Free Ascension by Sable Grace Page A

sand?
    She reached out her free hand, felt around in the darkness. Cool, grainy sand slid between her fingers and dusted her pants. She coughed, spitting the beach back into its rightful place. Her eyes were open, but it was still black.
    “Ryker?” she called out. “Haven?”
    “We’re here. We’re fine.” Ryker’s voice was only inches away.
    She rolled over, felt for his face, then lifted her hand and slapped the shit out of him. “You bastard! I’m blind! What the hell did you do to me?”
    “Damn it, Ky!”
    She felt him scoot away and she reached after him like a desperate peddler after his goods. She rose onto her knees, following his sounds. Her hands fell into water, splashing the burning, salty liquid into her mouth. The ocean. Yippee.
    “Libero!”
    Ryker’s shout jerked Kyana to her feet. It took a moment to realize that he’d just ordered someone’s freedom, and another moment to realize it had been hers. She tentatively opened one eye, and it burned from the salt water. But she could see. She stood in front of the bluest waters she’d ever seen. Sand the color of snow piled beneath her boots, offset by small rocks so black they looked like tiny oil spills.
    “This the place?” she breathed, her panic calming as the sight of the gray sky filled her focus. It was twilight here too. She hadn’t been sure it would be. She didn’t have to worry about shifting . . . yet.
    “Hope so.” Ryker was bending over the water, splashing it onto his face.
    “Yeah, sorry ’bout the slap. I . . .”
    “Panicked. I know.”
    She frowned at him and turned around to make sure Haven wasn’t missing her nose or something from their little adventure. She looked pretty intact, though out of breath as she lay flat on her back, her arm flung over her face as her chest rose and fell in a heavy, steady rhythm.
    “You okay?” Kyana asked, falling onto the sand beside her friend.
    “I’m. Going. To. Puke.” Haven rolled onto her side and groaned.
    Glad to know it wasn’t just her own weak stomach flopping around, Kyana smiled. It would be interesting to see who tossed her cookies first.
    “We have all night to prowl the island,” Ryker said. “Take a few to recover and zap yourself some potion to settle your stomach. We’ll rest for an hour, then we’re off.”
    He was right, but Kyana didn’t like him issuing orders. “Thirty minutes. We’ll need time to look for shelter from the sun as well since we’re stuck here until tomorrow night.”
    “Fine. Thirty minutes.” He dried his face on his shirt and strode to Haven’s side. He reached into her satchel and pulled out a bottle of water, tucking it inside her folded arms. “Drink.”
    Kyana blinked up at him, unable to stop the warmth of satisfaction she felt at seeing the welts of her palm print on his cheek. “I shouldn’t have slapped you.”
    His hard glare rested on her. “No. You shouldn’t have.”
    “I should have punched you instead.”
    T hey probably could have used the hour, but at exactly thirty minutes, according to Ryker’s watch, Kyana insisted rest time was over. Ryker had to bite his lip to keep from putting her in her place. True, this was technically her mission. But he outranked her by a mile. He was used to giving orders, not taking them.
    He watched her help Haven to her feet, watched the pair of them move together in the shadows as he gathered his belongings and stuffed them back into his bag. They were quite a pair—the blond Witch and the dark Vamp Half-Breed. Normally, he would have been all over Haven’s sort of beauty. Perky, good-humored, optimistic. He liked all her qualities, and Zeus knew, she was damned beautiful. But his gaze never lingered on her long. It always found its way right back to where it shouldn’t be—on Kyana.
    Your own mother couldn’t find it in her heart to love you, Ryker. She all but threw you in my arms when I came to claim you as my son. My, but you are a masochist, aren’t you?