Of Water and Madness by Katie Jennings Page A

glanced nervously at Brogan, who rose to his feet and eyed Lucian questioningly. “Have you seen Blythe? He could be with her.”
    “No, she’s with Jax. She hasn’t seen him since he left.” Lucian wrung his hands together nervously. “It’s possible he chose to make a day of seeing the city, but it’s not like him to not let me know first. I’m probably just overreacting…”
    “Lucian…” Rhiannon rose to her feet as well and went to him, fighting back her own anxiety. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
    She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, even though she knew it would do little to help since her own nerves were now pulsing through her system on high alert.
    “I just can’t shake this feeling of dread that I’ve had these past couple of days.” Lucian scrubbed his face with his hands, feeling helpless. “I should have gone with him.”
    “Maybe we should go looking for him,” Rhiannon said, shooting a nervous glance over her shoulder at Brogan.
    He nodded, concern in his eyes. “I’d say if he’s not back by dinner, then yes, we should.”

    When Liam still hadn’t returned, they got together and went to look for him.
    Rhiannon was sick with worry. She could only imagine the host of things that could have happened to him…he could have been hit by a car, shot at, in jail…he could be lying in a hospital bed somewhere, calling for her and she would have no idea. Feeling helpless was doing nothing but causing her grief, and as much as she tried to push it aside and stay positive, there was a portentous cloud shrouding her mind.
    Tears burned behind her eyes as she rushed into the meadow with Lucian, Blythe and Jax, praying that it was all just a misunderstanding and that he was okay.
    She had to hold on to that, couldn’t let herself dread something worse. What would she do without him?
    When they arrived on the shoreline in New Orleans, they had no idea if they were in the same spot as Liam or if they were miles from it.
    Night was settling in on the Gulf and it was dark now. Overhead, the moon hung ominously heavy and full in the sky.
    “Where should we start?” Blythe asked Jax, who’d already taken out his sensor that Rian had given him. He set it to Dryad and immediately began to scan the area.
    “The coastline would have been his destination, so we should walk around here and see if we pick up anything,” Jax said as he began to walk down the beach, watching the scanner for any sign of a Dryad other than the three behind him.
    Blythe had her arm around Lucian and was trying to be positive, even though Rhiannon could see the panic in the other girl’s eyes.
    “Maybe he just fell asleep on the beach. Lazy bum,” she was saying as she glanced all around them, trying to see through the darkness. She held out her palm and created a small ball of fire which acted as a torch to light their way.
    Rhiannon said nothing as they walked, her arms crossed tightly around her chest as she looked out across the waves. She could see the lights from the oil rig far in the distance, and part of her wondered if somehow he was out there, working with the men to clean up the oil.
    But no, he wouldn’t have done that…Lucian said all he had to do was test the water and mend what he could from the shore. There would have been no need to go out on the water, much less to the rig itself…
    A sudden beeping sound on Jax’s device had her heart leaping into her throat as they all gathered around him, eager to see what he’d come across.
    “It’s faint, but there was a Dryad here hours ago,” he told them, pointing to the strip of sand where the waves lapped onto the shore. His eyes then shot to the city streets not too far away. “It’s possible he went into town.”
    “Maybe he wanted to get a beer at the local bar. I could see that,” Blythe put in, nodding to Lucian. “Let’s go walk the streets, see if we pick up anything else.”
    They trekked up the beach toward the street and headed into