Anger coursed through my body—at the djinn, at Damian, at the world.
The djinn first, I decided. Then the rest.
“You hypocrite,” I snarled. “You did to my friend what was done to you.” Fury threatened to split me at the seams. I shot my hand forward, releasing my anger in a blast of wind.
The djinn slammed backward into the palace’s wall with a crash. He righted himself and sneered. “I was captive for a thousand years, and I demand retribution. With your friend’s power, I will travel through time. I will find every mortal who extracted a wish from me and repay their impudence tenfold.”
“I understand your desire for vengeance. It was wrong how you were treated. But what you’re doing right now is insanity!”
I shot another gust of wind into him. It whipped about his body, and he laughed. He waved his hand, and a force slammed into my chest, lifting me off the ground.
Rhiannon screamed as I hurled through the air. I landed on my back with a crack that forced the wind from my lungs and left my head ringing.
A dozen yards to the left, Damian kept chanting, his face ashen.
I had to buy him more time, and so I sat up, gasping in agony.
Rhiannon threw her bolas at the djinn, but he knocked it from the air with a swipe of his arm.
Scrambling to my feet, I dodged another strike, then fell into my defensive stance.
The djinn strode toward me. Magic swirled around his fists. “You are a pathetic excuse for one of our kind. You have inherited your family’s rage and impetuousness, but none of their wisdom or power. Did you really think you could defeat me?”
He slammed me into a column with another gust of air. My ribs cracked, but the whirling words in my mind drowned out the pain.
My family?
I was paralyzed. “What do you know about my family?”
“That they do not know what a worthless shadow you are and will pay dearly to have you back. You cannot imagine my delight to have you barge into my domain. I will not let you go. I will chain you to the ground with a blade over your neck. Your kin will not touch me as long as your throat is mine.”
“Not if I chain you first.” I broke loose and shot across the garden, pulling my khanjar from its sheath.
The djinn lifted his hands and summoned a blast of sand. I raised my arms and blocked the onslaught with a wall of wind, but his power was overwhelming. The sandstorm inched toward me, and I struggled to stay upright, my feet skidding across the ground. The force made my arms ache.
“Damian,” I panted, “how much longer?”
His face was grim, and his lips were moving.
“Almost!” Rhiannon shouted over the tempest.
I steadied my feet and pushed forward, forcing the sandstorm back an inch, and then another. This was not my strength’s doing—the djinn was losing focus.
The binding spell must be working, I told myself. Just hold on…
The djinn looked around wildly as his legs began to dissipate into blue smoke. He caught Damian’s gaze and snarled. In an instant, the djinn was in the air, and the force I was holding back let up. The sandstorm blew backward under my power and blasted into the wall.
The djinn rocketed upward toward the palace’s roof, breaking away from Damian’s hold. Escaping.
Shit. He was so fast.
But so was I.
Adrenaline pumping, I bolted to Rhiannon and Damian. “Give me the box!”
Damian was on his feet in seconds. He pushed the box into my arms, regret flickering in his eyes. My chest ached, but I ignored it. There was no time. I pulled the box out of his grasp. “Get everyone together.”
Closing my eyes, I cleared my mind. The storm rose within me, and I shot into the air. The wind tore at my hair as I flew above the palace domes. Rhiannon and Damian became specks in the garden below.
I smashed through the translucent dome of magic. I was of this place, and it could not hold me back.
The sky was bright, but the thunderclouds around the palace were dark and foreboding. “Where are you, you son of a bitch?” I screamed, scanning the empty expanse.
Lightning flashed behind towering gray clouds, and the distant crack of thunder rumbled.
There!
The djinn raced toward the lightning storm. I took off after him, flying faster than I’d ever flown before. Adrenaline pushed me to the limit, and the thrill of the fight coursed through my body.
The binding spell appeared to have weakened him. I was gaining on him and could make out the tattoos on his body.
The binding spell!
Clutching the box more tightly, I began reciting the spell, repeating it over and over.
The djinn sensed the magical bonds forming again and blasted me with a flurry of hail. I darted to the side and evaded the assault. Chunks of ice whirled past my head. I dodged, narrowly avoiding them.
Freaking hell, that was close.
The djinn sneered and bolted into the thundercloud. I broke through after him and was jolted by turbulence so strong, my legs felt like they’d be ripped off. Still, I clutched the box, desperate not to drop it.
A blinding flash cracked through the air ahead, and a shockwave sent me wheeling downward. The ensuing crash of thunder pounded my eardrums and reverberated through my bones. Pain forced a scream from my lungs, but I only heard ringing.
I stopped my free fall and spotted the djinn in the distance. His body jerked left and right, also caught in the grip of the unsteady air.
Pain pounded through my ears, but I whipped after him.
I began reciting the spell again, this time screaming it, though I could only faintly hear my voice.
The djinn raced ahead, disappearing into a rising puff of vapor—except it wasn’t part of the clouds. Two giant serpent heads appeared out of the mist. One lunged forward with an open mouth. I shifted the box under my arm and blasted the cloud beast with a gale. The serpent’s head dissipated, but exhaustion pulled at me, dragging me down.
Using the fall to my advantage, I dove downward. The cloud serpent raced after me, and I twisted and turned, breaking through the clouds into clear sky. The cloud creature strained its jaws to reach me, but I darted out of its grasp. Away from the thunderheads, it slowly evaporated.
I slowed to a hover and scanned the empty sky.
“Looking for me?” The ominous voice sounded close, but it was hard to tell since my hearing wasn’t right.
I whipped around, but a hand gripped my throat, squeezing tightly. His magic rippled over me in waves. The scent of frankincense filled my nose, and tobacco burned my tongue. The djinn peered down at the box under my arm.
“You thought you could trap me?” He quaked with laughter. My throat ached under his grip.
He reached for the box, but I blocked his hand with my free arm and twisted my body to move it out of his reach. His grip around my neck loosened, but my arm was pinned behind my back. I thrashed, trying to break free.
“I told you last time that I would tear your limbs off,” he hissed at my ear. “I wasn’t lying.”
I heard a crack, and pain pierced through my arm. My vision darkened, agony tearing a scream from my throat.
I struggled to retain consciousness. The djinn roared, and I slipped from his grasp. My arm was broken. Snapped like a twig.
I dropped through the sky like a stone, clutching my broken arm and the magic box, struggling to command the wind. To save myself. But the pain overwhelmed me, nearly blackening my vision.
Through bleary eyes, I spotted something falling toward me. Just a blur, but it was closing in.
Two arms suddenly wrapped around me and slowed my fall.
Damian.
His face was set in tortured lines, but he didn’t seem injured.
“Neve!” He cradled me in his arms. “Give me the box. I’ll finish it.”
Though my broken arm screamed in agony, my senses came rushing back, and rage dulled the pain.
“No! I’ve got to do this.” I
shot upright and pushed him away with my elbow, breaking free of his grasp and flying on my own.
The djinn hovered several hundred feet above us. He was enraged, but so was I. He hurled a gust of wind at us, followed by a shower of baseball-sized hail.
We darted sideways, but Damian was hit by a chunk of ice. He plummeted downward.
No!
Another blast of wind whirled toward me, then another. I ducked the onslaught and looked down. Damian was out of sight. Gone.
Heart racing, I dashed toward the djinn. My anger erupted, and I recited the spell in a roar. His face contorted, and he dove toward me.
I ducked into a ball, and we crashed together, spinning through the air. He latched onto my leg, and I grimaced, but I continued to reel off the spell from memory. Using the grip he had on my leg, he pulled himself up and reached for my neck.
An ear-piercing screech rocked our bodies, and something flashed past my vision. I craned my neck but saw nothing.
The djinn was suddenly ripped from me.
I spun around, scanning the sky, and gasped. A magnificent white beast soared through the air, clutching the djinn in its massive talons.
The cloud dragon.
With no time to lose, I opened the lid of the chest and flew toward them, the spell echoing off my lips.
The djinn bellowed and struggled to free himself from the dragon’s grasp. He managed to loosen his arm and shot a burst of hail at the dragon’s belly.
The beast screeched and released the djinn, then fell from the sky.
I kept chanting but cursed the djinn in my mind. Cradling the opened chest in my broken arm, I raced toward him. I used my free hand to summon my remaining energy and focused it on the djinn, creating a spinning vortex around him. Every muscle in my body burned, and every part of my mind was stretched to the limit, but the djinn was pinned in the air. I raised my free arm and clenched my fist. The djinn writhed in pain as I squeezed, my nails digging into my palm.
My power was suddenly ripped from my body as the spell took hold. The vortex vanished, but the enchantment bound the djinn. He roared as his legs dissipated into blue smoke, trailing through the air and into the chest. With a wail, his body followed, sucked into the chest with a force so powerful that it shot me back several feet. Pain surged through my broken arm, but I managed to shut the lid. It clicked closed.
I stared at the chest in disbelief.
We did it.
My heart sank as I looked around me. I was alone.
Damian. No.
He’d betrayed me, but I didn’t want him dead. A rush of air blew me forward. I clenched the chest and whipped around as another wave hit me, this time from above.
I looked up and saw a pair of silver wings and a reptilian belly.
The dragon screeched and swooped down. Damian rode on its back, his dark hair blowing in the wind and his gaze pinned on me.
I silently thanked the fates, though my heart ached.
The cloud dragon glided downward toward the palace, the trip fast and smooth. The throbbing in my arm had dulled, but my muscles screamed with pain. Had my mind not been so fuzzy from exhaustion, I would have reveled in the chance to soar on the back of a dragon.
Instead, I was in agony, with my betrayer behind me. It took all my strength to sit so we didn’t touch, but I couldn’t stop hearing Damian’s voice. “Let me heal you.”
I wanted to refuse, damn it, but that would be cutting off my nose to spite my face. “Fine,” I snapped.
His hand moved to my broken arm. The dull aching subsided, and warmth flowed in its place. I hated the shiver that raced up my arm, the awareness of him so close to me. I swallowed hard, really hating that I could still feel anything for him after what he had done.
“Thank you.” The words felt like gravel in my throat.
He lied to me. He had set the djinn free. How could I trust him?
I leaned forward, urging the dragon to go faster.
The storm clouds behind us churned and rumbled, and lightening flashed in the distance. As we drew closer to the palace, the wind surged around us.
“Oh, no,” Damian whispered.
I followed his gaze. “Oh, shit.”
The edges of the island were crumbling away, the waterfalls boiling into steam. The djinn had crafted this place from his magic, and now that he was gone, it was falling apart.
The walls of the palace fractured, and pieces crashed to the ground. The vines of the maze lashed out and twisted. Fear lanced me. Where was Rhiannon? I searched for her as the dragon slowed its pace and hovered over the open garden.
Rhiannon stood below with the four supes the djinn had captured.
“Neve…this looks bad!” Rhiannon screamed.
Damian and I jumped off the dragon’s back, and I flew to its face, touching its cheek. “Thank you.”
It met my gaze for one brief second, then took off into the clouds. I shot down to Rhiannon. As I neared, the ground quaked, and one of the palace’s domes collapsed in a thunderous rumble, sending dust billowing into the air.
“Neve!” Rhiannon ran up to me. “Did you get him? Can we bail?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” I hurried toward the other supes, who stood with Damian. “Everybody gather around me and hold on tight. It’s going to be a rough ride.”
With everyone in place, I closed my eyes and focused on Magic Side. The universe melted away with a roar.
26
The familiar world wheeled around me, and my feet hit the pavement. My arm ached where I clutched the box. Damian and I had been prepared for the rigors of the journey—the others, not so much. Most staggered about, and two fell to their knees, heads down, trying to stop the spinning. The shifter was still wailing in terror, though she quickly clamped it down once she realized that the universe was no longer attempting to pull her to pieces.
Rhiannon had her head between her legs. “Oh, fates…Neve…that was horrible. No wonder you never use your powers.”
“Sorry.”
“I much preferred the ride there with the djinn. Much less being turned inside out.”
“He’s had a thousand years of practice.” I looked around. “Anyway, we’re all here and on target. That’s what counts.”
I had dropped us in the courtyard outside the Order of Magica’s Hall of Inquiry, near the entrance to my office. The gray stone building had that neoclassical Chicago look that I loved so much.
Several of the Order’s enforcers marched down the front steps toward us.
Rhiannon hugged me, refusing to let go. “I can’t believe we lived! I thought the djinn was going to blast us into oblivion. You were amazing. Thanks for coming for me. I didn’t want you to risk yourself, but I’m so thankful you did.”
I squeezed her back. “I would never, ever leave you.”
I traded hugs with the others, whose names I didn’t even know. The commotion drew even more attention.
Soon, I was face to face with Lieutenant Bitchface—Gretchen—herself. “Neve! Where have you been?” she demanded. “Fates, is that Rhiannon? Who are these people? What’s going on here?”
I grinned. “We caught the djinn.”
“We caught the djinn!” Rhiannon echoed.
Gretchen frowned at us. “What djinn?”
Of course, I had never told her what was going on. “The djinn that was abducting supes,” I explained.
“And me,” Rhiannon added. “I was a captive in his palace. Neve tracked me down and saved me. Us.” She motioned to the other supes around us.
Gretchen looked dumbfounded. “You? You caught a djinn?”
Rhiannon quickly recounted the battle, taking artistic liberties with explosions and whooshing noises. Glowing from within, I looked around for Damian. He stood beneath a shaded tree across the courtyard. The branches covered him in a dark shadow that mirrored his eyes.
Anger and betrayal flared within me as I crossed the distance between us.
“What are we doing here?” he demanded,
his jaw tense.
What the hell was his problem? I knew he wasn’t a fan of the Order, but someone had to fix this mess. I tossed my hair. “We’re returning these people. And I’m handing the djinn over to Order custody.”
“What?”
“It needs to be locked away where it can’t harm anyone.”
“That wasn’t the deal.” Anger echoed in his voice as rage flashed in his eyes. He loomed larger, and the shadows coalesced around him. Trepidation rose in my stomach—I had never seen him like this.
“Well, I’m not trusting you with it,” I snapped. All the stress of the escape finally boiled over. “Is it true that you released it?”
He glared, saying nothing.
Fury bubbled up inside me, sick and dark. “Is. It. True? Did you release it? Did you command it?”
He dragged a hand through his hair. “I released it. I didn’t know that…”
“Didn’t know what?"
“That it would go this way.”
That was no excuse. “You fool! Why did you do that?”
His face turned to stone. “I can’t tell you.”
“No, you won’t tell me.”
He clamped his mouth shut, and that just pissed me off. Nix had told me not to trust him. I should have listened. “Did you have anything to do with the abductions?”
“Of course not,” he growled. “Is that what you think?”
“I don’t know what to think. You’ve lied to me this entire time.” I slammed my finger into his broad chest. “This is your fault. I almost lost my best friend. I almost lost my life. You released this curse on us, and then you duped me into putting it right.”
“I’m sorry. I can explain. Just give me the djinn, and let’s get out of here.”
“You’ve got to be kidding. It’s way too dangerous to be anywhere but under Order custody.” He gripped my arm, gently but firmly, and I jerked away. “No!”
From the edge of my vision, I caught sight of heads turning toward us, the crowd’s attention drawn by my shout. Rhiannon started over.
I choked back tears as rage and betrayal and exhaustion formed a toxic mess in my soul. “Are you insane? I’m not giving it to you. Your wicked wish caused this mess. You lied to me. I don’t know if you’re still lying to me. I don’t know what you’re hiding. You’re a deceiver, a thief, and you’re standing outside the Hall of Inquiry, so if you don’t want to be asked any questions harder than mine, I would get the hell out of here.”
Wicked Wish (Dragon's Gift: The Storm Book 1) Page 20
