Page 101 of Ignited Spirits
When I reach the bank of the Styx, I wade in to get closer to Lua.
As soon as I touch the water, the whispering I always hear from the river increases until it sounds like someone is shouting at me. I slap my hands over my ears as I try to make what sounds like millions of voices whisper-screaming at me in unison stop.
Unfortunately, that does nothing to stop it. I drop to my knees as I try to figure out what to do. Instead of landing on the shallow riverbed, I’m dragged down until I’m fully submerged.
I fight with everything I have to free myself of whatever is pulling me deeper and deeper into the waters, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t get myself free.
The longer I’m down there, the tighter my chest feels and the more desperate for air I get. Whereas the light above was easyto see near the surface, now it’s barely a pinprick in the murky darkness of the river that’s way deeper than I thought it was.
Part of me wants to scream at the absolute irony of this. I thought I would die battling Lua, but instead, I’m getting murdered by the river that I have the power to send souls to.
I contemplate giving up and just letting the water take me, but then I remember all the people I care so much about.
I can’t leave them to face Lua alone, so I start thrashing about, renewing my efforts to get free of whatever is taking me deeper into the river. It doesn’t make any difference, other than to wear me out and deplete what little oxygen I have left.
“Just breathe,”a melodic female voice instructs me, her words somehow able to be heard past the whispered screams.“We will never hurt you, steward of the souls. We are here for you to command.”
I’m not sure that lady understands what hurting means, because trying to drown someone is definitely harming them. I want to scream at her to let me go, but I know that will only waste the precious little oxygen I have.
Out of options, I suck in a desperate breath and prepare myself to drown. Instead of drowning, it feels like I breathe in pure magic that makes me feel more alive and powerful than I’ve ever felt.
Before I can ask anything about why I can breathe underwater now and why she called me “steward of the souls,” I’m violently thrown upward.
I break through the surface of the water with a surprised scream, and I’m woefully unprepared for the carnage I find when I look around.
CHAPTER 33
IZZY
Igasp as I see the bodies strewn in the river, on the banks, up the side of the cliff, and just about everywhere else I look.
So many people have already lost their lives. Looking around at the faces frozen forever in pain or surprise or reluctant acceptance has my eyes burning with tears that I refuse to let fall.
I’m responsible for all these deaths at the end of the day. While I was not the one to actually kill them, I’m still the reason they were here and facing Lua to begin with.
The only thing that keeps me from breaking apart is seeing that my mates and family are all safe, at least for now.
Legion is in his hydra form, towering over our mate group and… eating spells and ghosts that come our way. Apparently, his hydra heads can just swallow magic, which is weird but handy.
Luca is in his wolf form, and Cain is in his hellhound form, which I’ve never seen before. He’s a black, muscular hound who is as tall as the average person. He has wispy black flames surrounding him that incinerate any spirits they touch. They’retearing into spirits as a pack of two, their attacks coordinated and efficient.
Bishop is with Rhys, Aiden, and the other mages, slinging spells at Lua and the spirits. They’re on the riverbank, a safe distance away from the Styx.
I look around for Levi, expecting him to be near Hades, who is right next to me, but he’s not. After searching for a heart-pounding few seconds, I realize that he’s in his giant snake form, coiled around the feet of Hades’s mate group. While they focus on hurling magic toward Lua, he keeps them protected from spirits.
Levi is the first one to notice me. His serpentine eyes go wide, and his snake form vanishes in an instant. Before I even realize he’s turned back, he’s sprinting at me. When he crashes into me, he wraps me in a hug and squeezes me so hard it’s difficult to breathe.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Levi rasps into my hair. “We were all so fucking worried about you. I would’ve dived in after you if Hades hadn’t stopped me.”
“How long was I down there? And why did Hades stop you?” I ask when his hold loosens enough I can finally breathe.
“You were down there for about seven or eight minutes. Those were the longest fucking minutes of my life.” He breaks off, sounding too choked up to speak anymore. After swallowing a few times and clearing his throat, he continues. “Hades stopped me because he believed that the river was giving you the power you needed to complete your task. He thinks you have a unique connection with it, so there was little chance of you drowning.”
“The Styx talked to me. Or I suppose it was a spirit trapped in there. She said I am the steward of the souls. I can apparently breathe underwater now. At least in magical river water thatmildly tried to drown me.” I blurt the whole thing out, hardly pausing to take a breath as I unload the crazy that just happened.
Levi blinks at me without saying anything for a moment. Then he shakes his head. “Well, that’s… new. Do you feel any different?”
I shrug. “Yeah, I mean, I feel more powerful after I breathed in all that probably unsanitary damned-souls water. So, I guess the river was trying to power me up?”
