Page 19 of Wicked Warlock
He glanced down at my hands then back to my face. He lowered his voice. “With your magic on the fritz, it should be me.”
I gave him a single nod and let him go before me. He stepped out onto the first stone then jumped to the next and the next. When he was five stones out, he turned back and waved me forward. My heart hammered in my chest as I took that first step out. Bursts of heat fired up from the lava, warming my legs and making the soles of my shoes stick to the rocks. I leapt to the next stone, then the next. It was like the worst childhood game possible.
Don’t fall off or burn to death.
When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw the others leaping right behind me. I held my arms out to my sides for balance. Even so, I teetered forward and back with each leap I took. Halfway to the door on the other side of the room, my clothes were covered in sweat, my hair hung in damp tatters down the side of my face, and the bottoms of my shoes were in danger of having a hole burned through them. A loud cranking sound filled the air, and I froze. The room shook and dust rained down on us. The lava jiggled and bubbled.
“What’s happening?” My voice rose over the rumbling of the room.
The ceiling parted like a dome rolling back. I wanted to see the sky; I wanted to see a way out. Instead, all I saw was a different piece of ceiling being lowered down, with huge poles swinging from them.
“Run!”
Beckett took off jumping from rock to rock with big, long strides. I kept up right behind him. But it wasn’t fast enough. The ceiling dropped and a thick metal pole swung right at me. Beckett turned and yanked me toward him. The pole swung behind me so fast that it sent a hot gust of wind that slammed into my back. Beckett jumped blindly backwards, and my throat closed on a scream. His foot found that small stone, and his arms pinwheeled as he fought to catch his balance.
His eyes widen and he pivoted on his heel and leapt to the next stone, then the next. He was teetering and free-falling forward. It was like watching someone trip and begin to go down and they were doing everything they could not to fall.
“Astrid!” Logan’s voice snapped me out my terror.
Another pole swung for my head, and I ducked down low then leapt forward. Beckett rushed toward the platform where the door stood. When his feet hit the ground and he fell onto his side, relief flooded my body. Two hands shoved into my back and my body went airborne. My stomach rose up into my throat as I soared through the air past another pole. I sailed downward and smacked into the ground right next to Beckett. I slid across the hard-packed gravel and felt scrapes run down my arms and legs. Beckett’s hand caught my head from smacking into the ground.
“Ouch.”
We shared a terrified look and sprang to our feet at the same time. Logan came flying at us next. His feet caught on the edge of the platform and his body tilted back toward the lava. Beckett and I spun forward at the same time and wrapped our hands around his arms, yanking him forward. When I glanced over his shoulder, Kylian had Soto on his back with her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist. He quickly hopped from one stone to the next, dodging the swinging poles like this was an average workout for him. When he reached the platform next to us, he wasn’t even out of breath.
Soto hopped down off his back and beamed. “Cake.”
“Right, because someone carried you.” I rolled my eyes.
“Not my fault you aren’t smart enough to have someone else do the dirty work.” She pointed out toward the lava. “I think your friend is in trouble.”
I spun around and caught sight of Nova trapped in the middle of the lava pit. She was frozen on a small rock while poles swung in all directions for her. She slipped to the side and her toe dipped toward the lava where the tip of her boot sizzled.
“We have to do something.” I wanted my power to rush to the forefront. I want to float her safely to my side. Yet there was nothing I could do. I was trapped on this platform with no abilities to help. I took a step toward the last rock, ready to run back out there to help her across.
Beckett threw his arm in front of me, stopping me. “She’s got this.”
“No, she really doesn’t.”
Kylian moved to my other side. “Nova doesn’t, but my sister does.”
Ashryn grabbed onto one of those long swinging poles. She wrapped her arms and legs around it like a firefighter sliding down the station house pole. She let go of the pole and soared to the next one using brute strength and her Elven grace to leap from one to the other. When she got to the pole closest to Nova, she reached out to her.
“Take my hand.”
Nova’s arm shot up and Ashryn grabbed onto her. They each wrapped their hands around the other’s wrists. Nova dangled from Ashryn’s hand as they swung like trapeze artists. Nova’s white-blond hair flew out behind her.
Ashryn called out, “Catch!”
She used the momentum of the swinging pole to drive them forward. She waited until it swung like a perfect pendulum. On the upswing, she released Nova, sending her soaring through the air. She flipped and twisted, barely missing three swinging poles. Her body plummeted toward the ground. Beckett and Kylian jumped next to each other just as Nova barreled into the two of them. Her back slammed into Beckett’s chest, while her legs smashed Kylian’s torso. The three of them fell back onto the floor in a pile of limbs and twisted bodies. Beckett groaned and rolled up while helping Nova come to a sitting position.
“Are you good?”
“Yeah. Just waiting for the room to stop spinning.” She pressed her glove-clad hands to the sides of her head.
Kylian let Nova’s legs fall from his lap and he sprang to his feet just as Ashryn swung herself like a circus performer from one of the poles and jumped toward Kylian. He didn’t catch her the way I thought he would. Instead, she landed right next to him like a tiger leaping down from a tree. Her landing didn’t make a sound, and she wasn’t even out of breath.
“You could’ve been killed.” Kylian glared at her.
