“Come on, Elba. You know I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t necessary.” Niche rested both of her hands on the table and leaned over the map.
“Well, your little summoning power is all well and good until you interrupt someone while making their lunch.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“Please, Elba. You know I can only do it within the walls of the school and I wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t an emergency. This is important. We only have a short time to get to Alataris; otherwise, the seas will rise up and a giant will be unleashed on the world. I don’t think I need to tell you how dire our situation is.”
Elba nodded her head and took her place next to Tucker. I stood waiting, watching what would come next. She lifted her hands and snapped her fingers at me. “Well, girl, what are you waiting for?”
I leapt into action and walked around the table as quickly as I possibly could. “I’m here, I’m here.”
Niche sighed and shook her head. “I don’t like this. Not one bit. The others —”
“Are nowhere near here.” I held my hand out to her. “Are you doing this or not?”
Tuck bent over, hiked up his pant leg and pulled a knife from the side of his combat boot. “Here.” He handed the jagged blade over to Niche.
I wagged my eyebrows at him and pointed toward his boots. “Just walking around with that tucked in there? Must be comfortable.”
He winked at me. “Like wearing a pair of slippers.”
A sliding sting ran across the palm of my hand. “Ouch.” I yanked it back from Niche’s hand. A line of blood rose up from the gouge in my hand, and a wave of dizziness washed over me. “Did you really need to put a four-inch cut in my hand for just a bit of blood?”
Niche laid the crystal end of the pendulum across my hand. “Hold it for a minute.”
I wrapped my fingers around the crystal in my hand, willing my magic to fuse with it. Drops of my blood dripped from my hand and coated the chain that dangled between my fingers. I closed my eyes, focusing all of my attention on the crystal. Tucker’s warm woodsy scent drifted over me…it wasn’t distracting at all. Neither was the heat I could feel coming off of him or the fact that I could tell how close he was to me. Not distracting at all.
“Zinnia! Are you listening to me?” Niche’s sharp tone broke into my thoughts. With two fingers, she pinched the end of the chain and gave it a little tug. “You can let go now.”
I shook myself. “Oh, right.” I pried my fingers open one by one. The blood had already dried, making my hand stiff.
She pulled the pendulum from my grasp and held it over the map. It started swinging in a circle. Little drops of my blood landed on the time-worn paper, yet the pendulum didn’t stop moving. “Is it supposed to do something else, like land on the spot we are looking for?”
Tucker rocked back on his heels. “Yes, it is.”
“Ugh, this should be working.” Niche slammed her fists down on the table once more. Her whole body quaked, and she looked on the verge of losing it.
Professor Davis placed her hand on my shoulder. “Zinnia, do you remember the locator spell in the book I gave you?”
“Yes, but that’s to find like small things around the house, not to find a floating island in the ocean.” I motioned toward the map. “Unless…”
A wide smile spread across her face. “Unless what?”
My eye darted around the map, looking at one blood drop to the next. “Unless I change it to something else?”
“Precisely.” She nodded up at me.
I held both my hands over the paper and forced pinpricks of my magic into each of my drops of blood. After all that I’d been through the past few days, I realized I may not always know what I’m doing, but my instincts were strong and so was I. “Feel my magic woven by time, seek the one who matches mine. Track him now near or far. Through blood and magic reveal where you are.”
The drops of blood on the map rose up off the paper and swirled together into one blob the size of a penny. It skittered across the page back and forth, then zigged and zagged, searching frantically. I held my breath, my heart raced in my chest and I tried to take deep breaths to calm down. This could be it, the moment we’d been working toward. The drop stopped on a single spot south of the equator, then it formed a perfect ring around a spot in the middle of the ocean just north of Australia. I sucked in a sharp breath. “Is that it?”
The four of us stood looking at each other with wide eyes. Professor Davis was the first to speak. “It is.”
Shock, utter shock, overcame me. I felt my jaw drop open. “I-I guess we better go?”
Tucker nodded. “You ready for this?”
“Yes, I am.” I was ready to face Alataris, I was ready to find my mom and I was ready to free the dragon. The world was depending on us, and I was tired of waiting, tired of being afraid. My powers were growing, and it was time to embrace what they were becoming, what I was becoming.
Niche stepped in front of us. “You two listen to me right now. Get in, get the dragon and get out.”
“But my mom…” I looked from her to Tuck. “She’s depending on me to come get her.”
“Zinnia, your mother needs a world to come back to. We can’t do two rescue missions at the same time. Get the dragon, get back here. When we’re ready, we can all go to find her.” Niche reached out and placed her hand on my shoulder. “Do you understand me?”
Though I nodded my head, I knew if I got even a hint of a chance at getting her, I was going to take it. “Okay,” I lied.
Niche narrowed her eyes at me, but didn’t say anything. She took a small step back. “Very well, Professor Davis.” She motioned to the wall. “If you would, please.”
Professor Davis slapped her hands together and rubbed them back and forth. “Okay, here we go.”
The palms of her hands glowed a neon purple as she bent over and placed her hand on the bottom of the glass wall beside us. She lifted her hand up, drawing a purple line up and around, making an archway. In truth, it looked like a child’s finger painting. When she connect the bottom of the door to the floor, the whole things glowed bright purple. Were all portals different based on the magic that made them? I had no idea, but it fascinated me.
Professor Davis walked behind Tucker and me. “Well, off you go.”
Her hand pressed into the middle of my back, and she shoved me forward. My toe caught on the carpet, and I stumbled forward and grabbed onto Tuck.
He grabbed up my arms and steadied me on my feet. “You ready?”
Was I? I nodded my head. “Absolutely.”
His lips tilted up in that half cocky grin that I loved. “Let’s go.”
I threw my shoulders back and held my head higher. I was ready to go into the portal to save the dragon, rescue my mom and face Alataris.
Chapter 33
Zinnia
The moment my combat boots hit the moss-covered ground, I knew we were in for an adventure. The floating island rocked back and forth like a toothpick in a bathtub…with a toddler.
Tucker stepped through the portal behind me and held his arms out. “Whoa.”
“I wonder if he planned on the seas tossing his little hiding spot around.” The thought of Alataris being stuck on this turbulent island trying to ride out the waves and suffering from sea sickness made me smile. I just wanted to see his tall skinny ass clinging to the toilet seat, praying to the porcelain gods for relief.
All around us the palm trees swayed with the motion of the island. They rustled against each other, and their large leaves fell to the ground, piling up at the base of the thick tree trunks. If I hadn’t known this island belonged to pure evil, I might’ve liked it. Lush bushes were spread for as far as the eye could see. Tropical flowers of the brightest colors adorned each one. Their fragrance drifted on the breeze. This far away from any civilization, the stars stood out like spotlights in a midnight sky. The air was thick and oppressively humid. Sweat trickled down my sides and back.
I peele
d my jacket from my arms and tossed it to the ground. Tucker too pulled the sleeves of his jacket from his arms and tossed it down next to mine. His black V-neck t-shirt made his tan skin look even darker and gave his molten honey eyes a deadly look. He held his hands out to his sides, and the white light I’d grown so accustomed to appeared. The tips of his duel swords emerged from the palms of his hands, slowly rising until he wrapped his hands around the silver hilts. The phoenix that was etched into the base of the white blade matched the ones on the blades I’d learned to summon.
He looked around at the topical forest, then nodded up toward the castle. “You ready for this?”
“Yeah, I really think I am.” I too summoned my blades to my hands. Each time I felt those hilts in my grasp, I grew more and more comfortable using them. The white metal matched Tucker’s swords…a perfect match. The symbolism wasn’t lost on me.
“Remember what Niche said about your mom?”
I froze, knowing I couldn’t lie to him the way I lied to her. “Yeah?”
“Find her, Zin.” His eyes softened, and his lips tilted up into a half-smile.
“But what about the dragon? What about saving all of us?” A few weeks ago, I would’ve done the selfish thing and went directly for my mother. But after traveling around the country to try and stop Alataris, I realized why I was meant to be a queen. I was put here to think of others, to save the world of Evermore and all who lived there. What would my mom do? I stepped in closer to him, so no one would hear me. “No, we free the dragon first. Then look for my mom.”
He tilted his head to the side. “You sure?”
“It’s what she would do.” In the pit of my stomach, I knew I was right. What kind of world would she return to if I didn’t succeed in freeing Aldesse, the dragon.
“Then let’s move.”
Tucker and I both turned to look up at the castle that stood in the middle of the island. It was the stuff Disney movies were made of. A winding cobblestone path led up to an imposing white stone castle. The stones were laid so precisely they appeared like smooth white marble with grey veins running through them. A thick oak door stood at the center of the wall. On the corners of the castle were four cylindrical towers with cone-shaped blue roofs on top of each one. A line of windows both on the first and second floors ran across the front of the castle. Small shrubs crept up the walls, covering them in big green leaves and brightly colored flowers.
This was where he kept me? I couldn’t believe it. All that time I’d spent locked up in his dungeon, I never knew I was standing on an oasis of beauty. Even when he took me away from here, I was blinded by the black cloud he’d used to transport us.
Tucker ducked down behind a cluster of bushes big enough to hide an entire house. “Are you ready?”
Was I ready? All this time I’d felt unsure of what my next move was, but standing here now, I knew I was ready to face whatever would come at us. “Yep.”
“Stay close.” He moved through the thick bushes soundlessly. Each of his footsteps was muffled by the thick foliage covering the ground.
I held my blades at the ready and followed behind him. “How do we find the dragon?”
As if on cue, a deafening roar rocked the tropical forest. Tuck glanced over his shoulder at me. “Follow that.”
“It came from that way.” I spun on my heels and started in the opposite direction that we’d come from, then smack right into a chest the size of a barrel.
I leapt back and held my blades up. The Thrall charged at me with his hands stretched out in front of him. His neon shirt held dirt smudges across it, and his thick black sunglasses had a crack running across one of the lenses. He leapt forward and swung his arms out to wrap them around me.
“Beat it, lurch.” I ducked under his hands, then shoved my blade up into his stomach. Black ash rained down on me, falling into my hair. When I stood up straight, I shook it out, letting the ash fall to the ground. My body was knocked sideways, and my back smacked into the ground, knocking the wind out of me. I gasped as another Thrall thrashed on top of me. Not even a second later, the weight was gone.
Tuck wrapped his hand around the Thrall’s neck and held him up off the ground. The Thrall kicked his legs out and wrapped his fingers around Tuck’s wrist, trying to pry free. Tuck spun his sword, then stabbed it right through the Thrall’s chest. More dust fell around me. At this rate, my black leggings and shirt were going to be a light shade of gray. I sat up and rested my arms across my knees.
Tucker stood over me. “You okay?”
I let my blades disappear, then hopped to my feet. “Yeah.” I brushed my hands off, then hiked my thumb in the direction of the roar we’d heard only moments ago. “Let’s go.”
Before I could fully turn away from him, Tuck wrapped his hand around my wrist and pulled me to a stop. “Wait. Before we go any further, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Now? I looked around, waiting for another thing to jump out at me. “What is it?”
“No, Zin.” He let go of my wrist and then wrapped it around the leather cuff on his wrist. “I have to tell you.”
My heart leapt up into my throat, and I stared at him with wide eyes. Is he going to say what I think he is? Here? Now?
Tucker sighed. “I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now. But with just the two of us here I don’t know what will happen or if we’ll survive. So I have to say it now while I can. I’m your sou—”
“Stop.” I pressed my finger across his lips. I’d waited so long to figure out who I belonged with. But standing here now, I knew if he told me he was my soulmate I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on what we needed to do. If all I saw was him in mind, then we both could die. I had to be on point. We both did. “You tell me after we survive this.”
Even with my fingers pressed to his lips, he smiled. His eye bore into mine, and he brushed my hand away. “Okay, but first.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and pressed his mouth to mine.
Heat shot through my body, and I leaned into him, pressing my body up against his. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him down closer to me. The taste of his minty tongue invaded my mouth. I couldn’t fight the sigh that bubble up from my throat. My nails pressed into the skin above his shirt.
Before I was ready to let go, Tucker broke our kiss and stepped back. “Afterward then.”
Without another word, he walked past me and into the thick forest.
I crouched down behind a fallen icicle the size of a car. Drops of water ran off the icicle into the puddle my combat boots were sinking down into. Beside me, Tuck lay on his stomach over the ice with his hands cupped around his eyes, looking down into a bowl-shaped arena where the dragon was chained down to the ground. A thick manacle was wrapped around her neck just behind her jaw. Thick silver spikes were on the inside of the collar, stabbing in between her shell-like scales. Streams of blood ran down from each spike. The dark crimson stood out against her white scales.
Tuck pulled the scale from the small of his back and held it out for me to take. “It has to be you who returns it.”
“Me? Why me?” I took the scale and slid it into the waistline of the back of my pants. The cool smooth scale felt like an ice pack on my lower back.
“Because I was the one who attached her.” He looked at me over his shoulder.
I crawled up on the icicle next to him and looked out over the bowl where the dragon pulled and thrashed at her bindings. It threw its head back and gave another pained cry. It was surrounded with small cast iron barrels. They were filled to the brim with burning logs, and smoke billowed from each one. The dragon blew a stream of ice down its own back and tail. “What the hell, Tuck? He’s burning her to keep her contained?”
The muscle in his jaw ticked. “Cruelty, it’s pure cruelty.”
I scanned the woods and surrounding area for any sign of life. When I didn’t see a soul in sight, I leaned in closer to Tuck and whispered, “Do you think it’s a trap?”
“Absolutely
.” He nodded.
“Then let’s see what we can do to piss off Alataris, shall we?” I slid off of the icicle and began to tip toe my way down the big hill leading to where Aldesse was imprisoned. Tucker moved silently beside me like an avenging angel they’d never see coming.
When we reached the edge of the bowl, I stood looking up at the twenty-foot high wall. Without a single word, Tuck swept his hands under my legs and back. I threw my hands around his shoulders to hold on. My pulse quickened in my veins, and I couldn’t help but smile. He squatted down and then pushed up, leaping so high my body went weightless in his arms when he came back down to land on the rim of the Aldesse’s torture chamber. When Tuck placed me back on my feet, I leaned over the edge.
The walls were covered in a thick layer of ice she must’ve shot out, but closer to where she was, it was a melted pile of slush. The dragon flipped over onto its back and rubbed its wings in the mucky ice water around its feet. My heart panged for the creature. It needed the colder temperatures to live, and this right here was torture. What’d she ever do to Alataris to deserve this?
I sat down on the ledge of the bowl and peeked up at Tuck. “You ever go sleigh riding?”
He shook his head. “I lived in a volcanic valley all my life.”
“Then watch this.” I pushed off with my legs and threw my hands up, letting my body slide down the ice. My stomach dropped out from under me, and I wanted to giggle like a little kid, but I kept quiet. The hair blew back from my face, and the cold air prickled my cheeks. The ice soaked through my pants, but I didn’t care. My only concern was for Aldesse. The momentum carried me to just outside the circle of burning barrels.
With his fire wings, Tucker floated down beside me, landing gently on his feet. He held his hand out to me. “I’m not sure phoenixes slide.”
I place my hand in his, and he pulled me to my feet. I beamed up at him. “Pity.”
Just then, the dragon realized she wasn’t alone. She spun around and hissed in our direction. Her lips pulled back from her teeth, and she roared so loudly the ground vibrated beneath my feet.
Wicked Magic (The Royals: Witch Court Book 2) Page 18
