Page 28 of Siren Sins
Luke slapped me on the back. “Aw, come on. Think of it as an adventure.”
“That piece of junk isn’t going to get us all the way back to America.”
His eyes went wild with delight. “No, but with a little magic, it might.”
Fuck. That’s the word that kept repeating itself over and over in my head as I strapped myself into the seat—at least the damn piece of junk had seatbelts.
“Okay. So I’m going to turn it on and then you’re going to use that nifty power of yours to get us back home.”
I scowled at the array of buttons and levers. There was no way I knew how to fly a plane, much less how to use magical powers to speed it up enough to get us home before it fell out of the sky.
“We’re not going home,” I informed him as I strapped the seatbelt tighter around my waist. “We’re going to Miami.”
He stabbed buttons until the plane eventually reacted like an old man and sputtered to life. “I can understand you’ve had it with the supernatural community, but you’re sure you want to run away to a paradise island?”
“It’s not an island,” I snapped, “and it’s certainly not paradise.” He didn’t know that Miami was home to the most dangerous race of supernaturals known to history.
Luke pulled a lever and we began to move—or more like we jolted in place. A horrible screeching of metal sounded and Luke cursed until he found the lever that unlatched the brakes.
Sarah hates Miami. What do you think she’s doing there?the Blood Stone asked.
I frowned. There was no way I was going to speak to a voice inside my head like some kind of nut job.
Fine. Ignore me. Let’s see how much good that does you when you try to fly this piece of junk.
I sighed. “Okay, fine.”
Luke gave me another raised brow. “You going to tell me why you keep talking to yourself?”
I glowered. “It’s the Blood Stone, all right? It’s talking to me.”
His eyes went wide. “Well, damn. What’s it saying?”
Tell him he’s annoying.
“It says it likes you,” I said, betraying the lie with a twitch of my mouth.
He narrowed his eyes. “Sure.”
Shouts sounded as we staggered down the runway. I was pretty sure the ride we’d picked had a flat tire. “This is a terrible idea.”
Luke pushed on the lever and the plane sputtered, but we sped up. “If that talking Blood Stone of yours likes me so much, then why don’t you ask it to give us a hand?”
Fine,a voice said inside my head,but it’s for you, darling. Not for him.
Before I had a chance to snap a retort at my snotty Blood Stone, red light blasted from my fingertips and I screeched. Red hot electricity jolted through the panel and lit up every button with reds and oranges. Alarms blared, but the winds picked up as we moved faster down the runway and the voices retreated.
“You’re doing it!” Luke shouted. He banged his fists against the panels. “Keep going!”
My stomach turned as the plane lurched upward, and then we were airborne. Luke hooted with excitement as if we weren’t about to die.
“Quit shouting and steer this thing!” I gripped the sides of my armrests and clenched my teeth as heat flashed through me. My Blood Stone burned inside of my chest and blasted such power through my body that all I could do was endure.
Luke thankfully did as I asked and wrapped his fingers around the stick and yanked. We jolted left, but it was enough to right our unbalanced climb.
I closed my eyes when the Blood Stone gave me another flash of heat. I knew it was like the echo of thunder and another strike was going to come.
Pain speared through my temples and I released a scream as my world engulfed in red veins. Electricity crackled and wrapped us in power. A portal opened at the nose of the plane.
