The cool morning air had moisture gathering on every surface within its reach. My arm was left wet and chilled after brushing against a bush coated in condensation. It would be a few hours until the risen sun dried everything, the cool temperature making the process slower.

My teeth ground together in frustration as the sound of crunching leaves beneath my feet drowned everything else out. I clutched the Locator Stone in my hand tighter, adjusting my path as the light guiding me moved a few centimetres to the side.

A flake of Nea's dried blood drifted off the smooth surface of the milky stone. The bright red colour had faded to a brown as it had dried. I pulled out the small vile of blood I had collected from the target of my search when I had first treated her while unconscious. Collecting it had been an action done in caution, in case we needed to take drastic measures to protect ourselves against her. Now it served as the best aid in my search to locate her.

I strengthened the circle that I had cast around me. It had a radius of a few meters and would alert me to anyone approaching me. It was only a matter of time before whoever Cassius had sent to come after me caught up. He wasn't going to just let my insubordination go unchecked, especially not when it could draw unwanted attention from people like the queen. As much as he claimed we were family, he believed he was the head, a decision he made without consulting with the other member of our household.

Although I was using the Locator Stone, the faint scent of her blood that could be traced through the forest would be enough for whoever was sent to catch up. And anyone else who had above-average tracking skills. The thought didn't do much to quell my concerns.

My hurried steps dwindled to a stop when the light on the furthest side of the circular stone suddenly changed to the opposite side closest to me. I looked at the white light in confusion. It wouldn't have been possible for her to suddenly be somewhere behind me when she was somewhere in front of me. Not unless she had circled the planet and was coming up behind me.

What was more concerning though, was when the light flickered out of existence for a moment before flickering back to life. The glitch caused my heart to implode in panic. I didn't know what to do when it flickered again. My heart kicked up a notch when it went out once more, staying out longer, before flicking on again.

I looked up in front of me, in the direction the stone had been leading me in before acting strange as the erratic breaths leaving my mouth grew faster. I could catch Nea's faint trail continuing straight. It was hidden beneath the heavy scent of medical herbs and I had also been able to catch Jaxon and Zev's scents briefly too with my temporarily heightened scenes. Some of the potions I created may have been useless to the others, but they sure came in handy for me who didn't have as many predatory perks being a warlock.

I started forward, following the familiar scents, but I didn't make it far before I was stopped once more when a glance at the Locator Stone showed an absence of a marker. My heart skipped a beat in horror. There were only a few explanations why an indicator wouldn't show or would suddenly go out. The only possible one meant something I wasn't willing to even consider.

A Locator Stone couldn't locate someone that no longer lived.

Shoving the stone into my pocket, I took off in a sprint, following her scent. I didn't stop to investigate when the metallic scent of her blood grew at a particular spot. Instead, my pace increased along with the nearing cloud of anxiety that had been following me for days, leading me to a partially constructed campsite.

I only took a moment to stop and glance around, enough time to identify a few of Zev's blades skewed around the unlit fire. An alarming sight considering he treated his hidden blades with more care than he did anything else. The sight just made the panic that something was wrong increase. When I caught another trail of Nea's scent leading off in a new direction, I didn't waste a moment before taking off after it.

My breaths grew laboured from the exertion as I pushed my body to limits I hadn't needed to before. It, coupled with the panic flowing through my head in a constant loop of everything that could have gone wrong, made the pounding against the inside of my chest feel like fists.

I didn't reduce my pace until out of the corner of my eyes I spotted a hint of blue that stood out against the earth tones surrounding me. The unnatural-looking electric blue stood out like a beacon.

Carefully, I made my way over to the small patch that from a distance I thought was the pelt of a furred creature. When I neared, it became clear that I was looking at a head of hair.

The scent of blood increased, the tracking potion I had taken forced me to cover the lower half of my face as the strengthened scent left a taste in my mouth.

The pale body of a man lay on the ground, blood sticking his shirt to his chest. I could see his blue veins under his translucent skin. They stood out most prominently on his closed eyes lids.

A rasped breathe had me whipping my head to the side, landing on another body.

"Zev!" I shouted, rushing to the downed man who lay on his stomach, face turned towards me as blood spread from the wound on his upper back.

It wasn't until I was kneeling at his side and turning him over that I noticed the black hair growing where I was accustomed to seeing white. At first, I pushed the difference aside, I had to treat my friend, but when I noticed another body lying a few feet away followed by another even further, the different hair colour became more than a possible disguise. Especially when one of the other bodies was an identical, white-haired copy.

A chill washed over me as I took in the downed and motionless bodies of my two friends and the near-identical stranger.

Facing an unexpected situation, I shifted my attention from the black-haired version of Zev to the original. I didn't want to waste time treating a look-alike, not when despite Nea's scent being heavy in the area, her body was nowhere to be seen. Although it was alarming to find my friends in such a way, it was more alarming to find the weakest, and most susceptible to death, missing.

Zev's injury wasn't as easy to find as the flowing wound on his dark-haired twin. Once I had looked over him a few times, only finding a small scratch each time, I finally took note of how the blackened edges of the small wound were expanding unnaturally fast. On closer inspection the presence of poison become apparent. It was rotting his flesh away, paralyzing him in place until it was too late to seek treatment. The same deadly substance must have been used to incapacitate the whole group.

I inspected the wound closer in hopes of identifying anything that could indicate what kind of poison was used. The fact that it was causing his flesh to slowly rot away told me it was one of the realms restricted substances. The state I found them in also lead me to believe a paralytic had also been implemented.

I ground my teeth as I pulled my bag around to the front and searched through it for my emergency vials. I had a general antidote that I had created a few summers ago to fight against most of the deadly poisons. I knew it was ineffective against two of the most dangerous ones, but it was worth giving it a try rather than just watching my friends slowly rot to death.

I upturned one of the finger-sized vials of the amber liquid into Zev's mouth before rushing to Jaxon's downed body. After giving him the antidote as well, I was disheartened to discover that on top of the poisoned stab wound on his back, he also had severe burns covering his side. The poison was working to rot the burned flesh. I pulled out another vial.

When I was done with him, I returned to Zev's side to check if the concoction was having any effect.

"N... ea... Nea..."

Every muscle in my body tensed as the faintly spoken name reached my ears. I whipped around to face Zev's black-haired twin. Approaching him again, I could tell from the extent of rotting skin around the edged of the wound on his back that he had gotten it worse than the others- well the man that was stabbed in the chest was still up for debate seeing as he was on deaths doorstep. Despite having the most severe wound, the man cracked his eyes open to reveal ones that were nearly identical to Zev's unique lavender ones.

"Nea..." The weakly spoken name left his lips as his eyes struggled to rise to meet mine. It was shocking that he was able to move while suffering the progressing effects of such a strong poison, but that didn't matter. All that did was the name that left his lips.

The colour had already begun to return to Zev's skin as I walked past him, indicating the antidote was working. It allowed me to ignore his and Jaxon's downed bodies and focus on the black-haired man without guilt. Pulling his head back, I popped the cork off another vial with my teeth before forcing its contents into the man's mouth. He choked on the substance at first, but lacking the energy to fight against me, he gave in and let the warm, bitter liquid flow down his throat.

He coughed up a lung as I pulled the bottle away. "Where is she?" I asked, pulling him close by the collar before he had a chance to recover. I didn't have time for him to waste catching his breath. If they were in this condition, there was no telling how Nea was fairing.

I had already done enough to be ashamed when it came to her, I wasn't going to add taking too long to get to her as another point of contempt. I had already taken too long to trust her, made the mistake of doubting who I knew she was. That mistake had already cost me her once, I wasn't going to let another cost me her again. I wasn't going to let her go.

"...Nea..."

A click of irritation left my tongue at the man's unfocused answer. I was about to shake him into focus when another voice stopped me.

"The piece... of shit... took her..."

My head turned towards where Jaxon lay. The antidote must have worked its way through his veins faster due to his higher metabolism. I could already see the effects of decomposition reversing from where the poison was attacking his burns.

"Who?"

"Stephen," he hissed out through teeth clenched in exertion as he pulled himself up against a nearby tree.

Cassius's younger brother. I knew there was something off about him. I hadn't liked him from the moment I laid my eyes on him.

"Where did they go?"

Jaxon shrugged in response, the action causing his face to contort in pain. "I was down before the fight was over," he reluctantly admitted while looking at the ground while his jaw tightened. It must have been a massive blow to his ego, especially his dragons, to not be the last one standing.

"Back to... the camp..."

When Zev's faint voice joined the mix, my concern for the lives of the two faded, allowing me to focus it all on Nea.

"I was just there, it's empty." Despite my words, I still found myself rising and turning back in the direction I had come from. I hadn't spent much time looking around. I could have missed something vital.

I had only taken a few distracted steps before I was stopped by Jaxon's voice.

"Wait!" I turned my head back at the shout. "The fox boy..." He said, pointing towards the unmoving man with his chin. "Give him some too."

I frowned at him, annoyed at being delayed further. He didn't need to specify what he was talking about. I hastily pulled out the few remaining vials I had on me and tossed them towards the dragon dragging himself up into a seated position against the tree. If he could sit, he could administer the vial to the boy himself. I didn't have time to waste.

My steps were soon shadowed by heavy, staggering ones. It took a quick glance behind me to identify them as the black-haired version of Zev. His face alone left a lot to explain, but the determination that lined his face as he followed after me in my search for Nea had more questions rising. Questions that could wait until later.

Right now, all I could focus on was finding Nea.