Page 12 of Wicked Warlock
A second later, the harpies all landed on a pillar. They curled together squawking as their wings twitched and moved dropping more feathers from their nest. Like Beckett hadn’t just nailed one in the face, like they hadn’t been torturing souls just for the hell of it. They settled in, and everyone began to cautiously rise to their feet once more. The low hum of voices filled the air once more and we started drifting forward.
Beckett ghosted silently beside me, looking calm yet distant from me. I’d grown so used to our connection I now mourned its loss. Usually, he brought such comfort to me, but now I felt like I was kind of on my own. Worry riddled my body. Would things ever be the same between us? I opened my mouth to say something to him, yet nothing came out. What did I say? Are you mad at me? Are we good? Did I do something wrong?
I already knew those answers. Yes, he was mad at me. No, we weren’t good. I didn’t even know if he was good. Did I do something wrong? Well, that was all depending on how he viewed the situation. I had no other choice. If he were himself, he’d see that. But I didn’t know if he was. All I could do is watch him walk with Logan and ignore me.
“Dude, you landed.” Beckett gave an empty laugh. “I knew you would. Besides, you don’t want to really be dead and neither do I. We gotta find Nova. Plus I need all the heirs.”
Logan’s brow furrowed and he narrowed his eyes at Beckett. “The heirs? For what? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Nothing. You know we gotta stop the council.”
“Soooo many things are wrong with him,” Soto whispered under her breath.
The muscle in Beckett’s jaw ticked and he narrowed his eyes at her and growled, “Nothing. What I meant was we need to get you home and out of here. You’ve been through enough hell already.”
Logan nodded. “Home sounds good right about now.”
Beckett nodded and gave Logan a half smile. “Good. Let’s get out of here.”
Soto rolled her eyes and began walking toward some unknown place. “Yeah, okay, sure.”
Beckett walked farther ahead of us. “Come on.”
We still needed to find the others. “We still need to find Ashryn and Kylian.”
Soto shrugged. “The elves always roll up on their own.”
We walked for what seemed like ages on a never-ending line with no end and no beginning. I’d almost given up hope when the sound of babbling water blended in among the hushed voices. It was a sound I recognized well—the sound of the rivers of the underworld. Not long ago, Beckett and I had spent one wild water ride trying to make our way through the connecting rivers of the underworld.
I spun in a circle looking for Nova and Ashryn once more. Either of them would know what direction to go in. How did we know where to go or what to do to get ourselves home? Nova, where are you? As we approached, the long path that brought us to this point seemed to drop off a cliff. The spirits all huddled there, waiting patiently. For what, I didn’t know.
“And where the hell have you all been?”
Kylian walked right through three souls and stopped in front of our little group. Even in his ghostly form, he was intense-looking with crystal-like green eyes, dark straight back hair, and full pouting lips. Even his dark shirt and pants were more vivid than everyone else’s pale, muted coloring.
“Us? Where have you been?” I motioned to the long path. “We’ve been walking forever to get here. Did you just leave everyone behind?”
“Clearly not, Red.” He pulled five golden coins from his pocket and held out his hand to us. “Take one.”
My hand went through everything, yet those shining coins glinted in his palm. I pointed at them. “Where did you get those?”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. Just take one.” We each plucked one from his palm and held it. The coin felt warm on one side and cool on the other as I turned it over.
“You broke the rule.” Soto moved to his side and pouted.
“Yeah, you did, too.” He smiled down at her. “At least we broke it at the same time.”
“What rule?” Was there something these two knew about our situation that I didn’t?
“Relax, Red. The rule was not to die.” He chuckled and Soto joined in with her tinkering laugh. “We both failed.”
I was so confused. “What does that have to do with the coins?”
“You ever heard of the saying, ‘Everyone pays the ferry man’?”
“Yeah. So?”
Beckett pointed to something in the distance. “Look.”
