Burning Key

Chapter 65

Chapter 65

Everything was spinning around Adeena as she fell through the portal. Arms extended, she reached for whoever she could, catching the arm of someone and the shirt of another.

They couldn't scream.

Couldn't see.

Couldn't even call out to whoever was with them.

But Adeena could tell Destan wasn't there.

Their mating bond, while still whole between them, was stretched so thin if she didn't concentrate on it, she couldn't feel it.

She continued falling, gripping the two she was with, feeling their hands finding hers in the darkness.

Somehow, they broke through the exit of the portal, but darkness still surrounded them. It was a different darkness than the one that clung to the world they'd come from. This one was filled with storm clouds and deep rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning.

And they were falling before landing not on land but in water.

Adeena didn't have time to gulp in a deep breath as it rushed up toward her. Her body slammed into the raging sea, quickly overcome by a wave that crashed overhead. The hands she was holding were ripped from her grasp as she rolled with the violent current.

There was no way to tell which way was up or down.

No way of telling where the surface was as she quickly ran out of what little air she had left in her lungs.

She couldn't panic.

Couldn't think.

Couldn't do anything.

All she could do was roll with every wave that pulled her deeper in the water.

Before everything drifted away from her.

***

Adeena didn't know how much time had passed. She was no longer under water, though she could hear the thunder rumbling above her, feel the splatters of rain on her face. The dark clouds were still rolling above her as soon as she was able to pry open her eyes.

The skies weren't the only thing rolling. As quickly as she could manage, Adeena turned over and pushed herself up on her hands and knees, vomiting up the sea water she'd swallowed. She couldn't stop until the entire contents of her stomach was in the sand below her.

Shaking violently, she managed to sit back on her heels, groaning as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Help me!"

The shrieking plea came from her right, but it took her several moments to register whose plea it was.

Archer was knelt in the sand next to another. There was a gash along his side that was managing to slowly heal on its own. His dark hair was hanging damp across his forehead and the haunted look in his eyes had Adeena pushing up and stumbling toward him.

Milena was laid out in the sand in front of him, her chest not noticeably moving with her breath. The ashen skin of her face told Adeena exactly what was happening. Her blond hair was plastered to her head and the side of her neck, dyed bright red in some places from the gash that cut from her left eyebrow all the way back along the side of her head.

As soon as Adeena made it to them, her magic flared to life, though she was struggling to keep herself upright. Milena's heart had begun to slow before shuddering to a stop, but it was no match for Adeena's magic. She wasn't going lose her but she wasn't going to burden her with the in between as she and Destan were. It was only mere seconds after Milena's mind and soul began to drift before Adeena's magic gently placed it back where it belonged.

Milena's eyes popped open almost immediately after, color flushing the skin of her face before she twisted in the sand and retched up all of the sea water. She was crying then, gut-wrenching sobs that were almost drowned out by the thunder above them. Archer reached for her as the two of them clung to one another, the male's hand coming up to cradle the back of her head as he softly spoke to her. The wound on the side of her head was still freely bleeding, but Archer's magic began the process of healing it, followed by Adeena's as she held Milena tight when she wrapped her arms around her.

"You're all right," Adeena whispered to her, kissing the side of her head that hadn't been injured. "We're going to be all right."

Milena's sobs had turned to hiccups. "Where...where are we?" she managed to choke out. "Where is everyone else? I...Eamon...gods, I want Eamon."

Adeena just held her tight as Archer wrapped them both in his arms, Milena's sobs continuing.

Thunder continued on as the clouds rolled above them...and Adeena knew Archer would be able to see the fear and uncertainty in her eyes as lightning flashed.