“Good luck.” Doug tipped his head, then threw the transportation charm on the ground. Silver smoke burst up, and they disappeared.
I turned to my friends, suddenly feeling really alone in the desert. The sight of Ana reminded me that we’d crossed a dangerous desert many times before. This was nothing new.
“Ready?” I asked.
“Always.” Ana turned toward the shimmering wall.
“As fast as you can,” Cade said. “Don’t stop for anything.”
I sucked in a deep breath, then started forward, sprinting with all my might.
As soon as I entered, grief filled my mind. The kind that’s as heavy as an anvil and makes you feel like you can’t move. Like you never want to move again.
I stumbled, almost going to my knees.
Thoughts of Ana dying flooded my mind. Of Cade. Memories of searching for Rowan through the streets of Death Valley—of finally realizing that she was gone. My mother’s death while protecting us from the Rebel Gods.
A sob rose in my throat, but I bit it back.
The images swam in my mind, pulling at my worst fears and memories. Darkness edged in at the corners of my vision.
It took everything I had to claw my way to my feet and keep going, but I forced my muscles to work. I turned my mind toward thoughts of failure—what would happen if I didn’t succeed?
The Rebel Gods would catch Ana.
They’d catch me.
We’d never find Rowan.
Failure wasn’t an option.
But my legs wouldn’t move. The grief and exhaustion had flowed through my body, stiffening my muscles.
No.
I sucked in a ragged breath and called on my wings, forcing them to flare out of my back. Pain bit through my muscles, clearing my mind.
I welcomed it, focusing on the physical pain rather than the mental, and took to the air. It felt like flying through jello, but I kept going. Slowly. Sweating. Aching.
Below, I saw Ana. She was struggling to rise from her knees. I swooped low, awkward in this weird half realm of misery and grief. Her gaze caught on me, filled with tears.
“I thought you were dead!” she cried.
“I’m not.” I reached for her hand, tears stinging my own eyes as all the grief I’d ever felt hit me like a ton of bricks.
Her hand gripped mine, clearing my mind briefly, and I pushed my wings to move, cutting through the thick, enchanted air. I pulled Ana’s hand, dragging her behind me. She ran, her touch giving me strength. We pulled each other out of the terrible mist and collapsed on the ground on the other side.
I flopped onto my back, crushing my wings, and gasped, trying to catch my breath. The grief had faded, leaving hollowness in its place.
But at least I could move.
I struggled to sit up, and caught sight of Cade collapsed halfway out of the mist.
He hadn’t had someone to drag him along.
I scrambled to my feet and limped toward him, tears burning my eyes. When I reached him, I grabbed his hands and pulled. He jerked at my touch, seeming to wake, and surged out of the mist, going to his feet in a lithe motion.
He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me along. We stumbled to a halt about fifteen feet away, panting.
Ana joined us. “That was the worst.”
I nodded, still unable to speak, and turned toward the city. The tumbling stone ruins were massive, shrouded in shadow as the sun sank behind the horizon.
“I’ll do some recon from the air,” I said. “Find out which way to go.”
“Good plan,” Cade said quietly. “See if you can use your illusion power to conceal yourself. We don’t know what’s in that city or what’s looking out.”
“You have illusion power now?” Ana asked. “That’s awesome.”
“From Loki, I think. But I need more practice.”
“Get to it, then.” Ana grinned and pointed at the sky.
I unfurled my wings, then called on the trickster’s magic, envisioning myself disappearing. It took a moment to locate the gift within my chest. Instead of finding the usual broken magic that was hard to grasp, my different powers felt almost organized inside me. Like I could call on one and it would appear.
A cold shiver raced down my limbs.
Ana gasped. “It worked!”
“Good.” I’d need to hurry, though. I could already feel the strain of using the unfamiliar magic. Illusion was particularly draining.
I crouched low, then took off into the air, letting my wings carry me upward. Pain surged, but it was easy to ignore with the wind whipping my hair back from my face and the joy of flying shooting through me.
This was totally crazy.
I felt weightless and powerful and…almost invincible.
This was the most incredible magic I’d ever experienced.
Soon, I was high enough to see the whole city, which butted up to the sea. The scent of the ocean washed over me. A broken exterior wall surrounded the city, which gleamed white under the moonlight, tumbled stones from broken buildings dotting the landscape.
Some buildings still had half walls remaining, but others were entirely gone, just leaving a footprint of a stone floor. Those had probably been built of wood, and were long gone. Grass and scrub grew around the stone floor tiles.
A large structure on the far end of the city caught my eye. It was near a harbor, and definitely the largest building there.
Had to be the Temple of Melqart.
Danger radiated on the air, dark spells that commanded us to go back.
Well, too bad. There was no way that was going to happen.
Chapter Ten
I flew back to the ground, landing pretty gracefully, if I did say so myself.
Quickly, I dropped the illusion, not wanting to waste my magic. “I think the temple is directly on the other side of town. At least, that’s the largest building.”
“Then let’s go,” Cade said.
As we approached the city, magic continued to spark from it, threatening and dark. I rubbed my arms.
The exterior town wall was broken and decayed, the earthen bricks more susceptible to damage than the stone of the buildings inside.
“Pictures, guys.” I pulled the camera from my pack, and my friends followed suit.
I snapped as many as I could, going for detail.
We passed through the wall, and set off up the street, which was made of large flagstones and bordered on either side by the ruins of old stone buildings. It was hard to shoot photos and stay alert, but I did my best.
Dim blue lights zipped around the fallen stones, and tension pricked the air.
“You feel that?” Ana whispered.
“Yep.” I unfurled my wings and called my sword from the ether. I kept shooting photos without looking at the camera, keeping my gaze glued to our surroundings.
Cade called on his own weapons, as did Ana.
“Stay alert for flying debris,” Cade said.
We walked by the light of the moon, our footsteps silent. Wind rustled by, carrying the scent of the sea.
“Feels like we’re being watched,” Ana whispered.
“But there’s nothing living here that I can sense.” Not that I was some kind of super-sleuth who could smell fresh rabbit poo or hear the chitter of squirrels. I hadn’t seen anything from the air, and this place just felt dead.
Which meant the ruins themselves were watching us.
How did one fight a building?