“Because you know where he is,” Rhys was saying, anger and impatience surging through his voice.

“I told you already,” another male voice replied. “We have never come across a vampire named Magnus.”

“You know what I will do to you if I discover you have lied to me,” Rhys hissed.

We barely had time to formulate a plan before the door in front of us blasted open. I feared for a moment that Rhys had done it, but since he was nowhere in sight it must have been one of our witches. The sound of running filled my ears as we all dashed inside the chieftain’s chambers. I barely took in the interiors of the wolf’s quarters while we hurtled forward. We passed through a long passageway lined with doors and headed straight for the room at the end where the two men’s voices were emanating from.

Rhys whirled round as a burning ball of blue fire shot straight toward him. A curse from Mona, I assumed. Rhys’ face fell in shock, and then he vanished before the curse could hit him.

Oh, no.

A visible Rhys was terrifying enough, let alone an invisible one.

Where is Rose? Fear filled me as I realized I didn’t even know where she was. The warlock could have been standing right next to her for all I knew.

The minutes that followed were harrowing. It seemed that none of us knew what to do. Spells hurtled around the room, and I kept expecting someone to be hit by a curse from Rhys and cry out in pain. The chieftain—a tall man with broad shoulders and flaming red hair—had spread himself out on the floor to avoid being hit by a spell.

After what felt like ten minutes had passed, I wondered why nothing was happening.

Mona spoke up. “I think he’s gone.”

“But why?” Aiden asked.

Mona appeared and then everyone else’s invisibility spell lifted too, except Micah’s. Since he had requested to be kept hidden at all times, I guessed our witches were being respectful of this.

Mona’s face had paled and she sounded even more anxious than when she had first found out that Rhys had taken the chieftain hostage.

“Perhaps he has gotten what he needed,” she said. Her eyes shot to the werewolf, still crouching on the ground. She hurried over to him and gripped his shoulders. “What did you tell that warlock?”

The wolf stood up, anger in his eyes. “Who are you people?”

“Not your enemies,” she replied. “Just answer my question, or we will all be sorry.”

“He wanted to know about Magnus,” the chieftain growled, brushing Mona away from him. “I’ve never heard of such a vampire. And believe me, if I had, I would have revealed his location to that warlock. I despise vampires almost as much as I do black witches.” He scowled, casting dirty glances at me and the other vampires present.

“So you have absolutely no idea who and where Magnus is?” Mona asked.

“No,” he said.

Mona turned around slowly to face us, anxiety creasing her forehead. “Perhaps Rhys concluded that the trail is cold for Magnus here in this realm… Maybe we have hit another dead end.”

“Why would he vanish so suddenly?” I said. “He has enough reason to want to stay and finish us all off.”

Mona bit her lower lip. “Maybe he has gotten another idea… and his time is now too precious to waste on us.”

Chapter 14: Mona

“Will you help to wake up the rest of my pack?” the chieftain asked, still eyeing us with suspicion.

I stared at the werewolf, my brain ticking over. “Yes,” I replied. “But first you must agree to do something for us. Given the fact that we have just saved you, it should not be too much to ask.”

“What?” he asked.

“Call a meeting immediately with the other chieftains so that we can ask them whether they know about Magnus.”

The chieftain shook his head. “I truly doubt that any of us have come across a vampire named Magnus.”

“I did not ask for your speculation,” I said impatiently. “I asked you to arrange a meeting.”

“I’m not on good terms with many of the other chieftains,” he replied. “But all right. I will try.”

“How long will it take?” I asked.

“At least three days.”

I cursed beneath my breath. We didn’t have that sort of time. I turned to face the others again.

“Can’t you gather them any faster?” Derek asked.

The chieftain shook his head. “Impossible.”

Three days—it was out of the question. It had occurred to me that perhaps Rhys had left to seek out another chieftain.

“Why don’t you just magick the chieftain around this realm to make the traveling faster?” Rose asked me.

“Some packs aren’t even here in The Woodlands right now,” the wolf said. “At least two chieftains who cooperate with me are out on expeditions… As I said, I think you’re wasting your time. No wolf here would tolerate a vampire’s presence. You would be better off searching elsewhere.”

Reluctantly, I saw sense in the wolf’s words.

But where do we search next?

Where did Rhys go?

Although we couldn’t afford to hang around now, Corrine, Ibrahim and I agreed to help the chieftain awaken his pack. Even though he was doing us no favor in return, I figured that there was no harm in befriending these wolves. It was good for them to see that not all witches and vampires were bad.

Once we had finished, we returned to the rocky shore where we had first arrived.