Page 93 of Demon Unleashed

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Enya concentrated on her destination and arrived in the portal in the Baltimore compound without incident. Nevertheless, her waiting comrades, fully armed and combat-ready, gave her odd looks.

Manus pointed to her clothes. “What happened? Too hot down there and you decided to strip?”

Enya rolled her eyes. “A word of advice: avoid any demons carrying spray bottles with green blood.” She handed the source dagger to Pearce. “Keep it safe, will you?”

Pearce nodded. “You bet.”

“So, slight change of plans. The portal on the other end isn’t big enough for all of us to go in one group with all that.” She pointed to the bags with explosives and other electrical equipment. “We’ll need to do it in two trips. So, I’ll take one group now, then turn around immediately and get the second group. Good?”

All nodded. They knew that Enya had to be the one to guide them to the portal in the Underworld, since she was the only one whose mind was now anchored to it, because she’d been there. Once the other Stealth Guardians had been at the portal in the Underworld, they would have no problem returning to Baltimore on their own.

“Okay, Quinn, Logan, Aiden, Ryder, you’re up.”

The guys grabbed their bags and squeezed into the portal with her. She willed the door to close. It went pitch-black.

“Everybody holding on to me and each other?”

After everybody confirmed that they were connected, Enya concentrated on her destination and felt the subtle motion of the portal as they were transported. This was less jarring than how she’d felt while in the vortex, and her stomach didn’t get a chance to rebel this time.

Arrived at their destination, Enya watched the four men leave the portal, but remained inside. The moment she was alone in the portal, she willed it to close again and was back in Baltimore within seconds.

Hamish, Manus, Samson, and Amaury piled into the portal, carrying more equipment. Grayson and Pearce waved them goodbye. Then darkness surrounded her once more. She felt like a chauffeur, having to shuttle everybody back and forth. Luckily, it was a short trip.

When Enya finally closed the portal at their destination behind her, she looked around.

Ryder said, “Quinn already left with Aiden and Logan. Their vortex circle is the farthest away.”

Enya nodded. “Did you synchronize your watch with theirs?”

“Yep. No problem.” Ryder lifted his stopwatch. “Set your timers.” He gave them exact directions. “Okay, first circle to blow forty-four minutes from…now.” Everybody confirmed their timer settings. “Second circle thirty seconds later, and third circle another thirty seconds later.”

Enya nodded. “The portal will blow five minutes after the last circle. Make sure you don’t miss the bus. There won’t be another one.”

Ryder, Hamish, and Manus grabbed their equipment and turned to leave, but Enya noticed something. “Where’s Zoltan?”

Ryder looked over his shoulder. “He wasn’t here when we arrived.”

“What?” Panic rose in her. “He has to be here. I left him right here. He was going to watch so that nobody could ambush us.”

Ryder shrugged. “Sorry, that’s all I know. Gotta go.”

“I’m sure he’s not far,” Manus said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

Ryder’s group moved out, leaving her alone with Samson and Amaury.

Enya didn’t like the way Samson and Amaury now looked at each other.

“He didn’t betray us,” she snapped. “He would never.” She looked around the small cave. No signs of a struggle. No blood.

Samson cleared his throat. “Maybe he had to draw somebody away from the portal.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “He’ll be back. Right, Amaury?”

Amaury nodded. “We can’t wait around here. We’ve gotta rig that vortex circle. He knows the timeline. He’ll show up.”

Though she wanted to look for Zoltan, Enya knew her first duty: to destroy the vortex circles. Samson and Amaury needed her to make them invisible so they could reach their destination undetected and set up the explosives. People were counting on her, and the faster she could get this part of her job done, the earlier she could look for Zoltan. Because she wouldn’t leave without him.

The vortex circle assigned to Enya’s team was the one where Enya and Zoltan had arrived and whose guards they’d killed. When Enya saw from afar that new guards had been assigned to the circle, she turned to Samson and Amaury.