Tears filled her eyes, and she blinked them back. All right. This was crazy, but it was happening. Planting both hands on the rock, she pushed herself up and compelled her body to act. She stood, her legs trembling. Okay. She could do this.
A high-pitched surreal scream echoed around her.
Debilitating chills burned her arms and legs, but she locked her knees, holding tight. A movement caught her eye. Bubbling and oozing, some sort of thick goo surrounded her rock. Beneath the surface, barely visible, something swam.
She took a step back and then halted, twisting her torso to examine the length of her platform, which was square and only extended about five feet in every direction. Where was she?
Wind whispered above her, and dark clouds parted to reveal two orbs, one orange and the other lapis. Moons? Oddly colored moons? The swish of the liquid hitting rocks came on the wind.
The atmosphere felt heavy, as if filled with anger. She rubbed her freezing arms and winced as pain lacerated her skin.
The clouds slithered away, revealing a shoreline in the distance, with razor-sharp cliffs rising behind the sand.
A figure emerged from an opening in the stone, striding toward the shore and staring at her. She squinted to see better, but her eyes must be lying. The figure appeared to be a male with nearly luminescent skin, amethyst eyes, and one strip of white hair flowing down his broad back. “Hello.” His voice rumbled across the murky liquid, and whatever lived below thrashed, throwing up goo.
She retreated another step. This was not a dream. It felt too real. “Who are you?”
His eyes gleamed. “The question is, who are you?” He lifted his hands, and the wind burst against her, dropping her to her knees. Then she began floating toward the shore.
Toward him.
She gulped and looked frantically around for any sort of a paddle. Leaning over, she began to insert her arm into the goo, but air bubbles popped the surface from a creature that felt malevolent to her. She quickly drew back, heat burning down her throat, leaving her mouth bone dry.
He laughed, and the sound reverberated darkly against the jagged cliffs.
She looked for another rock to jump to, but nothing was near.
The sky opened up.
The man paused and cocked his head, his scarred face highlighted by the orange moon.
A body fell from nowhere to bounce on another dark surface Dessie hadn’t been able to see. A woman flipped over and landed on her feet, her brunette hair blowing back from her face and deep blue markings winding up her neck into her hairline.
“Hope?” Dessie croaked, blinking against the churning wind.
Hope turned toward her, eyes wide sapphires in the odd light. “Dessie? How are you here?”
“I don’t know.” What was Garrett’s niece doing in this horrible place?
Hope faced the terror on the beach. “Ulric. What an unpleasant surprise. I thought I closed those portals.”
Ulric’s eyes glittered like an animal’s in the trees, scoping prey. “You can’t close all the portals, my little Lock. Not all by your sweet little self.” He bared his teeth, and glistening fangs descended. “We’re about to have a very good time.” Flipping his palms toward the sea, he increased the wind, and the rocks began moving toward him.
“Not a chance,” Hope snapped, lifting her hands and shoving air toward him.
Two winds collided and screamed in fury. Hope’s face reddened, but she set her stance, contorting her entire body to shove back Ulric’s power.
Dessie threw up her arms. “Stop it. Both of you.” The smell of sulfur assaulted her nostrils, and she sneezed. “We have to get out of here.”
The winds slowed.
Ulric tilted his head and sniffed the air, his nostrils flaring. “You’re not just a little gift from my people, are you?”
“No,” Dessie said, calculating the distance to Hope’s rock. It was too far for her to jump. “Where are we?”
Hope kept her focus on the scarred being on the sand, while making some odd movement with her right hand. “Do you have any idea how you got here?”
“No,” Dessie whispered, her voice sounding hollow.
