by Ellie Margot
The guys shared another look in front of her. Cassian faced her again first. “We’ll be back. As soon as we can. Hold it together until then.”
“I will,” she said. Cassian continued to stare. “I promise. I’ll be okay. Just get Guy here.”
The two left with Mekhi looking over his shoulder as they walked out.
Riette returned back to the window. She waited for something to happen. The air was different. Thinner. The world was too quiet outside of her window, and she knew something was shifting, just as much as she knew some of Cassian’s energy still floated in the air around her.
It was hours later when she heard them return.
“You look like shit, Ri,” said Guy.
“Guy,” Riette said, and she ran to the bars.
“No one has ever been this happy to see me. I’ll get banished more often.”
“How did you...” Riette turned to look at Cassian and Mekhi.
“There were some people hurt,” said Cassian. His voice broke on the edges of the statement.
“Did you—”
“No one died,” Cassian assured her. “It wasn’t easy, though. And we don’t have much time.”
“How will we get her out?” asked Mekhi.
Cassian looked at the structure. No one spoke.
“I still think—” Guy started.
“Too risky,” said Cassian. “We have to think simple. Anything more complex will attract attention. We can’t afford that.”
“Give another option then,” said Guy.
“I am. Give me a moment.”
“I thought we didn’t have any,” said Mekhi.
“Shut it, everyone,” Riette said. “Let him think.”
Cassian looked at the structure again. He focused his attention on Riette. “Your powers don’t work at all in here?”
“No, Blaine mentioned something about the cell stopping them—”
“But they spark. You have the beginnings?”
Riette considered it for a moment. “Yeah, a little.”
“Then we’ll channel it,” said Cassian, and Mekhi scoffed.
“Like Mark did?” asked Mekhi. “You’re serious?”
“Why not?” Cassian asked. “If it worked for him, maybe it will help us too.”
“It’s not the worst idea,” said Guy.
Riette turned toward him. “So you’ve heard of people doing this before?”
“Oh, hell no,” Guy said quickly. “But just to clarify, about ninety-nine percent of us have shit for powers on the grand scale. You all have the highest concentration, and honestly, that’s probably from them feeding off of your energy low-key style by being around you.”
“You’re saying most of us suck?” asked Mekhi, and he walked over to Guy to stand too close to him.
“No, I’m sure some of the wind powers blow pretty hard.”
“Why did we save him?” asked Mekhi. “Because I’m sorely tempted to fuck him up still.”
“We need a muzzle for the ginger. He’s getting nippy.”
“Oh, I’ll show you nippy, you little—”
“Who’s taking the power?” asked Riette.
Guy and Mekhi were still staring each other down, and Cassian looked to her.
Guy broke the eye contact with Mekhi first. “Cassian is the most obvious choice, but—”
“It should be me,” said Cassian.
“But,” Guy reiterated. “Mekhi is family. The ties between them already exist. And there’s one more thing to consider.”
“What?” asked Riette.
Guy looked at her, and lines showed around his eyes. He frowned for a second before speaking. “What’s done can’t be undone. Make sure you know that.”
Riette nodded. “We’re past the point of fixing. This has to be done. I can’t save Vitan from inside of here.”
Guy looked at her, and a moment passed. “If you’re sure.” He shrugged. “Okay.”
Cassian bit the inside of his cheek. He opened his mouth, but Mekhi spoke first. “Fine, bring it.”
Riette stopped looking at Cassian. She turned toward Mekhi. “You’re sure?”
Mekhi cracked his knuckles. “Yeah, let’s flood this bitch.”
“That wouldn’t be helpful,” said Cassian.
“I’m a water sign, bro. It’s what I do.”
“There’s no water for you to feed from, champ,” said Guy. “You have to think differently. Riette has the only power that’s worth a shit in this situation, but she can’t tap it inside of there. So you’ll work as a conduit for her energy.”
“A what?” asked Mekhi.
“You’re a USB drive for her juice.”
Mekhi stared.
“You’re the cup she’s going to power her power goo in, okay? I’ll draw a fucking picture on the wall if needed. Shit.”
“Easy, fucker,” said Mekhi. “I get it. If you weren’t so obtuse, I would have gotten it the first time.”
“Let’s do this before the sun comes up and we lose our chance,” said Riette.
“You’re right,” said Cassian. “Enough.”
Riette reached her hand out to touch Mekhi. He moved closer, and she grabbed his forearm and closed her eyes.
The hum and the wind in her ears came back. Though she couldn’t see it, Mekhi closed his eyes as well. Her tattoo burned. The energy bounced around inside of her until she felt it at her fingertips. She opened her eyes just as a spark left her and jumped into Mekhi.
Riette saw him jerk, and then he grabbed the bars and threw up at her feet right after a burst of energy shot out of his hands and into the wood he was holding.
A hole was broken in the pattern of the bars.
Mekhi looked up and wiped the back of his hand across his lips. “Woah.”
He looked toward Riette. The hole was small, but she could make it work. Riette turned and grabbed her bag from the corner. She paused with her back turned just to make sure that Bark and Barry were still inside and okay. They were.
She slipped the bag onto her back and ran back to the bars in the few steps it took to do it. Mekhi reached out a hand, but Riette didn’t take it. Mekhi looked at his hand and wiped it on his thigh.
Cassian pushed passed him and offered a hand to help her out. She took it and high stepped through the hole, ducking and barely managing to squeeze through. She got on the other side and wiggled her fingers.
“Don’t start here,” said Cassian.
“Scared I’ll burn the place down?”
“A little.”
Riette laughed. She felt lighter, despite the shitty circumstances. “The others?”
“Waiting at the tree edge,” said Mekhi. “They have all of our stuff too.”
“You let her out of your sight?” Riette asked. “Surprising.”
“Yeah, if you weren’t you, it wouldn’t happen.”
“I’m touched,” said Riette, but she wasn’t laughing.
Mekhi ruffled her hair.
Riette closed her eyes for a second and then gagged. “That wasn’t your puke hand, was it?”
Mekhi looked at both of them. “No?”
“Mekhi—”
“No time, moving on,” he said, and he walked a few feet ahead. “Let’s get the fuck out of here before my aunt murders us all, yeah?”
“No, we didn’t even give you shit about losing your tummy contents on the floor,” said Guy. “That’s a golden opportunity.”
“Tummy contents?” Mekhi asked. “Bruh, that’s more embarrassing than me actually barfing.”
Guy looked at Cassian and Riette. “What? Are you serious?”
“Pretty lame,” said Riette.
“Cassian?” Guy asked.
He shrugged.
“Ugh, you get away with murder, you—”
“Watch it, tummy contents,” said Mekhi.
“Only you could make that sound menacing,” said Riette.
“We all have our talents.”
The night hid them, and they made the
ir way to their world’s edge.
Corin and Trinity stood huddled together, watching the water from their spot amongst the trees. Corin turned when she heard them approach, and she ran to Riette and hugged her with all of herself when she saw her in the clearing.
She stood back and held Riette at arm’s length. “I was so worried,” she said, and tears were collecting in the edges of her eyes.
“I’m okay.”
“They didn’t fix you,” Corin added.
Trinity came closer to their group.
“No,” Riette said. “We didn’t get that far, Mother and I.”
“Well, I’m glad for it.”
“What?”
“Fuck normal. You’re better like this.” Corin squeezed her arms as she said it before she released her.
Riette smiled, but she coughed to cover what was trying to escape her. “I needed to hear that,” said Riette.
Corin hugged her again.
“I don’t think we’ve ever touched this much,” said Riette as she hugged her.
Corin stepped back. “Well, that changes now. I was worried sick.”
“You sound like a mom already,” said Trinity.
Corin smiled at Mekhi, but Cassian stepped between them.
“Don’t speak that into existence,” said Cassian. “One heart attack-inducing event at a time. Please.”
“Cassian, this is the first time I’ve seen you scared,” said Trinity, touching his arm.
Color found its way onto Cassian’s cheeks.
Chapter 35
The group stood staring off of the edge.
The sun hadn’t yet risen, and Riette stood with Mekhi on one side and Cassian on the other. It was like their first trip, but the others made it different. Better. Not easier, but worth it all the same.
“Where are we going?” asked Guy.
“There’s only one person who can help me,” said Riette, and she didn’t look at them when she spoke. She focused instead on the sea line in front of her.
“That was ominous as shit,” said Mekhi.
Corin rolled her eyes.
“Who?” asked Trinity.
Riette swallowed. Trinity reached out and touched her hand. Riette looked at the pale skin against hers, and she made eye contact with Trinity across Cassian’s chest.
“Zeke.”
“Zeke? Zekariah? The First Mage?” Guy’s voice got higher at every interaction.
“I think he can help.”
“And I think I can fly sometimes when I’m drunk as shit and bored as hell. It doesn’t make it right.”
Riette turned and looked at Guy. She opened her mouth but stopped. How would she explain the connection she felt when thinking about him?
She needed someone powerful to help her read her grandmother’s book, and if she needed power, she needed to get to the best.
The fact that just hearing about him made her feel things that she thought she was broken for never feeling with anyone else before was something else. She wouldn’t worry about that yet. There were enough other pressing things before her and her libido.
“If she thinks he would help,” said Trinity.
“There’s no way he would help,” said Guy. “I’m all for leaving. Fuck, they didn’t want me here anyway, but a mission—”
“Why him?” asked Cassian. His voice was small.
“He’s the most powerful Mage in existence, from my understanding. If anyone can decode the book, it’s him.”
“He’s in jail,” said Guy. ”An underground jail.”
“You’re shitting me,” said Mekhi.
“No, not shitting. He is beneath a floating tower of fuck-all impossibility.”
“He’s right,” said Riette.
“Then why do it?” asked Corin.
“Because we can’t do it alone, but we can do it with help,” said Riette.
“Who?” asked Trinity.
“Sam.”
No one spoke. Not for a full beat.
Guy broke the silence first. With his laughter. He was bent over with it.
“Sam?” said Guy in between wheezes. “Samantha? Shit house bodyguard, hates us with a passion, may be half dead, but has a violent passion for your goodies, Sam?”
“She wants me. We can use that to our advantage.”
“The only luck we’ve had this entire journey is that by some grace we didn’t see her again,” said Guy.
“Chick’s nuts, Ri,” said Mekhi.
She turned to face all of them. “Then let’s use that. She can have me as long as she helps me get to him.”
Cassian gritted his jaw. He opened his mouth, but Mekhi spoke up.
“But you’re damaged goods,” said Mekhi.
Riette looked at Corin. “My eye. All of this Siren shit. It’s adding into my power. She’ll love it.” She looked at Cassian. “Trust me.”
He stayed quiet, and she saw the hint of a nod after moments of nothing.
Riette smiled. “Besides, I’ve always had sharp edges.”
The End
Author Note
Thank you SO much! You got the end of book 2 and you kept reading.
That makes you beyond cool, and I’m thankful for you.
In this book, you got to meet new characters right along with me, and I’m a little in love with them.
(PS. I have a favorite. Are we supposed to do that? It’s like choosing your favorite kid, I think, and as a mother of 1 right now, emphasis on the now but that’s for another author note, I’m entitled to pick just the one. See me floating around on Facebook to guess who…)
I’ve been wrestling with what I should share in these, and the consensus is that I should talk about what into me being a writer and/or what went into me writing the book that you just finished reading.
I’ll start with the former.
I always wanted to be a writer. Okay, well I knew I wanted to write while I traveled the world and held workshops as a therapist. (I was a weird 12 year old.) The point is, I was always obsessed with stories, writing competitions, and daydreaming like it was my job (because wouldn’t that be cool?).
I even had friends who loved writing too. We used to write our novels (or the beginnings of them) by hand. We wrote during class, after school, and during church even (shhh, don’t tell).
One of my friends had a binder for her novel where everything was hole-punched in, including the menus and stolen scrap paper she had written it on.
It was beyond awesome. And inspiring. One, because it was a big binder of story goodness, and two, because she had finished something.
Finishing a story was a skill I didn’t have until way after finishing high school.
But being around people who were getting shit done was inspiring then and is so now.
Michael and Laurie are two of the best in the business. (Yes, I’m totally biased, but admitting that takes away half of the issue, right?)
And best of all? They’re finishers. They work day in and day out and they...well, get shit done.
I’m joining their club. I am bound and determined to get stuff done, and I’m loving doing that with Riette and her crew.
To get this book done, I had to juggle with deadlines (thank you for working with me, Laurie!), a sick kiddo (all better now), and life coming at me from six different angles.
Close to my deadline, I found out my toddler had double ear-infections, a previously unknown medicine allergy, and on top of that, a family member passed away.
It was ugh times a hundred, let me tell you.
Writing this though? This was my happy place. I stole away time and I got it done, because I care about Riette’s world, the stuff we’re building in 7 Sons, and being a finisher!
Want to celebrate with me? I need a celebration. See me on the 7 Sons Facebook group and on my mailing list at www.elliemargot.com, where I share upcoming projects like my new vampire series (you guys...I mean, I cannot even…) and a urban fantasy horror romance TBA series that has been bouncing arou
nd in my head for YEARS. Literal years… I am SO (how do I emphasize that more without more caps?) excited for that one. It’s my everything.
And if you haven’t already, please leave a review. I read all of them and appreciate it more than I can say.
Until the next book and the next note,
XOXO,
Ellie
About Seven Sons
Seven Sons is Fantasy. Urban Fantasy. Paranormal. Romance. Adventure. Relationships. Trials. Death. Journey. Finding yourself. Stepping into your next Big Adventure. Join us. Now.
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To learn more about BrixBaxter publishing, please visit www.brixbaxter.com.
About The Author
Ellie Margot is a writer, a binger of very particular TV shows, and a collector of souls and half truths, some of which are exhibited here.
She writes under the Elves wing of the 7 Sons series and likes it when romance works its way into genres where it doesn’t normally belong. Horror and thriller, she may or may not be looking at you.
Ellie writes contemporary romance under a pen name and has all other genres in the works.
If you want to know when Ellie’s next book will come out, please visit her website at www.elliemargot.com where you can sign up to receive an email announcing her next release.
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