Page 5 of Of Stars and Lightning (Sun and Shadows #1)

Three

A THING OF NIGHTMARES

THE CRASH INTO the water awoke all her senses as she kicked upward to breathe. With a gasp, Sol swam to the nearest ship, the moonlight her only guide in the sky. Waves pushed her until she finally grabbed a stray rope, then secured it around her wrist while she gathered her wits.

Perhaps she’d be lucky, and the assailant wouldn’t know how to swim. Maybe he would sink to the bottom of the Helian Ocean, and though she would have to process killing a person, at least she saved herself.

A small laugh escaped her trembling lips. She outsmarted a kidnapper. Lora and Leo would never believe her.

“I would've let Alix come after you had I known you wanted to go for a swim.”

Sol whined and hugged the ship, the small glimmer of triumph fading. “Please, please just go away.”

The man laughed and swam up beside her. “I guess this is our fault for not explaining ourselves sooner.” He spat out water. “But in our defense, you didn't give us the chance.”

“Cas?!” A female voice resonated from the docks above them.

“Down here, Nina,” the man—Cas—called out. Steps vibrated along the wood before the delicate, red-haired woman peeked her head over the edge of the railing, scanning the waters for them.

Nina sighed, relief flooding her features. “Please tell me you can swim,” she said, her eyes focused on Sol.

In response, Sol swam away from them.

“I don’t think so.” Cas grabbed her shirt, then her waist once again. Sol made to fight him off, but this time his grip was rock solid.

Sol stilled. Something was different about the sensation. Instead of his arm warming her, it was colder than the water itself. She looked down and for a moment thought perhaps this whole encounter was a nightmare.

Seeping from his arm were tendrils of black, swirling ropes, securing her tightly against his torso.

No—as Sol looked closer, they weren't ropes at all, but shadows, dyeing the blue ocean black as if paint seeped from around them. The moonlight directly above shone on the darkening water, and Sol gasped as the spirals of ink shimmered like a billion stars winking in the night sky. Speechless, she ran a hand across the water’s surface.

The mist clung to her skin as she lifted her fingers in front of her.

It danced in the air, breaking apart into hundreds of tiny droplets before floating away on the breeze.

Although logic told her she should be scared, a sense of wonder filled her instead. She turned to look at the man who held her. “What are you?”

Cas only gave her a small smile before jerking his head toward the rope ladder hanging from the dock a few yards away. “The ocean is unsafe at night. Let’s talk outside of it.”

“Cas...”

Sol looked up to find Nina staring ahead to the horizon beyond them, her loose hair almost brushing against the crashing waves as they rose to meet her.

“Get the fuck out of the water, Xanthos,” another voice called from above, the woman named Sawyer.

Sol couldn’t see her, but the seriousness in her tone made her follow Nina’s line of vision.

They swayed with the current as a sudden drop in temperature made her shiver, and the birthmark on her back burned as if lit on fire. Sol grimaced at the pain, but when she caught sight of what Nina saw, only a numbing horror spread through her body.

Cas's grip tightened around her as he whispered, “Stay still.”

Her mother hadn’t only told Sol stories of Rimemere and its magic.

She also told her stories of the wicked creatures that resulted from it, from the greed and thirst for power the Light Magic Wielders had developed.

Upon their discovery of Dark Magic, they had unwittingly invoked darkness into their lands.

The story Irene told best was the one of a lone Fire Wielder who had been so thirsty for power and respect that she opened the gate to the Void itself to get it.

And though her wish was granted, the gate remained open, letting the dark pit’s most sinister and bloodthirsty creatures invade Erriadin: the Jinn.

And that was exactly what stared back at Sol through the waves, just as macabre as the illustrations Irene sometimes showed her in a feeble attempt to scare some discipline into her.

It didn’t work back then. Instead, it had piqued her curiosity and sharpened her ability to sneak into their book collection to read about them in the middle of the night.

The Jinn had been a strange myth back then.

What floated in the sea before her was the truest physical representation of the Void itself.

Its beady, bulging eyes hovered directly over the water’s surface, completely soulless and utterly black.

Instead of hair, it had strands of what looked like yarn sprouting from its waxy, wound-covered scalp.

Its skin was pallid and a sickly shade of blue, as if it had never known the comfort of warmth.

Beside it, another head emerged from the water, then another.

And another.

“Great,” Cas said.

Before Sol could let out the blood-chilling screech bubbling in her throat, the water beneath them rose, carrying them higher and higher until they were level with the dock. Wordlessly, Cas tossed her onto the paneling of the dock floor, where Nina grabbed her arms in haste.

Sol coughed and shook herself from the woman’s grasp. “What is going on?” she cried, still trying to process the water, the people, the creatures—

“Shhhh.” Sawyer strode up beside them, her drawn swords reflecting the torches lining the bait houses behind them. “If you talk, they’ll want to talk, too. You don’t want that.”

Nina pulled Sol up gently and gave her a kind enough smile that Sol decided not to protest. “This wasn’t how I wanted this to go, Princess.”

Sol blinked through the mental fog.

Princess?

Nina looked back to the sea, and Sol felt her breath catch as more lifeless, glazed eyes appeared from the water.

“Alix.” Cas still sat on the massive wave as if it had turned solid.

The other man from the Hound stepped forward from behind Sawyer, giving Sol a small nod before waving a series of maneuvers with his hands. Instantly, the ocean responded, funnels of water wrapping around him and carrying him to Cas.

Both men nodded at their companions in some sort of silent understanding before plunging into the Jinn-infested waters below.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Sol said, “This isn’t real.”

Beside her, Sawyer laughed. “Better get used to it.”

Stepping closer to the edge of the dock, the woman rolled her neck and crossed her arms over her chest as she looked out into the ocean.

In a smooth motion, she swung her arms open as they burst into an amber blaze all the way down to the edge of her swords.

The light illuminated the darkness around where they stood.

The Jinn simultaneously turned their attention to her, like pests to a flame.

Cas and Alix landed on ships on opposite sides of the waterway, Alix with water swirling around him and Cas with the curious dark mist hovering at his feet. The ships swayed from the impact.

“I need you to stay with me, Sol,” Nina whispered before tucking Sol behind her. “I know you’re confused, but I need you to trust us right now.”

A shimmer of iridescent light cast the dock in an otherworldly glow, prompting Sol to glance down.

Nina’s arms shone the purest green, so bright it was almost blinding.

The very planet seemed to respond, the distant trees behind them rustling and straining as their branches extended past them, braiding into a single, solid limb.

It morphed into a bridge, connecting the dock to the two ships the men stood on.

Sawyer jumped onto the makeshift bridge and joined Cas on the ship to the left.

Just when Sol thought her nightmare couldn’t evolve into anything more terrifying, the Jinn emerged from the ocean, slowly ascending into the air, and hovering above the waves.

All of their attention was fixed directly on Sol, but the one at the front of the formation snapped its gaze away momentarily to face Sawyer.

“Fire Wielder,” it hissed, its voice strained.

“Yes, ugly?” Sawyer replied, her torso still ablaze as she took a spot next to Cas.

“You and I have unfinished business, Sawyerlyn,” the Jinn said, its mouth widening into the most unsettling grin. A set of purple lips stretched across the entire bottom half of its face. Where its nose should be were only two slits, and within its horrible mouth sat sharp, needle-like teeth.

A sob escaped Sol.

Immediately, the Jinn cut its eyes to her. It took a slow inhale. “Girl with the golden hair, we haven’t seen you before.”

“Don’t let any live this time, Alix!” Sawyer bellowed, but the Jinn ignored her. It cocked its head in a purely serpentine motion, then inched closer to where Sol stood in her fear. “You smell of stars and lightning, girl with golden hair.”

Sol’s birthmark ignited. It felt like ant bites and sparks of flame, first in the center, then spreading over her entire back.

She gritted her teeth but failed to suppress a pained yell. She clawed at her shirt and skin, hoping something would give to release the agony.

“Sol!” Nina caught her mid-fall and slowly guided her to the floor. “What’s wrong?”

“Yarrrroooow,” the multitude of Jinn hissed, all narrowing their attention on her.

Sol could barely see as they floated forward, her vision blurred with pain.

Instantly, Nina stood, casting stray rocks and boulders toward the creatures.

Sawyer hurled spheres of fire while Alix captured the fallen within his deadly waters while they burned to ashes.

Pain.

Sol’s head pounded and her lungs were filled with cement as she crawled toward the small patch of trees nearby, the sound of battle echoing around her. She briefly heard Nina call Cas, then he was beside her, his hand on her shoulder.

“Come on,” he said, pulling her to her feet. “You’re not used to the Jinn, it’s likely your magic reacting to them.”