Fuck, he looks mad.
“Fae wine is great for relaxing,” I say as I step to the edge of the hole. “For your information.”
“Jump, Daesyn,” he impassively demands. Rolling my eyes, I step off into the shadow and fall straight down. Shadows whip around my body, and I feel like I can’t breathe for a second before I fall out of the darkness and right onto a concrete road, right above the white line in the middle with cat’s eyes either side. I quickly step out of the way, looking around at the very human town we seem to be in. It’s a high street with a big shopping centre waiting in the distance and dozens of town terrace houses surrounding it, all crammed into one small area. Humans don’t look at me as they walk down the paths leading to the shopping centre, and I realise I must be magically cloaked.
I need that shit, because if my old boss sensed me here, I’d see his ugly face right about now.
Seb jumps through next, and I turn to watch him as he straightens up, glancing around us. His voice drips with disgust. “Humans.”
“I’m sure they would say the same about you,” I reply. “Supes are disgusting here.”
“How did you grow up around them?” he questions. I don’t answer, and eventually, Ryker followed by Poppy jump through the portal before it disappears.
“Wow, this is Earth!” Poppy exclaims, her eyes taking in everything from the tiny cafe to the screaming baby in a woman’s arms as she passes right by us.
Suddenly the earth begins to shake, harsh tremors that make all of us fall to our feet and the street to descend into chaos. The screaming starts to irritate me straight away, making it difficult to see what is going on. The tremors stop, and I climb to my feet quickly, my gaze filling with the growing sphere of flames stretching right above us and boxing us in a dome shape.
“What the actual fuck?” Ryker shouts, helping Poppy to her feet. We all freeze as a voice speaks, and I recognise it as the royal stuck-up queen herself.
“Placing one’s people before themselves is a true test of royalty. This test is simple. Each of you has been placed in groups of four, and the task ahead is this. Save as many humans as you can. The group who saves the least will never leave Earth alive. Begin.”
“Crap,” I mutter, watching the dome and noticing that it’s starting to shrink.
“How do we stop them getting burnt? Our magic combined would struggle to push that back!” Poppy shouts in horror. “It’s going to kill us!”
“Grab as many people as you can, and I will find something. Meet here in ten minutes!” I tell them all. Ryker and Seb look between each other, and Poppy immediately runs to a group of people.
“I think we should—”
“Look, I’m not being bossy, but you guys don’t know Earth like I do. Trust me,” I plead with them. Not wasting any more time, I leave them as I turn and head for the shopping centre. I rush inside and dodge people as I get to the electronic map in the middle of the centre. The touch screen map is flickering in and out as I search the centre’s map for what I’m looking for. Eventually, I find it and memorise the directions before running back outside to see Poppy, Seb and Ryker waiting with a big group of at least a hundred humans, everyone from women, men, children and a few babies.
“This way!” I shout to them, waving a hand.
“Follow us, and I promise we will save you from the fire!” Poppy shouts. I don’t look back as I head inside until I come across a little girl hiding behind a sign. I rush to her, and without saying a word, I pick her up, and she wraps her small body around me, crying in my ear. My heart pounds in my chest as we get to the staircase, and I kick the doors open and hold them as they catch up with me.
“What’s the plan?” Poppy asks.
“There is a big swimming pool down here, on the right, you won’t miss the signs. Get everyone in the water and get ready for us to work together to make a shadow shield around them under the water,” I explain. I glance up, seeing the fire dome inches away from the glass roof of the building.
“Fucking brilliant!” Ryker shouts. “Right, everyone follow the handsome one!” I chuckle as the humans do just that, and Poppy goes with them, Seb following a little later.
I wait until the last person is in and glance across the shopping centre.
“Don’t let me die,” the little girl in my arms begs. Just as the glass cracks, I run through the doors, cradling the little girl to me.
“Never,” I tell her, truly sincere. Thick black smoke fills the top of the stairwell as I get to the bottom and rush through the doors. I find the sign for the aqua world and run as fast as I can past the reception, jumping over the broken glass doors to the changing rooms. I rush through the changing rooms and out into the pool, where Poppy is helping some of the children down.
“We don’t have much time!” I warn my team, sitting down on the edge as I shout. I eye a woman on her own in front of me in the deep water. “Can you hold her?”
“Of course,” she nods, picking her off me. Swimming to the middle of the pool, Ryker and Seb are avoiding the humans. Poppy joins us last, and I breathe in deeply.
“Ready?” I ask them.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Poppy nervously asks. “I’m not as powerful as you guys.”
“Yes, you are, you just don’t know it,” I remind her. Her cheeks go red as she takes my hand, and Seb takes my other. Ryker finishes the circle, and they all close their eyes.
“Everyone don’t freak out and please try to stay still!” I shout, and then I close my own eyes and feel the magic hit me like a brick, our combined power flowing through us in waves.
“Now!” Ryker demands, and I let the power go, willing the shadows to make a shield. I open my eyes as the shadows spread out of us in our own dome shape, swallowing the humans in the water and pulling them down with us as we sink under the water. The humans look shit scared, staring at the water surrounding the whole dome of shadows we have made to protect us all. I look up as the ceiling collapses in, bits of the ceiling crashing into the water below and the flames and smoke smothering the space above them.
“Everyone okay?” I ask, even as I start to feel the pressure of holding this magic so long. My body aches and sweat trickles down the sides of my forehead.
“I can do this,” Poppy tells herself and me. Ryker is concentrating, but Seb, his magic so much like mine, meets my gaze. His eyes glow purple, glowing like I know mine are right now.
“There is something dangerous about being born of darkness and fae,” he tells me.
“And something so impressive all at the same time,” I counter. He smirks and lifts his eyes, his thick black eyelashes making him look so handsome.
The queen’s voice fills the space around us. “Congratulations, you have passed the test.”
As soon as she stops speaking, a portal appears under each of our feet, and I scream as I fall through it, my magic snapping back into my body. I slam face-first onto a wooden floor, and I roll over, watching as the portal disappears, only one drop of water dripping onto my face. The others all slam out of their portals as I climb to my feet, finding Finn sitting on my stool, drinking from my favourite coffee mug.
“The humans, are they going to survive?” I demand, placing my hands on my hips.
“Yes. Each of them was portaled outside to safety, and their minds have been wiped of recent memories,” he tells me, picking up my cup and taking a deep sip. His smug and quite amused face tells me he did that on purpose.
“Did we win?” Seb asks the second most important question.
