Page 60 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

Why didn’t I think of that? “I think so.”

Tugging my magic free, it flows around me before rebounding off the walls of wherever we are and forming a barrier beneath us. I snap it into place and somersault in the air. My legs clash against someone, as a hand smacks me across my face and another grabs onto my breast. If that’s Zee, I’m going to show him what true fire power feels like.

“Who the hell is groping me?” I cuss.

The hand squeezes, pauses, and retreats. “Sorry,” Zac mutters.

Of all the people who would cop a feel, I can safely say Zac is in the accident zone.

“It’s fine,” I mutter, trying my best to roll to my knees in the wobbly air.

“Can’t you make it solid?” Zee says as someone jolts my useless arm. I grit my teeth.

“You want me to solidify air?” I ask, hoping he sees the craziness of his request.

“You’re Pan-freakin-dora,” he says, as if it explains his impossible request.

“Yes, but I can’t change the composition of an element!” My brain sparks like James Edison popped in the room. I snap my fingers. Here’s the tricky part. I grasp onto the air we are on and seek a connection with the walls of this tunnel. If they’re made of earth, I should control them. Nothing. I shove my power deeper, going past whatever is making me feel nothing, and catch a tendril of feedback from the earth. There you are. I coax it deeper, my magic coiling around it like a snake, before I yank on the lasso and pull. A loud rumble echoes around us and the world trembles.

“What are you doing?” Zac shouts above the noise.

“Making our perch solid!” I snap.

Dust coats the inside of my mouth and an almighty thud sounds below us. I send a silent prayer to whichever god wants to listen and let go of the air. We drop less than two yards and hit beautiful solid ground.

“A little light please, Duncan?” I ask. A golf ball size of blue light pops into existence, illuminating Duncan’s face. The walls of the tunnel sparkle like crystal, the sharp edges spiking into my fingers as I run a hand over them.

“If we’d hit that, we’d have been dead,” I mumble.

Zac stands beside me. “You’d have been dead.”

“You know you could be a little more grateful.”

He arches an eyebrow. “For what?”

I stare at the ground, which I put beneath his feet and list off on my fingers. “For being the air beneath your wings, for being the ground beneath your feet.”

“If you continue, Archan is likely to become jealous.”

I snort. “Well, when he’s himself, he can let me know all about it.”

“It’s not you he’ll take it out on,” Zac mutters.

“That makes no sense. If I’m the one saying the things to cause the jealousy, which by the way he would know beyond any doubt that I was messing with you, it should be me who incurs his wrath.”

“It doesn’t have to make sense.”

I huff. “Men.”

Duncan comes close to my right arm and offers me a sympathetic smile. “Just do it,” I grit out.

He grasps hold of my elbow and wrist. Positions his feet apart and twists up. My head snaps back as I swallow the scream and nausea.

“That was badass,” Zee says, making my lips twitch. I shoot him a grateful look as I wiggle my fingers. A deep throb radiates down my arm.

“Hey, there’s a ledge here.” I swivel around to find Nathan clinging onto something. Duncan raises his hand and the blue light floats above Nathan’s head. He’s right.

“Duncan, can you give me a boost?” I ask. I hate these wards that prevent teleportation. So annoying. Nathan moves to let me and Duncan close to the wall. Duncan stands to my right and links his fingers together. In a practiced move, I put my right foot in his hands and he launches me up. I grab the ledge and rely on my left hand to haul myself the rest of the way. My eyes flick around the area.

---