The cries of birds and beasts echoed through the air. Sparks from our small fire rose into the air like fleeing fireflies. I rolled to my stomach and gritted my teeth against the jostling. As I peered out into the shadow-swathed landscape, a sensation of trepidation rippled through me.
This was no mere act of nature. I could sense the dark power tainting the atmosphere.
“Vehrin is doing this,” I said. I was barely able to get the words out. Kael jerked a nod beside me.
The dark mage wasn’t nearby, but I knew without a doubt this was his doing. The third key must have been more powerful than we assumed.
A horrible sound, like rocks scraping together, deafened me. Kael shouted something, but I couldn’t make out his words. He tugged hard on my shoulder, and pain lanced through me. I attempted to bat him away, but his fingers dug in, and in the next moment, he was pulling me against him.
We rolled a few feet before coming to a stop. I picked my head up from his chest and peered over to where we were laying just a moment before.
A giant crack had ripped its way through the earth, and we’d nearly fallen into it.
The ground continued to shake violently. Why was the earthquake lasting so long? We had to get somewhere safe, but where? There was nowhere we could go. Being out in the open had to be the safest place, right? There were no trees, rocks, or buildings to fall on us.
My heart leaped to my throat as the ground shifted beneath us. We started sloping downward as the earth gave way, tipping us so we fell into the massive crack.
“Kael!”
With one arm still around me, he pawed at the ground with the other. His fingers grabbed fistfuls of grass, but it was no use. I cried out as the earth opened out from under our legs.
I risked a glance down, and fear tightened my throat. There would be no surviving a fall from this height. I’d never been so afraid of descending into the waiting arms beneath the ground.
“Hang on,” Kael said through gritted teeth. His grip tightened on me, his fingers digging into my ribcage. My own were clenched into his shirt.
Another terrible growl sang through the air, and no matter how tightly we tried to hold to each other, the tremendous jostling loosened our grips. I slid farther down and just managed to dig my fingers into the ground enough to keep from falling to my death as the rest of my body dropped over the crumbling edge.
Kael’s broken voice hollered my name as I lost my grip. I dangled over the endless pit, both my feet swaying in the split open land.
The pads of my fingers ripped against the shivering rock and grit of the earth as I fought for purchase. Dirt rained onto my face. Kael reached for me. His arms jumped wildly with the swaying ground. I was afraid to let go long enough to reach for him.
“Livvie, give me your hand.” He grimaced as he strained to reach farther.
I shook my head. He was going to fall, too. The muscles in my arms strained as the unnatural earthquake tried to shake me into the bowels of the earth. I kicked my feet, but the toes of my boots found nothing to use as leverage.
“I’ll get you,” he said.
I took a chance and reached for him with one of my hands.
I wanted to cling to Kael’s promise, but as I reached for him, I knew it was no use. Fear writhed in me, and somehow I knew it wasn’t entirely my own. I stared up at the man who was absolutely terrified at the thought of losing me.
“I’m sorry,” I said. I tried again to reach him, but I only fell farther. I was going to fall to my death.
I’d never seen Kael’s eyes so wide. “No!”
He surged forward, and just as his hands clasped around mine, we both plummeted.
Chapter 29
Kael.
His name was the only thought racing through my panicked mind. Where was he? His hands had been on mine, but now he was gone. All I had left was darkness, and cool air whipping my hair around my face as I descended into the black pit rent open by the earthquake.
Kael and I were going to be entombed in the earth, like so many artifacts and long-dead corpses I had discovered.
I gasped as something wrapped around my middle and squeezed.
“What?” The frantic word was all I managed as I was suddenly moving upward.
There was an odd whooshing sound, and I realized the pressure hugging my ribcage was a pair of arms. I tilted my head back but could make out nothing but a vague outline of what seemed to be a person.
Below my feet, the ground fell away as we lifted into the night sky. “Wait! Where’s Kael?”
There was no reply as shadow-swathed landscape and dark sky blanketed my vision in an inky darkness.
My heart hammered as I fought against the arms gripping me. Whoever held me made a slightly impatient noise and squeezed me tighter, almost to the point it was difficult to breathe.
A fearsome thought spiked in my brain. A demon. If I was right, I’d have been better off plummeting to my death than being tortured and who knows what else. I wriggled to get free, to take my chances on the fall, but it was no use.
Voices broke through the dark, soft and crooning and melding together into a song of peace and contentment, lyrics of soft meadows, cool waters, and lilac-heavy breezes.
Unbidden, my eyelids grew heavy. Then, they closed. Right before I was swept into sleep, one final thought swept through my mind.
Kael.
A cool breeze brushed against my cheek, and fresh air filled my lungs as I pulled in a deep breath. There was the scent of damp earth and something sweet and smoky. Slowly, I opened my eyes.
The sky filled my vision, and though it was a dreary gray, I had a sense it was late morning. Morning? Hadn’t Kael been making a fire for the night?
I sat up, fear gripping me. The earthquake. Kael and I had been falling to our deaths.
“He’s all right, for the most part,” an unfamiliar voice spoke from behind me.
I turned. There were roughly a dozen beings, though only one was near enough to have spoken.
The woman had the same dark complexion as Bibi, but a contrasting spray of blonde hair crowned her head, reminding me of the stiff bristles of a paintbrush. She had large, curious eyes, and she tilted her head as she gazed at me. My own stare drifted to the wings on her back.
Wings.
They were mostly black, with a few white feathers dispersed throughout. The woman had them half-folded, tucked behind her back, but I had a feeling if she were to completely open them, they would be huge.
As I stared at the stranger, I was suddenly reminded of a flock of crowned cranes I had seen on our travel through the African wilderness. Could she be some sort of crane shifter?
“Who are you?” I asked. I cast a quick glance behind her, but her brethren didn’t seemed interested in our conversation.
The woman grinned. “Have you forgotten your worries already?”
It took me a second to realize what she was referring to. “Kael?” I looked around and found him lying several feet away. I crawled over to him.
Kael was asleep, his breathing slow and even. A large knot protruded above the corner of his left eyebrow and was accompanied by purple and blue bruises. I lightly touched it, and he shifted a little.
“I believe he hit his head on the way down.”
I hadn’t realized the woman had followed me. She squatted down at my shoulder and studied Kael.
My eyes swept to her wings, then to her face. “You caught us?”
“I caught you.” She smiled. “It took two of my brothers to carry him.”
Carry us where, though?
We were no longer in the doomed campsite Kael and I had chosen for the night. We were higher up, on some sort of steep rise, or small mountain. I got to my feet, thankful to find myself steady and uninjured, and looked out at the landscape.
My heart nearly stopped.
Deep cracks ran through the ground for such a distance, I couldn’t see where they ended. For miles, the earth was broken, like cracked glass. The a
tmosphere was unnervingly still, and my gut twisted as I wondered if the lion pride and Bibi had survived the earthquake unscathed.
A low moan broke the silence. I looked down to find Kael trying to sit up.
“Easy,” I said. I got on my knees beside him and pressed a hand to his shoulder.
When Kael’s eyes focused on me, he pulled in a shuddering breath. He wrapped an arm around me and drew me close.
“Livvie, you’re okay. We’re okay.”
“Well, mostly.” I laid a finger on the wound on his head. “You have a bump.”
He groaned as he sat up against my wishes. “I’ll live.” He studied our surroundings, then narrowed his eyes as he found the group of winged people.
“They saved us,” I said, though I still wasn’t certain exactly who “they” were.
The woman who had caught me sank to the ground beside us, the tips of her wings rustling against the dirt.
“Renathe sent us to look after you. He wanted us to keep you safe.” The woman tilted her head again, making her seem more birdlike. “But we were to only interfere if your life was in danger.”
Yeah. That sounded like Renathe. Only interfere if my life was in danger. Kael was only saved as an afterthought. Still, I was grateful.
“You’ve been following us?” I asked. “For how long?”
“Since you left Nairobi.”
I thought back to the demon attack, which had nearly killed me with poison. Then there was the attack after the pride chief had turned us away. Our battle with Vehrin and his minions had nearly ended in my death, as well. I mentioned all of this to the strange woman.
“As you can see,” I added when I’d finished, “our lives have been in danger a few times since then. Why didn’t you help sooner?”
The woman, who I now knew must be some sort of fae like Ren, shrugged a delicate shoulder. “You were entertaining to behold.”
So, they had just watched because it was interesting? How far would they have let it go? Vehrin had me under his control, and they still had not rescued me. It reminded me a little of Ren, with his morbid curiosity, and I wondered if all fae were the same. Judging by Kael’s annoyed growl, they were.
I peered back out at the ruined plains, again finding myself hoping the pride and Bibi were safe.
“An unnatural earthquake, wasn’t it?” the fae said.
I knew she wasn’t really asking me, more stating a fact. “It was Vehrin,” I said. “He’s getting stronger, growing more powerful.”
He’d caused the earthquake, whether out of anger or some sort of attempt at revenge, I wasn’t sure.
She was staring out at the open with worry dulling her gaze. “A dark mage powerful enough to manipulate the weather is a daunting thought, indeed.”
I thought of what I knew of the fae. They helped control the elements. They could conjure snow, or rain, or bring out sunlight.
“Did you stop the earthquake?”
She nodded. “Yes, though it took all our effort.” She gestured to the group behind her. A few glanced our way, but most still didn’t seem to care about us one way or another. With Vehrin influencing the weather, perhaps they had more pressing things to worry about.
I shuddered to think what other disasters he would be capable of causing. I glanced up as if expecting a tornado to descend upon us. The sky was still gray, though not heavy with unspent rain. It seemed more as if someone had simply shaded out the sun. There was an unnerving permanence to the dreary sky. When was the last time I felt sunlight on my face? Could Vehrin’s influence on the world already be taking such a hold?
My gut clenched as I realized, without the sun, crops couldn’t be grown. Animals would run out of grass and foliage. Food would grow scarce. People would riot, steal, and murder.
Could this be Vehrin’s plan? End the world with starvation and chaos? And for what? What could he possibly have to gain from that?
I peered at Kael and saw the same question burning in his eyes. How could we stop something like that?
The fae woman looked back at the other group. “We must go.” She pointed to the distance. “Nairobi is that way. You’ll be there by midday if you start now. I will get word to Renathe that you are accounted for.”
I wanted to tell the woman to tell him I didn’t need a babysitter, but then remembered her and her fellow fae had saved us.
“Thank you,” I said. “For everything.”
She stood and studied me for a moment. “Your fate is tied with the dark mage’s. I think by saving you, we may have saved the world…or we may have doomed it. Only time will tell.”
She grinned, as if eager to see how it would turn out. I supposed that was fair enough. If my world were destroyed, she probably would still have another world to return to.
The fae’s wings spread wide, and in a flurry of dust and feathers, she quickly left with the others. I watched them until they disappeared.
“I didn’t know fae could have wings,” I said. “They look like angels.”
“They most certainly are not anything like angels,” Kael said. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his legs out, loosening his muscles. “Most high fae have wings, either leathery or feathered.”
“Ren doesn’t have wings.”
“He does. He just keeps a glamor on.”
I stood and searched the area for my bag. I found it propped against a stone a few feet away. “I wonder why he hides them? It’s understandable if he’s around humans, but I’ve never seen them.”
Kael got to his feet and joined me, smirking. “Maybe he has tiny wings, or they’re pink, like a flamingo.”
He seemed absolutely delighted by the thought, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Poor Ren. I was going to insist on seeing them next time we met, right after I scolded him for his poor choice in bodyguards on my behalf.
“Now what?” I asked, shouldering my bag.
My partner studied the direction the fae had pointed. “Time to get back to civilization.”
I nodded. “This is the worst camping trip I’ve ever been on.”
Kael smiled and touched my cheek. “It had its moments.”
Yes, it certainly had. I took Kael’s hand, eager to leave this place far behind.
I shifted in the small, metal chair. It creaked in protest, a crack in the plastic biting at my thigh. Kael was motionless beside me as we waited for our flight to whisk us away from Africa. He’d had a dark glower fixed to his face from the moment he’d ended the call to his boss back in the States.
Kael was in trouble, it seemed. When he’d gotten off the phone, he said we needed to head home immediately. We had no time to take a day or two in a hotel and rest. I yearned for a long, hot shower and a soft bed. I’d had to make do with cold water in the bathroom in an attempt to freshen up and a poor nap on the horrid little chair I still sat on.
I glanced down at my phone, the charger plugged into an outlet behind me. I’d been scrolling through breaking news articles, and with each one I read, I felt sicker. The earthquake had been the most massive in Africa’s history. Destruction spanned at least three countries, and I tried not to dwell on the number of people who had been killed. I especially tried not to think about Bibi and the lion shifters. They just had to be okay. I couldn’t emotionally handle any other thought.
I set my phone down with a sigh. I needed a break from the terrible stories of ruin and death. Leaning on Kael’s shoulder, I said, “Are you in trouble?”
“I withheld information about Vehrin and our knowledge of the third key.”
“What we’re doing is more important than following the rules.”
Kael studied his hands in his lap. “I know it is, but I’m not certain my superiors and fellow agents will agree. We have rules, regulations, and structure for a reason.”
I wiggled my arm beneath his and twined my fingers through his to stop his fidgeting. “Will you be fired?”
He shook his head. “I know too much.” His tone suggested he wasn’t entire
ly convinced.
I sat up and jabbed him lightly with an elbow in the ribs. “Hey, if you get sacked, you can come work with me. I could use someone to do the heavy lifting.”
Kael gave me a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “My boss would have an easier time firing me than letting you get back to your life so easily.”
I froze, then slowly turned to Kael. “Wait, what?”
“Livvie, you know too much as well.”
The crackling voice through a speaker above our heads announced it was time to board our flight. As we walked across the yellowed tiles of the small airport, I realized I hadn’t considered what would be waiting for us back home.
We had an enemy with Vehrin, that much was certain, but what would PITO do when they realized Kael and I hadn’t been, and certainly wouldn’t begin, playing by their rules?
Was my life as I knew it really over?
Chapter 30
“I feel like I’m in the principal's office,” I muttered.
Kael huffed a quiet laugh beside me. “How do you know what it’s like to be in the principal's office?”
I gave him a sly grin. “In junior high, there may have been an incident involving mice and Mrs. Tillman’s music room. Kids were finding mice for weeks. Imagine picking up a trumpet and a mouse dashes out.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Kael shook his head with another chuckle before settling against the back of his chair.
Exhausted, I mirrored him and let out a deep sigh. The flight back to Charleston, South Carolina had been long. We hadn’t had the time to freshen up after arriving, either. Kael’s boss had wanted the pair of us to come straight to the PITO headquarters for an immediate report. On the way from the airport, Kael had tried to persuade his boss, Mason Anderson, to let me be dropped off at a hotel. It had been a flat no, though my partner had managed to swing by a fast food joint on the way. Never had a cheap, greasy cheeseburger tasted so much like heaven. If I could only have a steaming bubble bath next, I’d be set.
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