Gods of Chaos (Red Magic) (25 page)

The heat was overwhelming. At any moment, the mountain would erupt. “Okay!” I took his hand and felt Red magic coursing into me. Sparks covered our arms, and my skin glowed.

“Now!” he screamed, raising my arm into the air. With a blast, we released magic into the ceiling above us. The rock crumbled, blown away, and in the hole above us I thought I could see daylight. The cavern around us was still rumbling dangerously, and I turned to Marcus.

“Boost me up.”

He slipped his hands under my raised foot, and I practically flew into the air. I grabbed at the rock and scrabbled toward the opening. Marcus pulled himself up after me, grunting with effort.

Below us, the mountain groaned and rumbled. With a burst of adrenaline, I heaved myself up and landed face down on a sheet of ice. Marcus panted beside me.

“Come on!” I staggered to my feet and attempted to run down the slope of the mountain. Marcus crawled behind me, but an explosion jolted him to his feet. I turned to look back and I froze.

The mountain was erupting behind us. Flames shot up through the ice, spewing rock and molten lava at least a hundred feet into the air. I watched the destructive force of the volcano, feeling Red magic tingle in my fingertips. I wasn’t aware of the sparks covering my skin, but my hands started to lift of their own volition. Magic surged through me as I raised my arms toward the mountain. I could taste the chaos; it was within my reach!

Marcus grabbed my arm and pulled hard. “We have to move!” he shouted, dragging me with him down the face of the mountain. I dropped my hands, instantly losing the connection to Red magic, and ran. I didn’t know what I’d almost done, and I didn’t want to stick around and find out. Panting, I followed him as we slipped and slid down the icy mountain.

Smoke filled the air, and flaky pieces of ash rained down on us. Even as we skidded on the ice, the air around us felt thick and warm. It was like a sauna. I didn’t look back again at the geyser of flames, but I knew the mountain was still spewing lava. When we reached the bottom of the cliff, I crumpled to the ground in a dead faint. The last thing I saw as I fell over was a sharp black rock rushing up to meet me.

Fuzzy memories of Annwn, Hel, and Loki began to dance through my mind, and I turned to the side, retching. When my stomach was empty, I wiped my mouth and looked around.

Marcus was sitting beside me, his head in his hands. He didn’t look up, even when I nudged him with my toe. Shapes swam in front of me, and I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them, it was almost too dark to see.

“What happened?”

Marcus glanced up, and I was startled to see that his eyes were swollen. It looked as if he’d been crying.

I drew a deep breath and looked around. In the inky darkness, I could barely make out the towering shapes of trees. Confused, I turned my head. There was no sign of the mountain.

“Marcus,” I fought to keep the panic out of my voice, “where are we?”

He shrugged. “I had to do something. We were drawing a crowd at the volcano.”

I looked at him, frightened. “Where did you take us?”

He looked up at the trees again. “The Black Forest.”

“What?” I sprang to my feet. Well, I tried to: I almost toppled over, but I managed to stand there, swaying, glaring down at Marcus.

He rose swiftly, his dark eyes piercing. “That volcano wasn’t natural. It wasn’t safe. And when you passed out, I didn’t know what to do.”

“And the first thing you thought of was taking us to rural Germany?” I clenched my fists, fighting back another wave of nausea. A thought occurred to me, and I stopped shouting. “How did you even get us here?”

He glared at me, his lips pressed into a thin line. “Magic. How else would I have done it?” he snarled.

Confused, I wavered on my feet. “Even some of the gods I’ve met can’t transport a human through time and space like that.” I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. “What spell did you use?” Clearly, Marcus was way more powerful than I’d realized. I wondered if freeing him from the cavern had been such a good idea.

His eyes hardened. “Now is not the time for a lesson.” He strode through the trees.

“Are you really that powerful?” I rushed to keep up, trying hard not to focus on the way the ground still seemed to be swirling.

“No!” He whirled around so fast, I almost bumped into him. “If I were powerful at all,” he rasped, “none of this would have happened. Izzy wouldn’t be gone, and I wouldn’t be stuck traipsing around the woods with a Witch like you!” His face was red, and a vein in his forehead pulsed.

“It’s not my fault Izzy disappeared.” I glanced around the trees nervously. Something moved out of the corner of my eye. I caught a flicker of wings, and I looked around. I spotted an owl and froze.

Marcus didn’t see the bird behind him. “I think it is! If you hadn’t come around, talking about fighting Hecate—”

I pushed him to the ground with a thud just as a tangle of feathers passed overhead. The owl squawked indignantly and flexed its claws, preparing to dive again. “Don’t draw her attention!” I stood slowly, never breaking eye contact with the bird. It was like watching Hecate: the same predatory, yellow eyes. The bird froze, watching me as I whispered a spell to bind it in place. The eyes followed me with malice as the body hung awkwardly, poised for flight but not moving.

I kept my gaze on the bird. “We have to get away from that thing. It’s one of her spies, and I can’t do much more than bind it.”

Marcus touched my shoulder. “How long will the spell hold?”

“As long as I don’t break eye contact with it.” I stepped backward cautiously.

Suddenly, Marcus was in front of me. “You can’t walk backward in this forest,” he said as he lifted me easily over his shoulder.

Electricity surged through my stomach where I was thrown over his shoulder, but I was getting used to the strange sensation whenever I touched him. Still, I didn’t want to be airborne. I fought him for a moment, but he had a point. This way, I could look at the bird and continue to travel away from it. “Fine. Just be fast.”

The minute the words left my mouth, he began to run. Branches whipped my eyes, but I glared at the bird without blinking. My eyes started to water, and just when I was sure I wouldn’t be able to maintain the spell much longer, there was a blinding flash, and then blackness descended around us.

At first I thought I’d passed out again, but I could hear Marcus panting beneath me. I blinked once before I realized that my eyes were open. The forest was enveloped in blackness darker than night.

“What was that?” I called over my shoulder.

“Stop squirming!” Marcus tightened his grip on my torso, and I drew in my breath quickly.

I kicked my legs, and he grunted, but he kept running and he maintained his grip on me.

“I can’t see the owl. You have to put me down!”

Unceremoniously, he dropped me like a sack of potting soil. I landed on my ankle, wrenching it painfully.

“You said to put you down, m’lady.” Marcus smirked as I rubbed my foot.

I ignored him, looking around. My eyes hadn’t grown any more accustomed to the blackness: I might as well have been asleep for all I could see. I could barely see Marcus; he cast an eerie red glow in the gloom.

“Do you know where we are?” He looked around, sniffing the air like a dog. Finally, he nodded.

“I know my territory. Don’t you know yours, Witch?”

I shook my head. “Why is it so dark?” When he didn’t answer, I pressed on. “I don’t know if I would recognize any of my territory in this darkness, but we aren’t in my land, we’re in yours. So you better figure something out.”

He moved so quickly I didn’t realize it until he was right in front of me. If I’d leaned forward just a fraction of an inch, my nose would have brushed his throat. I swallowed nervously and looked up at him.

“I could just kill you and be done with all this.” His voice was low, and I forced myself not to shrink from his threat.

“What would that solve?”

He laughed coldly. “Your corpse might buy me my sister.”

I swallowed. “I want to help you find her.”

“But this might be easier.”

I drew Red magic into my body and pushed him forward. He flung across the clearing and smacked into a tree, his red glow barely visible in the gloom. Before I could bind him with a spell, I found myself suddenly whisked into the air.

I dangled there like the Hanged Man in Rochelle’s old tarot deck, suspended above the earth in terror. When I thrashed and tried to draw on my magic, I dropped dangerously toward the ground. Forcing myself to breathe, I grew still.

Marcus walked under me and looked up into my face. “You can’t fight me, Darlena. Give up. It’ll be easier.”

With a flick of his wrist, my invisible bonds snapped and I plunged toward him. My scream stuck in my throat and turned into a sob when I stopped moving, my face inches from the rough ground.

“Stop! Please. What do you want me to do?” I gasped, hating myself for begging but too afraid to do anything else.

I fell the last few inches to the ground and sprawled on my back. Gradually, the forest around me lightened until I could once again see the tops of the trees.

“Save my sister.”

I scrambled to my feet. “I’m trying! I don’t know where to look.”

He considered me for a moment. “You aren’t really trying.”

We glared at each other, unmoving.

Finally, I opened my hands, palm up, and reached toward him.

“Couldn’t we help each other?”

Marcus considered. “I don’t know how much you can help me. You’ve proved you’re no match for my magic.”

“Without me, you’d still be tied up on a boulder!”

He shrugged, but I saw a flicker of something in his eyes, and I pressed my advantage. “We can do this together. You heard Loki: he’ll give us both what we want.”

Marcus closed his eyes. “All right,” he spoke quietly. “I will help you until I have what I want.” He opened his eyes and glared at me. “Only until I have my sister back.”

“Swear it.” He might try to kill me as soon as we found Izzy, but I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Maybe Izzy could talk him out of it. I wasn’t sure what I’d done that had pissed him off so much, but Marcus wasn’t someone I wanted as an enemy. I didn’t want to be his friend, either, but I didn’t know what else to do.

Without hesitation, he started speaking calmly, weaving a binding spell. He reached out and clasped my hands, and the spell snaked around our wrists like smoke. Red sparks surged up my arm, and his hand let off a red glow. When Marcus had stopped, I finished the spell, adding to our agreement that he would help me bind Hecate, regardless of the wishes of his patron. He raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded, and the spell sank into our hands with a sigh. For a minute, my hand felt like dead weight, and then a crackle of energy rippled through me.

I started to let go, but Marcus tightened his grip and leaned forward. He brushed my left cheek with his lips, then my right. Shivers raced down my spine at his touch, and I started to pull away.

“This is how I was taught to seal binding spells.” His voice was close to my ear, and it tickled.

Hesitantly, I kissed each of his cheeks, and we squeezed our hands tighter. I didn’t meet his eyes, trying to hide my confusion over my reaction to being so close to him.