Page 125 of Of Stars and Lightning
“Relax, Prince of Shadows,” The Mind Slayer—Silas—said. “We aren’t going to harm anyone the Yarrow heir is allied with.”
The second Jinn swam around them in a circle. “That’s a sure way to anger our Mother.”
Cas spat as his kicking slowed, the water pulling him under more often than it didn’t. Sol wrapped her arms around him with Jonah doing the same, her heartbeat near an impossible speed.
“Just kill us and be done with it!” Sol yelled.
End all this suffering.
“Again, we aren’t going to hurt you.” Silas reached into the ocean, retrieving a plank of wood just big enough for them to hold. It tossed it their way. “I cannot guarantee the ones on land will be so generous, though. They mostly answer to Lorkin.”
Sol barely registered the words as she swam forward toward the piece of wood. She held it beneath Cas.
“Earth Caller,” the second Jinn hissed as it returned to the other’s side. “Flora will take the tainted offering from your wrist.” Before sinking into the waves, it grinned.
With a flash of its lightless eyes, Silas did the same. Then they were gone.
The sea became still around them, no Jinn, no ships, no hope around.
“What the fuck,” Sol whispered, breathlessly grabbing on to the wood for a repose.
“Do you think what it said is true?” Phil asked.
“Which part?”
Jonah wasted no time in testing the important part out. He tookhis hand out of the ocean, slashing his right wrist. His jaw tensed as the blood bubbled into the ocean. Sol looked away from it, unable to stomach any more blood.
She smoothed Cas’s hair away from his face as they waited. “You better not die out here.”
Her panic only increased when his only response was a slow blink.
Jonah gave a small laugh. “It’s working.”
His blood evaporated into golden shimmers into the air, forming a quick circle before dispersing. Jonah exhaled, closed his eyes, and began to work. The land beneath them, deep beneath the sea shook and shivered for moments, all which passed with excruciating slowness as Sol tried to keep Cas awake.
His skin was ghastly white, his lips violet and breathing shallow.
She pressed her forehead to his. “Please.”
The water rippled open, revealing patchy paths of stony hills.
Jonah shook his head, his breath quickening as he continued trying to Call more to the surface. “The rest is too deep.”
The ocean around them was so red. It was as if they floated not in water, but in a cauldron of blood. And within the sea somewhere were two people who were alive, then weren't, and— “Hey,” Cas said softly. “Don’t think about that right now.”
“We must hurry.” Phil began swimming to the first slope of land. “The Jinn are surely calling others so they may all feast on us.”
Jonah nodded slightly to Sol as he pulled Cas forward, helping her. “We must get to land quickly,” he said.
Sol’s feet touched beautiful, glorious stone. She stood, dragging Cas up with Jonah’s help. “I have to save you.”
Cas coughed, “Sol, let it go. Leave me here. Copper poisoning takes maybe half an hour at the latest.” Despite the obvious weakness, he stood, looking from his wound then back out into the distance. “I won't make it to the shore.”
Sol followed his line of vision. She recognized that roof, the color of the architecture. About half an hour’s swim away, the peaks of the Gods’ Villa were clear, emerging as if from the oceanitself.
“I don't know how much land I can Call, Princess,” Jonah braced his hands on his knees. “I—It's too much blood.” Phil ripped a sleeve of his shirt, wrapping it around his brother’s wounds. “I’m afraid my wind won't do much either.”
“I am not moving from this spot until we all agree we move together,” Sol said tensely, adrenaline spreading through her. Her birthmark pulsed with it, the scar along her palm seeming to beckon her forward. She met each of their gazes, ignoring how her limbs begged her for rest or how her mind tore itself apart with the events of the last week. “We go together, or not at all.” She looked at Cas as she finished the sentence. “No room for discussion.”
