House of Darken (Secret Keepers #1)

I shook my head, dislodging him. “You’re not the boss of me. I’ll help if I want to help.”

Annnd I was back to belligerent teenager. Being told what to do was a huge pet hate of mine. Lexen laughed and Daniel wisely said nothing more. We dropped a little more, and I thought that Lexen’s wing flaps were slowing. Lifting my hand, I pressed it to his chest. I wished I could send some of my energy into him, my clumsy, unathletic energy.

On second thought, that might be more of a hindrance.

His thumb caressed my spine again, and I swear I felt it all the way to the tips of my fingers. My hand was tingling where it remained pressed against him. I was wondering if our energies were clashing together somehow, because it felt like heat shifted between us, when Daniel cleared his throat. “Legreto level,” he said.

Legreto level…

We had left the maze and were now over a platform of water. Sunlight brushed across me. For the first time it was warm, almost like I was outside. Pure magic, because there was still only darkness above. The Land of Legreto was stunning. I’d never seen clearer water, aquamarine in color as it thrashed around its level. There were pockets of land scattered along the body of water, land which disappeared at each rise and fall of the tide. It looked like you’d have to have perfect timing to be able to cross, jumping from one to another. I could see a plethora of creatures swimming in the depths of the water. Some looked huge and were shaped like sharks, so I was guessing it wasn’t ideal to be caught in the waters.

We were going to find out, because Lexen was dropping rapidly now.

When we were about six feet above the water line, Daniel pointed toward a reasonably large domed section of land. “Put us down there, Lex. I see a clear run through.”

“I … can … make it.” The labored words were calling him out on his lie. But I knew he was going to give it a shot. He was practically gliding by this point.

I patted his chest, drawing his attention. “Just land. You still need enough energy to make it past the obstacles of the next level, and if I’m deducing anything from Daniel, it’s that your energy is not going to come back. The justices will keep draining you.”

I thought he was going to argue, but he tilted us just enough to glide the rest of the way down and land on the island Daniel had pointed out. His feet hit the ground, followed by his knees as he collapsed forward, flinging us free. I braced myself with my arms, stopping my face from smashing into the rocky ground.

Daniel was up and on his feet in a heartbeat, using his superior height to check out where we had to go next. Ignoring him, I took two steps back to Lexen, who was still on his knees. In his dragon form we were almost eye to eye. Actually he was still taller. I placed both hands on his cheeks, not liking the ragged way his chest heaved up and down.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He gave me one of those rare smiles with all of his teeth, the one where it felt like I’d been punched in the chest. “Going to protect me, badass?”

I snorted. “You two – and Jero – need to work on your nickname skills. You all suck.”

His eyes shuttered for a moment as he sucked in a deep breath, then with a rush of light and energy he pulled the dragon form back into himself. Scales disappeared as he shrank to his normal giant size. The wings were the last to vanish, disappearing into his back somehow.

“I can conserve more energy like this,” he explained as he got to his feet, with less grace than normal but still more than me.

“We need to move,” Daniel interrupted.

Before I could say a word, he had turned and snatched me up into his arms. I opened my mouth to protest just as he leapt from the island, landing us in a small patch of water. It was only ankle deep when he landed, but by the time Lexen joined us, it was already to their knees.

I tried to ignore the weird creatures swimming close by, some with long lacy-looking tendrils. “I can take her,” Lexen grumbled, staring his friend down.

“You can barely walk,” Daniel shot back. “Accept my help for once. I’m not going to hit on your girl.”

His girl. I stupidly enjoyed the sound of that, and Lexen didn’t deny it. In fact it sounded like he mumbled “Better not” under his breath. Which made that enjoyment even greater.

Daniel leapt again, stumbling but managing not to drop me when we reached the next section. “You don’t have to carry me,” I protested, embarrassed to be such a burden. “No one has to carry me.”

Daniel just laughed. “Lexen told me about gym class, as did some of my other House of Imperial classmates. This is safer.”

Before I could inform him that all of the gossiping Daelighters could kiss my ass, a dark shadow splashed out of the water to our right, and in a move which should have been impossible, Daniel bent backward in some sort of Matrix shit and a huge blue thing sailed right past. I caught a glimpse of a million razor-sharp teeth, pointed nose, and huge bulbous eyes, before it splashed into the water again.

“Hang on,” Daniel told me, turning to Lexen. “We’re going to make three jumps in a row. That should get us out of here. You ready?”

“I’ll still have more than enough energy to kick your ass when we get there, Dan. Don’t forget that,” Lexen shot back.

Daniel grinned, jumped and landed with ease. His feet were on the ground for a split-second and then he was jumping again. Each leap was minimum six feet long. There was no way in any world I could have made them on my own. When we reached the edge of the water, Daniel took a flying leap that sent us right over that step and down into the land below – the next level of the justices. I had an immediate flashback to my long fall into trees from the incubation level; screams ripped from my throat before I could stop them. My eyes were squeezed shut tightly because I really didn’t want to see my death coming at me.

Daniel landed with a soft thud, jostling me only the smallest amount, before he set me down on shaky legs. Blinking a few times, I waited for my heart rate to settle. Lexen was mid-jump down the hundred-yard drop. He also landed gently, barely even making a thud. What in all that is holy? Both of the boys had landed like it was a three foot drop.

I narrowed my eyes, looking between the two of them. “So … on Earth I’m athletically challenged. Here I’m what, the equivalent of a rock?”

Lexen just shook his head at me. “You’re doing pretty good for a rock. And don’t forget, a rock is the power which keeps both of our worlds functioning.”

I grinned. That was a nice way to look at it. I could really get used to non-asshole Lexen.

Focusing my attention out into this last level of the Cascading Justices, I let out a long, exaggerated breath. “I could really use some good news. What is this level?”

Turning back, I caught Daniel and Lexen’s grimaces.

“Well,” the Darken Daelighter said. “This is the level of desires.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

How could a land of desires be something hard or dangerous? Their expressions indicated they thought this was worse than the previous six lands.

“I see that look on your face,” Daniel started, “and I promise you’re wrong. This land will give you a ghost of everything you crave in life, the deepest hopes you hold in your heart. You will waste away chasing after something, only to find that it is not real, that you’ve been pouring your hopes and dreams, your literal soul into a fa?ade.”

Lexen let out a ragged huff. “I think we should rest for a little while. We’re in the section between again and I can feel an ease on my energy. I need all the strength I can to resist … especially with—” He cut himself off, but with the way he was staring at me, there was no doubt in my mind what he’d been about to say.