took time, and not all witches could make them. It only proved that Robin, at sixteen, was already powerful in her own right. Simon was pretty sure she was going to be the witches’ ace in no time—a force to be reckoned with, so to speak.
She kept chanting while kneeling down, using powders and stuff that looked unfamiliar. The same gold and red sparks in the bed last night filled the area she was touching now, and soon she closed her eyes.
Isaac watched on blankly, while Roxie watched on curiously. They both seemed to be noting down what was happening in their own way, and Simon found his attention divided between Robin and them.
A gasp came from Robin, and she doubled over. Simon’s shoulders tensed and he took a step forward towards her, but Isaac’s hand shot out to grab his arm. The clan leader shook his head, and they both waited until Robin crawled back to a kneeling position. All of Simon’s protective instincts went on alert.
Then fascination followed as a white glow appeared—small at first before it finally grew big enough to fit even the tallest in their group. Robin stepped back and heaved a sigh, and Simon removed his arm from Isaac’s grasp to hold on to her shoulders and back her away.
Roxie looked at the two of them before stepping forward. She held out a hand, where a nail grew into a talon. She sliced her wrist and blood flowed out. She let it drip on the portal, turning it brighter and bluer.
She then turned to Isaac. “We can’t take them with us.”
Isaac’s eyes narrowed, while Simon and Robin glanced at each other.
“Why not?” Isaac asked, his voice going dangerously low.
“Because the Winter Court is a deadly place, and I don’t want the possible death of two teenagers on my conscience,” she replied firmly.
Simon opened his mouth to protest, but Robin pinched him on the back. He clamped his mouth shut and waited for Isaac to defend them.
But to his surprise, Isaac nodded. “Then we go alone. Simon, Robin, your mission’s done.”
What? Just like that?
Simon blinked. But before he could comment, Roxie was already stepping inside the portal and disappearing from sight. Isaac looked at the two of them. “Go home. Tell Masters that your mission was successful. Robin, please close the portal after I’m gone.”
Then he stepped in, too. A few seconds later, Robin lifted her hand and chanted some more, while Simon held onto her and watched as the portal grew smaller until it finally disappeared.
Now he knew something really was wrong because there had been a flicker of resignation in Isaac’s eyes.