RULE 88: CONSPIRE WITH THOSE ON THE OUTSIDE AND MEET A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH.

✷ C H A P T E R F O U R T Y - T H R E E ✷

"Sage," someone lifted my limp body. Water flooded my airway as my eyes sprung open. "Welcome back to the land of the living. It's been thirteen hours."

    Choking on the water pooled in my lungs, I hunched over, coughing with a fierce intensity. My body shook and rattled from the frigid water, every inch of my skin drenched. Once I expelled all the water from my lungs, I looked at my wrinkled fingers, which were vibrating in swift movements back and forth. My stomach let out a low wine, a pang of hunger cramping through my lower abdomen.

    A plush towel was placed on my back as someone rubbed my shoulders gently. My vision blurred, things coming in and out of view, like a film of the murky water solidified over my eyes; the world began to spin. The shakes that overtook my body continued, but I no longer shook from the cold. Instead, the gravity of the past days began to wear my body ragged– it had been two days since my last meal (if you could even call it a meal).

    Theo helped me stand, his tall frame supporting most of my weight.

    "We need to act fast," Vanessa came into my blurry line of sight.

    "Van," Theo said, his tone protective as he pulled me closer.

    "I know she looks... worse for wear —"

    "—worse for wear. Worse for wear?" Theo started to heat up.

    "Okay, that's putting it lightly — even I can admit that. But, as I said, we need to act fast. Sage's mom will have felt the block being severed. If she puts it back up, we'll have to repeat this process —"

    Theo growled, and I shrunk into his side, burying my head under the crook of his shoulder. I began to fervently shake my head no into his side. I could not go back there – I could not go back to the Midlands. While my body may have been able to endure another visit, I knew the process of looking for Ma would gnaw my mind to pieces.

    "We need to act fast. Sage, give me your hand," Vanessa spoke, as I tensed my hands up, my cast cracking under the pressure.

    "No," my voice cracked, my instincts guiding me.

    I knew I should have dived into the next step to find Ma without a second of hesitation, but I already endured so much the past couple of days. I needed a moment to catch my breath – I needed a moment to eat.

    "She's in no state to travel." Theo retorted, his fingers tightening around my arm.

    "Vanessa," I heard Mina speak. "She's human. Her body is not built like ours."

    "Such weak creatures," Vanessa mused, as the sound of her foot tapping the floor filled the room. "Fine. We can stop to get some food, but the more time we take, the more time Sage's mom has to put a block back up."

    I could feel Theo nod as his grip on me loosened. I slowly unraveled myself from the crook of his shoulder, my eyesight still distorted. Theo kept a steady hand on me like he knew I could blow over at any moment.

    "Then, we'll just have to get fast food, Van," Heath said, a little too cockily. While I could not see Heath, I envisioned him smiling smugly at Vanessa, hands crossed over his chest. "Don't worry."

    "Heath, I could neuter you with one spell," Heath let out a squeak while Vanessa chuckled.

    "Okay, everyone grab hold of me," Vanessa stated. Theo helped guide my hand to Vanessa's arm. "Okay, on the count of three."

    "One," I began to embrace my body for impact.

    "Two."

    Vanessa did not reach three before we were swirled away in a puff of smoke. My body twisted and turned like it was doing a routine of cartwheels. I tried to pry my eyes open, but they were glued shut; the vigor at which we were being propelled was too great for them to open.

    We were being jetted forward, and then, all of a sudden, we were falling. Falling down, arms flailing, throats burning as I let out a blood-curdling scream. But, then, it all stopped as I landed with a thud.

    Pressing a hand to my mouth, I breathed in and out, trying not to throw up, not that I imagined there was much for me to throw up. Bile began to slowly climb up my throat, but I begrudgingly swallowed it back down, not wanting to appear weaker than I already seemed.

    Even with their dulled senses, it appeared as if Heath, Theo, and Mina were not as affected by our journey as I was. They, of course, complained about the lack of food, but their pace and liveliness did not falter much. The power imbalance between humans and supernaturals never felt so real until then.

    My eyesight was no longer so blurry. I could see everyone else was handling our traveling arrangements much better than I had. I sat up a little straighter, back pressed to the booth behind me. We had been transported to what looked to be a restaurant.

    Mina sat beside me, Vanessa to her right. Theo was sitting across from me with Heath by his side. Theo and Heath took up more space than the three of us on our side of the booth took up. Mina slid me a menu.

    I glanced over the menu, trying to pretend that my eyes were focusing on the words. However, Theo saved me from embarrassment as he recommended the french toast. Before Theo could explain more, Heath had cut in, his mouth drooling as he raved about how good the french toast was.

    We all ended up following Theo's recommendation. The food was served not long after placing our order. No one spoke as we shoveled the food into our mouths. Slowly, my vision started to normalize the more I ate, the overwhelming hunger dissipated.

    Once I felt more stabilized, I asked, "how do we find my Ma from here?"

    Vanessa put down her fork. "We'll have to form a connection between you and your mom. Since you're related, you're already connected through your blood – your DNA. I'll slit a small cut on your hand, and it should help guide us to where your mom is, with the help of some magic, of course."

    "You should prepare yourself," Theo said, "mentally. She might not be the same person who left the Borderlands."

    "She might be dead," Heath interjected as he took a bite of his food.

    "Heath," Mina exclaimed, kicking him under the table.

    I took a deep breath in, narrowing my eyes in Heath's direction. "I know. I mean, she's been dead to me for twelve years. What could be worse than that?"

    "Heath, that's a rhetorical question, don't answer it," Mina quickly said.

    "I wasn–"

    "–I saw you getting ready to say something," Vanessa voiced. "Your mouth was half-open like you were going to say something."

    "I'm just trying to lighten the mood, here."

    "You're doing a bad job at it," Mina scowled.

    "Am not."

    "Are too."

    "Enough," Theo did not look amused.

    "I've heard obedience school is quite useful for rowdy dogs," Vanessa chimed in, her voice light and airy.

    Theo knitted his eyebrows together. "You're not helping, Vanessa."

    "Not helping? I'm the reason we're all here in the first place," she folded her arms over her chest.

    "That's not what I meant, and you know it," Theo leaned back his head, looking unamused like he was surrounded by a bunch of children he had to oversee.

    "I can't help I was born with the need to push any button I come in contact with. It's not one of my supernatural abilities, but I like to think of it as one," she sent a devious smile Theo's way. "Anyway, we should not waste any more time. We don't know if Sage's mom is even in Washington – it could take days to find her."

    "Are you ready?" Theo asked me, his eyes locked on me. "You don't–"

    "–I'm ready."

    Vanessa wasted no time once we left the diner. She had one of her goons drive a big SUV, one similar to the SUV that tailed us just days ago, to the entrance, waiting for us as we walked outside. The woman behind the wheel had a grayish skin tone, eyes bright and purple; she was under the spell of Vanessa.

    Vanessa's minion sneered at us as we piled into the car, Vanessa making Heath take the passenger's seat while Mina sat in the very back. Meanwhile, I sat in between Vanessa and Theo. Theo would not let me stray too far from him; he explained it was the bond. Now that his abilities were back in working order, the bond was heightened. His wolf was on edge, having marked but not mated.

    "Don't worry," Vanessa tilted her head towards the driver. "She is very nice if you just don't interact with her."

    She snarled in response.

    "Piper, you're embarrassing me," Vanessa pretended to blush.

    Licking her bottom lip, she asked. "Where to?"

    Vanessa turned towards me, taking my hand. "Well, that's up to Sage here. Well, technically, her mom. Are you ready?"

    I nodded my head, her grasp gentle on my hand without the cast.

    "I'm going to make a cut in the palm of your hand. It will help create a connection between you and your mom. It will help guide us to her," she said as she pulled out a small knife from her pocket.

    A low grumble left Theo's lips, but I did not turn in his direction, my eyes staring at my reflection in the knife. I perked an eyebrow up – I looked a mess but not as big of a mess as I imagined. For once in my life, my hair was not strewn about in every direction, but there were dark circles under my eyes. I could have passed as one of Vanessa's minions.

    Swift and gentle, Vanessa took the blade and slashed it across my palm. My hand tensed, and I bit my lip to keep from yelping out. Vanessa then closed her eyes, her mouth moving but no words came out. Then, suddenly, her eyes shot open.

    "North," her grip on me tightened.

    The engine began to purr, and we were soon pulling out of the diner. Every so often, Vanessa would holler out a direction. It was like a ghost would inhabit her body, life bursting through whenever a new direction was spewed out. This continued on for hours, going north then east, then south, then west – so many different directions it made my head spin.

    As the day wore on, tension started to build in the car; everyone here wanted to help me find Ma, but they also were ready to get back to their pack – to their home. I, too, wanted to get back home.

    I worked on conjuring a plan. My time with Vanessa would be limited from here on out. If we were able to track down Ma, then I would only have a short time frame in which I could try and convince Vanessa to go to the Borderlands with me. But how? How would I convince her?

    My mind drew blank, the cut in my palm burning. I would have to think of a plan on the fly. That would be the only way. There were a thousand different possibilities of how finding Ma would go down, I could not plan for each and every one of them.

    "Stop the car," Vanessa muttered, opening the car door before we came to a complete stop.

    "Is she near? Do you feel her?" I asked, nerves jumbling in my stomach.

    "We're near," she nodded with one foot out the door. "We'll need to go on foot. Everyone, stay here. The more people around me, the more distractions."

    Vanessa dragged me out of the car by my wrist. Mina and Heath listened to Vanessa's command, but Theo was not so willing. He got out alongside us.

    "Alphas," Vanessa whispered, her tone slightly aggravated but not surprised.

    We were in some sort of residential area. Houses lined every street, and there was a playground nearby. There was also a cemetery near. My heart stopped in my chest. Was Ma dead?

    I was being dragged in the direction of the cemetery. With each step, my heart stilled, my breaths coming in harder. We were only a couple feet away from the cemetery when she sharply veered right, going down a road lined with even more houses. Houses that looked like they were all copies of one another, barely any distinguishing features among them.

    We ran down the sidewalk. And, then, she stopped suddenly.

    "She's here somewhere," I almost ran into Vanessa's back.

    "Where?" I looked around, trying to locate Ma.

    She was nowhere to be seen. Nowhere to be found. Maybe Vanessa had brought me out here to make a fool of me. Maybe she was dragging me along to mess with Theo. I could tell by their interaction Theo and Vanessa had a history — what that history is undetermined. Or, she could have been toying with me because of her sister's past connection with Mina. She seemed to harbor an ungodly amount of disdain for her.

    Nevertheless, I kept scanning for Ma. Would I recognize her? Surely, twelve years would not have made her unrecognizable, but if she went to such lengths to put up a block; she could look like a completely different person for all I knew.

    In the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of graying, brown hair. It was frizzy and unkempt. Craning my neck closer, the woman turned around, pressing a device that solicited a loud beep. From here, I could tell time had not been so kind to her; her face wore wrinkles like they were a medal of honor, but she did not look to be so old — her neck did not seem to sag with age.

    Then, she looked up, our eyes meeting.

    It was Ma. We had found her.