Page 17 of Wicked Warlock
The floor dropped out from beneath us, and my stomach went up into my throat. The air rushed by my face. I looked up and only saw Hades’ smirking face looking down at me. It grew smaller and smaller the farther I plummeted, until there was nothing but blackness to take me. My arms flailed and I kicked out my legs, trying to straighten myself. The air left my lungs and for a moment I wanted to scream. Purple light blazed to life and skeletal arms shot out all around me, latching on to my arms and legs. My downward spiral stopped, and I sat there in a skeleton hand hammock.
When I looked down, Nova was there, lighting up the entire hole we’d been sucked down into. Above me, Beckett, Kylian, Soto, Ashryn, and Logan all hung in different frozen awkward positions. Ashryn hung upside down with strands of her long sandy hair covering her face.
“This is not conducive to finding a key to anything.”
“Would you prefer I let us all drop and break our necks?” Nova shifted her hands and purple sparks fired from her fingertips. I held still but the others were all tossed back up in the air like sticks. They flipped around, their arms and legs kicked out. A collective “HEY!” rang out from them all. Yet when they all began to tumble back down, those hands caught them once more. Now they all hung much the same as me, with their arms and legs propped up like they were sitting in a hammock.
Nova looked up at the rest of them. “Better.”
“I was good the first time.” Kylian tried to tug his arm free. “Now, someone has their hand on my ass… Can’t say I don’t like it… Can’t say that I do.”
Nova rolled her eyes and commanded, “Down.”
Inch by inch, the skeleton hands lowered us. Their grabby claw-like hands dug into my skin as one let go and another latched on. I imagine this is what those fire rescue victims feel like when one person grabs them then another and another until they’re finally at the bottom. My feet touched down, and I waited for the others to be carried down next to me. I glanced around the small circular room. The walls reminded me of the thick dark brown bricks the pyramids were made of. The smell of damp musty earth filled my nose. Off to the side there was a long hallway with a bright glowing light at the end of it. It looked like firelight that caused flickering shadows to dance across the walls and halfway down the hall. I wanted to go down the hall, to walk that way and follow that light.
Soto giggled as she touched down next to me and tilted back her head to watch the others land. “Coolest shit I’ve ever seen. Yo, blondie, what else you got?”
Nova sauntered past her with her hair swishing over her lower back and her boots clicking on the hard-packed dirt. “More than you know.”
Kylian followed closely behind her. “So, this is someplace I’ve never been.”
“Is that supposed to surprise me?” She barely glanced at him as she continued down the hall.
“It would if you knew me.” Kylian gave a humorless chuckle.
“I’m surprised,” Soto mumbled under her breath.
Beckett allowed Logan to walk in front of him, then he reached out and grabbed my arm, holding me back for just a moment. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay? Are you okay?” I looked him up and down.
He nodded down and me and pulled me closer. “I know I was a bit off in Unseelie. But I’m straight now. I’m good.”
“A bit off?” I did a double take. “You wanted to rule the world.”
“I know. I don’t know what came over me. It could’ve been the atmosphere or the dark lingering magic. I don’t know.” He paused then let out a long sigh. “I’m just so sorry.”
This was all I wanted from him. From my Beckett. I stepped in closer to him and threw my arms around his waist. His pulled me in close and for a moment, I stood there, taking comfort in his warm embrace and clean fresh scent. “It’s okay.”
He placed a feather-light kiss on my forehead. “It won’t happen again.”
“Hey!” Logan’s voice echoed down the long hallway. “Hey, you guys. You have to see this.”
I groaned and stepped away from him, but Beckett jerked me right back to him. He cupped the back of my neck and pressed his lips to mine in a scorching kiss. My whole body lit up and electricity sizzled through my veins. My hands found their way to his shirt, and I curled the material into my fists. His tongue swept into my mouth for only a second. When he pulled back, he looked down at me with those bottomless ocean eyes and the corner of his lip pulled up in a cocky grin.
“Later.”
It was one word spoken like a promise that sent shivers down my spine. His fingers trailed down my arm to my hand. He intertwined his fingers with mine and tugged me forward. We jogged down the hall toward the glowing light. A blast of heat smacked into my face as we left the hallway and entered into a cavernous room that was the size of a football field. Sweat instantly began to bead on my lower back.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “What the hell kind of Super Mario Brothers bullshit is this?”
Heat blasted over me, and I instantly regretted killing everyone and coming down here. Beside me, Kylian cursed under his breath, while Beckett’s hand tightened around mine. Logan sighed and shook his head.
“This? Really this?”
Bubbling lava flowed from one end of the room to the other. It was broken up only by sections of solid rock that could barely hold a single person. Large poles dangled from the ceiling and swung back and forth, waiting to knock someone to their death. My heart raced in my chest, and I felt my eyes go wide. Sweat trickled down the sides of my face, and I swiped my hand across my forehead.
“There.” Nova pointed across the giant room toward the other side where a single sliver of a door stood closed up tightly.
