“Ricker needs to take out a loan,” Phoebe giggled.
“It’s amazing!” Willow cooed. “It’s classy and powerful…just like its new owner.”
“You guys are awesome.” I hugged them again before shaking a finger at them. “But don’t ever do that to me again! I didn’t know what had happened to you! You could’ve been dead! Or abducted!”
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Phoebe smiled happily. “I thought I was going to melt when he dropped down on one knee.” She fluttered a hand over her heart and I saw tears well up in her eyes.
“You’re such a sap,” Carmen rolled her eyes.
“And you two have a mess to help me clean up.” Willow put her hands on her hips, “Stasia needs to get back.”
“We’ll meet you at the cottage in a little while,” Carmen promised me with a kiss on the cheek before they walked away to clean up the mess I made.
“Up for a walk on the beach?” Finn’s voice rumbled in my ear.
“Always,” I leaned my head back on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around my waist.
“With a really long lighter.”
“No, really!” I swatted at Finn, “I want to know how you lit that many lanterns all at once!”
“They were already lit,” he said simply. “I just…showed them to you.”
“So, wait,” I stopped and faced him. “You can cloak anything and everything you want?”
“Pretty much. It has its advantages. Especially when I want to steal Ian’s fudge rounds. He just assumes he’s out, but he doesn’t know they’re really there…” he winked at me.
“You’re impossible,” I laughed at him. The wet sand at my feet sparkled under the moonlight as we walked hand in hand along the edge of the water. I was trying to come to terms with the fact that I was engaged. Engaged! I stopped again as the last line of my prophecy ran through my mind:
“Our souls will be bound,” I gawked at him.
“That’s right,” he grinned down at me; wrapping his arms around me. “On your eighteenth birthday.”
“And just what does that entail?” I asked slowly. I wanted nothing more than to be bound, but if I had to be struck by lightning twice in one day we’d seriously have to consider rescheduling.
“I honestly don’t know,” he admitted solemnly. “I’ve never been to a binding, but I’ve heard it involves hot coals, barbed wire, and brutal Indian burns.”
“I hate you,” I huffed, and tried to wiggle out of his arms and try not to laugh at the same time. He pulled me closer and smiled, and I tried to maintain my scowl under his loving gaze.
“I love you, too,” he chuckled.
“You better watch it, or I’ll make you wear a bedazzled tuxedo at our wedding,” I threatened.
“I’ll wear anything you want me to if it means you’ll be my wife.”
“Pink Speedo it is…” I decided cynically. A cold, biting energy snaked around us and I watched his eyes harden at the same time that my muscles tensed. We felt her arrive only seconds before she spoke.
“Well, you know what they say,” Nadia’s vile tone mocked me. “Real men wear pink.”
Chapter 39
We spun around to find Nadia smirking at us from a couple yards away; a long black shawl wrapped around her. Her hair blew wildly in the wind; the golden strands appearing almost pale yellow. Her sinister eyes pierced mine, as they reflected the moon’s light and glowed with madness.
A slow calculating smile spread across her face as she took several steps toward us. Finn scooped his arm around me and slid me behind him.
“Take one more step and I’ll rip your head off,” Finn growled at her.
“You really should consider some anger management classes, love,” Nadia cooed. I sensed the warmth of darkness arrive behind us, but noted that it was more lukewarm, whereas Finn’s is always a soothing balmy temperature. We looked back toward the water just in time to see Keto lift her arm. A dark green energy blasted out from her hand and shot in our direction. Finn pushed me out of the way and allowed it to hit him instead. I tumbled onto the sand as he stumbled backwards from the force.
“This doesn’t involve you, Prime,” Keto hissed at him, and then glided up the beach to stand within inches of him. Another presence arrived to our left and I twisted around as Selene stepped out of the darkness. She was flanked by ten women and men who appeared much older and I perceived they were extremely powerful as well. Their shining eyes matched the glowing orbs hanging from their pale necks. I picked myself up from the sand and started to go to Finn’s side, but he held up a hand to tell me to not come any closer. Of course I didn’t listen and took my stance by his side anyway, as he stared daggers at Keto.
“Leave,” he boomed. That one word conveyed the rage that was building inside of him. He clenched his teeth and his jaw muscle tightened in anger.
“I have business to attend to,” she retorted almost casually. “And you are in my way.”
She wrapped a hand around his neck and started to pick him up, but he snagged her wrist and wrenched it away; her nails dragging across his skin and tearing it open. He shot an invisible force in her direction, momentarily knocking her backwards. She stared him down as she reached behind her and pulled a dagger out. The green jewels adorning its handle glinted in the moonlight, as did the sharp silver blade attached.
In a split second, Finn had taken her wrist and thrown her to the ground. With her additional essences, including Finn’s, she was profusely stronger than him and was able to easily launch him a couple of feet away. He landed hard on his back and Keto walked toward him, shooting more energy at him. I started to run to them but felt the smoky, evil fingers of Nadia wrap around me and pull me to the ground.
“Oh, no you don’t…” Nadia scolded me. I centered myself and tried to blow my energy outward, but I was bound too tightly. I was forced to watch on helplessly as Finn struggled against Keto. He now glowed a dark green, and I could tell that her extra essence was overpowering him. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw a flash of silver, as the dagger went soaring in the air and into the ocean. Without the dagger she could hurt him, but she couldn’t kill him.
Just as I thought the words, a silver stream of light came from my left, hitting Finn square in the chest and piercing his body. He cried out in pain before his body went limp and he collapsed onto the sand.
“NO!” I wailed, struggling against my binds. His body lay in the sand, motionless and discarded by Keto, who walked back up the beach. Selene smiled as she pulled her energy back.
“This may be easier than I expected,” Keto purred at me. With a flick of her finger, Finn’s body was cast into a sand dune near Nadia.
“Stop it!” I shrieked at her, my nails pressing into my palm as they balled up in animosity.
She looked at Nadia.
“Release her,” she commanded. The evil fingers dissipated and I slumped down onto the sand beneath me. As Keto’s eyes settled on me, a seething rage raced through every fiber of my being and I quickly stood. Her green eyes darted towards Selene and then sliced through mine once again. “You remember Selene, yes?”
I felt more presences arrive, and spun in a slow circle to figure out exactly who I was dealing with. Nadia stood at my back, while Keto glared at me near the water’s edge. Selene and her shiny-eyed minions still blocked the beach to my right, and my heart sank to the sand as a wall of ten powerful Sirens appeared out of the shadow of the beach to my left. I was completely surrounded.
And completely vulnerable.
“Anastasia,” Keto announced in a booming voice, as all of the arrivals moved in closer to create a barrier around me. “I challenge you! I challenge that the victor will be proved to be the rightful Leader of the Tyde Order; eliminating her opponent and securing her place in history.”
I centered my energy, squared my shoulders and met her powerful gaze with one of my own.
As she walked toward me and the circle around us closed in further, I suppressed the paralyzing panic rising in my chest and forced myself to concentrate. I did a quick assessment of the situation. Keto was already a powerful immortal goddess; possessing her own unyielding essence as well as a sickening mixture of other
