Wicked Omen (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 1), page 18
I pushed harder, firing so much magic the board levitated up off the water into the air. Cool mist sprayed my face and I couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t look at the situation with cold strategy like I normally did. I was . . . terrified. My mind reeled with all the things that could happen to her.
In seconds we were at the small island. I leapt off the board and drew my dagger from behind my back. I turned to Nova. “Which way?”
“Slow down. We have to think.”
I clenched my fist hard. “Nova! Which freaking way?” Panic overcame me and I had to get to her. She hadn’t been out of my sight in days and now I needed her back where she belonged, beside me.
Nova’s eyes widened and she pointed up the hill toward a small hole in the side of it. “There, I saw her being dragged in there.”
I charged up the hill, running over the uneven rocky terrain. Vines wrapped around my foot and I stumbled, barely catching myself. Nova panted behind me. “Beckett, we need a plan.”
“Screw the plan.” We didn’t have time to sit and plan. Astrid was gone! And I had no idea what the hell happened to her! No waiting! No time! I ran headlong into the opening of the cave and sucked in a breath. “Shit.”
There standing in a small pool of water was Astrid, chained to metal bars. Her box lay just in the sand beside her. The chains were thick and in the shape of an X. Her arms were lifted high above her head and pinned to either pole. Her hair was sopping wet and falling down the sides of her face. Her breaths were heaving, and she looked utterly exhausted from fighting. I took a step toward her.
“Tut, tut, tut, I wouldn’t move another inch if I were you.” A deep female voice spoke from the other end of the cave.
I froze and searched in the dark for where it came from. Toward the back of the cave a shallow pool glittered like it had its own personal light at the bottom of the tank. Beyond that was a sandy patch with a single huge circular bed.
Nova hissed in a breath. “What the hell?”
A large, round woman slithered off the side of the bed. Where her legs should’ve been were numerous snake tails. So many they rolled over each other and swirled as she moved forward. Sand and slime rolled under her as she moved. Was that how she walked? She wore an oversized pink terrycloth robe that bunched around her neck, adding to yet another of her rolls. Her face was round, with lips downturned so low she reminded me of a bull frog. Her makeup was so thick I couldn’t tell what her actual skin looked like. But that wasn’t the worst of it. On top of her head, standing straight up like spikes, were snakes. They didn’t slither around each other. They barely moved. “Not hell, darling. Stheno.”
We are screwed . . .
Chapter 27
Astrid
Pins and needles filled my fingers and I flexed them against the chains holding them up. Sweat dripped down the inside of my wet suit. It clung and stuck to me in ways I couldn’t describe. Beckett was a tornado of anger. He stood with his hand clenched around the dagger. His knuckles were so white I thought he might crush the dagger in his fist. The muscle in his jaw ticked and he blew a hard breath from his mouth. “Release her.”
Stheno slithered over the ground toward the little pool. “I think not.” She motioned to me. “Have you come to see the freak? The legend of the snake woman trapped in a cave?”
Beckett took a step toward her and a jolt of electricity rocked through my body. My muscles seized and I quaked on my chains. Pain exploded over my body and I locked my mouth shut. My knees gave out and I hung limply by my wrists.
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” Beckett threw his knife down into the sand. “I’m not coming any closer.”
The jolt stopped just as quickly as it started, and I fought to stand up straight. Every muscle in my body screamed. I stood on shaking knees and looked down around my ankles. Dozens of eels slinked around my feet and the bottom of the bars in the water. Where the pool looked empty and calm was now teeming with life. Like the electric current Stheno ran through me woke them all. Sea urchins crept closer to me with their long black stabby things ready to prick my skin. Angel fish fluttered beautifully through it all, but I knew very well that each of those barbs were tipped with poison.
I tried to climb up the pole then to hang from only my wrist and keep my feet from the water. The chains bit at my wrist and drops of blood fell from my skin into the water, exciting the inhabitance there even more.
I sucked in a deep breath. “We aren’t here to hurt you.”
“Oh no?” Her eyebrows shot high up to her snake line. “You show up in the middle of the night and climb in like a bunch of bandits. I do not play these games with you little mortals any longer.”
She waved her hand and five figures emerged from a dark hole at the back of the cave. One by one they crawled out and came to a stand. They weren’t men but sea creatures all stacked together in the shape of men. Like at any moment Jack Sparrow was going to show up with his sword and fight them all off. Each of the things held a weapon of some kind. Daggers, swords, and crossbows. Crabs, urchins, squid, and anything else I could think of clung together in a squishy slimy shape of humans.
“Escort them out.” Stheno pointed to the cave opening. “While she and I have some time alone.”
Dread sat in the pit of my stomach. As they walked toward Beckett and Nova, pieces of sea creatures fell off them. Yet the moment they hit the ground, they scurried back to rejoin whatever man thing they were a part off. I didn’t know what to do or how I could help, but I needed Beckett to stay here with me. Think, Astrid, think!
I opened my magic and pictured it flowing down my arms and over my body like a protective shell. It slinked down my hips and around my feet and legs. Up around my hands it slipped between my skin and the bindings. I glanced up to see Beckett backing away from them all the while looking at me. I mouth the word “now” at him and he didn’t hesitate. He fired off five shots right at the sea monsters. One by one they exploded into bottom feeding sea creatures. Beckett scrambled forward and grabbed up his knife. Stheno seethed and screamed then motioned to the pool. Electricity shot up the pole to touch me, but my magic stopped it. The metal vibrated beneath me, yet I felt nothing. It’s working!
Nova’s hair fanned out around her and purple sparks fired from her fingers and seeped into the sand. The ground shook and the water from the pool sloshed up my legs. Skeletal arms shot from the ground and slowly began to pull themselves up.
I pulled on my chains. They rattled and clinked together but didn’t move. “Holy shit.”
Beckett didn’t seem to be fazed by her magic one bit. He jumped up and over the skeletons and charged the reforming sea monster creations. He faced off against one of the sea creatures and swung out with his dagger, slicing its stomach out. Crab meat flew across the floor and Beckett reared back and kicked out with his foot. Instead of connecting with its chest and it flying back, his foot was caught in it. His eye flashed with surprise a second before he threw his arms out and shot two blue energy balls right into the thing. Seafood exploded in all directions, covering the walls and the floor.
“No! My precious!” Stheno bellowed as she slithered over the floor in a quick zig zag motion.
Nova’s skeletons were running rampant around the cave, holding down and attacking the sea creatures. Some of them staggered around with crabs hanging from their limbs, and squids wrapped around their faces. Purple magic flew around the cave, bouncing off everything in sight.
Stheno slithered farther back away from the madness and she huddled in the corner. “They’ve come for me! Fight, fight them off!”
I couldn’t just hang here in my little bubble. I forced my magic around the chains and with a hiss and a pop they exploded off my hands. I dropped down into the water then ran and scooped up the book. I moved to Beckett’s side. “I’m here.”
His eyes flashed to mine and his face visibly relaxed. “Wait outside, we’ll take care of this.”
You’ve got to be effing kidding me. I threw the book down into the sand. “No!”
“Astrid, now!” he snapped.
My magic exploded out of my hands, filling the cave. Golden smoke grabbed a hold of everything and anything. The room fell silent and I held it there. Make me stand outside like I’m a baby, oh hell no. I raised my hand ever so slightly and everything began to float around me, including Beckett and Nova. I grabbed up my book and stomped forward.
Beckett growled behind me. “What are you doing?”
He couldn’t move, couldn’t fight the hold I had on the entire cave. But this was my magic, and no one was going to tell me what to do. I’d been nearly drowned, chained up, and shocked like I’d been tasered. He thought I couldn’t handle myself, thought I was useless in this situation. After what happened before we left, NO! My temper flared. Enough was enough. It burned from my chest outward. I gritted my teeth. “Shut up or I’ll take that ability away from you too.”
“Astrid,” he snapped. “Let me down.”
I didn’t even bother answering. I held my hand up for him to shut it. He’d done enough for today. I turned back to Nova. “Sorry.”
I waved my hand and she dropped to the ground. When she came to her feet, she smirked up at me. Then duck her head so Beckett could see her. “Looks like she’s got this.”
If I wasn’t so damn jealous of her, I’d like her. I sloshed through to the back of the cave where Stheno was stuck. Unlike everything else in the cave, she wasn’t floating, she was frozen but also pinned to the ground by skeletal hands from Nova’s magic. Behind me Nova slogged through the pool and then walked to my side. She crossed her arms over her chest.
There was something in Stheno’s face that told me she didn’t want to fight us, didn’t want any of this. Her eyes were wide and darted back and forth between Nova and me. “Don’t hurt me, please.”
“Hurt you?” I held the book tighter in my hands. “You’re the one who attacked me, nearly drowned me, and freaking shocked me.”
She tried to curl in on herself and turned her face away. “Take your pictures. Do what you will then leave.”
I arched an eyebrow at Nova then motioned to Stheno, silently asking her, do you believe this shit. “We aren’t here to hurt you or take pictures of you.” I held the book out in front of me. “I’m here to figure out how to open this. The inscription here suggested that we need a piece of skin from you. Medusa said if we just came here to—”
“Medusa? You know my sister?” She shook her head. “The lies you speak.”
“Oh, for the love. I’m Astrid Lockwood. I met her only a day ago and we text back and forth.”
She nodded her head to the round bed. “My cell is there . . . prove it.”
“Ugh.” We stormed a cave to have it all proved by a single phone call. I grabbed up the phone and slid the bar to the side, opening it up. “No security code?”
“Darling, I live in a cave . . . alone.”
“I see your point.” I scrolled through her limited amount of contacts and found Medusa. I hit the FaceTime button and dialed her up. It barely rang once before Medusa answered it.
“Sup, Sis.”
“Didn’t you tell her we were coming?” I didn’t want to snap at her, but the hair on the back of my neck still felt charged from the shocks I’d been given.
“Ohhhhh, heyyyyyyy, girl. Nah, I didn’t tell her. She barely gets any visitors. I thought it’d be a nice surprise for her. You know, because you guys are awesome. Is Beckett there? Can I say hi?”
“He’s a bit tied up right now.” I glanced over my shoulder at where he started to float upside down. His face was red. Whether it was from anger or from handing upside down, I didn’t care.
“Hmmmm, what’d you use to tie him up? Is it to your bed?” Medusa held the phone to the side then moved it all around her face. “You know, I love phones because that whole mirror thing was tricky, don’t you think?”
“Medusa, I gotta call you later.” Before she could answer I had to end the call, otherwise we could’ve sat there all night. I tossed the phone back onto the bed. “Proof enough?”
Stheno nodded then yanked on the arms holding her. “I’ll give you what you’re asking for.”
When I moved back near her, Nova leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “Nicely done.”
“Thanks.” I focused on Stheno. “Look, I don’t want to hurt you, but we need a piece of your skin to place on this box.”
“It won’t hurt.” She moved her pile of snake legs around and around. They rolled over the sand until a single one was held out toward me. I stifled the urge to gag. That one leg looked like the end of a shedding snake tail. Large chunks of shedding skin hung off of it. She wagged it at me and I didn’t want to be rude, but it was making my stomach churn. I reached out and plucked the loosest piece from her. It didn’t come off like I expected. I had to yank. It came away with a wet sticky sound. Thick mucus hung from it and I couldn’t stifle the gag. I pressed the back of my other hand to my lips as I walked away and slammed that piece onto the pandora configuration.
The box jumped to life, absorbing the skin from sight. The metal clicked and shifted and at the center of the pandora configuration stood a bright glowing red ruby. I reached out and touched it. It was smooth and beautifully cut. Yet the box didn’t open and I knew deep down there was one more step. “According to the inscription on the box we have to go see your other sister. Medusa didn’t know where that was. Can you tell us? Or can you call Euryale and tell her we need to see her and we promise not to hurt her?”
Nova waved her hand and the skeletal arms that held Stheno in place disappeared back into the ground. Stheno rolled her snake tale legs back over until the nasty one was hidden once more. “Oh, she doesn’t answer her phone ever.” She cupped her hand over her mouth like she was about to gossip. “You know they break because of that thing she does.”
I gathered up my book and held it with the ruby facing up. “What thing?”
“All I can say is follow the streaks.” A wide smile spread over her face.
This wasn’t helping. “Can you be more specific?”
The snakes on her head rattled and hissed. “The western desert somewhere. In the mountains.”
“What is it with you three and caves?” I huffed.
She shrugged. “Have fun in . . . Egypt.”
My head and Nova’s head snapped up at the same time. “Egypt?”
Chapter 28
Beckett
“Don’t you ever! Ever! Do that again!” I was yelling, but I couldn’t stop myself. Astrid had taken away my ability to protect her and I couldn’t handle it.
“Stop telling me what to do!” Astrid turned her back to me and marched up the beach with that damn book in her hands.
“Just in case you hadn’t noticed I am the one who brought you into the warlock world for a reason. You don’t just get to USE your powers on me!” I threw my arms up and let them fall onto my legs with a slap.
She whirled on her heels. Her eyes shimmered and she was flush with anger. Strands of her long dark hair whipped around her head. When she looked at me, I swear if she could shoot daggers from her eyes at me she would have. “Like you did the first time you met me? Just floated my happy ass right into the car without even considering how terrified I was.”
“That was a different situation.” I growled. I wanted to grab her and kiss her, yet at the same time I wanted to throttle her. How could she take away my ability to use my powers to help her?
“Oh really? How?” She took a step toward me and jabbed her finger into my chest. I couldn’t move, couldn’t defend myself. I was forced to sit there and watch what was happening. So, you tell me how was it different?”
Nova, who’d been silent up until this point, stepped in between us. “Maybe we should just take a time-out here for a minute?”
Beckett easily stepped around her. “It’s different because we were on a mission to save you, and on this quest to get a nasty ass piece of skin you could’ve been killed. She could’ve been waiting to get you close then strike and you took away my ability to stop that from happening. Don’t ever do that again, Astrid, or this whole thing is over. Do you hear me? Over!”
It was my job to be near her. The thought of losing her in the middle of a quest was something I couldn’t bear to think about. It physically hurt to simply imagine it. I couldn’t figure out why she had me tied in knots like this. We weren’t soul mates, there was no mark on my wrist to say so. Hell, we were barely friends. Yet the moment she froze me I was inches from losing my mind. I’d never felt such terror like that. I’d forgotten every single one of my responsibilities and fallen into a black hole of concern for her.
“Yeah, I hear you, you ass!” She slammed the book down between us and sand flew up and smacked my chest. “Now you hear me. Just because I haven’t got full control over my powers yet does not make me useless. It does not make me a baby. So the next time you treat me like one I am out of here! And this right here”—she motioned between the two of us— “is, how did you put it? Oh yeah, it’s freaking over!”
My temper rose to match hers. We were both glaring at each other, both breathing hard. I wanted to grab her and press my lips to hers. No one challenged me, yet she did. Others feared me and what I was capable of, yet she didn’t. “I did it for your own good!”
“You can’t have it both ways. You can’t throw me into this world and expect me to learn to swim when you’ve still got a death grip on my arm.” She scooped up the book and pointed a few feet away. “Now get us to Egypt. We have a piece of bone to collect.”
I looked down at myself then at Nova. “We need to go back to school to get supplies and dress the right way.”
Astrid rolled her eyes then with her free hand threw a cloud of golden magic at us. One second I was dressed in my wet suit the next I looked like the Rock in Jumani. Thick work boots covered my feet, a thin lightweight black T-shirt and black cargo pants fell from my hips.
