Esha was nowhere to be seen, but pizza boxes and shattered beer bottles littered the countertops. She’d been here, because there was no way that Aurora could know about something as modern as carry-out pizza after being locked up for so long. Though that didn’t explain how Aurora had ended up in a place with all the conveniences of modern living. The thought flitted from his mind. He had more important things to be concerned with.
Aurora pulled at her hair as if voices echoed inside her head and Warren took his chance, sprinting across the kitchen and vaulting over the island. As he landed behind Aurora, he struck out with his dagger, aiming for her back.
She spun at the last moment, taking a slice to the arm before knocking his hand away. He saw his death flash in front of his eyes as she raised her arm and threw a blast of fire at him.
He flew back into the wall, his front blackened and steaming. Though he was burned to hell, he couldn’t feel it because of the potion the witches had given him. Thank gods, or he’d be incapacitated.
With a growl, he pushed himself off the wall and threw the dagger at Aurora, hoping to nail her in the chest. She disappeared as the blade came at her, too fast for it. But a second later, Warren appeared on the other side of the room, his hand gripped around the hilt of the dagger where it was sunk into the wall.
What the hell? He’d just aetherwalked using the dagger. He shouldn’t be able to do that, but soulceress magic was strong. He flung it again at Aurora, and though she disappeared, he was transported across the room until his hand was wrapped around the dagger’s hilt again.
This was a trick he could work with. Another blast of fire hit him unawares, and he was thrown back into the wall. He blinked and shook his head, maki
ng out the raging form of Aurora across the kitchen.
This time when he threw the dagger, he didn’t aim for her, but rather for a spot several feet away. She didn’t aetherwalk because it wasn’t coming at her, so he yanked it free from the wall when he appeared next to it and lunged for her.
Esha appeared in Aurora’s kitchen in time to see Warren attempt to stab her sister in the back. Before Esha could throw off her shock, her sister spun and threw a bolt of power at Warren so strong it tossed him across the room.
“No!” she screamed as Warren’s back hit the counter and he crumpled.
He was on his feet a second later, charging Aurora. With predatory agility, he ducked under one blast of lightning and had nearly reached her when another knocked him off his feet and he crumpled in a pile of twisted limbs and burned flesh.
An electric shock of fear spiked in her blood. Aurora looked utterly insane, her black eyes rolling in her head and power glowing from her skin. The shadows that circled her writhed frantically, reaching out, then being sucked back in toward her form. When her familiar arched its back and hissed at her, shit was clearly about to roll way downhill.
Desperate to get Warren and herself out of there before Aurora imploded—and possibly took the enchanted island with her—Esha lunged across the kitchen and grabbed Warren’s prone body. The Chairman had hurtled behind her and when she felt his warmth against her legs, she envisioned the house and they disappeared.
“Oh shit,” Esha breathed when she opened her eyes to see Warren’s broken body. She crouched on the floor of the foyer, Warren in her arms. Midmorning sun shone through the windows and highlighted patches of his skin that were blackened and burned. His forearms were twisted at bad angles. The lightning that Aurora had thrown at him would have killed a lesser Mythean.
Thank gods he couldn’t die. She’d been too terrified and too stupid to aetherwalk them directly to the bedroom, so she took them there now, using a bit of levitation to get him up onto the bed.
With a wave of her hand and the thought of light, she lit the torches in the room. In too-bright detail, they revealed the extent of the damage to Warren’s flesh and bones, and she swallowed hard, trying to force down the fear and panic. This was far past her ability to heal, but she didn’t know any healers and she didn’t have enough power to aetherwalk all the way back to the university to get one.
“Gods, Chairman, what do we do?” She spun in a frustrated circle, then stopped.
She wasn’t alone and helpless.
Esha ran to her room and dug down into the bottom of her bag. Relief rushed through her as she yanked out a cylindrical cardboard container that had once held maps. She popped off the plastic cap and slid out Ana’s arrow. Thank gods Ana had repaired it, and she’d remembered to bring it. This would make two times in one month she’d used it, but then, these were extenuating circumstances.
“Here goes,” she said, then snapped the arrow in half.
Ana appeared immediately, this time in clothes. “Esha! What’s wrong?”
“Warren’s hurt.” Her voice broke. “Can you heal him?”
“Where is he?” Ana glanced around the room.
“Come on, he’s in the other room. My sister blasted him with something that broke his bones and burned his flesh. He’s in terrible shape.” She led Aurora down the short hall to Warren’s room.
“Holy cow,” Ana breathed.
“Can you do anything?”
“I can try funneling some of my power into him, see if that speeds up his natural healing process.”
“You’re a god—that should work, right? Try it.” And if it failed, Esha now had enough power from Ana that she could aetherwalk back to the university for a healer.
“Okay.” Ana removed Warren’s clothes to get a better look at the damage.