He shook his head. “I’ve done a few more, though none this far and across so many locations. I did a recon mission on Neraka, and a rebel sting on Purgaris. I could add the whole shebang before the Blackout on Strava, but that doesn’t qualify as GASP field mission experience. It’s my own, and deeply personal.”
“That’s it?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “What, not enough, noob?”
“I may not have as much field experience, but I’m perfectly equipped to handle it,” I retorted.
“I’m sure you are, little jinni,” he replied, smiling.
“Little?”
He’d done it on purpose. He was trying to find the right buttons to push, and I was slowly, though surely, looking for the right angle to deliver an equally burning sting. He was beginning to deserve it. Still, my entire body flared in his presence. How do I stop it?
“Well, you’re not tall,” Herakles said, almost defensively.
“I’m not little either. I’m big enough to take you on.”
He threw his head back laughing. It echoed through the forest. Birds got startled and flew away. I could hear the wings flapping frantically above. It made the others turn their heads to look at us, as I got tinier and tinier with embarrassment. Whatever Herakles was up to, it seemed to be working, because I had no clever comeback and my cheeks were still sizzling.
“I would love, I repeat, love to see you try it,” he said.
The wheels in my mind started turning, as I began to contemplate attack angles. I’d seen him fight already. I didn’t know enough to take him out in one-on-one combat, but I could still blitz him—most likely from behind.
My feet seemed to listen, and I gradually slowed down. Not noticeably, but just enough for me to get a good look at his broad, muscular back and tight lower body. I found myself admiring the discreet glimmers of the black scales on his nape and wondering what they would feel like to touch.
Blitz attack, Riza. Focus.
Right. I could give him a couple of minutes to get comfortable, to let him think he’d shut me up. Then I could just launch a high kick and knock him over. I’d have to zap myself away from him immediately afterward, though. He was bound to get me back—and then some. Herakles didn’t seem like the kind who made gender-based differences in his opponents. If it came down to a fight, he hit males and females with the same strength and flair.
I could even—the ground started shaking.
We all stilled. The rumbling traveled through the woods, scaring most of the animals away.
“What is going on?” I asked.
I nearly lost my footing as the earthquake intensified. Instinctively, I reached out and gripped Herakles by the shoulder, in an attempt to steady myself. Realizing what I’d just done, and nearly losing myself in his lime green eyes, I sucked in a breath and allowed my body to ever so slightly levitate. My boots left the ground, and I was no longer queasy.
“This isn’t normal,” Taeral said, his brow furrowed as he, too, raised himself off the mossy ground. We’d both tapped into our jinni ability to hover, which we rarely got to use—unless we were scaring the Blackhall or the Hawk brothers.
Varga looked around once more, his eyes shimmering gold. He pointed somewhere to our left. “I see people there.”
“Most likely earth fae,” Taeral said.
“Are they doing this?” Amelia asked, her eyes wide.
Varga shook his head, then gripped Eva’s wrist and helped her stay upright just as she was about to drop from the violent tremors. “They’re not doing anything. They’re just… watching us.”
“How long have they been there?” I asked.
“I checked about twenty minutes ago. We had a clear three-mile radius,” Varga said.
“We can’t stay here any longer,” Raphael replied. “If they’re after us, chances are this earthquake is only the beginning.”
Taeral nodded. “We should hurry. Let’s make a run for Perillyn. I doubt they’ll get crazy with us in a populated area.”
“They had no trouble doing it in Shallimar,” Herakles replied.
The ground cracked beneath us. Gaping crevices opened up, spitting out broken tree roots and pebbles and old animal bones. Taeral was right. It was time to run.
“How far till the city?” I asked.
“About ten miles,” Eva said.
“Cool, let’s do this,” I replied. I hovered to the side and away from the widening cracks, then put my boots on the ground and darted ahead.
Without further ado, the rest of our crew started running. Without a clear destination, we couldn’t risk teleportation. We needed to get away from whoever was causing this first, and in order to do that, we had to do quite the sprint. I knew it was important for us to stick together in moments such as this, which was why I didn’t levitate ahead of the group, using my legs instead. We were all perfectly capable, physically speaking, to move fast and in unison. That way, if one of us faltered for whatever reason, the others would all be around to help.
The ground kept shaking, and we kept running. If we continued at this speed, we weren’t going to get thrown off balance, as our feet barely touched the cracking surface. With adrenaline coursing through me and practically setting me on fire, I let my leg muscles do all the hard work.
Those earth fae would have to catch up to us. Their abilities were limited to a certain radius. And we still had some Cerixian dirt to find before I could zap everyone back to the portal. We’d come too far to withdraw now, dammit.
Amelia
This was already too much excitement for me!
How in the hell did I end up running for my life? We’d been having such a smooth walk, with no one trying to cripple or kill us. Why couldn’t it be like this till we reached Perillyn?
Clearly, the universe had no intention of playing fair.
