Page 75 of Wicked Warlock
The Fury jumped through the circle and disappeared. I looked down at that circle as it closed. “She better not have been lying.”
“Furies are a lot of things. But liars… they are not.” Liesin motioned to the wall. “You have your clue now. Nova, time to go.”
She stamped her foot. “Ugh, I hate you.”
He chuckled. “I know.”
Nova walked over to Zinnia and threw her arms around her shoulders, pulling her in for a hug. “I’ll be back soon.”
“I know.” Zinnia looked over Nova at Liesin. “I still don’t like you.”
“I don’t really care.”
Nova opened two holes in the ground, and they fell through, leaving us all to stare at the lines on the wall. We all gathered around them, and something tickled in the back of my mind. We stood in silence staring at them. What did it mean? Why did they look so familiar? It looked like two squares with rounded corners. Some of the lines matched up and others appeared completely random.
Ophelia ran her fingers over the indents in the wall. “I know this. I just can’t place it.”
Maze groaned and rolled his eyes. “The circus of freaks taught me well.” He motioned for Tilly to walk toward the wall. She moved toward it and lifted her hands with her palms out, facing the rest of us. Maze pointed toward her hand. “They make a fortune off this back home… It’s palms. As in palm reading.”
At that exact moment, everyone looked down at their palms, staring at them, wondering if somehow, they were the clue. A sharp breath came from the back of the room, and we all turned to see Catherine standing there with her hands shaking. She swallowed. “It’s me… I… I didn’t know. I don’t even know what this means. It’s my palms.”
Penny looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened. “But I do.”
Chapter 37
Beckett
I opened the portal just above where I’d been before, where I got a new family member and nearly died over a bottomless pit in the middle of the ocean. I dropped down, and the wind rushed past my face. Before I fell too far, I threw out my other hand and let my power flow. A blue platform appeared just below my feet, and I landed in a crouch. Astrid fell down toward me and I popped to a stand, catching her in my arms and placing her on her feet. A moment later, Ophelia dropped out of the portal in the sky and fell toward the platform.
“Third time’s a charm!” she called as she fell right toward me.
I caught her around the waist and quickly placed her down. She gave me three hard claps on the shoulder. “We are getting so good at that.”
“Let’s not make this a habit.” I sighed and waited for the next person to fall through.
Cross came through the portal next. I sure as hell wasn’t going to catch him. He too landed in a crouch next to Ophelia. He jumped to his feet with a broad smile on his face. “We got this.”
Catherine dropped through next, with her wild midnight hair flying above her head. She remined me so much of Zinnia. Her arms pinwheeled, and Astrid threw up her arms toward Catherine, catching her on a cloud of golden magic and gently letting her drift down toward my platform. Zinnia’s silvery magic fired from the portal like spider legs. They landed on the platform and carried her down in a gentle drop.
I half expected Tuck to fly through next. “It’s weird doing this without him.”
Zinnia pulled in her magic so it was a faint glow all around her. “Tell me about it. But he had to stay back and keep an eye out for Nylore. So, let’s get this done fast.”
Penny sailed through the air and her softly glowing emerald power surrounded her. Her golden hair flowed gently around her. When she landed, she put her hands on her hips. “We ready for this? Because I am not. I never wanted to see this cave as long as I lived.”
“Zin, maybe don’t touch anything just in case the cave reacts to siphon magic. We don’t know what Alataris did down there.” Blue smoke seeped from my hands under the platform.
“Yeah, I’m with you on that. I’m not trying for a repeat of last time.”
Astrid tilted her head to the side. “Last time?”
“Don’t ask.” Zinnia wrinkled her nose.
The platform rocked, and they all stumbled a bit before I smoothed out the ride and drifted toward the black hole.
In the late afternoon sun, sweat gathered on my skin. I’d been dressed for winter in Connecticut, not summer south of the border. Astrid held out her hand and smoke covered her from head to toe. When it cleared, she stood there in a black bikini top and light blue denim shorts. “It’s stupid hot.”
Ophelia turned to face Cross and held her arms over her head. “Off.”
