Page 77 of Midnight Reign
“That sounds painful,” he muses. “But we’ll figure something out. Right now, I need to just lie here for a minute and not have anything take my magick or try to eat me.”
“You do realise you just fucking jinxed us, right?” Ignatius snickers.
Sighing and flopping down next to him, defeated and deflated, I want to believe him, but the weight of our situation is crushing. We’re supposed to perform this incredibly complex, dangerous ritual to separate me from Crimson and send her back to the NetherRealm, and now we’ve lost our instruction manual.
I close my eyes, trying to fight back tears of frustration. “What are we supposed to do now? We can’t just wing it. One wrong move, and we could tear reality apart or kill me in the process.”
Corvus kneels beside me, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”
“How?” I snap, more harshly than I intended. “We don’t have time to go searching for more ancient texts. The merging is happening whether we’re ready or not.”
“I hate to say it,” Zaiah says, “but we know some people who can help.”
Zephyr groans and claps his hands to his face. “The elders.”
“Well, they did do this ritual before, but in reverse.”
“Fucking fuck,” I say again. “Well, I’m out. No idea where Randall is, and even if I did, huge pass on that one.”
Ignatius sighs heavily. “My parents aren’t exactly on speed dial either. Last I heard, they were off exploring some active volcano in Hawaii.”
“And you know mine never leave the djinn realm unless they have to.”
“Which leaves my father and Corvus’s,” Zephyr says grimly.
Corvus sighs. “My father is supposed to be around somewhere. He was here for the board meeting.”
“And we know my dad’s lurking,” Zephyr adds grimly.
“Great. So, we have to rely on the very people who might try to stop us or imprison Crimson again, or worse, kill her and probably me at the same time. Fantastic.”
“We don’t have much choice,” Zaiah points out. “Without those books, we’re flying blind. And they do have experience with this kind of ritual.”
I sit up, looking at each of them in turn. “Okay, but we stick to the plan. We’re doing this to send Crimson back, not to trap her here or kill her. If they try anything funny, we bail. Agreed?”
They all nod solemnly.
“Okay, then,” I say, standing up and brushing grass off my clothes. “Let’s go find ourselves some shady elders.”
We make our way back towards the main campus buildings, keeping an eye out for any sign of Zephyr’s father or the other elders. The destruction from earlier is still evident, but already I can see signs of the school’s magick at work, slowly repairing the damage.
As we approach the central courtyard, I stop. “You know what? This can wait. I’m tired, hungry, and I need to just not think about any of this for a while.”
“That’s what I said,” Zephyr snaps. “But no one listened to me.”
“Well, I’m listening now,” I say firmly. “We are going to clean up, rest, eat and then at nightfall, we will go hunting down what we need. Fuck knows, maybe it will even find us first. Your dads are here for a reason, and it’s not some fucking board meeting.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Corvus says and takes my hand, leading me to the tower and opening the door with a flourish. “After you.”
I step into the tower, the familiar surroundings a welcome sight after our harrowing underground adventure. The others file in behind me, all of us dripping water onto the stone floor as we trudge up the steps.
“Showering first,” I say and aim straight for the stairs that lead to the bathroom. I dump the soggy book in the sink and strip off. Climbing into the steaming shower, I sigh contentedly and then just stand there, exhausted.
“Mind if I join you?” Ignatius asks, leaning in the doorway. “That water is playing havoc with my magick.”
I peer at him. “You okay?”
“Yeah, but whatever it was, it doesn’t like fire elementals.” He holds his hand up, and nothing happens.
