A Midsummer Night's Scream (The Dulcie O'Neil Series Book 7) Read online

  The blurring colors on the forest floor started to delineate themselves as bushes and rocks. Pretty soon, I was moving at a comfortable jog. After my magic dissolved completely, I slowed down to a walk; but even that took too much of my energy, which was now beyond depleted. I had to stop and lean against a nearby tree as I strained to catch my breath. I suddenly worried that maybe I wasn’t alone and glanced behind me to ensure that Jax was nowhere in sight. He wasn’t.

  Heaving a sigh of relief, I could only smile with amusement as I pictured Jax’s expression of shock and surprise as soon as he turned around and discovered I was gone. Yep, I guessed it would be right about now that he was probably cursing and berating himself for not keeping a closer watch on me. Poor Jax …

  Yeah, not so much.

  Knowing that Jax was no longer my concern was very liberating. But I couldn’t celebrate it for long. Instead, my primary focus was figuring out where I was in relation to the road. An unfortunate side effect of my escape attempt was that I now had no clue if I’d put more distance between myself and the road or less. Hopefully the latter …

  Thankfully, my magic could also help me out of this predicament. After inhaling deeply, my heartbeat slowed down again to its regular pace. I stood up and took a few steps forward, craning my neck to study the canopy of tree branches overhead. I needed an open area, or a break in the trees, somewhere that I could observe the sky. I proceeded forward, but kept my eyes on the night sky as I tried to avoid tripping over all the forest litter confounding my path.

  Taking another few steps, I noticed a small clearing in the trees that suited my needs perfectly. Once I reached it, I stood still and shook my palm until I felt my dust inside my hand. Throwing the particles in an arc above me, I closed my eyes and imagined myself floating upwards. Almost immediately, I felt a lightness in my feet, which could only mean I was levitating. I opened my eyes to ascertain my position and saw my feet floating about a yard above the ground. I had to smile at my own resourcefulness.

  Impressed with my abilities or not, I needed to go higher. So, closing my eyes, I imagined my body soaring up as if I were on an invisible elevator. Immediately, the air rushed past me and I opened my eyes. I was now about halfway as high as the pine tree behind me, maybe twenty or thirty feet. A good start, but it still wouldn’t do. I closed my eyes again, wishing to go higher, and my body complied. When I opened my eyes again, I was exactly where I needed to be—at the very top of the tree. Good thing I wasn’t afraid of heights because I was floating in midair at least fifty feet above the ground.

  It was exactly as I’d intended—I had a bird’s-eye view of the forest below me. Now I’d be able to locate the nearest road. Of course, having nothing more than the moon for illumination, that task wasn’t exactly easy. The rain could now beat down on me fully too, and my vision soon grew bleary.

  I wiped the heavy drops from my eyes and face as I beheld all the pointy treetops of the endless pines. They looked like a sea of green, with no break or hint of a road. Turning to my right and then my left, neither direction offered a different view. It seemed like the trees went on for miles. As to the street Jax had referred to? There wasn’t any indication of a road anywhere nearby.

  Maybe Jax wasn’t quite the star navigator he believed he was …

  Twirling around, I still saw nothing besides the ceaseless treetops of thousands of pines. Could I have projected myself beyond the road during my escape? I shook my head, trying to figure out what went wrong. I mean, yes, I’d definitely run at least a few miles after I’d left Jax. Maybe I’d even managed to go ten or so miles in the minutes it took me to ditch Jax. But even if I had covered that much distance, I still should have been able to see a road from my current elevation.

  Just as I was about to give up hope and turn to Plan B, which I hadn’t even devised prior to this moment, I thought I detected the faint glow of lights in the far distance. Narrowing my eyes, I attempted to focus on the lights, which continued to grow in intensity.

  “Headlights,” I whispered as my heart started to swell with renewed hope. I watched the lights turning to the left and then the right as the car sped along the road, and a winding one at that. Several times, the lights were eclipsed by the trees, but only seconds later, they reappeared. I continued to follow the light with my eyes, needing to figure out which direction the car, as well as the road, ran.

  Turning slowly around, I watched the headlights weaving in a northeasterly direction. At approximately “three” on a clock, the headlights vanished completely. I had the answer I needed.

  Closing my eyes, I extended my arms out on either side of my body. I waved them upwards and imagined myself floating down to the ground. When a rush of cold air blew from beneath me, I knew my magic had dutifully complied with my wishes. Upon my descent, the sting of a tree branch snapping against my face captured my attention, and I immediately opened my eyes and pushed the offending limb out of the way. Looking down, I realized I was heading for more jutting branches. In response, I swam through the air, trying to reach the original clearing I’d found, which was maybe three air laps away. Once I was freed of the tree’s sharp branches, I closed my eyes again and coaxed myself back down.

  When my toes touched the ground, I opened my eyes, and heaved an audible sigh of relief. The rain continued to pelt me relentlessly, owing to the absence of any cover inside the clearing. I took a few long strides to my right, seeking shelter from the forest canopy again.

  Then I tried to figure out what to do next. Jax had to be headed for the same road as I was, and the last thing I wanted was to run into him. My best option was to try to hit the road at a different point than Jax would. Granted, I didn’t know where Jax was located at present, but based on how far I’d come when I escaped, I figured traveling northeast was my best bet. And of course I’d have to stay hidden beside the trees, hugging the road’s perimeter, rather than just walking down the road, itself.

  My next consideration? Timing. Factoring in the location where Jax and I had been when I split, I figured we were pretty close to the road. Maybe only a mile or so away. If Jax had continued on in the same direction, after discovering I was MIA, he could have already reached the road by now. I briefly wondered if he had a car waiting there for him, or if he intended to walk, just like I had to do. Then another grave thought crossed my mind. For all I knew, those headlights I’d spotted could have belonged to a vehicle currently in Jax’s possession.

  Or not.

  Since it was a question I couldn’t answer, I decided to ignore it for the time being. Instead, I itemized the facts I did know in order to come up with another viable plan. The only danger at this point was in reaching the road and getting up close and personal with Jax again.

  Calculating my present location, I conjectured the road at probably a good six miles away. Meaning, by the time I reached it, Jax should have already been way ahead of me, especially if he were driving. Or so I could only hope. Well, again, that depended on which direction he’d taken once he reached the road. I prayed he’d taken a left instead of a right.

  But, if Jax was driving that car, he was traveling eastward, I thought. So maybe it’s better if I hang a left on the road?

  But what if Jax took a right and he’s walking? I fired back at myself. Then you’d probably run right into him since you’d be further east than he is.

  There’s no way you’re going to know which way he went, much less if he’s walking or driving, I argued. The best thing to do is make a choice and hope for the best.

  I eventually opted to take a right. Once I hit the road and headed northeast, it didn’t matter if Jax also decided to head in that direction. I wouldn’t risk walking right into him. And if he’d gone left and headed west, all the better for me because he’d be long gone by the time I reached the road.

  Luckily I wouldn’t have to rely on my magical powers for the next step in my plan. Instead, I glanced down at my wristwatch, which also served as a compass, with the click of a
button. Pressing it, I found that if I continued walking straight ahead, I’d be heading northeast.

  “Sounds good to me,” I whispered before starting on my way again.

  An image of Knight suddenly unfolded before my eyes as I wondered what he was doing at this very moment; and if Sam had managed to reach him and inform him about my disappearance. Then again, for all Sam knew, I could be dead. Actually, that was probably exactly what she would have thought since the last time she’d seen me, I was getting sucked down into a black pit.

  The urge to reach out to Sam and Knight, just to let them know that I was still alive, suddenly overcame me. I ached to tell them I was lost in a forest somewhere, but still very much alive. But then I realized how completely impossible that was, since I had no phone. Unfortunately for me, my cell phone had met its maker when the wormhole sucked my pants right off me and with them, my mobile phone. Even if I managed to find another phone, in whatever town I might stumble upon, it wasn’t like I could just call the Netherworld. Nope. The only way to make contact with the Netherworld was through special, ANC-provided telephones.

  And Sam might not be alive anymore, Dulcie, that small voice in my head suddenly piped up. It was a thought I had to instantly banish. There was no way I would allow myself to ponder whether or not Sam was wounded, or dead. No, I had to maintain my unflagging hope. Without hope, there would be no reason to push harder. Hope was the only thing I had worth fighting for.

  But the reality of what could have been happening in Splendor weighed very heavily on me, all the same. If what Jax had said was true and Crossbones intended to lay siege to Splendor Headquarters, or if they were already in the midst of it, the safety of my friends was definitely at stake. I couldn’t imagine the potions rings giving a flying crap about Sam’s life, or Elsie’s, or anyone else’s, for that matter.

  The plan devised by Crossbones et al. to attack every portal connecting the Netherworld to Earth was a very good one, I had to admit. The ANC was too powerful a force in the Netherworld, and no one dared to come up against it, especially now, when all the heavyweights (aka Knight, Dia, and Quill, just to name a few) were residing there. Entering the back way was really the only hope in hell that Crossbones had to overtake the ANC.

  And, yes, it wouldn’t be an easy feat for Crossbones to take control of all thirteen portals, which were located inside ANC Headquarters here on Earth, but it also wasn’t a monumental task. Especially now that Crossbones was reaping the benefit of strength in numbers.

  I suddenly regretted the fact that every ANC Headquarters located on the Earthly plane also acted as a portal to the Netherworld. It hadn’t always been that way. In the past, the only means of traveling to the Netherworld from Earth was pretty complicated. First, you had to ask permission from the Netherworld ANC. If they approved your visit, and it was VERY difficult to receive their approval, the ANC would send you a strata-hopping dimensional portal in order for you to reach your destination.

  As a rule, no direct routes to the Netherworld from Earth existed. There wasn’t an airport where you could conveniently board a rocket which would allow you to hop dimensions. The few times I’d traveled to the Netherworld were simply via a “portal ripping” device which Bram had given me. The device created a portal wherever I wanted one, simply by the ripping through the air. The other times I’d visited the Netherworld were with Bram, who had his own set of tricks up his sleeve, Netherworld travel just one of them.

  Any migrations between Earth and the Netherworld were controlled by strict policies. Why? In order to maintain the balance. Otherwise, the numerous and various Netherworld creatures could overpower humans on Earth, which the human government wasn’t exactly thrilled about.

  Ever since we’d deposed my father in the Netherworld, the new world order had to be set up. And the powers that be decided to install permanent ports in all the ANC Headquarters so that the critical contributors, like Dia and Knight, could travel back and forth more easily. Naturally, every port was protected by ANC guards, and strictly enforced. However, if the potions rings outnumbered us, there was very little a handful of guards could do to maintain the safety of the ports.

  “Dammit,” I whispered after failing to notice an exposed tree root and consequently tripping over it. I was far too lost in my thoughts; I needed to pay attention to the here and now. I checked my compass watch and realized I’d veered off track slightly. Now, I was traveling more eastward than northeasterly, which was a problem.

  Come on, Dulce, you’ve gotta stay focused, I reminded myself. You can’t help anyone, or do any good, if you can’t get out of this freaking forest!

  And that was the truth. Feeling like I was reunited with my most immediate goal, I hurried my steps, skipping over the uneven terrain on the forest floor as quickly as I could. I was very careful to check my compass more regularly to make sure I stayed in the right direction.

  To my huge relief, the rain let up after another few minutes. My progress was still relatively slow, and definitely sloppy, considering how the ground was either flooded or muddy. But I knew I would see the road at some point within the next six or so miles, and that alone reassured me.

  Dulcie.

  It was Knight’s voice and I could hear it as clearly as I could hear the birds calling to one another in the trees. I immediately stopped walking and looked around, whirling in a circle to make sure I was alone. It appeared I was.

  Knight? I asked in thought, even as I wondered if maybe I was losing touch with my sanity.

  Are you all right? came his response.

  I could feel a beaming smile suddenly gripping my mouth and not letting go. Yes! I’m okay, Knight, I thought back. Are you okay? And Sam? Is Sam all right?

  When he responded, his voice started to break up, sounding like I was talking to him on my cell phone while traveling through an area with a bad signal.

  Knight? I repeated, my voice starting to sound panicked. Can you hear me?

  Yes, his voice broke through the static in my head. But you’re coming in and out. Are you okay, Dulcie? Are you hurt?

  No, I’m fine, I responded.

  Did you say you’re okay? he asked again. Your voice is breaking up.

  Yes, I’m okay, I answered, and then added after a lengthy pause. Did you hear me?

  Yes, he responded, his tone of voice sounding hurried but concerned. You need to tell me where you are, Dulcie!

  I glanced around myself and started shaking my head as I realized I had no clue where I was. I don’t know where I am!

  Are you with Jax? he asked.

  Yes, well no, I thought back. I mean, I was but I escaped. I’m by myself now.

  Tell me everything you know before we get cut off.

  I nodded, even as I realized he couldn’t see me, and tried to organize my thoughts, tried to find a good starting point to explain the whole mess of a situation. It was a wormhole which allowed Jax to escape from Headquarters, I started. It sucked me down with it too. And the whole thing was planned by Jax and his boss. So his whole thing about turning himself in to get out of the lifestyle was bullshit. And I still don’t know who he’s working for.

  None of that matters right now, Dulce, Knight interrupted. Stick to the facts that will help me find you!

  Okay. After I got sucked down the wormhole, I ended up here in this forest. And I have no idea where I am, I responded as I glanced around myself again, wishing I could come across a sign or something that might give me a better idea of just where I was.

  A forest? Knight repeated. What sort of trees are in this forest?

  Pine trees, I immediately responded. Very tall ones.

  Describe the forest for me, with as much detail as you can.

  Um, okay, the trees are so dense, it’s hard to see beyond them, but I do know there’s a road and I’m heading for it. I saw a car’s headlights on it just a few minutes ago. The road looked like it was a really winding one. Oh, and it’s raining and cold.

  Do you think you�
�re still on Earth or in the Netherworld? Knight asked.

  I’m pretty sure I’m still on the Earthly plane because I was able to use my magic to escape from Jax.

  Good. How far do you think you are from the road?

  Maybe a few miles. I’m not really sure, I answered with hesitation.

  I want you to, he started, but then his voice cut out again.

  Knight, I can’t hear what you just said, I called out to him in my head. I didn’t hear a response which caused my heartrate to increase. Knight, are you there?

  Yes, he answered. I said I wanted you to get to the road and then …

  But his voice cut out again. I was so frustrated, I suddenly wanted to cry. Knight! I called out to him but there was no response. Knight! I yelled again. Are you there still? Can you hear me? But there was still no response.

  Knight, I called out his name in my thoughts. Can you hear me?

  “Ah!”

  I heard myself wail out as something rammed into me. The force of whatever that something was was so intense that I felt myself being pushed sideways and then down. My feet flew out from underneath me and I was airborne for the space of two heartbeats or so.

  I hit the ground so hard, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even blink or form a thought. I couldn’t even breathe. It felt like my chest was suddenly caving in on itself, constricting my ability to draw a breath or force one out.

  “Apologies,” Jax said, tightlipped, as he stood up and dusted the pine needles off his arms and shirt. It was a silly thing to do because he was also covered with mud. “And, thanks, by the way,” he continued. “Your little conversation with your boyfriend led me right to you.”

  Dulcie! Knight screamed inside my head. Tears swelled behind my eyes as I tried to form a thought to respond to him, but found I couldn’t. My mind was blank.