Page 21 of A Lost Light

“Goddess,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “I'm so sick of this shit. Let's never do that again unless we absolutely have to, okay?”

That got me a few dark chuckles and murmurs of agreement. And then it was on to the amplifier. Easy-peasy. Right?

Chapter 11

Elijah

Working with the amplifier proved to be no easier than handling the nullifier. If the smoking crater where Aahil had just been standing seconds before was any indication, it was evenmoredangerous.

Our entire group was made up of individuals who were stronger-than-usual examples of their kind. Magnifying that was apparently a bad idea.

I hoped the fae who looked after this vast stretch of land weren'ttooirate when they saw what we had done to it. Aahil reappeared a few feet away, and everyone present let out a collective breath of relief. For a moment there, it had seemed as if the jinn had burned himself out of existence.

“That was… enlightening,” Aahil said flatly. He arched one dark brow, and held out the amplifying artifact he was carrying. “Anyone else care to get a taste for unimaginable power and possibly lose their fucking mind?”

Andy huffed. “Are you okay, Aahil? Goddess, you scared the living hells out of us.”

He shrugged one shoulder in a graceful ripple of movement that only he could execute, then he disappeared again in a shower of sparks.

We all looked at each other as the seconds ticked by. Hasumi was frowning. Which was concerning, considering how unruffled they usually were. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong, but Aahil chose that moment to reappear in a massive wash of warm, sensual magic.

He was laughing uncontrollably, his lean, bare abs flexing as he bent double with one arm wrapped around his torso. “Oh. Fuck. Is this what humans feel like when they get high?”

Andy rolled her eyes and strode over to him, yanking the amplifier out of his hand and shaking her head at him. “What happened this time?”

He straightened, wiping tears of laughter from his golden eyes. “I teleported. All the way to the other side of the planet. And almost right off it altogether.” Squinting up at the midday sun, he sighed. “It's much warmer here.”

Hasumi was still frowning. “Tell us what really happened,” the ethereal water weaver demanded, prowling toward Aahil with all the rippling grace of a river. “You were distressed.”

Aahil sighed. “Can't a person haveanyfun before you go shouting their secrets from the rooftops?”

Hasumi didn't react to the jinn's tone. Our water weaver was nearly impossible to rile. “What upset you so, flame?”

Aahil rolled his eyes. “For a second there, I thought I wouldn't be able to come back… to reform my essence.” He shrugged again, as if they were just discussing the weather. “You know how, when you dematerialize, it feels like… expanding? And then you pull yourself toward whatever destination you have in mind and kind of… suck yourself back together?”

Hasumi nodded slowly at this rather inelegant description. “Yes.”

Aahil gave the weaver a wry look before glancing nervously at Andy and away. “Well, it was a tad bit difficult not to justscatterforever. To remember who I was and pull back. And when I did manage it, there were… penguins.”

Andy lifted a hand to rub her forehead. “Goddess fucking fuck.”

Aahil huffed a laugh and moved closer to her, reaching up to cup her cheek and make her look at him. “Stop the unnecessary fussing,” he demanded, pausing to kiss her chin. “I'm here now. I figured it out.”

She shook her head. “You figured it out. Great.”

Hasumi took the orb from Andy's hand and our witch jerked toward them in panic. But the weaver just smiled and touched her shoulder, sending a wash of calm over all of us. “I am more cautious than our flame. I will be fine.”

Then Hasumi was gone.

“I'm going to have white hair by the time this is all over,” Andy muttered as she nibbled at a fingernail. Zhong moved to her side and rubbed a big hand over her back.

I watched with a strange combination of warmth and anxiety in my chest. It was touching to see how easily they all cared for each other. And yet… terrifying, when we were out here taking such risks. And soon enough it would bemyturn. The gods and goddesses only knew what kind of craziness would ensue when they handed a magic amplifier to an angelic revenant.

“Don't worry,” a deep voice said from beside and slightly behind me. “I'll go first. That way we'll have an idea how it will affect necromantic magic. This shouldn't be as risky for you as the nullifier. If anything, it should strengthen your binding to your body and juice up your angelic magic. Nothing disastrous.”

His cool hand pressed against my back, between my shoulder blades, where my wings rooted into my back. Before my reanimation, Dyre would have been mylastchoice for mostcomforting housemate. But now… his strange, cool touch did more to reassure me than his words. I leaned into it without conscious thought, and he moved his hand higher, silently gripping the back of my neck, squeezing the tense muscles there.

This was something we definitely needed to talk about. But with everything else that had been going on, my strange new attachment to the necromancer was the least of our concerns. Still, I knew I shouldn't feel quite so bereft when he let go of my neck and strode off to take the orb from a calmly waiting Hasumi.

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