Chapter 1
Jake Griffin hurried home. In fact, not only the forthcoming storm reflected in the rearview mirror of the car made him nervous, but a strange and really bad feeling stuck somewhere in the throat like a lump, which could not be swallowed.
He seemed to be missing something, something very important, and so pressed the gas pedal to the floor anxiously, making the most mileage out of the Ford.
Quite a loud buzzing of the Iphone came somewhere from the bag, lying on the next seat to the right, then the man heard music. It was Abby. And if she called, this bad feeling tormented not only him.
Looking at the road, the man reached for the phone, switching the speakerphone on.
Outside the window came a flash of the lightning, then within a few seconds man heard the sound of thunder, that stifled Abby`s voice.
"... are you all right? Jake ?! "- his wife`s voice was distorted with line interferences, but the anxiety was heard clearly.
"Abby, I'm caught in a storm, I can`t hear you. What happened? "Without switching the turn signals on Griffin turned to the main highway, all the time looking in the mirror. At this time of night the road was completely empty, lit up by lanterns and heavy rain, and it seemed quite infernal. Big road sign to the right of the road flashed in the lights and disappeared, it said " 30 miles to Ark."
"Have no idea!" - maybe the sound of thunder faded, or it was Abby who raised her voice, but words became louder - "This storm doesn`t look normal. We checked everything several times before and after your departure, but now air echoes of someone else's magic. It is clearly not our Circle`s magic, so please be careful. Have you seen her? "
A real downpour started outside the windows, and the road disappeared under a stream of dirty water. Jake reduced the speed, although the fear of the car crash was not that crazy as the irrational one, making him running home at all the limits, and the hairs on his neck stood on end. It was less than half an hour to Arc, but weather made the ride even more complicated. And Abby`s words that someone else's magic caused this storm, were alarming.
"Yes, Clarke is fine. She asked about you, she also had these strange dreams, but at least she is not in danger there and she won`t be found. Can you track the magic? It cannot be from some other Circle, we protected Arc for hundreds of years, Circles don`t intrude without warnings or invitations. "
He could hear muffled voices of other members of the Circle in the dynamic, but one of them was louder that the other, Jake recognized Kane`s voice, repeating something vaguely familiar in the background.
His chest sank, when he realized what Marcus said.
He talked about Hunters. Those damn Hunters.
With one hand holding the handlebar man tried to reach the bag, groping crystal with trembling fingers, and this distraction was his biggest mistake.
When Jake Griffin still managed to grab a stone, another car showed on the road with headlights blinding, but he did not have time to notice it when the lightning cut the sky just striking the road, the car quickly catched up Griffin`s Ford, outrunning from the left and pushed it to the sidelines with great force. Ford swerved and rolled over several times and crashed into a tree on the right side with a deafening roar.
"Jake? Jake, what's going on ?! "loud and frightened Abby`s voice came from the mobile phone.
The car huddling Ford, stopped with a sharp brakes squeal, turning on the move, and stood nearby. Whoever was in the car, behind the dark windows, he was not in a hurry to help. He waited.
Jake gasped, regaining consciousness and squeezed a crystal in the fingers, despite of the cuts from the broken glass and bruises, the man could move. He awkwardly unbuckled seat belt with his left hand, barely moving swollen fingers, possibly broken, grabbed the phone from the floor and opened the door, tumbling out of the car in the wet grass, shuddering with pain, but still trying to crawl away, before gasoline explodes.
"Abby, listen ..." - Jake grimaced, concentrating all power in the crystal, and the pain subsided, leaving numbness in the fingers, magic ran through the entire body, filling with borrowed power, but Griffin could not fight with the fate that awaited him alone. "It's Hunters, they followed me. Listen, I need you... Tell Clarke, I love her. And I will always love her. And you."
The man crawled out to the road, standing up to his knees, helping with a broken arm, because losing the crystal doomed him to imminent death. Iphone was left somewhere in the grass, and the voice coming out of it, was muffled with thunder strikes beating one after the other, it was definitely not an ordinary storm.
Doors of a black car slammed, and two men came out of the car, one was holding a rifle, a second one, younger, held a lighted candle, covering it with a raincoat.
Jake Griffin closed his eyes, feeling the raindrops falling to his face. He was considered to be one of the best witches in the city, Griffins generation was one of the founders of the Ark, and his gift - the gift of water - around him, soaking the clothes, and pouring cold streams under the collar - was just what we needed. Crystal under man`s fingers flashed dark blue light, heating, and filling him with magic.
"You dared to attack me!" - He snarled with hatred in his voice, and water droplets began to tear off the asphalt, rising up in a completely unnatural way, older man with a rifle in his hands could protect himself, outlining a circle around him with his hand and quickly whispering something, but the second was less fortunate. Water rushed to a guy with a candle, enveloping his body with a tight slippery veil and restraining his breath. Brown streams slithered into the nose, ears, opened mouth like little snakes, and a few seconds later the witch hunter`s face was swollen and blackened, with a cyanotic shade, guy fell down shuddering and fainted.
The second hunter, not even mentioning the death of his buddy, raised the rifle, taking aim at Griffin`s head.
"Where is she?" - Anger and hatred raged in the eyes of the hunter. "Tell me where is she and I'll kill you quickly, you monster!"
"You're late." - Jake Griffin raised his hand with a crystal clenched in whitened fingers. "You will never be able to destroy my family and especially my daughter. You know the prophecy; their Circle is destined to be the strongest ever. "
In response, the hunter has shot all ten bullets in Griffin`s head. Flattened pieces of metal fell on both sides of the man`s head with a loud noise, but they could not hit the target.
Triumph flashed in Jake`s eyes of Jake, until he noticed a burnt match in hunter`s fingers hand. All these shots could not kill him, but weakened as well as an accident and now he was destined to be burned alive, like other witches hundred years ago.
"I'll find your daughter, your family, and I will destroy your Circle, one after another, like all the creatures that stand on my way." The match fell down and cold blue flame crawled on Griffin`s body, burning to death. Loud screams were still heard over the deafening thunder as well as the screams from the mobile phone, still switched on the speakerphone, lying in the grass, and a few seconds later everything was over.
The man dragged the dead body of his partner to the charred remains of Jake Griffin, and set fire to it, then shot the engine of the Ford stuck in a tree, an explosion came, and in a couple of minutes there was no one on the road except two corpses and a burning car.
Abby Griffin, lost consciousness, was lying on her back on the floor of the home, the other members of her Circle, bleeding from mouths fell down beside her. All pain taken to a witch in a Circle was echoed to the others, and with the death of one of them, Circle lost some part of their power.
"Jake is dead!" - wheezed shocked Thelonious Jaha, grabbing his heart. "We have to find Clarke as soon as possible to protect her. We must. We have to protect new Circle."
A few hundred miles far from the accident Clarke Griffin got up in her bed with a loud cry, gasping and panting from the imaginary flames scorching her body. She shook with tears, staring at the wall:
"Dad ..."
She knew that her father is dead. And now they will come for her.