Stunned, Levi brought his hand up to cover the red mark on his cheek. Loren didn’t even take a single ounce of satisfaction. She was too angry and upset to savor any sort of victory.
She clenched her hands into fists. “You’re nothing more than a sick, spineless coward who preys on other people’s misfortunes. I hope you get what’s coming to you. I’m done with your shit.”
Levi gaped at her. He pressed his hand against the red mark on his face. For once, there was no comeback.
Shaking, Loren glared at him. Tears blurred her vision before she stormed off, resolving not to shed a single tear in front of him.
~~*~~
Levi took up his laptop again and remained there. He ignored Loren, occasionally reaching up to rub at the red mark on his face. Now and again, he glared at her. That was as far as their interactions went.
It was perfectly fine with her.
Loren paced. Every second built up to the end. She shed Avery’s coat and stood near the window to wait. All she could do was wait.
When Ruth entered, Loren faced her. The woman was dressed similarly to what she’d worn when Loren first met her. The black clothing was slimming and seemed practical. She swept past Loren with a brief, tight smile. “Prepare her with the inhibitor and bring her to the yard. We’re beginning.”
Levi unfolded himself from his seated position and took an inhibitor device from the desk. When he jabbed her with it, he used more force than was necessary. She didn’t wince as she glared back at him.
He grabbed Loren’s arm and jerked her toward the door. He kept his grip unnecessarily tight as he led her down the stairwell and through the downstairs floors.
As they approached a large set of metal double doors, two masked men pulled them open. It was still day and the sun shone down from a bright, cloudless sky.
It was too sunny to be the end of the world.
Levi dragged her along a narrow path. Behind the building was a barren, dirty lot that served as a yard. Stones formed a wide circle in the center of the yard, stacked three high. They stepped over them as they entered. A small table stood in the direct center and atop it rested the box of stones.
Levi brought her to the table and released her. Loren stared at the box. This was it.
“Now, we wait.”
Before long, Ruth arrived at Mal’s side. Their pace was slow as he took small steps. His pace quickened as they neared the circle. Ruth assisted him over the stacked stones and he took his place at the table, opposite Loren.
Ruth stood to his right and Levi to his left. Mal’s thin hands trembled as he reached for the box. Carefully, he took off the lid.
One by one, he removed the stones. Ruth removed the box from the table. Carefully, each stone found a place upon its surface. They were several inches apart, far from touching.
The old man’s fingers hovered over the stones. Even from here, Loren could feel the power that emanated from them. Mal lifted his gaze to meet Loren’s eyes. His lips spread into a smile, revealing his teeth in a grimace.
“It’s time.”
She wasn’t ready. She lied to herself about it so many times. She had never truly convinced herself. She couldn’t do it.
Avery’s words rang in her head. You can do this. We can do this. But Avery wasn’t here now. It was only her. She was alone in. She had to be strong.
She clenched her hands at her sides. Her breath caught as Mal put the green stone next to the yellow stone. When they touched, they fused together instantly with an audible hum and a spike of powerful energy. A shiver ran down her spine.
Ruth sucked in a breath. She must’ve felt it too. Her dark eyes remained on the stones.
Mal slowly brought the blue stone to connect beneath the yellow. Like the others, it melded. The hum of power grew stronger. Loren swallowed.
“I can feel it…” Ruth said breathlessly.
Loren could stop this right now. She could grab the red stone before Mal added it to the others for good. All she had to do was move.
She couldn’t.
The red stone shook in Mal’s gasp. Loren’s fingers pulled at the fabric of her skirt. He lowered the stone toward the others but stopped. He brought his gaze up and narrowed his eyes.
When her father paused, Ruth glanced up as well. “That’s impossible.” Her gaze shot to Levi. “You were supposed to inhibit them.”
Levi looked shocked. “I did!”
Loren spun to see the Morgan siblings racing toward the circle. Avery was ahead of them, followed by Callum and Eva.
They’d broken free. A smile spread across her lips.
“They will ruin everything. Stop them.” Mal’s fist closed around the last stone.
This was wrong. They weren’t supposed to be here. They were supposed to stay safely locked away while she went through the portal with Mal and Ruth. She was supposed to destroy the tablet from the other side. She was supposed to save the world.
Ruth and Levi stepped forward. With a wave of Ruth’s hand, darkness pooled along the ground. The living shadow lifted up and spread wide into the sky. The sun blotted from view.
“No!” Loren shouted. “You have to get out of here!”
Avery dug his heels into the ground, skidding to a halt as the shadow crashed down on him.
The shadow was an animated force as it curled around Avery. It stuck to him like tar, unrelenting as it clung to his body. He pivoted and twisted, holding his arms out as he tried to break free.
She ran for him without thinking.
A pair of arms grabbed her from behind and flung her aside. Loren went backward, tripping over her skirt to hit the ground hard.
“Stay there!” For good measure, Levi pinned her hand down with his boot. Her bones crunched beneath his sure footing and she cried out when he dug his heel down.
As she struggled to pull her hand free, she looked up through her veil of hair as Eva tackled Ruth. The two woman fell to the ground where Eva pinned her.
Callum reached Avery. The shadows were thick around him, but his brother grasped his arm and pulled. With Ruth on the ground, unable to direct the shadows, they began to dissipate. Avery broke free.
Loren winced again when she tried to jerk her hand from beneath Levi’s boot. He increased the pressure and she whimpered.
Fighting through the pain, Loren grasped Levi’s ankle. She wasn’t physically strong, but she had a good hold. She yanked hard.
Levi lost his footing and fell. Her hand released, Loren scrambled to get away from him.
Callum and Avery raced toward her as she got to her feet.
It hit like a shockwave. Loren gasped. The force of the power almost knocked her back down. She wavered and held out her arms to steady herself. Her eyes widened.
Avery and Callum stopped, frozen in their tracks. Even Eva and Ruth ceased their fighting and stared.
The last stone was in place. The portal was about to open.
Ruth broke free of the trance first and decked Eva across the jaw. She kicked at her in an attempt to break free. Eva righted herself and fought back. She held Ruth down, slamming her head onto the ground.
Avery and Callum shook off the spell and continued toward Loren.
The swell of power was all around her. She risked a look back. Mal’s lips moved, but she couldn’t hear the words. A bright, white light formed in the center of the stones.
The portal.
Avery reached her first and grabbed her around the waist. She struggled to break free. She couldn’t let him go with her. “You have to go,” she pleaded. “You can’t come with me. Please, Avery.”
Avery tightened his hold on her. “I can’t believe you’re doing something so insane. You can’t go through that portal. Not alone. Not without me.”
She wanted to ask him how he knew, how he’d figured it out, but there wasn’t time. The power grew. The glow from behind her shone brighter. She shook her head. “I have to. It’s the only way to stop this. I have to go!”
“Not
without me! We’re in this together! Do you understand?”
“Avery, let me go!”
“I can’t. I won’t!”
“Avery, listen to me.” She tried to make her voice as even as she could, to keep her emotion from seeping through. “I will go through that portal and I will destroy the tablet. They won’t ever be able to return.”
“But you’ll die!”
“I know. I know.” Her hand touched his face. She trembled. “I’ve made peace with it. It’s what I have to do. You said I was important, right? You said I had inner strength. I believe it now. I have to do this. Please, let me go.”
The encompassing brightness of the portal spread out. Everything bathed in its glow and power, but she kept her eyes on Avery’s face.
He shook his head. “No!”
“Please.”
He crushed her against him and found her lips. Tears streaked down the sides of her face as she kissed him back. She wanted to hold him for always, to live in this moment forever, but it was ending. The portal was open and she had to go.
She pulled back from the kiss. She drew out of his embrace and he reluctantly relinquished his hold. Loren trembled. It was now or never.
Callum stared at her in disbelief. Eva fought against Ruth, holding her back from reaching the portal.
Loren took one more step back. The light began to fold around her. She lifted her head. She focused her eyes on Avery. It would be the last time she ever saw him.
“I love you,” she whispered.
The portal’s light consumed her as Loren fell backward into it and was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The world was white. Blinding. Loren closed her eyes. Even when she did so, she saw white. It filled her senses.
She imagined something mystical and pervasive would happen when she went through the portal. That was exactly what she got—along with a painful twisting in her stomach.
It all could’ve lasted seconds or hours. There was no span of time. All Loren knew was power, pain, and weightlessness.
The light began to fade and colors came back into focus. She saw the ground rushing to meet her and Loren braced herself. She rolled at the last moment and made impact with the hard ground. It jarred her.
She shifted onto her side and lost every bit of bile churning in her stomach. She hadn’t eaten in a long time. There was nothing in her stomach to come up.
The dry heaves eventually stopped and Loren rolled away from the mess to lay on her back. She panted and stared up at the clear, blue sky. There were no clouds.
This was Kahsh. Loren closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
What had she done?
This wasn’t over yet. She had to get to Mal and grab the tablet. She had to find a way to destroy it or hide it.
She’d move as soon as the pain stopped.
A shadow passed over her. Loren opened her eyes to find the sky clear. She blinked a few times and listened. Flapping wings? Maybe it was a bird of some kind.
The shadow moved her again. This time, she caught a glimpse of it in the sky. Something serpentine, with a large massive head and a long tail that flicked. It swooped and let out a loud, wild roar.
Not a bird.
Loren sat up quickly. The creature circled her. “Oh. Oh no.” She scrambled to her feet and searched her surroundings. Some distance ahead of her, she saw a grove of menacing trees. She spun. To her right was a large grouping of rocks. Everything else was open desert.
The flying creature screamed again and dove.
Loren ran for the rocks.
The ground was rough, covered with hard pieces of rock. They tore at her feet, but Loren ignored the pain and moved. She heard the sweeping of the wings, but she didn’t look back. She reached the outcropping and dropped down to the ground.
Strong jaws snapped above her. She let out a cry and looked back to see the creature’s golden underbelly. Its tail swooped before it soared back into the sky, beating its huge leathery wings. The sunlight glistened off its scales.
A dragon. It was a dragon.
Loren held her breath. She crawled and fit herself into a small alcove within the rock. She drew her legs close to her and sat there, waiting.
She knew nothing about this world—not the terrain, the inhabitants, or the creatures. It made being here even more perilous.
She peered out at the sky. Now and again, she could see the dragon circle high above. When it became nothing more than a dot, Loren wondered if it was safe to come out. If she was fast, she might make it to the trees before the dragon could swoop down. Maybe she could use air power to move faster.
Had the effects of the inhibitor worn off yet? Loren focused on the ground and stretched out her hand. She intended to make a small whirlwind from the dirt, but nothing happened.
Loren sighed and dropped her hand. She searched the sky again for any sign of the dragon.
A sudden flash of light made her flinch back and shield her eyes. She blinked a few times. When the light vanished and her eyes readjusted, there were three figures on the ground. She edged out of the alcove for a better look.
One figure groaned and rolled. He retched onto the sand before he fell onto his back with his hand on his stomach.
“Avery?” she whispered.
But how?
The others began to stir. She recognized Levi’s blue hair. Callum was next to him. They both vomited and tried to recover.
They came through the portal. This wasn’t supposed to happen. They weren’t supposed to be here.
That didn’t matter now. They had to find cover.
“Avery!” she shouted. She waved her hand to try to get his attention. “Run!”
The dragon circled again. It dropped lower and spread its wings wide. Avery stirred and lifted his head. He searched for Loren. When he spotted her, he followed her pointing to look to the sky.
He lost a few precious moments as he stared. When the dragon dove, Avery finally started. “Cal! Run!”
Callum looked at the sky. When he saw the creature, he wasted no time. He grabbed Levi and pulled him to his feet. Levi stumbled a few times but was soon running after them toward the rocks.
Avery was first to reach the outcropping. Loren moved back to make room for him. He crawled into the alcove and pressed his back against the wall.
The dragon let out its piercing scream and swooped again. Callum ran faster. Levi tried to keep up. “Wait!”
The dragon moved fast.
“Run!” Loren screamed.
The shadow loomed over them. Callum didn’t reach the alcove. Instead, he dropped to the ground on his stomach and lay prone. Levi stumbled. The dragon lunged.
Loren covered her eyes. She couldn’t watch. Levi screamed and there was a loud crunch.
“My God,” Avery breathed.
Wings flapped and Loren felt the wind gusts as the creature flew back up.
There was silence saved for Avery’s rough, panting breaths.
Loren held her hand over her mouth. Levi had been a jerk, but no one deserved that fate.
Callum crawled the rest of the way to the outcropping. Avery grabbed his arm to pull him to saving.
“That was a dragon.” Callum looked out.
“We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.”
Loren didn’t find the joke funny. “You shouldn’t have come here. You weren’t supposed to come here.”
“I told you I wouldn’t let you do this alone.” Avery looked at her.
“The portal sucked us in,” Callum explained. “We had no intention of following you.”
“Maybe you didn’t.”
“We were too close to the energy. It drew us in. Where’s Mal?”
“I don’t know. I was alone when I got here.”
“He might’ve gone into the woods.” Callum peered out again. “Or else the dragon got him. He was old. I don’t think he could’ve made it far.”
Both were equally likely. Loren bit on her lip. “Or he re
gained his full strength and used his powers to get away.”
“That too.”
“What about Eva? Ruth? Did the portal grab them?”
“I don’t know. I’m watching to see. We’ll sit it out.” Callum lifted his eyes toward the sky. “The dragon might not be hungry now but it’s still there. A fucking dragon.” He paused. “Levi shouldn’t have come with us, but he latched onto me. And then it was too late.”
“Now he’s dead. Good riddance.” Avery shifted.
“No one should’ve died,” Loren said quietly.
“Do you feel sorry for him? He betrayed us.”
Loren went quiet. She betrayed them too.
Avery realized what he’d said and he rested his head back against the rock. “Shit. I didn’t mean—” He cut himself off with a sigh and ran his hand over his face. “Fuck.”
No one said a word as they waited. Callum finally drew back. “I don’t think the portal got them. They were far enough back. Maybe it didn’t reach.”
“And the dragon?”
“I don’t see it. We should move to the woods.”
One by one, they crawled out of the alcove. Loren saw no sign of the dragon. It made her more anxious than relieved. She walked quickly with the brothers, wincing as she stepped over the stones.
“Let me carry you,” Avery offered.
“No,” she said shortly and walked past him.
She wrapped her arms around herself. Maybe the circumstances were out of their control, but she didn’t like it. This was supposed to be her sacrifice. Not theirs.
Callum slowed to walk beside her. “Mal will be looking for you. If he survived the dragon, he’ll be searching for you.”
“I know.” Loren sidestepped some particularly sharp-looking rocks and kept the quick pace. The forest looked dark and foreboding the closer they got to it.
Avery stepped past Callum, his shoulder forcefully bumping into his. He frowned as Avery took the lead. They stopped when they reached the edge of the forest.
Avery studied the brush and undergrowth blocking them from walking through. He held out a hand and fire ignited. The brush began to burn. With his hand extended, he moved forward. Soon, there was plenty of path. Without a word, he extinguished the fire and started through the forest.
Caution to the Wind: Book One of the Elementals Series Page 19