Free Ascension by Sable Grace

“And in this case, I’m going to be your personal airline service.”

Chapter Seven
     
    “Y ou’re going to be my what?” Kyana picked up her jaw from the proverbial floor and stepped away from Ryker.
    “Your porter. It’s a rare gift. From my father’s side.” He knelt in front of her and bowed his head. “You’ll have to hold on to me and shut up because if I break my concentration on the location I’m trying to send us to, we could end up somewhere on shit’s creek and out of luck for a while.” He rotated his neck, flexed his shoulders. He looked more like he was preparing for a workout than for a magic session. “Once I port us, I can’t summon that power again for twenty-four hours. Understand? We don’t have time to get thrown off course.”
    Twenty-four hours? A full day? She’d known there was a probable chance of being out on that island for a sunrise, but now she was going to have to deal with a full day of Ryker. On a deserted island. How was she supposed to survive that? Artemis had one sick sense of humor, but Kyana wasn’t laughing.
    “Couldn’t you just do this?” she asked Artemis. “The two of us alone? We’re going to kill each other.”
    “No, I cannot. And you’ll not be alone.” Artemis waved at someone near the door. “I’ve arranged for a Healer to accompany you.”
    Kyana twisted to find Haven smiling like a pig in dog shit. “I knew you were up to something. Gave in way too easy. How did you beat me here?”
    “Swiftness Potion.” Haven grinned. “Tastes like strawberries.”
    “Figures.” Turning her gaze to Ryker, whose head was still bowed, she asked, “What do we have to do?”
    “Each of you take a shoulder. When I begin the chant, I’ll need complete and absolute silence. If you release your hold on me at any point, you’ll be left behind. Well, some of you will be. Can’t guarantee at least a bit of you won’t come with me.”
    Kyana chuckled. He was kidding. But there was no humor in his eyes. He . . . wasn’t kidding. His mouth started moving, quiet words fluttering past Kyana’s ears as she watched his long fingers draw a circle in the dirt around him.
    “Stand inside,” he said.
    And when Kyana and Haven obeyed, he threw back his head, spewing a blinding light from his eyes like someone had shoved a flashlight in his sockets. Words of another language flew from his mouth and Kyana frantically shoved her hand on his shoulder and held on to his shirt for dear life.
    She bit her tongue, fighting the array of curses desperate to be spoken, terrified of muttering even one lest they end up in the middle of the damned ocean. She searched Haven’s eyes, saw the fear within the blue depths, and relaxed the smallest bit. If Haven sensed Kyana’s fear, Haven would lose control and throw them all off course.
    Ryker’s body spasmed. His head fell forward, and Kyana suddenly felt as though she’d been turned inside out. She squeezed her eyes shut against the nausea, and when she opened them again, she was inside a golden tunnel so blinding, tears poured down her cheeks. She was pretty sure her hair caught on fire as she spiraled through what looked to be a light worm, the stench of burning hair clogging her throat. Her cheeks and neck burned. She ached to snatch her hand away and shield herself from danger. Had he taken her to the fucking sun? She needed to shift, needed to turn Lychen and save herself from exploding into dust right here and now.
    But she held on to Ryker, desperate to keep all her body parts if she was going to die anyway.
    The blinding light burst like fireworks behind her closed eyes, and when she next opened them, she was cast in utter blackness. Not even her superior Vampyric sight could penetrate the dark. She was thrown forward, her fingers desperately clawing at Ryker’s shirt to keep her grip, and in the next instant, she was flat on her back, her mouth full of grit, her throat and nose closed with tiny particles of . . .