“Let’s go!” Ryder suggested on a growl.
I shoved the letter in my purse and ran for the door. Ryder wrenched it open and I rushed through, racing for the elevator. I jammed my finger on the down button, but it had just arrived on this floor and the doors opened automatically.
My breathing stopped and my flight instinct kicked in hardcore. One of Nix’s goons stood on the inside of the elevator grinning maliciously at us.
“Caught you,” he grinned.
Chapter Eight
“Run!” Ryder shouted behind me.
I glanced around frantically, while the gigante lunged at me. I jumped back just as Ryder grabbed a handful of my tight tank top and yanked me with him. His hand slid to my back and he shoved me toward the stairwell.
It was going to be a long way down, but right now it was our only option.
I slammed my hands down on the press-to-open bar and threw myself into the dingy stairwell. I used the railings to jump down the first flight of stairs. I felt Ryder right at my back, pushing me to go faster.
The gigante was seconds behind us. I felt the negative presence fill the stairwell as soon as my feet hit the first landing. I sprinted down the next set of stairs as fast as I could, but it wasn’t fast enough.
“Go, Ivy!” Ryder growled in my ear. “Faster!”
I jumped down what I could, barely catching myself on the landing before I was flying down the next set of stairs. Ryder’s body pushed into mine. His arms stayed wide as if to block me completely from the goon chasing us.
It wasn’t enough. He was supersized and dangerous. His legs were disgustingly long beneath a hunched over torso. His gangly arms swiped at the air behind us and I heard the swoosh of air beneath his meaty hands.
We had such a long way to go and he was gaining on us with every step. We weren’t going to make it.
I wondered if Ryder and I could take him out. But how? He was undoubtedly stronger than us. I chanced a glance back at Ryder, wondering if he had access to that weird set of powers he had used with Nix before.
His eyes were narrowed with determination. I used his strength to fuel my own.
I pushed my body harder, forcing my feet to move faster. I jumped down to the next landing, but that was where things went bad. There was a wide puddle on the landing and I hadn’t taken it into account.
My feet lost their tenuous hold on balance and I slipped backwards, knocking Ryder back. My arms flailed trying to catch myself. My palm slapped against the concrete wall, sending a stinging sensation all the way up to my elbow. Ryder braced himself against the wall too. Neither of us fell, although my flip-flop covered feet were now soaked in the mystery liquid covering the landing.
We were delayed just enough that the gigante caught up with us. I whirled around in time to see him sneer at me before he shoved Ryder out of the way and grabbed my shoulders.
“Got you,” he snarled and his awful breath wafted over me, curling my toes and churning my stomach.
“Get on the steps,” I told Ryder.
“No!” Ryder lunged for the ugly ogre-like-thing, wrapping his arms around the ugly beast’s waist and trying to dislodge his hold on me. He landed a solid punch in his stomach, but the goon barely flinched.
“Ryder, now!” I shouted. The thin layer of water at my feet started to bubble and foam. Ryder jumped back just in time. He scrambled up the steps and I let instinct take over.
I stood in the middle of the puddle. It wasn’t a lot of water, but I could work with it. The gigante’s toes were just barely touching the standing liquid; his arms were long enough that he could hold onto me without having to step all the way inside.
I had felt a growing connection between the water and me over the last year. I thought it had been my proximity to the ocean. I was born of the water, in a metaphorical way, and so at first I’d expected a natural affinity to the waves and salt.
However, over the last year, I had begun to feel something deeper than a casual connection to the sea. It had been building in me for months and months, this force that felt uncontrollable and consuming. I felt tiny in the shadow of its power.
It frightened me honestly.
But I couldn’t think about that now.
It was time to test it out.
I looked up into the dull eyes of the man intending to ruin my life and take away my freedom. Depravity and something worse stared back at me. This man had no soul that I could see. He was a product of the Pantheon, bred for evil and in service to the god of the sea.
