Cheery tunes livened up the quiet house as Ley hummed to herself while climbing the stairs back to her room. She had a fun time with Ara, talking just about anything. It was the first time she hung out with someone other than her own people or someone who knew what she is since she avoid forming attachments to others in case she accidentally reveal her secrets. It was a breath of fresh air but she was still cautious since she's using Roma's identity and basically just lying to them.
She went to her room, planning to take a nap when her phone rang, signaling a call. She saw it was Gale on caller ID and answered the call. She was about to greet him but he talked hurriedly before she could speak.
"We have a huge problem. Anita gave us the slip," Gale bluntly said.
Ley felt her heart dropped for a moment before her mind took over, racing through all possible solutions.
"What about her scent? Did you try to trace her?" she asked while looking for her trusty sneakers to put on for running.
"It was pretty old since some time passed by already so we got nowhere with it. We loosened the reins on her since she's doing well and didn't really give us any problems. She's been following all the directions without any whining too. Did you put a tracker on her by chance?" Gale spoke with a hint of hope in his voice.
"I don't put trackers on the kids because someone's always guarding them. I only put them on adults for emergency's purposes," she denied helplessly.
The tracker he was referring to is a tattoo she does to taboos who left the reservation. It resonates with a magic compass designed to locate her markings in case they got in trouble or she decided to check in on them.
Gale was quiet on the other line presumably racking his brains for ways to get Anita back. She was grabbing her things to go out when she suddenly remembered something she ordered Siri to do days ago.
"Call Siri. Tell her to give us the locations of Anita's past houses. She's probably looking for her mom and those houses are her only clue. We'll all take one and tell Siri to bring the tranquilizer when she go too just in case she encountered Anita. Send me the location once you got the info," she ordered urgently.
Ley was pacing back and forth while waiting for the information to arrive, hoping that nothing untoward happened to Anita.
Her phone beeped and she grabbed it immediately to check where she needed to go. She hurriedly ran out of her room and headed straight toward the railings she was trying to cross over before. She was outside the property within minutes without even breaking a sweat.
Luckily, she knew the general area of the location so she won't waste time trying to figure out the direction. Not even an hour later, she arrived in a deserted area where the houses were designated to be demolished for government planned reconstruction. She walked around and kept her senses on alert for any sign.
She headed deeper inside as Anita's previous house was near the end. She almost reached the last house when she heard whimpering. She backtracked immediately and went for the back of the house where she heard the sound. What greeted her was a man in a black tattered cloak that was grabbing a struggling Anita. He was giving off the scent of a magick.
Anita was trying to use her magic but whenever she accumulate high enough power, the binding tattoo kicks in and rebounds pain instead to her. The tattoo was designed to help restrict and control her magic but it became something that harmed her instead. Ley made a mental note to modify that.
She tried to sneak quietly to help Anita but the man suddenly looked around and saw her. He immediately angled Anita away from her, gripping her around the neck with the promise of violence at Ley's movement. No choice but to act violently.
The normally invisible tattoos on Ley's arms glowed with a bright red sheen. She felt her body flooded with physical power, enhancing her shifter abilities. She jumped suddenly in their direction like an arrow sprung from a bow.
She pushed at the magick while she yanked Anita to her embrace. She blocked Anita with her body while carefully watching the magick got his bearings back. His face got revealed during the exchange and she winced at what she saw. His hair was hanging from his head in clumps with some parts missing like it has been forcefully yanked off. His eyes were sunken and out of focus, standing out of his thin pallid face.
Ley was bewildered at what she's seeing. It was the first time she saw a magick like this. She tightened her grip on Roma when she saw him raised his hands up as if he's reaching for Anita.
"Give me back the Powerful One," he spoke in a disturbing eerie voice.
Ley didn't budge and he kept repeating the words that was increasing in tone each time. She felt something weird in the surroundings like power was getting sucked into one spot. She realized that she noticed it too late. Fireballs flew towards them and Ley ran with Anita in his arms, trying to evade them.
They ducked behind a house where Ley signaled Anita to stay quiet while she peeked behind a wall to see where the creepy guy was. Of all the bad luck, they actually encountered someone powerful enough to use the elements. The tattoos on her body definitely aren't equipped to counter that. Her nails elongated and she braced herself to what would follow.
She gave herself a deep slash towards her abdomen and kept her nails buried there so that the blood won't stop flowing. Anita looked at Ley in shock while she kept herself quiet with her hands on her mouth.
Blood flowed out of her steadily which fed her magic. She felt high with power. It was like the magic would just burst out of her fingertips. In this moment, she was truly powerful at the cost of her life.
It was as if the renegade magick felt the shift in power as hurried footsteps towards their direction were heard. Ley walked out of the wall without waiting for him to reach.
"You are one of them too," the creep gasped with a maniacal gleam in his eyes as he took in Ley's appearance with her shifted hands and the breath of magic around her.
Ley took advantage of his distraction and spinning spiral of winds appeared between them. She launched them towards him at high speed. He frantically created fireballs to block them while backing away but some spirals got through and were about to hit his vitals which caused him to trip backward trying to evade.
Ley jumped at the chance and maneuvered him into a chokehold while interrogating, "Who sent you and and why do you want Anita?"
She didn't hear any useful answer. All she heard was the mutterings of a madman. Ley felt like she's about to explode from all the dead end they kept encountering and all that was left are questions on top of questions.
She casted a binding magic to incapacitate him and barred him from using his magic with the intent of interrogating him back home later but black blood suddenly oozed out of his mouth which immediately gave Ley a bad feeling.
"The new era has come," he smiled creepily while muttering. A few seconds after, his head lolled to the side lifelessly and all she could do was watch.
She comforted herself with the thought that at least they have an intact body this time.
Anita ran out of her hiding place and patted Ley's abdomen covered in blood while panickedly apologizing, "I'm sorry, Ley. I'm really sorry."
"Don't worry, it's healed already," she reassured Anita.
She texted the others to pick them up as the blood loss made her dizzy.
She faced Anita after that and asked gently, "Why did you escape?"
"I p-promised to c-celebrate my m-mom's birthday with her today. I was going to come back, Ley. I just wanted to see her," Anita explained between sobs. Her small frame shaking with emotion.
She hugged her to calm her down and didn't speak anymore. She can't even promise anything to Anita now. She's in danger like the rest of them. It felt like there's a noose slowly tightening around their necks as she recalled the words of the dead magick. Anita was being hunted for being a taboo. The moment Ley revealed she was also a taboo, the magick targeted her too and it doesn't look like he planned to kill. Why would they want taboos?
***
Ley trudged slowly back towards Landon's house. She needed to find a way to get out of staying here. They needed to make plans. Something much bigger is happening to them and she needs to make sure her kind is safe. Worst case scenario, she'll just ditch this job because she can't sneak off every time she needs to go out.
Another wave of dizziness hit from the blood loss and Ley just felt like sleeping here in the forest from the fatigue she's feeling. She was almost at the house when she felt a hit towards her neck. She internally cursed as black spots swarmed her vision, accompanying her fading consciousness.