Page 67 of Wicked Warlock
I took a step toward her when all that magic swirling around her shot right into my chest. The air left my lungs and it burned all over my body. I flew back. My feet lifted off the ground and I slammed into a boulder. I couldn’t stand, couldn’t move, I was helpless to only sit there and take all this power that flowed from her into me. My fatigue disappeared, the aches were gone, and the empty pit deep in the center of my body was now filled back up.
I felt it—my power—returning to me. It was like bathing under the intense Florida sun in the summer. Sweat beaded my face and ran down the back of my neck. I struggled to stand but I didn’t want it to stop now. The magic was so bright I had to close my eyes and let the flow continue. I held my arms out to the side and felt all my strength return. I rose to my feet, taking in everything the universe had to offer. I lifted off the ground and felt the power flowing through me and begin to fill the empty hole in my chest. It glowed gold and bright, and I loved every moment of it.
When I touched back down, the magic all flowed within my body. I hadn’t realized how much I missed my power but now that it was in me, I felt… complete. Penny still floated in the water and Beckett stood at the edge, trying to grab her with his power, but the water held him off like a kind of barrier. I rushed to his side.
“We have to get her out before she drowns.”
“I’m trying! Penny! Penny, come on!” Beckett took a step toward the water, and I grabbed his arm, dragging him back.
“No, leave her.” Professor Charles stepped in front of us both, holding us off from the water. “She has to emerge on her own.”
“What if she doesn’t?” I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
Professor Charles didn’t say anything she just shook her head.
Then, a bright white glow emitted from her. She flipped over in the water and her hair fanned out around her face. Her eyes were closed and her body was still. Her skin illuminated the area and light burst from her in a bright ring. Then she came upright and rose out of the water until she stood on top of it. She smiled to herself, and little bolts of green lightning danced over her fingers and in her blond hair. She walked over the water right toward us and stopped on the shoreline.
“Things are as they should be.” She pulled her shirt to the side, revealing her shoulder with a nonexistent mark. “I am no longer queen of the warlocks. Astrid, it is your turn to rule them now.”
Beckett smiled down at me. “Yes, it is.”
With my magic coursing through my veins and filling me, I knew it was time, and I felt I was ready. “We have a lot to do.”
“HOW DARE YOU!” A voice boomed from down the river, and it sent ice into my veins. I knew that voice well.
“Hades!” He swarmed toward us on a black cloud filled with spinning spirits. I wanted to portal out of here but there was no portaling in the underworld and we needed to get out now. I turned in the opposite direction from where Hades flew from. “Run!”
We all sprinted away from him. Penny turned and fired magic in his direction. Lightning exploded the rock beside him into pieces. She growled. “New powers.”
We kept running and I let my magic flow around us, propelling us forward even faster. If he could move on a freaky cloud of smoky spirits, then I sure as shit could make us float on my golden power. “Does anyone know the way out?”
“Moving too fast for the pendulum,” Penny yelled over howling wind that flew past us.
“Guys!” I snapped my head to the side only to get a passing glimpse of Nova.
She disappeared into a hole in the ground and popped out up farther ahead. She waved her arms, drawing me toward her. I dropped my power and we skidded to a stop just beside her. “Nova, I’m so glad you’re still alive.”
“I told you I would be.” She glanced over our shoulders. “Come on. He’s pissed and we don’t have much time.”
She opened a hole in the ground beneath us and my stomach went right up into my throat. I hit the tunnel and glided like I was on a water slide. My body twisted and turned and flew in all different directions. The others spun around behind me, and Nova took the lead. The ground opened above us, and we all shot out into some kind of dark cave. There was a four-poster bed with thick black blankets and a ton of candles everywhere. A flat screen TV was perched on the side of the wall. Clothes were draped all over the floor and bed. It looked like a goth hotel. Nova hurried to the back of the room and pulled a key from the necklace around her neck.
“Come on, you have to get out of here.”
“What is this place?” I glanced around the room.
“It’s my little touch of paradise down here.” She shrugged and placed the key into a hole in the wall that I didn’t see. Her white-blond hair fell over the sides of her face as she bent down and examined where she’d just put the key. “But you all need to leave now. He’ll be able to feel all this power.”
She twisted the key and a glowing door appeared in the side of the rocky wall. It glowed a bright yellow color and she pulled it open. “Go.”
I stopped at the door. “What about you? Come with us.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. He’ll reclaim Serrina if I do. Besides it’s not so bad down here. They can barely ever find me.” She pulled out the key from the wall and dropped it back around her neck where it hung from a long dark silver chain. “Besides, you’ll be seeing me soon. The keys to the underworld come in handy sometimes.”
Penny gave her a nod. “Thank you, Nova.”
She disappeared through the door. Professor Charles followed behind Penny. “Thank you.”
Beckett stopped beside me and locked eyes with Nova. “We’ll figure out a way to get you back.”
