I pressed my hand to my chest. “Me?”
“Yes, lead the way, Nova.” She tossed the onyx stone at me.
I held it up by the thin chain it was attached to. Okay, please let this work. Take me to the black poppy orchid, please. And then the pendulum began to swing.
Chapter 8
Zinnia
“Are we there yet?” My patience was growing thin, and we had yet to see one orchid. I felt like a little kid on a road trip wanting to get to our destination but feeling like it’d be an eternity until I got there. Ahead of me ,Nova took calm, sure steps. In this scenario, was she the parent and I the child?
She’d led us from where we’d crashed all the way through the thick, dense jungle to the boiling river, where we now walked along the banks. The air was so dense it was like sitting in a steam room. Pieces of my hair hung down the sides of my face in soaking tatters. The rest of it was in a messy knot on the top of my head. Whether it was from steam or sweat, I didn’t know.
Nova had her hair braided down the side of her body, and sweat soaked her shirt and pants, yet she didn’t take off those damn gloves. She glanced at me over her shoulder. “You know as much as I do.”
Her voice was so unruffled and steady like her steps. I couldn’t decide if I was grateful she had her wits about her or if I was pissed she didn’t feel the urgency I did to save Tuck. Beside us, Brax prowled in his tiger form, growling and hissing on occasion. Nova told us the animals were still at bay for now. They cowered in fear at our massive protector.
I felt like we’d been walking for hours, more hours than Tuck could spare. Exhaustion ate at my every step. I was hot, thirsty as hell and hungrier than a bear after winter. Any moment, I was going to lose my shit. I had to turn my attention elsewhere or I would explode. Through our last adventure, I’d been scared but calm and steady because I had Tuck by my side. Now Nova seemed to be the anchor I needed to cling to. “Why do you wear those gloves?”
Nova’s back stiffened for a fraction of second before she took her next step. “Style choice.”
“In this heat?” Tabi chimed in from behind me. “I’ve been wondering this for years. Is it really a fashion thing?”
Nova shrugged and pushed a low-hanging branch from in front of her. “It’s part of my personal style. I don’t ask why you wear bright colors or why Zin likes her combat boots, do I?”
Her voice wavered for only a second, but in that second, I could tell she was hiding something. Call it gut instinct, but I knew there had to be more to it. But I didn’t want to push it. We all had our secrets. I glanced down at the bracelet wrapped around my wrist, hiding the soulmate mark. Indeed, we all have our own secrets. “Well, I like them.”
She smiled over her shoulder at me, then mouthed the words “thank you.” As we climbed over another set of weaving roots, large light-colored boulders rose up in front of us and began to run along both sides of the river banks. Steam seeped from between the cracks, the sun beat down on us and a swarm of gnats were floating around my head. “Tabi, can you give us some AC?”
“If I could do that, we’d be in an arctic blast right now. But you know, I’d get drained and I need to preserve my powers incase we need them. I’m exhausted as it is.” Pebbles skidded down the side of the boulder behind me, and Tabi cursed under her breath.
“Wishful thinking, I guess.” I chuckled. As we climbed over another boulder, a shrill scream broke the silence of the jungle. I stopped short. “What was that?”
I didn’t wait for anyone to answer. I ran around Nova and headed right for it. I didn’t know why, but something deep inside me drove me forward. I pushed through thick bushes and stumbled over a high root and fell to one knee in the middle of a scorched clearing. The light-colored boulders had black burn smudges all over them, and the sound of a large waterfall was nearly deafening.
“Zinnia, wait!” Nova called out after me.
I didn’t turn back. Standing across the clearing with his back to me was the one person I dreaded seeing the most. He loomed over the edge peering down the waterfall. At what, I didn’t know. “Alataris,” I growled and rose to my feet.
He spun around, and a slow smile spread across his lips. “Zinnia, darling.” He motioned to the area around him. “Funny seeing you here. Looking for something?”
Nova stepped through the bushes behind me. “Guys we’re here.” She had yet to raise her gaze to Alataris. The pendulum in her hand spun in rapid circles, then flew in his direction and imbedded itself in the ground at his feet.
When she finally looked up, she sucked in a shocked breath. “Alataris.” She held her hands out, and purple sparks gathered on her fingertips. “What are you doing here?”
Tabi shoved to her side and opened her hands. Yellow ribbons of magic shot into the ground. Vines streamed out from all around Alataris and leashed around his ankles and wrists. She threw her arms wide, and the vines snapped tight, forcing his limbs away from his body like a starfish. When his hand was yanked away from behind his back, I saw the flash of the flower held within his fingertips.
I reached out toward him. “Give it to me.” I took a step forward.
“Oh, you want this?” His eyes flashed with excitement. Though his wrists were bound, he could still wave that flower back and forth. Its petals fluttered with each of his movements, and I wanted to rip it from him.
I gathered my magic in my palms. Streams of silver swirled around my body and down my arms. Wickedness like I’d never felt before called to me. My hair blew back from my face and I held my arms high, ready to blast his ass to kingdom come. I didn’t care if he lived or died by my hand. Yes, he was my father… he’d also tried to kill me on more than one occasion. Turnabout is fair play, Dad. “Give it to me now.”
“Release me first.” He narrowed his eyes on Tabi.
She shook her head. “Our policy is we don’t negotiate with terrorist.”
“Perhaps if I did this.” A flame lit down his arms and stopped at his wrists. The flame flickered only a millimeter away from the stem of the flower.
“Nobody move!” I held my hands out to my sides just as Beckett leapt into the clearing with Brax right behind him.
“Zin, what’s happening?” Three blue orbs curled and spun through his fingers.
“He’s got the flower we need.” I pointed to the orchid Alataris clutched in his hand. “And it’s the only one left here. I can only guess what happened to the rest.”
A dark chuckle rumbled deep in his chest. “How is Tuck? Was that his name? Poor guy must be suffering something awful.” He tilted his head back, laughing toward the sun-kissed sky.
I took a step forward. “This is all your fault!” I wanted to fire everything I had at him. I wanted to take him down then and there. But then what would happen to Tuck? Would the hex die with the man who did it to him, or would he suffer even more? It wasn’t something I was willing to chance.
Beckett let one of his orbs float out toward Alataris. “I say we kill him while we can.”
“I like this one. He’s ruthless. What’s the last name again? Do I know your family?” Alataris tilted his head to the side, looking him up and down. “Your features seem so familiar.”
“Shut up.” Beckett gritted his teeth, and the orbs began circling faster around Alataris’ head.
“Give us the flower and we’ll let you go.” I took another step toward him and held my hand out for it. Though we were yards away, if he made any move to hand me the flower, I would go for it.
“Will you? How interesting.” His eyes widened, and he looked me up and down. “If I told you I’d give you your mother back in exchange for the flower, what would you say?”
The air left my lungs in a rush. This man dangled the two people who mattered the most to me over my head. I hesitated. My mother or Tuck. I ground my teeth together. “You’re a monster.”
Magical fire spread across his body, severing the vines Tabi had holding him. When the flames died out, he still held the flo
wer in his hand, and he gracefully paced back and forth on the edge of the waterfall. “That wasn’t the question I asked. Choose now. Your mother or the flower.”
“It’s a trick, Zin. Don’t listen to him.” Beckett moved beside me. I stood torn between a rock and a hard place. Left with no other choice, I sprinted forward and summoned my blades to my hands as I ran.
“I’ll kill you!” I pumped my arms and ran harder. The moment I closed in on him, I swung for his neck. He tilted back, dodging the blade by less than an inch. His black sword appeared in his hand, and he swung out, blocking my next advance. With one hand, he wielded his sword. With the other, he held that flower like a red flag in my face.
Again, I leaned forward, aiming for a killing blow, but he swung up. Steel clashed against steel as he blocked my strike. Sparks flew in different directions. I spun around and swung at his leg. My blade glided across his thigh, ripping his black pants and shredding through his skin. He stumbled back and pressed his free hand to his thigh. Blood streamed through his fingers. “Good. Now stop fighting with emotion and start using some skill.”
A scream ripped up from my throat, and I leapt into the air, bringing both blades onto his sword. With one hand I aimed for his neck, and with the other I swung for his midsection. Alataris tilted back on his heel and kicked me in the chest, sending me flying back. My back smacked into a boulder, and the air rushed from my lungs, yet I couldn’t stop, wouldn’t stop. I would kill him for the things he did to the ones I loved.
He held the flower out in front of him. “Stop.”
I froze. My breaths heaved in and out, and the muscles in my arms shook with the effort I’d been using against him. Steam wafted up from the cracks in the rocks, and a mist of water covered my skin from the waterfall. Off to the side, Nova called to Beckett, “Hit him now.”
Alataris swung around and held the flower up. “If you want your friend to live, I wouldn’t.”
“He’s right. Just stay there, Beck.” I moved to face off against him once more. “Alataris, give me the flower.”
If possible, Alataris’ grin broadened. He tossed the flower into the air and then shot a ball of fire at it, charring it to ash. In the next second, he ran for the edge of the waterfall and leapt off the side.
“No!” I raced forward with my hands cupped in front of me. I dropped to my knees, trying to catch the ashes of what remained of our only hope of saving Tuck. The tears that I’d been holding back fell from my eyes in rapid succession. I ran my fingers over the ground, covering them in ash and dust, yet nothing of the flower remained. Heaving sobs racked my chest, and I felt the world spin. How could we lose? How could this happen? Not one time did I think I’d lose him. Now crawling on the ground, unable to stop the gut-wrenching sobs wracking my body, I knew I’d just signed his death certificate.
“Guys!’ Nova screamed, “We gotta go now.”
I shook my head. “I can’t.”
“Snake! Snake! Snake!” Nova’s voice rose over the sound of the splashing water. A thunderous roar echoed through the clearing.
“Zinnia, come on.” Beckett squatted down beside me and rested his hand on my shoulder. “Let’s get back to the school now! We’ll figure something else out. There’s nothing left here for us.”
I wrapped my hands around my torso and rocked back and forth, mumbling to myself, “Nothing left. I failed, I’ve lost him.”
Tabi darted to the edge of the waterfall and lifted her arms, a wall of water shot up. A snake the size of a sky scraper rose. It’s dual head loomed over the top of the water wall. Each one was modeled after a copper head with red strips flowing back from the sides of its lips. When it opened its mouths spouts of water shot from each side. I turned away from it wanting to curl in a ball and ignore it. I lost him, he’s going to die.
My world was going to end, and it was all because of one man. First, he’d taken my mother, and now he was about to kill my soulmate. There was nothing I could do about either. Beckett wrapped one arm around my back and swiped his other under my legs. He lifted me up as though I weighed nothing. “Come on, let’s go home.”
“I have no home.” There was nothing left for me. Alataris had taken it all away. My mother was gone, and now Tuck would be taken from me. Without him, Evermore Academy couldn’t be called home.
“Guys! Now, we go now.” Nova ran over me and pushed me toward Beckett. “Take her.”
I didn’t care about the stupid snake, I’d lost my only chance to save Tuck. I heard screaming it rattled in my ears.
“Shh, I got you.” He wrapped his hand under my legs and around my back. The blue portal seemed to rise from out of nowhere.
My head fell onto Beckett’s shoulder, and I suddenly felt tired down to my bones. The screaming stopped. Was it mine? I think so. I was tired of fighting, tired of all-consuming worry and tired of fighting a losing battle. When he stepped through the portal, I stopped resisting my lids and let them drift closed.
Chapter 9
Nova
“How long is she going to be out?” I paced back and forth in front of Zinnia’s bed in the infirmary. She’d been lying in the cot next to Tuck’s for hours now. Though her injuries were limited to a few scratches and bruises, there was no reason for her to be out this long.
“She just needs some rest. It’s been a long day for her.” The doctor patted my shoulder and moved down to the aisle to the next patient. I wound my fingers together and wrung my hands and started the pacing all over again.
“Anything change?”
I jumped at the deep rumbling voice behind me. When I spun on my heels, Beckett looked down at me. He crossed his arms over his chest.
I shook my head. “Not since we got back. Beck, she looked so broken by the waterfall.” My voice wavered. “And the screaming. I can’t get it out of my head.”
When I turned back toward them, Tuck continued to thrash on his cot. Sweat streamed off of him onto the soaked cot. “Maybe it’s for the best. I don’t think she could take looking at him like this for much longer.”
Beckett shifted from one foot to the other. “Niche said that if we can’t figure out what the hex was exactly, then…”
He didn’t have to finish that sentence. We all knew what it meant for Tuck. I glanced toward Zinnia. Even now in her sleep, she reached out toward him. If we lost him, then we’d lose her too. And losing my closest friend wasn’t an option. “Ugh. I’m about to show up on that island, bang on his door and knock Alataris out, kidnap him and force him to tell us what the hell he did to Tuck.”
Zinnia shot straight up in her bed. “That’s it!”
I jumped back. My heart leapt up into my throat. “What’s it?”
Zinnia scrambled out of the cot and grabbed my arms. Her fingers dug into my skin, pinching me. “We have to kidnap Alataris.”
Chapter 10
Zinnia
I knew I was grasping at straws. I knew this new plan was crazy, but I had nothing else to hold on to. I couldn’t just lie down next to Tuck and watch him die. Not now, not ever. The rest of the crew was gathered before me. Kumi rested on the floor at the foot of Tuck’s bed. Though her eyes were closed, her tails swished back and forth, telling me she was alert as I was. I’d taken a total of ten minutes to shower, get dressed and get back to the infirmary where we all now sat.
The doctor pushed past Grayson and Brax, who were blocking the aisle. “You kids could meet someplace else, you know?”
I ignored him as I sat perched on the edge of my cot. The infirmary was quiet, and no one dared to interrupt us with Kumi lying there. “I know this sounds crazy, but it’s what we have to do to save him.”
“Do you know how many people have tried to kidnap, imprison and kill Alataris over the years? Yet no one has succeeded. There’s a reason for that, love.” Grayson shoved his hands into his hair. He looked just as worn as I felt. His skin was paler than normal, and dark circles hung under his eyes. When I looked at the rest of the crew, they were all in similar
states of exhaustion. Maybe I wasn’t the only one feeling desperate, but I was the only one with a soulmate on the line. A soulmate I refused to live without.
The doors to the infirmary flung wide open and smacked into the wall. Cross strutted through them, looking like a badass model on a runway. With his midnight hair hitting his jawline, black leather pants, and white v-neck shirt, he looked like he belonged on the cover of a magazine and was the only one who didn’t lose a wink of sleep.
“What are you doing here?” I wasn’t mad that he showed up in the middle of our little meeting, but these plans had to remain secret. Cross was new to Evermore, and I wasn’t sure I could trust him.
“Figured you could use my help.” He shrugged and took a seat on the cot on the other side of the aisle. The midday sun shined in on him, making him look like a temptation come to life.
“No offense, but how can you help us?” I glanced around the room at the others, who wouldn’t meet my eye. “What? What’d I say?”
Cross cleared his throat. “Again, you really need to learn about the family ties in Evermore.”
Was that aimed at me? Did he know about my dear old dad? It was a secret I had to keep. If the others found out, they may never trust me. I felt the blood drain from my face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He cleared his throat. “My father is Dario Malback.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Again, I looked at the others for some kind of hint at what he was getting at. But I got nothing. “Seriously, people. Start talking. You all have been in this world for way longer than me. A little help.”
Beckett cleared his throat. “Dario Malback is Alataris’ right-hand man. There isn’t one thing that Alataris does without Dario knowing about or being a part of it.”
Wicked Hex (The Royals: Witch Court Book 3) Page 6
