Chapter Nine
On my knees in the mud, I raised the orb triumphantly. “Aha!”
That was as far as I got before hot magic slammed into my hand and up my arm. Excruciating pain lit my nerves on fire—and the leviathan’s head swung down, its blazing ivory eyes fixing on me.
Uh-oh.
I tried to drop the sphere, but my hand was clamped around it, muscles refusing to unclench. Pain spread through my body, searing every nerve until I could barely contain my scream.
The leviathan’s jaws opened, revealing pointed fangs and huge curved canines. It roared in fury. The ocean frothed, forming a giant wave. The wall of water rushed toward me, hit the edge of the circle, and parted around it. The ocean raged past us toward the shore, and everything went dark as the water swept the electric lights away .
I didn’t have a chance to worry about the guys as the leviathan’s massive jaws snapped a foot from my face. Its head was almost as long as I was tall, its giant eyes glowing from within.
“ I will not submit. ”
The snarling voice ripped across my senses, and I cringed. Tears streamed down my face from the agonizing magic pounding through me.
“I don’t want you to submit!” I yelled. “I’m trying to save you!”
“ Your treacherous tongue cannot deceive me, witch. ” Its fangs snapped again, way too close, its hot breath blasting my skin. I had no idea how it was talking—its mouth didn’t move with its speech.
“I’m not a witch, you stupid blind fae!” I hunched over, shuddering with agony. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t release the sphere. “Go back to the ocean and be free or whatever. What are you waiting for?”
The leviathan’s head dropped a few inches and tilted to bring one huge eye closer. “ You are human. ”
“I know that,” I gasped. “I don’t want or need a familiar. I stopped the ritual, so get your scaly ass back out to sea.”
A snarl rumbled from the beast, but I didn’t care if I had offended it. Everything hurt and I couldn’t think. My anger-fueled mouth was the only part of me still working.
“Make it stop,” I groaned, my limbs trembling, but my hand remained fused to the sphere.
The leviathan’s head weaved side to side, then its lips pulled up, baring its fangs. “ So be it, human. ”
Heat flashed through my body in a dizzying wave. Beneath my fingers, the silver sphere disintegrated into dust. The purple glow of the circle snuffed out—and whatever magical force had been holding the ocean back disappeared.
Icy water slammed into me. As I went under, I managed to grab the leather cord of my fall crystal off the downed witch. I tumbled beneath the surging current. Flailing, I found the muddy bottom with one hand, planted my feet, and pushed up.
My head broke the surface, and I gasped in a desperate breath. The black water crashed across my shoulders, pushing me backward as I dug my heels into the mud. I slipped and plunged under again.
Arms clamped around me and hauled me upright.
“Tori!” Aaron turned us sideways to reduce the current’s drag. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I half spluttered, half coughed. Freezing water pulled at my clothes. Why did we live this far north? I was moving to Hawaii. Just watch me.
He towed me toward the shore. As we neared the seawall, I spotted Ezra and Kai waiting for us. Grasping my arms, they hauled me out of the water. Aaron clambered out and sat on the concrete, shoulders slumped.
I pushed my sopping hair off my face, checked all my limbs were functioning, then ensured my two artifacts were tucked safely in my pocket. Olivia sat a few yards away, coughing wetly. Sitting beside her was the orange tabby, its crystalline eyes glowing with faint yellow light. Two tiny, semi-transparent dragonfly wings sprouted from its back. As I studied it, it bared its small fangs and faded out of sight.
“I’m exhausted,” Aaron wheezed. “Tori, did you free the fae?”
“Yeah,” I panted, clamping my arms around myself as the shivers started. “Where are the Red Rum guys? ”
“The ones who survived have fled,” Kai answered. “I think they expected you to sic the leviathan on them.”
I nodded, my teeth chattering. “Hey Aaron, got any fire to spare?”
“Not right now.”
Kai crouched beside me. “What was that, Tori? Why did you go running in there?”
“Uh, well, you see…”
“Tori!” Odette ran out of the darkness, following the seawall path. She must’ve taken the long way down. “You did it! Amazing!”
Puffing to a stop, she knelt to check that her sister was unhurt. Olivia seemed fine—except for the purple bruise rising on her swollen cheek. Ah. Hmm. I may have gone overboard there.
Aaron pulled me up and wrapped an arm around my waist. I pressed against his side. He might be fresh out of fire, but his skin was always warm.
“Let’s get back to the car,” he said. “We can debrief there.”
We made our tired way up the trail, the guys dragging their feet. Eventually, the impassably steep bluff gentled into a passably steep hill that we scrabbled up. Back in the parking lot, I trudged to Aaron’s car, feeling as though a fifty-pound weight were fused to my shoulders.
As Aaron opened his trunk, the witches murmured their farewells—but they got all of three steps toward their blue sedan before Kai was in front of them, his dark eyes colder than the ocean waters.
“Where are you two going? You have a lot of explaining to do.”
“What’s to explain?” Olivia said weakly. “The sea lord is free. That’s what matters. ”
“Nice try.” He pointed at Aaron’s vehicle. “One of you is riding with us. The other can follow in your car.”
The witches exchanged apprehensive looks.
Aaron heaved a duffle bag out of his trunk and unzipped it. “Ezra?”
The aeromage held out his arm, revealing the claw marks that raked from his wrist to elbow. Blood streaked his skin. Aaron slapped on gauze from the first aid kit, then roughly taped it over the cuts.
“That’ll do until we get back.” Sorting through the spare clothes, Aaron offered me a sweatshirt. “Here.”
“Thanks.” Taking it, I fumblingly unzipped my jacket.
“Tori,” Kai said. “What did you do with my phone?”
I paused, about to pull my jacket off. “Uh… I broke it. Sorry.”
“Broke it? How?”
“I punched Olivia in the face with it.”
He rolled his eyes, but I swore his lips quirked into a smile.
“Mine is soaked,” Aaron said as he peeled his wet shirt off. It was a testament to my exhaustion that I only ogled his muscles for a couple seconds. “Ezra, don’t suppose your phone survived the…”
He trailed off. As I tossed my drenched coat in the trunk, I looked at him curiously. He was staring at me. So was Kai. So was Ezra. Their expressions were identical mixtures of confusion and dread.
I looked down at my top, soaked with stinky sea water. No surprise there. But…
Gaping in disbelief, I stretched my right arm out. A bright azure rune was emblazoned on my palm and glowing merrily. Coiling lines and spiky runes spread out from it, climbing my arm to my shoulder. Luminescent sigils spiraled over the right side of my chest above my shirt.
In a panic, I dragged the hem of my shirt up. The markings ran all the way down my side and disappeared under my pants. I shoved my jeans down a few inches. Runes wrapped across my hip.
“You!” Olivia shrieked, pointing at me with a shaking hand. “You took the familiar bond for yourself!”
I gawked at her. “But—but I freed him—”
“Those are fae runes! You’re a lying—”
“Olivia!” Odette grabbed her sister’s arm, forcing it down. “It must’ve been an accident.”
“Shit, Tori,” Aaron whispered. “What did you do?”
“I—I don’t know.” My frantic gaze flashed from the markings to him and back. “I thought the fae—he said—I didn’t mean to. It was an acci… dent…” My eyes narrowed as my panic morphed into suspicion. An accident? Maybe not.
Jerking away from the car, I spun in a circle, searching. “Echo? Echo!”
“She’s lost it,” Aaron observed, not quite managing his usual flippant tone.
“Tori, this place doesn’t echo,” Kai said cautiously.
I threw my head back and bellowed, “ Echo! Show yourself, you oversized salamander!”
Not my best insult, but I was at my wit’s end here.
“Such insolence, brazen one.”
The air shimmered above Aaron’s car, and the wyldfae materialized out of nothing. Wings spread, he hovered a few inches above the vehicle.
Aaron swore and backpedaled, his hand shooting to the hilt of his sword. He grasped it but didn’t draw. Kai made no sound but took three swift steps backward, as shocked as I’d ever seen him. Ezra didn’t move, his mismatched eyes locked on the fae and his expression eerily blank.
I pointed accusingly at Echo. “You lied! You said if I took the relic from the witch, the sea lord would be saved!”
“Saved from enslavement by the witch, yes.” Echo smiled, showing his fangs. “Indeed, you delivered him from a humiliating fate.”
I gestured violently at the glowing marks all over my body. “Then what is this ?”
“The bond forged between your soul and Llyrlethiad’s.”
“Then you did lie about—”
His tail lashed. The barbed end hit the car’s back window and shattered the glass. Aaron twitched like he’d been electrocuted, a croak escaping his throat. My eyes darted from the casual destruction back to the fae, and a healthy dose of fear cooled my temper.
“I spoke no lies.” The fae’s dark eyes appraised me. “You, and not a witch, hold the vile bond. You, who have no power to command him.”
My hands clenched. “You tricked me.”
“I spoke no lies,” he repeated in his lilting accent. “Llyrlethiad was already bound by the ensnaring spell. It could not be undone. Someone had to claim the magic.”
So Echo had sent me, a human with “no power to command” the sea lord.
I bared my teeth. “You’re a treacherous—”
His wings flared wide. He swept down from above the car and stopped with our noses almost touching, his midnight blue eyes filling my vision .
“You are but an infant to the ways of my kind,” he crooned softly. “Out of respect for the druid, I will gift you with this moment of instruction. Do not disparage my name or slander my character, or I shall have no recourse but to carve my honor into your flesh.”
Swallowing hard, too frightened to utter a sound, I nodded.
His fingers closed around my wrist and a spark of tingling heat imbued my skin. “My debt is paid. I will answer your call no longer.”
I gave another mute nod.
His unnerving smile reappeared with a flash of fangs, then he swept his wings down. As he soared skyward, the air rippled and danced. His body darkened, lost in the shimmers. For a bare instant, the shape of the massive dragon, galaxies swirling across his dark sides, was silhouetted against the stars, then he faded from sight.
I pressed a hand to my forehead, feeling dizzy. “You know, I really don’t like fae.”
“How could you be so disrespectful?” Odette asked in a quavering whisper. She and her sister were clutching each other like they’d just witnessed the descension of an angel. “Do you have any idea how powerful that fae is?”
Nope. Didn’t know, didn’t care.
“Holy shit ,” Aaron exclaimed. He gazed despairingly at his car’s broken window. “That’s the same dragon fae that flies the Ghost around, isn’t it?”
I said nothing. Stupid oath spell.
“Tori?”
“Can’t explain,” I muttered.
Aaron swore .
“Out of the frying pan, into the fire,” Kai muttered dryly. “We need to call Darius.”
“My phone is in my purse.” I hobbled wearily toward the car. “I left it under my seat.”
Aaron caught my elbow, and only then did I realize how badly I was listing to one side. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re white as a sheet.”
“I’m fine .” I pulled free and opened the car door, the simple movement causing me to stagger. The marks glowing down my arm blurred as my eyesight lost focus.
“Tori—” Aaron reached for me again and I stubbornly stepped away from him, ignoring the way the ground shifted erratically under my feet.
“She’s going to faint,” Kai said.
“Don’t be stupid,” I snapped, pulling myself together. “I’ve never fainted in my life.”
No sooner were the words out of my mouth than my vision darkened and I pitched toward the pavement.