Alek looks over at me from the other side of the plane, while Finnegan and Onyx are on either side of me. Hollis sits apart, gripping the side of the plane. The headphones aren’t good, but I can just about hear Aleksander. “We are going to find your aunt after all.”
“Well, hopefully, I find my aunt. I mean, she might not even be there anymore.” I have to be realistic. “I’m not having that much luck with my family. If she is anything like Georgina, finding her might be a bad idea.”
“I know.” Finnegan takes my hand, hearing it all.
Aleksander continues, “It’s going to be okay. You know that?”
I smile softly and lean over and rest my head on Finnegan’s shoulders. He doesn’t know it won’t be okay. It’s not been okay since the moment I was born into this world, and when I tell them what my Nexus told me, they might very well run from me too. Like the rest of the world will. The flight takes half an hour. Half an hour of listening to the wind rip through the metal of the plane, feeling it shake under us. Eventually, it slows down.
“Here we are. We’ll be up in exactly two minutes. Good luck, crazy lady. Look forward to seeing you again. Bring the other two next time. I’d like to see the full collection,” Dale shouts to us over the headphones.
“I’ll see you again. Keep safe, Dale, and thank you!” I shout back.
I walk over and yank the door open, looking down at nothing but grey skies, and occasionally I can see below. The sea glistens in deep blues. It just looks like the sea off the coast between London and Wales, and to humans, there’s absolutely nothing there, but there is. I know there is. The hidden city ofMorriganis, shelter to Nexus, a community that rarely lets new people in.
“What’s the plan, then?” Finn shouts at me over the roaring of the plane that sounds like it’s one gust of wind away from breaking down. It shakes just as I grip the doorframe and look down at the forest. The forest where the city is hiding.
“I’ve only done this once, and it can hurt if you don’t land right, but the ward magic doesn’t sense you if you’re fast?—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Onyx demands, gripping one of the ropes hanging from the ceiling.
I grin before opening my arms and standing in the frame as the wind smacks against my back. “Don’t die, my mates. I’ve begun to like your pretty faces.”
I jump out as they scream my name.
Chapter
Eight
The force of the wind hits me like a wall, and it hurts. Everywhere. I don’t know what I expected it to feel like, but the wind burns as it pushes and rips into my body until I turn numb. Yet somehow my body feels weightless, like I’m in the depths of the sea. I panic, the air feeling like it’s not getting into my lungs.
Suddenly firm arms wrap around my waist, pulling my back hard against someone. The air seems to slow just around us as Hollis’s power surrounds me like a net. He protects us both from the fall, and his Nexus burns for mine, and Gods, mine reacts. Without a care that we are cascading through the air, that we are falling so fast, she reacts to Hollis’s Nexus.Mine. He is mine,she growls in my mind, pushing our ass right into him. Hollis moves a hand up my chest, and I turn, finding his eyes a burning black. Black veins are crawling from his eyes and down his face, so different from anything I’ve seen.
“Hollis.” I barely breathe out his name. My Nexus purrs for him, and the world seems to stop moving, like we are floating in a dream.
He snaps out of it, lowering his hand and blinking. I turn back, shaking myself out of it too and pushing my Nexus downfor a moment. I speak right to her though. “Bad Nexus. What were you going to do, fuck him in the air?”
“Yes. Why not?” she answers in my mind. Oh, so she has forgiven him. When did that happen? Gods above, my Nexus is nothing but trouble sometimes. Hollis doesn’t let me go even as I make my Nexus focus on the present, on our other mates free-falling right towards an early death if we do not get this right. I’m relieved to see that they’re all nearby like they need to be.
I barely hear Hollis’s shout as he strains to hold on to his power, to keep us from feeling the chasing wind. “What’s the plan?”
Slipping my hand into my pocket, I grip the silver ball tightly as we continue diving straight down, straight into what looks like nothing but empty sea. The ward for the city feels like a bright warning sent to the world, like pure starlight itself, and I feel it right before I slice straight through the gap at the top of the ward without setting any alarms off. The wards are meant to keep everyone out, but there’s always a weakness, and unfortunately for us, theirs is right above.
The city stretches out in front of me, the sea fading from view and replaced by a beautiful, purple, alluring city that looks like a fairy tale. All the buildings look like purple gems, round, and arranged in circular patterns, almost like a landing target. Right in the centre are rows and rows of flower gardens. Perfect. With one last glance at my mates, I grip the ball tightly, letting my power blast into it, before throwing it straight in the air in front of me, praying to the Gods it works.
The ball freezes mid-air, right before it expands with a bang and violent water spouts out of it into the air. The water slams into Hollis and me, catching us in its current, and I gasp, taking in a cold mouthful of water. Like a tornado, the current pulls me down its path, cascading right towards the ground. I know the others will be caught up in it too. My mind and body spinas I swirl down and down, unable to see if the tornado of water hit the ground or if I’m going to have a fall when the end of the funnel comes.
My stomach spins, I feel sick, and I hold it in just before I’m in the air for a second. I land with a thump on the ground on a red flower bed. I look up at the giant tornado of water in the air, seeing my mates spinning around it before being thrown out into the flowers one by one, all close to me.
Finn lands right at my side, breathless as he sits up. His wickedly mad eyes find mine. “Next time, explain what you’re doing, mate. Gods above.”
“I agree with him; please talk to us about what you’re going to do next.” Alek walks over, water dripping off his clothes, and extends his hand. “If your plan was to secretly get into the city, I’m afraid the tornado attracted attention.”
“Honestly, you all have major trust issues,” I mutter, grabbing Alek’s hand and getting up, brushing petals off me.
Onyx and Hollis jog over, both of them pale and annoyed as they drip water onto the flowers.
They all look so mad and shocked, and I can’t help it. I burst into laughter, and I’m surprised when they join in. Eventually we all stop, still dripping wet, and I grin at them. “That’s one of the funniest things I’ve done in ages.” My grin fades away as I hear bells going off in the city and sense we are going to have company. My mates change from smiles and laughter to fierce protectiveness in a matter of seconds.
