Page 38 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“It is a little late to turn back now, don’t you think?”
He gave her a small smile. “That it is,” he answered, and as he lowered his hands to his sides, the water closed in.
As if encased in an enormous bubble, the water closed in around them, and she stumbled as the river current took hold.But Lange was still holding her hand, and he let go only to snake an arm around her waist and tuck her into his side.
“Sorry,” Corbin muttered, and Eviana could feel his magic around them working to keep the water at bay.
Everything around them grew darker and murkier. The river was swallowing them up, and there was beauty in the depths. What she could make out anyway. The light was quickly fading, unable to reach so deep. Fish swam by in schools. Various creatures skirted around them. The water plants beckoned and called to her magic, even if she couldn’t see them fully. She knew they were there. If only these godsdamn bands were gone.
Flexing her toes in her boots, she slipped her hands into her pockets, fingering the makeshift weapons in one side and the dagger from Valter’s desk in the other. Next to it was the phone she’d forced Corbin to give her. They didn’t know it, but she’d kept it charged. It was powered off, of course. She didn’t want to leave any possible opening for Valter to track her.
“How long do we have?” Eviana asked, feeling Lange’s grip loosen as they all got their footing. She turned in a slow circle, taking everything in, but it was far too dark now. Only faint traces of sunlight filtered this deep, and she squinted, trying to adjust to the darkness. Sound was muffled, and the dome of water did nothing for the chill this far down in the water.
“Corbin’s reserves will wane faster than mine,” Lange answered. “It takes more power for him to keep us below the surface, fight the current, and keep us dry.”
“But you must conjure air,” Eviana countered. “Out of nothing.”
“Not out of nothing,” he said, moving to the edge of the dome and dragging a finger through the water. “There is oxygen in it. I just have to draw it in.”
“How long do you think we can make it?” she asked again, pulling the coat tighter around herself. She needed to figure outhow to prepare for their next moves, and to do that, she needed an idea of where they were going to surface inside the Serafina Kingdom.
Lange glanced over his shoulder as Corbin came up behind him, wrapping an arm around Lange’s waist and resting his chin on his shoulder. “I should be able to last a couple of hours. As long as we keep moving, we should make it into the Serafina Kingdom. I’ll let the current push us without overwhelming us and sweeping us away. I don’t want to lose control.”
“How deep into the kingdom?” she pushed, already knowing it wouldn’t be nearly as far as she wanted to be.
“I think we should just start moving,” Lange said. “We can all agree we want to get as far as possible. None of us want to be discovered,bellana.”
She rolled her eyes at the nickname the male had apparently latched onto, but he had a point. While she’d had decades to learn her limits and could tell them exactly how long her power would last, they were still discovering theirs. They were still figuring out the depths, and from the brief time she’d spent with them, she knew not only had they not discovered their full capacity, they also didn’t understand just how powerful they were. That was fine. She’d force them to learn it. She’d drag it out of them, because they would all need to be at full strength to survive the Dreamlock Woods. But again, they’d learn that soon enough.
She let them have this moment of peace as they started moving along the river bottom. Half listening to the two males discuss a Chaosphere game, she wished she had the capacity to care about something so trivial. Truly she did.
Unfortunately for them, the Fates had made their paths cross, and she was a poison that spread to everything she touched. Maybebellanawas a fitting name after all.
8
LUKA
“Stop touching things,” Luka growled, coming back into the main living space of his cave.
Everyone was here.Everyone. There were too many people near his things.
“I’m not touching anything,” Razik retorted, arms crossed over his chest. He tilted his head and leaned closer to a small square tin. “How old is this?”
Luka stalked over, swiping it up. “Stop looking at things,” he snapped, heading to the kitchen and setting it on the counter. Away from his brother.
“It’s not even a bowl, Raz,” Eliza drawled from where she was sitting on the sofa. She’d found a book somewhere, the pages open in her lap. “Stop antagonizing him.”
“And I suppose that bowl just disappeared on its own?” he shot back.
“You probably just misplaced it.”
“I don’tmisplacethings,” he snarled, smoke furling on his exhale.
She rolled her eyes, going back to her book, and Razik moved along to study the wall of empty frames. Luka tensed, eyesnarrowing as he watched his brother. They’d been here a whole two days, and he was hating every fucking second of this.
Forcing himself to tear his eyes away, he moved to the fridge, pulling out various items. Cienna, Gia, and Tristyn had Traveled to Castle Pines and stocked up on food, spare clothing, and other necessities. None of them knew how long they were going to be hiding up here. More than that, Theon seemed to have gone into hiding too. He couldn’t be reached by phone, and the bond wasn’t an option anymore. A part of him wondered if he’d used a Mark to block the bond somehow like Eviana had and that’s why it wasn’t work properly. As for Eviana, he hadn’t been able to get in touch with Lange or Corbin either. That didn’t bode well, but it wasn’t as if he could be in three places at once. He wasn’t exactly sure when this had all become his responsibility.
Placing eggs in a pot of water, he turned the burner on to hard-boil them. While they cooked, he sliced up vegetables, deli meats, and cheeses along with some fruit. There were chips and nuts he dumped into bowls, all the while keeping his brother in his line of sight to make sure the male didn’t touch a single godsdamn thing.
