“I’ve seen a horsefly; I’ve seen a dragonfly; I’ve even seen housefly, but I ain’t never seen an elephant fly. For some reason I don’t think this possibility is so farfetched, not any more. In fact at this point an elephant flying would be the most uneventful sight in my day.” ~Lilly
“Bloody hell,” Jacque whispered as her breath caught in her chest.
Jen threw her arm up in the air letting out a loud huff, “Just when you think you’ve heard it all. Next you’re going to tell us you carried his love child and that’s why he ran off into a god forsaken forest so that Vasile wouldn’t rip the jewels off.”
Alina shook her head and said just as serious as ever. “No, no love child.”
“Good to know,” Cynthia added.
The wolf continued to stare Alina down and just when they had begun to think that he was going to become a permanent fixture to their view of the dark forest, he turned and ran off into the dark until the shadows swallowed him up.
As soon as he was gone Alina visibly wilted as she fell to her knees. Her face was pale and her breathing sporadic. She didn’t know how it was possible. She may not have been alive during the battle between the fae and Volcan but she had been told the history behind it. She had read the archives and Vasile had told her of his brother’s sacrifice. Vasile had been so very young then but he remembered the pack having a funeral for the ones who didn’t return. He remembered what it was like to lose a sibling and it had left a hole inside of him.
“So what does this mean?” Cynthia asked.
“I don’t know,” Alina admitted.
“Is this the rest of the dirty little secret that you didn’t want to talk about when you and Elle were telling us about how the dark forest came to be?” Sally asked.
“It isn’t my story to tell, but under the circumstances, it is necessary that I tell you what I know.” Alina rolled off her knees to her bottom and folded her legs. She paused briefly and closed her eyes as a stab of pain pierced her stomach. It was getting worse and she knew that soon there would be no bond left. When she finally felt she could speak without her voice shaking, she began.
The restlessness that was a constant hum in the Romanian mansion was beginning to be fire in Vasile’s blood and with the added pain of the loss of the mate bond, his control was slipping. He was at a loss as to what to do. He had no leads to follow, no past to learn from, and no scent to follow. For the first time in his long life, he was beginning to fear that he would never see his mate again. And should the bond be broken between them completely, he would never know if she was alive or not. There was a knock on his office door and he snarled before saying, “Enter.”
A very frazzled looking Costin stood in his door. The dark circles under his eyes confirmed that he had not been getting any more rest than anyone else. His clenched teeth and tight jaw were a dead giveaway that he was in pain.
“You need to come.” His breathing was heavy as if he had been running and a sheen of sweat had developed on his forehead.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s Decebel.”
Vasile growled but was running before Costin could get anymore words out. He motioned for Costin to show him where his Alpha was and easily kept pace with the younger wolf. As they rounded the corner he realized that Costin was taking him to Decebel’s room. Vasile came to a quick halt when he reached it and saw that it was hanging on the hinges by a thread and it swung precariously by them. Vasile looked at Costin, “You should go.” He didn’t have to tell Costin twice.
As he stepped into the room he took in the damage and imagined that it was what the room would look like if a tornado came in and stayed for a few hours. The curtains had been shredded and hung in sad looking strips in front of the window. Every now and then a breeze would hit and they would flutter, allowing glimpses of the night. The dresser had been knocked on its side and the drawers had come crashing out of it, clothes poured out onto the floor. Like the curtains, the bedspread and sheets had been torn and it was obvious that claws had been the method of choice. He could see through the smashed bathroom door and that the mirror on the wall was shattered and it made him think of Decebel’s soul. Was it shattered like the mirror? Vasile didn’t know the answer to that question yet.
He heard rustling in the closet. As he stepped into the doorway he was not surprised to see Decebel shredding clothes. He seemed to feel the need to rip and tear. Maybe it was a substitute for the flesh he, no doubt, wanted beneath his claws and fangs.
“Decebel stop.” Vasile was no longer his Alpha, but he was still more powerful and though he didn’t like to use it on his longtime friend, he would if it meant protecting him, even from himself. Decebel’s hands froze and his back stiffened at the command. He growled low and the rumble in his chest shook the clothes around him. “I am not your enemy,” Vasile spoke calmly but firmly. “Stop this madness and come talk to me.”
It was several minutes, growls, snarls, and choice cuss words later that Decebel at last followed Vasile into the room. Neither of them sat, nor did they acknowledge the destruction around them.
“Tell me what’s going on Decebel; trust me as you once did,” Vasile told his former Beta. He watched as Decebel began to pace the room restlessly. His face was laced with the obvious pain that he had been feeling for weeks, if not longer. His eyes flashed back and forth from wolf to human and his lack of control had finally reared its ugly head and game bursting out in a fit of rage he could no longer contain.
“I will never see my mate again,” Decebel said with a clenched jaw. “I will never hold her hand, I will never kiss her, I will never make love to her, I will never hear her boss me around ever again.” Anger mixed with intense pain filled his voice and Vasile ached deeply for him.
“We will get them back Decebel; you have to believe that. We will get them back and we will destroy the one who took them from us.”
Decebel was shaking his head as Vasile spoke. There may have been truth in his statement, but not for Decebel. It did not apply to him.
“I petitioned the Great Luna,” he finally bit out.
Vasile tensed as he took in this information. There could be only one reason Decebel would do such a thing.
“I take it Jen doesn’t know,” he asked calmly.
Decebel shook his head.
“Is this why you sent her away with such ease?”
Decebel snarled and turned to face Vasile. He fell down into a crouch, eyes glowing, canines extended, sharp as knives. “If you think that I did it with such ease then you do not know me at all. Putting her on that plane went against everything, every fiber of my being. There isn’t a second that goes by that I don’t think about her flying off in that plane and feeling my soul rip apart all over again. Every breath without her is like a knife ripping through my lungs. Every beat of my heart screams to have her back. My wolf has nearly taken control several times and I don’t know how much longer I can fight him. If she stayed with me, she would be safe at my side now instead of in the clutches of a mad man. That knowledge eats away at me like the decay of death.” Vasile remained standing across the room staring at Decebel, meeting his eyes but not allowing his own wolf to rise to the challenge that presented itself before him now. “Alina had told me, before the bond was lost, that Jen was experiencing severe pain. Pain that is greater than that of being separated from you should be. Why?” He waited patiently as he watched Decebel attempt to gather himself.
Decebel took several deep breaths and closed his eyes. Not the enemy, he told himself. He knew that Vasile was not the one who should be enduring his wrath, not when the circumstances were all of his own making. He was the one who made the decision to petition the Great Luna. He was the one who sought out Cynthia to block his mind from his mate. He was the one who pushed her across the globe so that their bond would die. So that he could die and she and their daughter could live. This was his fault and no one else’s.
“The Great Luna is destroying the bond between us so that when I die, Jennifer will live. The distance was supposed to make it happen more quickly. She said it would be painful, but I don’t think either of us realized how tight our bond was.”
Vasile let out a derisive snort. “You could have asked me; I would have gladly told you what a fool you were for even thinking of attempting to destroy your bond with your mate― your pregnant mate.” The last part was said slowly and firmly letting Decebel know just how stupid Vasile thought his actions were. And they were stupid.
“What would you do Vasile?” Decebel stood up from his crouch and ran his hands through his hair. He had not bothered to cut it since Jennifer had left and it was longer than it had been in a while. He knew she would like it and probably make some crack about being able to grab onto it. He nearly smiled at the thought. “If you didn’t have a clue how to save your child, what would you do? And now she has been taken. I won’t be there for the birth of my baby girl, and as soon as she is brought into this world I will be taken out. I won’t be able to tell my love goodbye. I won’t,” he had to stop to regain his composure before he broke down. “I won’t be there while she is in labor, scared and in pain. I should be there!” He pounded his chest as his words reverberated in the room. “Me, Vasile, her mate, I should be the one who tells her she is doing great. I should be the one who wipes the sweat from her skin and kisses her, even though she is cussing me. I should be there and because of my choices she will do it all alone.”
Vasile hated to kick him while he was down, but sometimes you need to hear the truth, even if it hurt. “I understand your reasoning, Decebel, probably even more than you do because I have a child. I know exactly what it means to love truly unconditionally with every fiber of your being. But when you took Jen as your mate, you took her as your partner, your equal. How would you feel if she made such a drastic decision without your knowledge? How betrayed would you feel?”
“I KNOW!” he yelled. “I know how I would feel, but the fact is, if I had told her, she would have tried to stop me.”
Vasile nodded. “And she would have been right to try. You belong to her. She expects you to make decisions with her not for her. I’m not saying it would be easy, but there might have been a compromise reached. It’s too late to know what could have been. What’s done is done. Now we just do everything in our power to get her back before she goes into labor.” Vasile walked over to one of the chairs that seemed to have taken the least amount of abuse and sat down. There was none of the grace he usually wore like a second skin. Exhaustion was written in every line on his face and in the slow movements in his limbs. “I know that you think you are doing the right thing, and maybe you are. Honestly Decebel I don’t know what the right thing is. All I know is that what you are doing is destroying the woman you love and once she gives birth to your child and she realizes that you are dead…that you sacrificed yourself without telling her, she might just kill herself so she can come kick your ass.”
Decebel sat down equally as gracelessly across from the Alpha. “I know she won’t take it well, but how much more painful will it be to hold our child that has no life? Vasile,” Decebel clenched his fists and pounded them into his thighs. “I didn’t know what else to do! I’m supposed to protect her. I’m supposed to bring her happiness. I’m supposed to keep out the dark things. And I’ve failed her, not just once, but many times.” He held Vasile’s gaze for several breaths and then dropped his head forward. For so long, he had been fighting the tears, fighting the pain, fighting the despair, and he was growing so tired. His wolf was growing stronger with every breath and he feared that once his wolf had control, he would destroy the world to get their mate back. “I don’t know what to do.” The words stumbled out through ragged breaths and he squeezed his eyes closed as he gave in to the utter truth of his declaration. As his bond with Jennifer weakened, he had been growing more and more agitated and the darkness gained more and more ground every day. He could no longer feel her at all, not even when he reached out as hard as he could. What was left of their bond was fragile, and he knew it could break and be gone at any moment.
“We’re going to fix this, Decebel. You aren’t alone and I wish that you would have come to me. We will always be pack no matter what. Do not let it happen again.” Vasile’s words pulsated with power as he reminded Decebel that he had claimed him like a son long ago and he would always belong to him.
Decebel nodded. After several minutes he looked back up. “So what now?”
Just as the question was out, Perizada walked through the door holding a piece of paper. She surveyed the room around her and then looked at Decebel. “If I were you, instead of life insurance, I would invest in counseling. Lots and lots of counseling.”
“Peri," Vasile called her name attempting to pull her attention from Decebel and perhaps save her life in the process.
Peri nodded and then held the paper up, “We found this piece of paper at the front doors, on the floor. It is a riddle from dear old Reyaz. And personally I would just like to point out how pissed I am that he got that close to this house and none of us knew it.”
Decebel was up so fast and snatching the paper from her hands that she had barely enough time to back up to keep from being knocked on her butt by the massive man.
“How many times do I have to remind them who I am,” she mumbled, then took a deep breath and let it out slow. “Think happy thoughts Peri,” she told herself, then added, “If you can’t think happy thoughts then picture wolves with their mouths duck taped closed.” She grinned to herself; she felt that idea actually had potential.
Decebel read the piece of paper rapidly ten times before finally reading it out loud.
“You are cordially invited to a hunt in honor of my brother’s mating. This is like no other hunt you have ever been a part of, nor will it end the way any other hunt has. You will have timed tasks you must complete in order to capture your prize and move forward. Two prizes will accompany each task, but only one may be claimed. Your first task is to find out where the hunt begins. I will be kind and give you a clue to set you on your way:
I am home to many; they are held deep in my embrace,
I have a history of greatness, treachery, and demise,
For many years my land has seen two faces but only one soul,
To know me is impossible, unless the wall is destroyed.
I’m feeling generous due to my good fortune in my own hunt, so I will give you two days to figure out the location and arrive there. I would advise you to not be late."
~R
The room was completely still when Decebel finished reading, as if a spell had been cast, freezing them in place. Shock, disbelief, frustration, and anger became tangible emotions in the air ready to latch onto the first person who came near enough.
Peri was the first to move. She began rapidly pacing and muttering under her breath, over and over again, the riddle Reyaz had given. There was something about it that made her think she knew exactly where he had the females, but every time she reached for it, the thought vanished like a puff of smoke dissipating. “Vasile,” she snapped, “gathering hall, now.” She left the destroyed room at an inhuman pace not worried about having just given an Alpha an order and not wondering if he would follow it. As she entered the gathering room she wasn’t surprised to see that it was full of their allies. Wadim had been with her when she found the paper and he had taken it upon himself to get everyone into one place. Smart wolf, she thought as she hurried into the room with a grace that only a high fae could manage.
Once at the front of the room she turned and faced the group. The murmuring that had been steady when she walked in had now stopped as all eyes were on her. She met many of their eyes, holding them only for a few seconds before moving on to the next. She didn’t speak; she wouldn’t until Vasile and Decebel arrived.
A couple of minutes later the two Alpha’s came through the door and the power radiating off of them caused the wolves in the room to stumble, while the others seemed to shrink back from the two men. Normally Peri would have considered it a power play, but not now. Now they were just both that close to losing it and their power was coming out of them like a leaking fuel tank. Heaven help the ones caught standing too close when a flame finally meets the fuel. She noticed Decebel’s blank face and tense shoulders, and she was reminded of the Decebel she knew before he had mated with Jen. The sight sent a chill up her spine.
“Have you told them?” Vasile asked Peri as he reached the front of the room.
“No,” she answered curtly. He nodded and then turned around.
“Reyaz has made contact with us. He left a note and instead of explaining it, Decebel will read it so you can hear it for yourselves.” Vasile nodded to Decebel. In a voice as emotionless as the man who used it, he read the contents of the piece of paper. Just like before, after Decebel was done, the room was in complete silence.
Cypher stepped forward and looked at Vasile and then Decebel. “I must apologize that you are involved in this, and that your females are in danger. It is my fault and I will do anything I can to get them back.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Peri’s voice rang out into the silence, “did you put a gun to your brother’s head and tell him to be a psycho? Did you threaten to cut off appendages unless he chose to allow his bitterness to eat him until all that was left was a decaying soul wrapped in malice?” she didn’t give him time to respond before she continued, “No, you didn’t. You just had the misfortune of being related to him and that is not a crime. If you feel the need to apologize, then apologize for wasting your breath and then making me waste mine in order to tell you to make yourself useful and figure out what this bloody riddle means.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Cypher said with a slight smile as he gave her a small bow and then stepped back to his original place.
Peri crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked out at the males daring any of them to say something stupid so she could tear into them.
“As you’ve heard we have a very limited window to figure out where this so called hunt will be and get there. I’m asking for each of us here to look into your respective race’s history. The tiniest detail could be the break we need,” Vasile said. He turned then and caught Alston’s eyes. “I would ask something of you.”
“We are at your service.”
“Could you please transport those who need to travel so that we aren’t wasting time moving from place to place?”
Alston nodded. “You didn’t have to ask, that was a given.”
Vasile gave the fae a look that told him just how much that meant to him.
“Okay, enough with all the 'we’re united; hear us roar' crap. We’ve got stuff to do. History boy, you’re with me,” she pointed to the right of Wadim, “you too dimple boy,” she told Costin.
The room began to fill with the noises of feet shuffling, murmurs, and then the door opening and closing as people made their way out, until all that was left were the wolves and Cypher.
“Do you have a plan?” Decebel asked Peri.
“Not really, but I figure if I act like I do, then one will suddenly appear.”
“Well what’s the not really part?” Fane asked.
“I’m going to find the pixie king. Perhaps he can remember something from our long past that I’ve missed. I have a feeling that wherever this place is, it is very old. I suggest you go back and find the troll king as well and share the riddle with Thead. He can be trusted and he will want Reyaz destroyed just as much as we do.” She pointed at Adam as she continued to speak in her brisk manner.
“Skender, Fane, Sorin, you three will go to the troll king,” Vasile interrupted, pointing to each of them and receiving nods in return.
“Adam can find the entrance to their land for you,” Peri told them.
“The rest can come with me,” Cypher spoke up, “we have extensive archives and some very long memories.”
Adam motioned to Cypher, “I can take them first and then we will go to the trolls.”
“We will meet back here in twelve hours to find out what progress has been made,” Vasile told them.
“Can I ask why you chose us?” Costin asked as he regained his bearings from being flashed.
Peri rolled her eyes. “Don’t get all giddy wolf. I chose you two because I tolerate you better than the others. In other words, I’m least likely to make a rug out of you.”
“Comforting,” Wadim said dryly.
“All right, less chit chat and more walking.” Peri took off in a run.
Costin watched after her. “She calls that walking?”
Wadim chuckled. “She calls us walking handbags.”
“They don’t make handbags out of wolf pelts,” Costin pointed out.
“Yeah, I said the same thing. She said there’s a first time for everything.”
They both shrugged and then followed after the fae, putting on as much speed as they could. After half an hour they finally stopped. Wadim and Costin both were slightly winded which was evidence of just how fast they had been running, since wolves rarely got winded.
“Can I just ask why you aren’t doing your flashy thing?” Wadim asked.
“Good grief, were you too just let out of the puppy pen yesterday?” Peri huffed, “Magic, we aren’t the only ones with it. The pixie king is powerful and he doesn’t want fae flashing willy nilly around his land.”
“Okay, wait,” Costin held up his hand, “this is the same pixie that turned us over to Desdemona and put us in the In-Between? Why exactly are we seeking out his help instead of having him as an appetizer to the rabbit I’m going to catch for dinner?”
“Ainsel made a poor decision, but he made it out of a need to protect his people. That doesn’t make it right, but it doesn’t make him evil either. Vasile chose to spare him, and by doing so, gained a powerful ally. You have to realize that there will always be war, and it is a wise leader who picks his battles, and if he can, his enemy as well.”
Costin looked at her thoughtfully and though he understood what she was saying, it did not endear him to the pixie.
“Ainsel, we need to speak with you. Please do not waste my time; I am in no mood to play your games,” Peri yelled out into the forest.
Slowly one by one pixies began to emerge from the surrounding trees and foliage. Costin couldn’t help the way his muscles tensed when he saw the king. He watched silently as Peri knelt down in front of the small being.
“Dark times have fallen over us again, and we need your help,” she told them in a voice that Costin had rarely heard her use.
Ainsel glanced from Wadim to Costin and then back to Peri. “This request comes from Vasile?”
Peri nodded. “His females, as well as the Warlock King’s mate, have been captured by Reyaz.”
Ainsel’s eyes widened. He knew all about Cypher’s brother and had heard the whispers of the evil that had begun to gather around the mountain he had called home for so long.
“What could we possibly do against one such as him? We may have magic, but we would be no match for him.”
“We aren’t asking for you to fight,” Peri explained. “We need you to think,” Ainsel’s head tilted to the side at the odd request. Peri explained to him all about the riddle and then waited silently for his response.
“And you only have two days to figure this out?” he asked her.
“The clock is ticking,” Costin said and tried to keep the growl out of his voice. He must not have succeeded because Peri turned and gave him a look that said she would cause him bodily harm if he didn’t shut up.
“I will do what I can to help, Perizada. I owe the wolves that much if not more.”
Peri clapped her hands together. “Great! Okay, so do we need to go to your archives?”
“Would we even fit?” Wadim asked from behind Peri.
Ainsel didn’t seem to be offended by the question and answered, “We don’t keep our history on paper. Some of our kind are blessed with the ability to hold great amounts of information and they bare the history of our people.”
“They remember all of it?” Wadim’s tone said he was impressed.
Ainsel nodded. “I will bring them here. Because no, you wouldn’t fit in my kingdom,” he told Wadim with a small smile.
The pixies disappeared into the forest silently leaving Peri and the two wolves.
“So I’ve been running the riddle through my head over and over and the first line I think is actually pretty simple,” Wadim said as he sat down leaning his back against a large tree trunk. “'Home to many', I would think that would mean people, since he uses the reference of home.”
Peri nodded, “I’m listening,”
“Then the second part, 'held deep in my embrace', makes me think, they are in the ground.”
“A cemetery?” Costin asked.
Peri thought about it, “A cemetery might work for the second line, but the third and fourth line don’t make sense if that’s the answer.”
“I was thinking a battlefield,” Wadim said.
Peri snapped her fingers, “'Dead bodies in the ground, many of them.' Wadim you’re brilliant!”
“You aren’t going to hug me are you?” he asked her.
Peri’s eyes narrowed, “Do I look like a hugger?”
Wadim shook his head quickly.
“So it’s a battlefield or someplace where lots of people died and their bodies stayed there until the land took them. But why would the second line say greatness, along with treachery and demise?”
“Greatness does not always equate to good,” Ainsel said as he once again came walking out of the woods. Only two other pixies were with him this time. “This is Sully and Dorri. They are the holders of the memories of our history.”
“How do we get the memories out of them?” Costin asked looking at the two female pixies curiously.
“You don’t shake them if that’s what you’re thinking,” Peri snapped.
Costin blushed slightly, revealing that it had indeed crossed his mind.
“They must choose to give them to you, and you have to ask the right question to get the memory. They don’t just give out memories like fae bread.”
Costin frowned, “Is that supposed to be significant?”
Peri groaned, “Bloody hell man, fae bread to pixies is like beer to humans. It makes them very happy little people.”
Costin nodded as he made an ‘ah’ sound in understanding.
Peri took a seat on the ground and looked at Ainsel waiting for him to give the okay to the two girls.
“It’s important that you ask specific questions. That will make it easier on them to narrow it down,” Ainsel explained.
Peri nodded, “Got it, specific. Great, I only have thousands of years to sift through.” She closed her eyes and thought about the first two lines of the riddle and how they had decided that they felt it was a battleground of some sort.
Her eyes opened and she looked at Sully. “What battlegrounds in supernatural history bore the most death?”
“Good one,” Wadim muttered his approval.
Sully walked over to Peri, her small stature barely reaching the fae’s knee. She placed her tiny hand on the skin of Peri’s hand and looked directly into the fae’s eyes.
Peri’s breath caught as images swam in her mind, first they moved so fast she could barely make any sense of them and then gradually they began to slow down until they were moving at a pace that she was able to discern what she saw. So much blood shed, so many battles and all for what, she thought to herself as the images continued to run through her mind like a movie. Gradually they slowed again until there were two that seemed to repeat themselves over and over. Then suddenly a third image showed up but it was distorted so much that she could not make out what it was. The three images repeated over and over and she repeated in her mind, the most death, hoping it would cause one of them to finally be singled out among them. And then they stopped and the only image left in her mind was of a picture that looked as though the lens of the camera had been severely out of focus when it was taken.
“Dammit!” She blew out a breath and the pixie stepped back. “Thank you,” Peri told Sully gently.
“I take it that to the fae the word dammit also means that something severely sucks.” Costin said.
Peri looked up at him with a single brow raised. “If you mean severely sucks as in the one image that seems to hold the most deaths is so blurry that all I can tell is that there might have been something resembling a place at one time, then yes the dammit holds true.”
“Why would something in your history look like that in their minds?” Wadim asked Ainsel.
“Usually when there is some sort of tampering with a memory. It’s either something someone has done to one of the holders, or there has been some sort-of spell cast over that specific memory so that though you might have been there when it happened, but you would not remember that it even occurred.”
“Why would someone try to wipe out an entire battle?” Costin thought out loud. “Part of surviving as long as we do is from learning from our past, our mistakes.”
Peri stood up and brushed off her clothes and gathered herself. “Haven’t you ever heard the saying that some things are better left forgotten?”
“Yeah, and the idiot who said it died because he forgot not to walk through the forest of his enemy where some of his friends were killed,” Wadim told her.
Peri paused and looked back at the historian. “That’s not true,” she challenged him.
He grinned. “No, but you have to admit it would be a fitting end for someone who would say something so very ignorant.”
Peri gave a noncommittal shrug but didn’t disagree, for once.
“Can you lift your magic just long enough for me to flash back, so I don’t have to wait for nerd boy and sex toy to keep up with me?”
The two wolves behind her coughed on their surprised laughter at her description of them.
Ainsel waved his hand absently. “Done,” he took a step forward when he spoke his next words, “I wish I could help more Peri,” Ainsel told her.
“Ouch,” Wadim muttered.
“Yeah, that was not a wise thing for him to say to this fae.” Costin agreed.
Peri gave the king a curious look and then a slow smile spread across her too beautiful face, “I think you can king. What would you say to action, intrigue, sword fights, pirates, betrayal, and true love?” She nodded at him as if it were the best idea she had ever come up with. “Come on, it will be just like The Princess Bride only better because I’ll be there.”
The last thing Costin and Wadim heard as Peri and the king flashed was Ainsel’s voice. “What’s The Princess Bride?”
Costin and Wadim laughed, but their laughter was cut short when suddenly Peri appeared, grabbed both their hands, and then they were gone.