Page 90 of Until the End of Ever
Gideon started to say, “Well, actually—” but Lucky waved, and the potion inside the amphora shot up in the air, falling perfectly over the circle—splashing us all.
The sensation was overall pleasant, though almost instantly, my eyes grew heavy, unfocused, only moments away from sleep.
“Let’s go!”
I levitated the parchment with the spell, written in Runic, and translated underneath.
“Mother, Maiden, Crone. Father, Mentor, King. By the law of the ancients, I call to blood.”The floor underneath us started to quake. I glanced at Lucky, watching for any clue this was unusual, but like almost everyone else, her eyes were closed. They seemed completely relaxed—perhaps even already asleep. The only conscious person was Kleos, sea-blue eyes set on mine.“I call to flesh,”I continued.“I call to inheritance.”
My hand moved in the air to draw the shape of the runeperthro, followed byansuzfor magic insight, andthurisazfor power.
And then everything went dark.
???
38
KLEOS
Ialways loved the water.
I rarely travelled outside of Highvale, but whenever I got a chance to get to a beach, I jumped on it. My favorite vacation was in Greece, my bare feet in the crisp, clear waves.
Almost every witch I knew had an element they felt closer to, and mine was definitely water. It made me feel connected to the universe, in an endless circle. When my toes touched the soft sand on the shores of Ayia Napa, I remembered this side of the Mediterranean Sea touched the Tyrrhenian Sea, which was connected to the Atlantic, and eventually, that bled into the Pacific Ocean. Being on open water connected us to the entire world.
Today, I learned something new.
The water didn’t love me.
I was taken aback by the absolute violence of the current crashing into me, forcing me back, downward, squeezing my lungs.
“-os!”
My ears, full of water, could barely hear a thing past the gigantic waves, but I would notice Lucian anywhere. I didn’t even have to hear him; I felt him nearby. Calling to me.
“Kleos!”
It took a herculean effort just to stay afloat, to not let the whirlpool swallow me whole, but I pushed myself to move, even just a little, in the direction where I could feel him.
“Here—” I was underwater again, farther down, and the unrelenting, cruel torrent kept pushing me.
Then there was warmth pulling my hand up, fighting the nightmarish flow. I paddled, moving my free hand in a breast stroke to try to make it up.
The next breath, when I broke the surface of the water, was pure joy, not simply because my lungs were screaming, but because Lucian was pressing me against his chest.
I doubted the sea had relented even a little, but my own strength increased with Lucian close.
“We need out of here!” I yelled over the wave, desperately turning to spot something, anything, that might show the best direction to move. “There’s land there!”
“Kleos,” Lucian said, softer this time. “Not that way, you hear me? You need to swim away from the cliffs.”
That made no sense. We couldn’t stay in the water.
I looked at him and frowned in confusion.
He was using magic. Not just any magic, but his core power. It never occurred to me that he was never more beautiful than when surrounded by his red mist.
And then it dawned on me, harder than the waves.
