Fire

by Helen Scott

"Are you well?" Finn asked, and I couldn't help but tilt my head at his choice of words as we floated near the surface.

  "I'm better now that I can breathe again. Thank you for rescuing us."

  "We still need to save Griffin."

  "Lead on." I was willing to do my part of the swimming now I could breathe again.

  "It will be faster and safer if I take you to the shallows."

  "Whatever works for you."

  He pulled me back into his arms, and it felt like I was suddenly riding a jet ski, except it was mostly submerged. I couldn't believe the speeds he was able to achieve while carrying me along with him. When we suddenly lost speed I realized that I could see the bottom and tentatively put my feet down. My legs felt wobbly, but overall, I was able to drag myself through the water and out onto the rocks that covered the beach. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it was heaven just to be on solid ground once more.

  "I am going to run up the mountain to the others and rescue Griffin. I will send someone back for you."

  "But--" Before the word had even left my mouth Finn was gone. The speed at which he moved on land was just as impressive as in the water, and it was only then when I realized how much he'd been holding back with me.

  I knew I should stay where he left me, but I felt so exposed sitting there in my soaked undies that I couldn't. Instead, I went in search of any large leaves that I could use to cover myself. I was beyond relieved when I found something like a palm tree with leaves that were as long as my leg and as wide as my hips. I carefully maneuvered around a couple of them until I could shimmy my way up between them and pluck a few leaves from the top. I was able to tuck one into the front of my bra and the others into the front and back of my panties. It was a look, that much I was sure of, and not one the models would be wearing on the catwalk back home any time soon either. While I paraded around, barely covered from the elements, I hoped that whichever of the guys came after me was able to move as fast as Finn.

  10

  Tessa

  When Kai found me I was braiding flowers together to go in my hair. I figured if I was going the au natural route then I could at least have some cute flowers in my hair while I did so. I hated that my stomach sank when I saw him, but we'd never really moved past that odd kiss in the kitchen before we wound up in Atlantis. I forced a smile to my face as I moved forward to meet him.

  His eyes were as big as saucers as they traveled over me, taking in everything from the leaves that were the only thing preserving the little modesty I had left to the crown of flowers in my hair. "I'm here to rescue you, princess," he growled, clearly not pleased with the situation. His combat boots and cargo pants weren't the same as the type of clothes he'd worn when we left earth, but I hadn't seen him wear anything similar since that day, so I wasn't surprised.

  "So gallant and brave of you to be my knight in shining armor," I replied, my tone just as acerbic.

  "Believe me it wasn't by choice." He turned his back on me and began marching forward at a pace I couldn't keep up with without shoes on.

  "Kai, please, I know you don't like me, but could you slow down?" I asked as I stumbled over some thorny roots that were poking up out of the ground.

  Without a word he turned around and marched back to me, picking me up and carrying me the rest of the way up the mountain.

  "I can walk, you know, I just didn't want to destroy my feet trying to keep up with you," I huffed.

  Part of me wanted to fight him, to twist and squirm until he had no choice but to drop me. That part was far outweighed by the part that wanted to snuggle into him though. His warmth, the earthy, rich scent that clung to his skin, and the strong muscular arms that held me, it was all hard to resist, and if he didn't open his mouth or look at me like I was something he had stepped in, then I might not have been able to resist the man. As it was though? Well, I was willing to compromise to get where we were going, but that was about it.

  As we traversed the gravel, rock-filled path, I realized I was starting to recognize the area. It seemed that Finn and I had come out almost directly underneath where the entrance to the temple was, and that was just a coincidence that was a little too odd for me to be comfortable with.

  "Don't mention it, my lady," Kai said, his voice dripping with sarcasm when he lowered my feet to the ground.

  "Finally, what took you so long?" Dres's voice called from just inside the temple.

  I didn't want to go back in there, not really, but just like with the water in the cave I didn't have much choice.

  "Princess' feet hurt."

  A blush of shame rose on my cheeks as he made it sound like I was being a prima donna.

  "So, what do you think of what we found?" Dres asked, clearly excited about something.

  "Didn't tell her," was all Kai said before disappearing through the opening once more to the rocky outcrop that the entrance sat on.

  "What's going on and where's Finn?" I asked, trying to ignore the bad mood that was swirling inside me from the way Kai was treating me.

  "Finn dove in to get to Griff, something about needing to save him from a cave? I'm sure you know what he's talking about. Anyway, we didn't want the trip to the temple to be a waste, so Kai and I began looking at the statues and crystals. It's not often people from the other worlds are allowed in religious centers like this, so it was a fascinating chance for us to learn more about the Atlantean people. Plus, we knew that Finn would get you out, if you weren't dead, that is."

  "Thanks for the vote of confidence," I teased as I bumped my shoulder into his. The truth of my brush with death still lingered too close to the surface for me to acknowledge it.

  "Anytime, Ladybird. Now, come and look at this," Dres said as he walked away. The floor looked stable enough, but I couldn't stop the terror that was filling my head at the thought of falling through again.

  "Sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't think," Dres said as he strode back to me. "I'm sure that it’s hard for you to be back in here so soon, and if I didn't think what we found was important then I wouldn't want you to look at it yourself, but I really think you need to see with your own eyes."

  "You're sure it's stable?"

  "I swear on the North Wind that it's as stable as I can possibly tell." Dres put his hand in the air, as though trying to tell the direction the wind was blowing, which made little sense since we were inside, but I assumed it was a cultural thing.

  "Okay, show me what you've got."

  The two of us walked over to the statues at the back, and he began pointing to the hilts of the swords. "See here? This is an ancient house from the founding families of Hyperborea, my home, and this one is one of the original clans from Kai's world, Agartha. I'm fairly confident that this one is related to the high court in El Dorado, although I'd need Griff to confirm, and this last one is the sigil for the queen's family, Anahita. Each of these knights represents one of the four worlds, so I think this is supposed to be the savior, to be you." Dres gestured to the female statue in the middle at the end.

  "What? How is that possible if you thought the Key was an object all this time?"

  "That's the question, isn't it?" He was studying the statue and seemed to be almost captivated by her.

  "You said something about the crystals?" I tried to prompt him onward so I didn't have to watch him lust over a statue that was more beautiful than I could ever be.

  He turned to look at me as he said, "I think we should break them."

  "What?" I demanded as he strode toward the closest one.

  "There's an inscription on something inside. I think we should break them and see what it is. We can always claim that they were broken during the earthquake."

  "We have no reason to think that whatever is in them is important, do we? So let's not go destroying religious artifacts just for the sake of curiosity, okay?" I hissed at him.

  "Fine, but if it's important then I get to say I told you so later," he said before sticking his tongue out at me.

  I wasn't used
to this version of him. Both Dres and Kai had been busy with political stuff to do with their home worlds and keeping them from attacking Atlantis for the Key, aka me, ever since we all arrived. This was the longest time I'd seen them around, outside of our weekly dinners with the queen and her advisers.

  "Fine, but at least we'll know that it's necessary at that point."

  "Oh, I forgot to show you!" He spun on his heel and headed back toward the sword hilt that had the air symbol on it.

  "What is it?" I asked as I followed him over.

  "Watch." It was all he said as he placed his hand over the pommel of the sword that was sticking up between the statue's hands. A strange fog seemed to seep out from the sword hilt with the water, and all I could do was stare.

  It was officially too much. My brain was starting to overload, and I wasn't sure how much more I could take. "What was that?" I heard myself murmur even though I hadn't meant to.

  "I don't know, but the earth sword reacts similarly. When Finn and Griff get back, I want to see if their corresponding statues do anything similar as well."

  "I need some air." I turned and strode out of the temple before my brain imploded. It wasn't that I felt like I couldn't breathe, but that this was all seeming a little too much too fast. All I had wanted to do today was establish that I wasn't a liar, and so far I'd had sex with a vampire, drowned, and swam with a merman, and that was before any of this crazy shit that Dres was talking about. There was no way that the statue in there was supposed to be me. How could the sculptor have known the Key would be a person? Did he have information that we didn't? My mind was swirling with the impact of what that might mean. Was someone withholding vital information from us as we tried to figure this out? Was it another of the queen's damned tests?

  "Dove!" Griff's nickname for me sounded before I'd even had a chance to reason out some of my answers in my own mind.

  Even though I was still mad at him, and not sure how I felt about this whole mate and vampire business, I was beyond happy that he was alive. I whirled toward the sound and raced toward him, colliding with him so abruptly that he had to spin us around or the sheer force of the impact would have taken us both onto the ground. I wrapped myself around him, and the scent of fire and warmth filled me, almost like mulled wine or hot cocoa, just the aroma made me feel warm and cozy. I hadn't realized how cold I had been until I touched him.

  "By the Flame, you're practically hypothermic! Did none of them think to warm you back up after Finn got you out?"

  I shook my head, burying my nose against his neck while he cuddled me to him.

  "Bastards, I'll make them pay," he growled. For a second I thought he was serious, but when I pulled back and saw the twinkle in his eye as he glanced down at me I knew he was joking. "Just needed to make sure there was no brain damage." He winked at me and set me on my feet but spun me around so my back was to his front as he wrapped his arms around me.

  "Finn, are you okay?" The other man looked somewhat haggard from where he was leaning against the temple wall.

  "Fine, fine, Siren, nothing to worry about. I just haven't maintained a shift that long in a while, that's all."

  "I'm surprised you weren't terrified of him." Kai's voice sounded off to my left as he came striding out of the tree line.

  "Why would I be?" I asked.

  "Because he turned into a fish man? All the pointy teeth and claws? Good for rending flesh with, dearie," Kai said with a mock wicked witch voice that made me snort-laugh in surprise. "Not to mention the whole losing his junk business. I've never understood that. When he shifts his cock just up and disappears into his body so that his legs can merge together. Tell me that shit doesn't freak you out."

  "I was a little too focused on staying alive to notice what his cock was doing," I muttered.

  "It's the webbing between his fingers that gets me," Dres added.

  I pushed away from my fire warrior, my own anger heating me up enough. "Hey! Finn saved mine and Griff's lives today, why don't you both shut it?" I glared at Kai then at Dres but ended up back on Kai when I heard him take a breath to say something. Finally, after holding out longer against my withering glare than most people could, he raised his hands in surrender before crossing his arms over his chest.

  I spun on my heel and walked over to Finn. "Thank you. Without you, your bravery, or quick thinking, I'd still be dead on that stony ledge."

  "Wait, she actually died?" Kai's voice was almost a roar behind me.

  "Yeah, and Finn saved me." I turned around to face the man who seemed to have more mood swings than a teenage girl.

  "Why don't we, uh, show you what we found?" Dres said, sounding awkward as he rubbed the back of his neck. It was like he was trying to ease the tension he could feel radiating out of Kai and me. It was going to take a lot more than just a symbol to do that though.

  Griff came up behind me. I knew it was him from the heat that radiated off his body. "Come on, Dove, let's go. Dres has got his excited face on, and that doesn't happen very often, does it, Kai?"

  Kai shook his head as he stared down at me, while Dres moved past all of us and into the temple. As we neared the edge of the floor where it had caved in earlier, Griff's arms were suddenly around me and he was carrying me over to the statues. I tolerated it because I knew he was only doing that out of fear, but when he put me down I glared up at him briefly, to which he shrugged and turned to pay attention to Dres.

  "Watch," the other man said as he repeated what he'd shown me. As soon as his hand connected with the top of the sword's pommel, not only did water flow from the blade but so did the smoke from earlier as well.

  "Well, that's unexpected." Griff moved out from behind me so he could bend over to look up at the opening on the hilt of the sword.

  "It gets better." Kai proceeded to put his hand on the sword pommel that reflected the clan from Agartha.

  My mouth dropped open as the water turned into mud briefly before pebbles and other small pieces of dirt and rocks seemed to fall around it. I watched in awe as Griff stepped forward to the two remaining swords and located the one Dres has suspected of being related to the high court in El Dorado. As soon as his hand brushed the stone on top the water began rising as steam and a moment later lava was flowing from the opening.

  "Finn?" Dres asked expectantly.

  "Water is already flowing, I doubt anything is going to happen."

  "Famous last words," I muttered under my breath, which made Kai snort since he was standing closest to me. Finn turned to look at both of us. I merely raised my eyebrows in question without saying anything. He shook his head and went over to the remaining statue. With him just nearing it, I could feel the atmosphere change. It was like a dragon coming into the room, only more so. There was a type of pressure on my skin as his hand raised, and I couldn't help but hold my breath as he brought his hand down in what looked to me like slow motion. The water gushed forth like a geyser had been opened. I yelped and jumped back as my heart pounded in my chest and the floor began to shake once more. It couldn't collapse any further, could it?

  11

  Tessa

  The floor, walls, roof, everything was shaking. Even the crystals that Dres had joked about destroying earlier were rattling to the point that they were falling from the chain or stone that had been holding them up and shattering on the floor. The broken shards looked like diamonds as they spread out across the floor, or what remained of it.

  Dres dove across the floor and for a moment I thought he was going to go over the edge, but a gust of air seemed to buffet him at just the right time, and he swung around until he was on solid ground once more, the broken crystal shard clutched tightly in his now bleeding hand. Panic flared across his eyes as he looked up at all of us, and after a second, I realized he must be worried that we were going to turn him in for using his magic. I didn't like that he didn't trust us enough to think that we wouldn't have his back, but I also knew that we were in extremely uncharted waters.

  "I ju
st reacted. I didn't think..." Dres's words were quiet and urgent.

  "No one's going to tell on you," Kai mumbled as he helped his battle brother up. "You know us well enough by now to know that, don't you?"

  I couldn't help but feel the sting as Dres's eyes shifted to me and back.

  I won't tell anyone. I promise. I tried to project the thoughts to him, and when he flinched, I thought maybe I'd mentally shouted a little too loud for him, but at least he knew. His dark eyes studied me for a moment before he gave me a tight nod.

  "Uh, guys?" Griff said from behind me.

  I turned and found him staring down an opening that had appeared behind the statue of the woman who Dres thought was supposed to be me. The wall had fallen backward and created what looked like a bridge between the room we were standing in and a staircase that disappeared into darkness. As soon as I stepped forward to investigate a set of hands clamped down on my arms. I looked over my shoulder to find Finn watching me with worried eyes.

  "I'll go first, you can follow if you want," he said quietly. I got the feeling that it wasn't because he was concerned about the others overhearing him but more that he was tired.

  "Why don't you rest while I go with someone else?" I kept my voice low to give the illusion that the conversation was just between us, even though I knew that the others were listening.

  The stubborn man shook his head. "I'm Atlantean, it makes sense for me to go first in case there are any traps or pitfalls."

  I pursed my lips, but before I could reply he had moved past me and was carefully walking over the bridge that had been a wall just a few minutes ago. The others all made a move to go over the bridge but, with a little bit of duck and weave along with my Black Friday shopping elbows, I made it there first and was over the bridge before anyone else.

  "Remind me never to box you in anywhere," Finn said with a laugh. As he started walking forward, I followed making room for Griff who came next.