Storm Chaser (Storms of Blackwood Book 3)

by Elle Middaugh

  Dan took a deep breath. "We did not intend for this to—"

  "Congratulations, Storms!" Bria shouted over him. "You've successfully wiped Timberlune off the map! In a few weeks, we'll all be gone. But I can die peacefully knowing that Hydratica is going to tear you apart and burn you to the ground. They will avenge us."

  "Bria, please," Cal began, sounding truly apologetic. "We almost died trying to secure the Lunaley for the fae. Multiple times. The fact that the magic is gone... it wasn't our fault. We did everything in our power to help you."

  "Lies!" she spat. "Venomous lies off a forked tongue! You're snakes, all of you."

  Ironically enough, I used to think that about them as well.

  "Bria, they're not snakes," I assured her. "They're telling the tru—"

  "Shut up, Alexis," she snapped at me. "You have the sharpest fangs of them all. I trusted you with our deepest, darkest secret, and you used it against us. You promised me a victory; you promised that once this was fixed and my people were saved, I could marry Orion and be happy. But you only filled my head with lies. You're nothing but an evil witch, and I resent ever confiding in you. I hope the Hydraticans kill you for your crimes."

  I was stunned speechless. My lips set in a taught line. My throat hot and tight. I'd never had someone spew such vile things at me. I'd never had anyone wish for my death—not even the Storm King.

  "You will not come to my kingdom," Dan warned in a dark tone, "and threaten my princess."

  She laughed bitterly. "Oh, that's right. I heard about the triple marriage. The evil whore stole all four of you." She turned to Chrissen and grinned malevolently. "Are you next? I'd head for the hills if I were you. Run while you still have a chance."

  "Bria, that's enough!" Cal shouted, slamming the table with balled-up fists.

  She stood and pushed her chair to the side. "Yes, I believe it is."

  And with that, she marched out of the room with her hoard of guards following.

  Silence filled the room like a pit of knives. It was like if anyone made a sound—one word, one breath—they'd careen into the sharp blades below.

  I swallowed hard, feeling the onset of tears approaching.

  Miners don't cry, Lex. They were just words. Suck it the fuck up.

  I concentrated hard on my hands in my lap, not wanting to make eye contact with any of the guys just in case a tear slipped out anyway.

  "Another thing, Your Majesty," Edden said from the doorway Bria just exited.

  "Yes?" Dan asked. He didn't sound very optimistic about the upcoming news, but he did seem grateful for the breech in silence.

  "You received a return letter today."

  I glanced up saw a mixture of expressions on the guys' faces. Confusion. Hope. Fear.

  "It would have to be from Hydratica," Dan surmised. "They're the closest."

  Edden nodded. "It is, Highness. It bears their seal."

  "Do you have it with you?" Dan asked.

  Edden stepped forward and withdrew the envelope. "Of course, Your Highness."

  As soon as Dan had the letter in his hands, Edden took his leave.

  Carefully, Dan broke the seal and opened the parchment.

  "Read it out loud," Cal said.

  Dan nodded.

  Squalls,

  It has been ages since we last saw each other, and much has changed since then. We should meet up for some pinni in Mahana to catch up. Leave as soon as you get this. We won't wait long.

  Sincerely,

  B & Z

  Dan glanced up at us and raised a brow. "There's clearly some coding going on here."

  "Squalls are synonymous with Storms," Ben chimed in. "And Pinni is a dish often served back in my kingdom."

  Dan nodded. "There's only one café I can think of that serves desert cuisine, and that's Javi's."

  "Is Javi's located in Mahana?" Rob asked. "Whatever the hell that is."

  "Mahana is a Rubian city," Ben explained. "It's located on Tikaree, the middle of the five islands that make up their archipelago."

  "Hades, Ben, could you put it in plain fucking speech?" Rob scoffed.

  Ben rolled his chocolatey-brown eyes but didn't bother to simplify what he'd said. Chrissen's lips tugged up into a sexy half smirk.

  "And, obviously," Cal added, pointing at the signature, "B & Z means Blane and Zane."

  Dan nodded. "They must not want their parents or anyone else to know they're meeting with us, hence the bit of code and the neutral location."

  "Assuming Rubio didn't already side with Blackwood," Ben reminded them.

  Cal seemed to agree. "So, we leave now and sail for Tikaree. How long is this trip going to take?"

  Dan grinned devilishly. "With the Sea Prince as your captain? Less than an hour."

  "Perfect," Rob declared, hopping from his seat and heading for the door. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

  Chapter 21

  ASHER

  "Adam! Adam! Adam!"

  The world swam around me as I aimed at the final cup. Cheers echoed in my ears from displaced competitors and partygoers who'd wandered in to watch. Confidence and nervousness warred as my dominant emotion.

  If I make this cup, we'll go into overtime. If I miss, we're done. It'll all be over.

  I stared at the little red thing as it split into two and then four, spinning in my vision like a wagon wheel. I blinked, and it once more drifted back to one. Gods, how much had I drank?

  "Adam! Adam! Adam!" the crowd cheered.

  "Shoot, pretty boy!" Dion shouted. "Sink that fucking cup! You got this!"

  I took a deep breath, closed my eyes to keep the cup from spinning, and let my little white ball fly.

  Cheers, groans, screams, shouts... so much sound entered my ears. It was like my brain was a cave and all the echoing was about to make my head collapse.

  "You did it!" Dion cried.

  I opened my eyes in time to see his fist pumping the air before he chest bumped me. I damn near fell on my ass, but the crowd behind me kept me on my feet.

  "It's overtime, bitches!" Dion yelled out into the crowd. "Whoop!"

  Heracles and Perseus were feeling the pressure and excitement too. They jumped up and down in place, shook out their heads and arms, and tried to focus their bloodshot eyes on the single cup remaining.

  "Rules!" Dion shouted before Herc could throw. "We aren't making a three-cup pyramid or any of that shit. It's one-on-one. As soon as one team makes a cup, the other team has a chance to tie up. If they fail, the first team wins. If they make it, the next set of partners face off. The first of them to make a cup without the other team tying up, wins!"

  The crowd went wild, and Herc once again stepped forward to take his shot. Plonk! The ball sailed straight into our cup.

  Son of a bitch!

  Dion drank every last drop of beer in it, cracked his neck, then quickly sank the other cup on the opposite side of the table.

  Yes!

  We were tied up again.

  Percy grabbed his ball and got into place as Herc drank. He made a few practice motions before letting the ball fly... and he missed.

  Whew! The pressure was off for a moment. I grabbed my ball, narrowed my eyes to keep focused, and launched it into the air.

  "Yes!" Dion cried as a small plume of beer splashed from the cup I'd hit. "Herc's shit at countersinking. We got this in the bag now!"

  I wasn't so sure. If I were a nail-biter, now would be the time for the clippings to start flying. As it stood, I just ran my hands through my feathery brown hair, trying to relax.

  The crowd began chanting a new name.

  "Herc! Herc! Herc!"

  Heracles took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he concentrated on our cup.

  "Herc! Herc! Herc!"

  He pulled his arm back, pushed it up, and sent the little white ball flying in a perfectly contoured arc. Then... ting! The ball hit the rim of the cup... and bounced onto the table.

  "Yes!" Dion and I cried as one before the crowd
swallowed us up whole.

  No one seemed to care which team won, just that they'd been thoroughly entertained for the past few hours. And entertaining was an understatement—that shit had been intense.

  All those bodies pressing in on me suddenly made me aware of how much alcohol I'd consumed and how badly I needed to piss.

  I leaned over and shouted in Dion's ear. "I need to use the bathroom!"

  He pointed in the direction we'd come from. "It's just out there and up the stairs! Don't get lost!"

  I chuckled and shook my head.

  "And don't end up in another paper towel kilt either," he threatened over the volume of the crowd. "I swear to the gods, I won't help your dumb ass next time."

  I flipped him the bird, and he laughed heartily before once again basking in the glory of winning the tournament.

  When I reached the top of the stairs, silence overwhelmed me. Without the earsplitting noise, I actually felt a bit more sober. After pissing like a racehorse, I felt even better.

  I exited the bathroom and stumbled into the hall, damn near smashing into a wall.

  Okay, yeah, I wasn't perfectly sober, but still. At least I had enough wits about me to remember I needed to get the fuck out of this place and back into Blackwood. Except, I had no idea how the fuck to do that.

  Alexis, Rob, and Dan had told us that when they found the arch in the Lunaley there was a party of sorts going on inside. A man had walked by and shut some sort of invisible door and then poof! No more magic.

  When the Storm King dropped me off in chimera form with Ares and Dion, there was also a strange arch. He'd knocked on some invisible door, and then it had magically opened to this weird-ass place beyond.

  I glanced up the hall, staring at door after door as they lined each side of the mansion as far as the eye could see. There must have been thousands of them. I blinked, and the world rocked like an ocean.

  Okay, fine. Even if my drunk eyes were playing tricks on me and doubling my vision, there were still a lot of fucking doors.

  What were the odds that they'd lead to various locations in my world?

  I opened the first door on the right, revealing another bedroom—a guest bedroom from the looks of how sparse and tidy it was.

  I turned left and opened the next door, and I was immediately blinded by blistering hot sunlight. I squeezed my eyes shut until the pain subsided, then shielded my gaze and tried again. The Obsidian Desert rolled on like a golden wave of shifting sands.

  My thoughts drifted back to the strange old man we'd encountered during our trip to the Ley. Had he appeared and disappeared so abruptly because of this doorway? Was there an arch nearby? And if so, did that explain why we'd lost track of time and reality for a bit that day? After all, it seemed like every time one of these doors opened, they leaked magic out into our realm.

  I shut the door and kept walking, tiptoeing as silently as I could without losing my balance.

  I opened the second door on the right and came face-to-face with the pink-and-purple-striped trees of the Lunaley.

  This was... in-fucking-credible. My eyes and my smile were wide as I stared. This could solve everything. All I had to do was leave this doorway just slightly cracked, and the fae would have their magic back. There would be no need for war.

  Alexis and the guys were going to freak when they found out.

  I pulled the door nearly shut, leaving barely an inch of the striped forestry peeking through, then opened the next door, revealing a small towel closet. I turned right. Another bedroom. This one was decorated in red and black with a messed-up bed, clothes on the floor, and empty bottles of alcohol on the nightstand.

  I went left again, opening a door to the middle of the ocean. There was nothing but sea in every outward direction, nothing but sky above, and below, nothing more than a single boulder jutting out of the water on which the arch stood.

  Wait a second. Was that...? I peered closer, squinting my eyes to hopefully see a bit farther. Was that a ship on the horizon?

  "You must be Adam," a dark, cunning voice said from the other end of the hall, freezing me to the spot.

  I didn't have to look to know exactly who it was, but I turned around anyway. Ares, the fucking War God, stood at the top of the stairs looking absolutely lethal with his clenched fists, narrowed eyes, and his tightly set jaw.

  Panic struck me like an ax to the chest.

  Without a second thought, I impulsively leapt through the doorway and splashed into the ocean beyond.

  Chapter 22

  ALEXIS

  We were in a boat and speeding across the sea in no time.

  Dan stood at the front of the deck, holding his breath, smoothing out the water beneath us while simultaneously propelling the boat at incredible speeds. I clung to the side railings as my hair whipped like crazy around my head. It was only my second time on a boat, but I kind of wished it was my last. As adorable as my "Sailor" nickname was, I was certainly not fit for sea life. My stomach roiled, and I concentrated on trying not to puke.

  Meanwhile Cal, Ben, Rob, and Criss sat around talking strategy and gods only knew what else as if the world weren't rushing by us at breakneck speeds.

  Clearly, they were insane.

  As I white-knuckled the railing, I stared off into the distance to where things weren't rushing by quite so fast. Problem was, there was nothing but ocean for as far as the eye could see. Oh, and of course, a random stone archway in the middle of nowhere.

  "Guys..." I called hesitantly.

  They must've sensed the slight edge in my voice, because they came over right away.

  I pointed to the arch. "Is that what I think it is?"

  "Another magical doorway?" Cal asked no one in particular.

  "How can this be?" Ben pondered aloud. "Unless the alternate dimension has threads tied to this world in multiple locations?"

  "Dan!" Rob shouted. "Turn portside!"

  Dan shot him a quizzical look but did as his brother asked. As the archway came into view, dawning crossed his features, followed by disappointment. "We don't have time for this!" he shouted back. "We need to meet Blane and Zane before they write us off and head back to Hydratica."

  My heart sank. He was right, of course, but I hated to just leave it unchecked. It might've helped lead us to Asher somehow, and I missed him like mad. Was he okay? Was he lost? My stomach quickly twisted into knots.

  Not now, Lex. We need to talk to the Hydratican princes first. Then we can explore the arch.

  My little pep talk didn't help much. I still desperately wanted to go over there.

  Suddenly, magical mist began pouring out of the archway like a flood. It raced across the surface of the sea like a heard of wild horses, charging in every direction. Dan tried to slow the boat down, tried to make a sharp about-face, but it was too late, the mist had already reached us.

  I blinked, slowly becoming accustomed to my new hazy vision, but I felt half blind. Where were we? And why was it so foggy? I couldn't remember anything all of a sudden.

  "Alexis?" a voice called from somewhere behind me in the mist.

  I turned around, and Cal appeared a few feet in front of me. "I'm here."

  "Thank the gods. Why don't you come sit with us until this fog passes?"

  I frowned and looked all around, but I could barely see a thing. "What are we doing? Are we on a boat?"

  Cal nodded. "So it seems. Maybe we were just trying to enjoy a carefree day on the water?"

  Yeah, "carefree" and "Storms" didn’t usually go together.

  "Come on," Cal insisted. "The guys are waiting over here."

  I had just turned to follow him when a faint sound caught my attention. I paused, listening harder. "Do you hear that?" I asked him.

  Cal strained his ears, and his eyes went unfocused as he listened. "Is that a... meow?"

  "A cat lost at sea?" I asked curiously.

  "I remember there being an archway nearby," Cal muttered. "Or at least, I think I do. Maybe a cat accidental
ly pushed through?"

  My eyes went wide. "We can't just leave the poor thing! It'll drown."

  Cal immediately agreed. "I'll get a net. If we follow the sound and miraculously find it before it's too late, then we'll scoop it out and bring it aboard."

  I nodded quickly. "Hurry."

  Then I turned around to where the steering wheel ought to have been. I still couldn't see shit through all the fog.

  "Dan?"

  "Lexi?" he called back. "I can't see a damn thing. Are you all right?"

  "Yes, I'm fine," I shouted. "Can you use your powers to sense a lost cat in the water?"

  For a moment, I was met with silence. Then he finally answered. "I can try, but it's not going to be easy. The ocean is huge, and cats are pretty damn small."

  "See if you can follow the meows," I added. "That might help you pinpoint it."

  A moment later, Cal returned carrying a net. He had Rob, Ben, and Criss with him. The five of us grabbed onto the boat's railing and squinted into the mist, trying to glimpse the drowning cat.

  "Ah, shit," Dan cursed. "Guys, it's magic. Use your powers and the effects should fade."

  What was magic? The cat?

  Cal, Ben, and Rob immediately did as Dan suggested, using their powers over the sky, the vegetation—which, in this case, meant seaweed—and the spirit realm. I had no idea if there were any spirits lingering, but I supposed if there'd ever been a shipwreck nearby, that might suffice.

  Criss turned to me with panic in his hazel eyes. "I don’t know how to use my magic. When I healed my nose earlier, that was purely instinctual. I haven't been able to call on it at will."

  I nodded, understanding immediately what I needed to do.

  I called on my own magic, smiling as the peachy-pink flames danced in my palm, then I glanced at Criss. "You ready?"

  His brows furrowed, staring nervously at my fire. "Ready for what?"

  "Look!" I cried, pointing to sea. "It's the cat!"

  Criss turned around, and I grabbed his arm, scorching the ever-loving fuck out of him. He cried out in pain and jumped away from me. Instantly, his healing magic flared to life. It raced across his skin like a magical tide, washing away any signs of a burn and leaving behind nothing but perfect skin.