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A twitch of
his lips let Cora knew he was enjoying this. “A’m making it my
business and yer will not go there again. A want that child tae be
healthy and I will say when yer go away!”

“
You just try
and stop me,” Cora growled. “I can spend time anywhere I like, and
for your information, the baby was happier there than it has been
stuck here. I wonder why...”

Alastair moved
quickly, grabbing Jack. Before Cora could blink, Tavish had pinned
Clay against the wall.

“
Well, I have
to say, I’ve missed seeing your face, Tavish,” Clay crooned. “But I
was so sure you could keep your hands to yourself for more than a
second.”

Tavish growled
and grasped Clay’s throat tighter. Cora could smell the salt in the
air, she could feel the cool caress of water brush against her
skin. Clay was close to letting his element free.

Green eyes
focused on her. She looked into them and smiled. Clay knew her well
enough to do it. He didn’t need her words to prompt him.

Water exploded
out of his hands. Tavish took the brunt of the incredible force
directly in the face. The gargled curse was lost as Tavish flew
back against the closed kitchen door and lay there, drowning in the
water. At least they had Tabitha to help with the clean up. Thank
god they’d chosen to put laminate flooring down.

Tavish
struggled against the force as Alastair snarled in anger. Cora
didn’t see it until the last minute.

Clio.

Clio stood
next to Tavish. Exotic amber eyes watched Cora as the shades of
honey that ran through her brown hair shone in a warm glow. Cora
could smell the earth, the warm, woodsy smell that appeared when
Clio used her element. Cora gasped, stumbling back. Clio stood in
front of them; her red robes glistened whilst her hands were
clasped together.

Clay choked on
his words and dropped his hands. His eyes held questions, anguish.
Why was Clio here? How? Tavish cursed and jumped up, his fist
smashing against Clay’s cheek, knocking him back.

Ember stood
before Cora protectively. She didn’t take her eyes off Clio. “We
will leave on a holiday as and when we please,” Ember reiterated.
Her grey eyes studied Clio, judging what she may do.

Clio stepped
towards them and the ground began to tremble. They had to remember
this wasn’t Clio. It was a puppet of the woman they’d all loved and
lost.

Alastair
turned to Cora again. “Do yer want tae rethink yer answer?”
Alastair ordered.

Jack shot Cora
a look. She smiled. “No.”

Alastair had
committed a sin by using Clio that way. If anything, showing them
Clio made them want to fight more. Clay had been knocked back from
the shock of seeing his friend, but now he looked
furious.

Alastair
cursed and then lurched for Jack. Jack didn’t move. Had he expected
this? Had Alastair become too predictable?

“
Oh, great!
Take me back to that place. Just so you know, I can handle anything
you throw at me!”

Before Cora
could say anything, both Jack and Clay disappeared.

*

“
Well,
fantastic! I guess you weren’t enough this time around,” Clay
snarled.

Jack shot Clay
his trademark grin. “I’m getting to him. Alastair is cracking, and
I’m going to make sure the finale is a bloody good one.”

Clay smiled
back. They turned together, assessing the area. They were back in
the place. There weren’t any walls which made it appear like the
space seemed to continue forever. The clouds beneath his feet
remained there. The only difference now, he knew those clouds
weren’t fluffy. He would try to make sure he wasn’t slammed into
them again.

There was
something different here compared to the last time he’d been
dragged here. Alastair hadn’t used the darkness this time. The
darkness hadn’t worked before. Jack had never been afraid of the
dark. In order to beat them, Alastair had to come up with something
else.

“
What happens
now?” Clay asked him.

Of course, he
was the only person who knew what could come. “There isn’t a
schedule of what is to come. Alastair uses whatever he wants to
make us break. He will use everything he can to kill us in this
place without lifting a finger.”

“
Great,” Clay
grunted and braced himself.

They remained
where they were, eyes studying the area.

“
I’m just
guessing from my impeccable perceptive skills that those clouds
don’t act like clouds.”

Jack frowned
at Clay. How had he known?

“
You were
growling at them; sane people don’t growl at clouds,” Clay
shrugged.

“
No, they are
definitely not pillow like,” Jack said, the very same second
Evander strolled out of the unknown.

“
Well, shit,
isn’t this an unwanted flash from the past,” Clay
muttered.

“
Yeah, you
could say that.”

Evander
stalked towards them. Jack shifted his footing, bracing himself for
the hit that was bound to come. Cold steel glared at Jack as he
drifted towards the two of them. Jack didn’t fear the man. He was
just a man at the end of the day. He feared the power. A person
always had to respect the power because once you stopped respecting
it, you were dead.

“
He always uses
Evander, why?” Jack murmured to himself.

Before Clay
had a chance to respond, he was lifted and then dropped heavily
against the clouds.

“
Jesus
Christ!!” Clay yelled whilst he blew out a breath which moved his
dirty blonde hair out of his face.

Jack gathered
his element. He played with it as Clay wrestled on the floor,
trying to free himself from the invisible binds that Evander had
dropped on him. Jack levitated as Clay unleashed his own element.
Jack took the water and held it, holding it in the air with
him.

“
Jack! Bloody
do whatever needs to be done!” Clay panted, sweat beaded on his
forehead.

Jack let it go
and watched with great satisfaction as the powerful wave washed
Evander away from them. Clay rolled over panting and holding his
side.

“
Anything
broken?” Jack couldn’t deal with punctured lungs or organs at the
moment.

“
No, it just
bloody hurt.”

Jack smiled as
he dropped down next to him. The smile soon vanished from his face
when he glimpsed orange hair approach them. It was so orange that
it hurt your eyes, like staring at the setting sun.

“
Akina!” Jack
grunted, lifting Clay to stand beside him.

This was a new
development. Jack threw his element around Clay. Akina slowly
approached them as snakes of white moved around her. The sharp
angles of her face made the green of her eyes stand to attention.
She studied the two of them.

If Jack was
easily intimidated by the fixed stare of someone, he would be
weeping on the floor every ten seconds. As it turns out, Jack
wasn’t affected by intimidation. It just annoyed him.

“
Jesus, her
face always gave me the creeps,” Clay hissed. “She looks really
angry, angrier than before, if that’s possible.”

Clay was
right. Something shifted in the air around them. This felt
different.

Akina stopped
and held her hands outright. They watched. Waited. The mist was
slowly coming in. It wasn’t coming from Akina like it usually did.
This had to be a new trick of hers. They were levitating so the
mist couldn’t reach them. Jack didn’t know how high he could take
them. He didn’t know if this place had a roof, but he would test it
if he needed to. Akina smiled. Jack’s stomach dropped to his
feet.

“
That isn’t
mist,” Jack whispered.

“
You know, I
was just thinking the same thing,” Clay responded rather calmly.
“Now what do we do? You’ve been here before.”

“
Yep, I might
have been here before but the walls never moved towards me. I
didn’t even know that there were bloody walls in the first
place.”

What the hell
could he do? How were the walls moving?

“
Whilst we are
up here, do you want to hazard a guess as to what is happening,
other than the walls moving...”

Jack looked at
Clay, saw the humour in his green eyes. If all else fails, humour
would get them through this. If it wasn’t humour, it was
sarcasm.

When there was
neither, they would most likely be dead.

“
Well, Clay, I
guess Akina is using her element and has created her own walls,
ones that may cut us into pieces when it touches us. Now, neither
of our powers will work, because I’m using mine and yours will put
us in more danger.”

Clay nodded
like they were discussing the ins and outs of a football game in
the comfort of their own home.

“
Akina isn’t
that powerful. I mean, we could shatter the ice?” Clay
suggested.

Jack nodded.
“You have a point. She isn’t powerful, and didn’t she die
first?”

“
You make a
good point. Plus, it seems to be taking an awfully long time for
these walls to get here. If we had Tabitha here, we could have
ourselves a lovely shot of chocolate.”

The walls
shattered, covering them with glass. Akina screeched with rage.
Jack lowered the two of them just as Akina charged toward them.
Mist shot up in Clay’s face, knocking him to the ground. Jack
jumped off the floor and launched himself at her. Akina tumbled
beneath his weight. Clay stormed in, using water to create
restraints. Her own element worked against her.

A scream
echoed around them.

They slowly
turned, waiting. Jack knew that voice. His throat tightened,
threatening to cut off the oxygen he needed.

“
Jack...” Clay
murmured. Clay knew that scream didn’t belong to a member of the
Corenthio Coven.

“
I
know.”

A woman fell
from up above them and hit the floor with a sickening thud. She
whimpered in pain as she tried to get to her feet. Jack sucked in a
breath. Her hair, the curls. He’d missed them. He never knew how
much until this moment.

“
Jack!” Clay
bellowed.

He jerked into
action and raced towards her. “Laura! Are you okay?” Jack gasped as
he knelt beside her. He felt like the breath had been knocked out
of him when her lovely hazel eyes looked up at him.

“
Jack, we need
to leave here, I don’t like it here. Where is Cora? Is she
okay?”

“
Cora is fine.
We are all fine. We need to get home.”

As they helped
Laura to stand, Evander stepped out of the invisible walls and
stood at the side of them, catching them unawares. Jack felt the
immense pressure on his body, pushing him to the floor. He wheezed
as Clay cursed. The two of them were trapped, pushed up against the
clouds. He could hear Laura’s whimpers. Jack knew Laura was dead,
but what if he could get her back to the other side? Was it
possible to save her? Would Laura survive if Alastair controlled
her?

The floor gave
way beneath them. Laura reached for Jack’s hand, but he couldn’t
reach her. Her eyes pleaded with him as they fell. He couldn’t help
her. Clay tried, but they couldn’t reach her. That answered his
questions. They would never be able to save her. She wasn’t safe
long enough. Alastair was in control there.

Air suddenly
rushed around them. The clouds disappeared from under their feet.
They tumbled through endless space.

“
Is this going
to hurt?” Clay shouted across to him as he lost control of his
balance and rolled in the air before righting himself.

“
Like you
wouldn’t believe!!”

Jack held his
breath in his lungs as they hit the floor.

“
Clay! Jack!”
Ayden shouted, bringing Jack back to his senses. Every single part
of his body was having a good old bitch at him.

“
Christ Jesus!
That landing hurts!” Clay cursed.

Jack rolled
onto his back and looked up at Alastair. The gang was with them
now. At least Cora had been supported whilst he’d been on his
little trip. But how could he tell them? He’d seen Laura, had held
her hand.

He’d been
unable to save her.

He wanted to
hurt Alastair, humiliate him and then kill him,
painfully.

Jack stumbled
to his feet. Eli helped him and then flanked his side, as did Ayden
and a slightly stooped over Clay. Clay wasn’t weakened by his
injury. It would serve to make him angrier.

“
Just so you
know, your gift is weak. There are flaws everywhere...what you did
earlier... showing her to me.”

Alastair
smiled at Clay, holding his tongue.

Clay stepped
towards him. “You will get yours, believe me. I will make you pay,”
Clay promised.

Alastair
sauntered over to Jack, ignoring Clay, and pushed his face close to
Jack’s. “If yer continue with this attitude, Ayden will see the
love of his life again, and it’s not the way he wants tae see her,”
Alastair whispered viciously.