Page 28

Chapter 28

River

I dropped out of my dozenth attempt to alter time, my knees hitting the rough pavement. Exhaustion made my muscles weak and my vision blurry. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop that fucking spell from hitting Oleander Lovell. It was targeted somehow. It would seek her out wherever I managed to move her, ripping through whichever of her mates or other bystanders might be in the way, custom made for our witch.

Blood magic, probably. At some point, these assholes had obtained Lovell blood and used it to attune their weapon, hone it for maximum effectiveness. Because without Andy, all the powerful monsters around her were useless, frozen with pain and despair.

“Are you finished now?” a smooth, angry voice demanded. Waves of heat lapped against my body as I forced myself to look up at the jinn, squinting to get my eyes to focus. He was in a glorious rage, every inch of his lithe, compact dancer’s body outlined in a thin halo of fire.

“Yes,” I managed, my voice barely a croak of sound from all the exasperated yelling I’d done the first half-dozen or so times my attempts to save Andy went horribly wrong.

I didn’t ask the Aahil how he knew what I’d been doing. Usually people missed it, but there were subtle cues. And he might act like a shallow brat ninety percent of the time, but the jinn was extremely powerful and in tune with the magic around him—perceptive of others and his surroundings, even if he wasn’t always so perceptive of what was going on inside himself.

I swayed in place and shook my head, trying to pull myself back from a fuzzy mental tangent about insight, and sensitivity, and articles I’d read about trauma…

Searing fingers wrapped around my wrist, jolting me out of my thoughts and back to the present. “They are trying to bring her back,” he snapped, giving my arm a yank. “Come. Use your luck magic.”

I sighed, feeling like every bone in my body had been sapped of energy. Use my magic. Sure. Right. As if it were that simple. Piece of fucking cake.

The warm hand that gripped my wrist squeezed so hard my bones ground together, his fire magic surging, and I was pretty sure I was in danger of having my hand amputated at the wrist if the jinn burned any hotter. “Now!”

The imperious tone of voice didn’t hide the desperation boiling under the surface. And it was a desperation we all shared. So, despite feeling like I might fall over, I shoved myself to my feet and let the little fireball drag me the few feet to Andy’s side.

My legs gave out again and I dropped down beside her, across from where Elijah knelt, holding Dyre’s limp body in his lap. “Fuck,” I said, rubbing a hand over my face. Jumping through time over and over had scrambled my brain. I thought this was the timeline where Dyre hadn’t been blasted by the curse on its way to Andy…

“He’s inside her,” Elijah whispered. His deep, rich voice echoed oddly, kind of similar to the way Dyre’s did when Sunshine spoke… but Elijah’s voice wasn’t creepy. It was resonant and warm, and it sent weird pulses through me, like… frissons of joy… which was completely wrong in this situation. But still, he was an angel. Was this angelic magic at work? I’d never felt anything like it. I stared at him, not blinking, as my mind spun with questions and possibilities.

Heat flared at the back of my neck, Aahil’s searing fingers squeezing the muscles there, again yanking me back into the present. “Focus, idiot! If she dies, I will burn you alive. Slowly.”

“Aahil,” Zhong muttered in warning.

But I waved a hand, dismissing his concern. If anything, the jinn’s threats were keeping me conscious and in the here and now, when the strain of magic depletion wanted to drag me under. “I can’t do anything, Aahil,” I said, my heart aching at the admission. “I’ve tried. I can’t fix this.” I reached out and took one of Andy’s pale, icy hands in mine, not fearing the curse. It had been made just for her. It was no danger to me.

Tears pooled in my eyes for the dozenth time in the last few minutes. Damn it. She didn’t deserve to die like this. If she even did die all the way. If the stupid cult leader’s taunts were true, Andy would be trapped inside, a decaying remnant of her soul stuck inside the corpse, forever. Death would be a blessing compared to that.

I shook my head, immediately denying the thought. I didn’t mean that! I told whatever was listening—the universe, some deity or other, my luck magic. I wouldn’t want anyone thinking that death was the solution.

“ Do something!” Aahil insisted, gripping the back of my shirt and giving me a little shake by the ruff, like a misbehaving dog. “Make sure the wraith can reach her.”

Ah. Sunny was inside her. That was what Elijah had meant. The wraith was trying to… well, I had no idea what he was trying to do, honestly. Wake her up? Break the dark magic?

“There’s nothing I can do,” I repeated, before Aahil decided to actually set me on fire. “Luck magic isn’t something you control. It’s not something I do. It’s something I am. I can’t aim it like a weapon and pull the trigger.”

His grip on the back of my neck tightened and he made a strange, eerie whining sound that cut right through my heart. “Do something,” he whispered. “Why can’t anyone fucking do something?”

Elijah was humming with golden magic, his bright aura visible to the naked eye and his wing branches fully extended. Blackness snaked through his light, the slow, coiling darkness like ink on water, a reminder that he was more than just an angelic presence. He seemed to be concentrating on something. But his glowing blue eyes flicked upward to focus on Aahil momentarily. “We are doing something,” he said calmly, in that layered, echoing voice. “I am keeping Dyre alive so Sunshine can bring Andy back.” Then his focus slid away, turned inward.

Apparently, it took some serious concentration to hold onto someone’s soul.

Great cats, I was surrounded by the most fascinating, terrifying people I had ever met.

And that didn’t even count the cult leader, who was still hovering around somewhere, being completely ignored by the rest of us. That must really chap her ass. I huffed an unhinged laugh and Aahil shook me again.

“Alright, alright,” I muttered. This brat. Someday, if we all made it through this alive, I was going to have to put him in his place. Pretty privilege would only get him so far. If he set my hair on fire, I was going to beat his pert little ass until it was black and blue…

“Fuck, I muttered, running a hand through my hair. I was losing my mind. And I was also going to pass out soon. Black spots were floating at the edges of my vision. Time magic was a bitch. Especially when I pushed it past all reason or logic in my desperation to save someone I loved.

Great. Now I was crying. But I had rapidly grown to care for Oleander Lovell—to love her, I was afraid. Her, and all of the weirdos currently standing around her lifeless body, willing Sunshine to save her. I felt like I belonged with them. Truly belonged. At all times, not just once in a while when they could tolerate me. And now, I was in danger of losing the home I had never realized I needed.

I wobbled, almost falling over. Then I gave up and let myself fall, curling up next to Andy. I lost my human form as primal instinct took over, letting me shut down and heal. Curling up around my witch, I purred, hoping my presence would soothe her. It would be incredibly unlucky if I were to lose her.

A too-warm presence knelt at my back, and hot, graceful fingers stroked through my fur.

It would be unlucky if they lost her.

And the ultimate bad luck would befall me if she was lost… I would lose them as well. All of them. Because Andy was what held us all together.

And on that thought, the overexertion and magic drain won, and I finally passed out.