Chapter 34
Iris
“We’re really going somewhere where there are giant, fire-breathing dragons?
” Sam asks Rhett in a high-pitched squeal when he finishes explaining how the portals to Faerie work.
We landed in Ashville about half an hour ago, and we’re on the tarmac stretching our legs while waiting for Malik to arrive.
I didn’t want to put anyone else in danger, but Kaiden made a good point in saying that Malik is our best shot at surviving if we’re attacked along the way.
And then Sam went ballistic on my ass when I told her she couldn’t come.
“Dragons are extinct. No one has seen one in hundreds of years, so you don’t have to worry about them. But trust me, there are many other creatures that can kill you. Especially in the Wasting Woods,” Rhett answers.
She throws me a sidelong glance, laying on the sarcasm thickly when she mutters, “Great. This trip is going to be so fun.”
“You didn’t have to come, Sam. I still think it’s a bad idea.”
“Ha, like I would let you travel to another realm by yourself.”
Kaiden huffs. “What am I, chopped liver?”
“What you are is number one on my shit list, demon boy,” she bristles.
“I know. You made it pretty clear when you defiled all twenty-five of my cars,” he drawls, arching an eyebrow.
She gives Kaiden a saccharine smile. “That’s because you hurt my bestie. What about your pristine floors? Are you still scrubbing glitter off them?”
He only grunts in response, but his twitching eye tells me he’s on the verge of throttling her. My eyebrows draw together. “What are you talking about?”
“Your best friend thought it would be funny to send me a package containing a glitter bomb. It exploded right in my face,” Kaiden grits out as a black SUV approaches us.
Rhett whistles. “Remind me not to get on her bad side on this trip.”
No, she didn’t. The laughter bubbling up my throat morphs into a hearty howl. Sam joins in, and we both struggle to breathe at the mental image of Kaiden covered in glitter and still finding specks on the floors days later. My best friend is a freakin’ menace.
“That’s what I call a welcoming party. What’s so funny? I want in on the joke,” Malik says, getting out of the car and sauntering toward us.
All the levity in the air is shot to pieces, as a crestfallen look takes over Sam’s features.
Their gazes clash—both flashing with pure shock.
There’s a wheezing sound as if someone punched Sam in the gut before she bellows a heart-wrenching scream.
She lifts her palms. A blinding green light hits Malik square in the chest. But the look of equal parts resignation and sorrow on his face as he takes the blow is the most confusing part.
He flies back a few feet, narrowly missing the car and landing with a sickening thud on the asphalt.
“YOU MOTHERFUCKER! Where is it?” Sam screeches, spittle flying out of her mouth.
Her legs eat the distance between her and Malik faster than I thought possible.
She looks possessed as the same green light from before encompasses her body.
Thick, leafy vines sprout from the ground, cracking the concrete before lifting Malik upright and immobilizing his limbs.
“Whoa, Sam! What the fuck? This is Malik. What are you doing?” My question falls on deaf ears. I throw a confused look at Kaiden, but he shakes his head as if he has no idea what’s going on, either.
“I said, where the fuck is my family’s grimoire, you filthy, lying, murderous thief?” Sam seethes.
“Nice to see you too, freckles.” Malik flashes her a grin, but it’s a poor imitation of his usual rakish smile. He flicks his gaze to Kaiden, nostrils flaring. “You didn’t tell me anyone else was joining us.”
“Answer. My. Question.” When Sam flexes her fingers, the vines climb upward to squeeze Malik’s throat. Still, he sits there and takes it, even though I know he is strong enough to counter Sam’s attack with dark magic. Or simply shift into a panther.
“Sam, this is Malik, Kaiden’s friend. He’s here to help us. What are you doing?” I try again, this time placing a hand on her shoulder. As if sticking a wire into an electrical socket, the second I touch Sam, I’m thrown back by an invisible force.
Kaiden catches me before I fall. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I mumble.
A bitter laugh leaves Sam. “So, is that your real name? And here I thought I was speaking to Ian,” she spits the words out as if they’re poisonous. “This is the last time I’m asking. Where the fuck is my family’s grimoire?”
Ian?
“It’s gone, okay? I absorbed its power,” Malik wheezes out.
Sam stumbles back at Malik’s response. “What? That’s why you stole it? I don’t understand—how?”
“I don’t either, okay? I don’t know how I did it. It just happened. And I didn’t steal it. My coven did.”
“Oh yeah, and you weren’t a part of it, right? Manipulating the foolish Ambrose witch into falling in love with you so your coven could break in and steal my family’s most prized possession.”
Malik’s taupe skin takes a blueish hue. He’s clearly suffocating.
“Enough!” Kaiden bellows as he lets me go.
Hellfire envelops the vines, turning them to ashes in mere seconds without even touching Malik.
He pops off to appear next to Malik, who hits his knees, chest heaving.
“I don’t know what the fuck happened between you two, but I don’t care.
You need to calm the fuck down,” he clips out to Sam.
“You seem very fond of your friend here, Kaiden. Tell me, did you also know that he’s a murderer? Or is that not something you like to share with your friends, Ian?” Her upper lip curls in disgust. “Sorry. Malik.”
Kaiden’s jaw ticks. “Malik, what is she talking about?”
Malik pushes up. Anguish pinches the planes of his face. “They were supposed to steal the grimoire. That’s it. I swear I didn’t do anything to her father.”
“Then why did you disappear after, huh? Why did you put me under a sleeping spell the same night he was killed? Why did you erase every trace of us meeting if you are so innocent?” Sam fires back.
Malik’s only response is to cast his gaze to the ground. His throat rolls on a hard swallow.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You might not have pulled the trigger, but your hands are bloody all the same.” She turns on her heel to me. “Did you know he’s Ian?”
“Of course not,” I tell her.
“’Kay then, let’s go.” Instead of striding toward her car like I was expecting her to, she stomps in the direction of the airstairs. “I can’t believe he’s still wearing that stupid trench coat,” she mumbles under her breath.
I hurry my pace to catch up with her. “Sam, what are you doing? We’re not traveling to Faerie anymore.” Malik and Kaiden are sharing some sharp words behind us, but Malik must have put up a sound shield because, aside from their body language, I can’t make out what they’re saying.
“What? Why?”
I throw her an incredulous look. “Are you kidding me? Because of what just happened.”
“I’m fine,” she sniffs.
I scoff. “You clearly aren’t.”
“Iris, we need to know what that prophecy says, so we’re going. I’m not sitting around and waiting for you to be attacked again by demons. Plus, Rhett said that the oracle is in danger of being found by the king’s knights. We can’t waste any time if that’s the case.”
I saw my lower lip between my teeth in thought. She’s right. But I can’t do this to her. “No. I’m going to ask for our bags, and we’ll go home, okay?”
She levels me with a stony glare. “No, we’re not.”
“Fine, then Malik’s not coming.”
Sam tilts her head skyward and sucks in a lungful of air before blowing it out as if trying to gather all the patience in the universe.
“As much as it pains me to say this, I don’t even come close to his healing abilities without my family’s grimoire—I bet the bastard is so powerful because he absorbed its magic.
The potions I packed for the trip are not going to help if something really bad happens.
He should come. Besides, he has already saved your life and healed you more than once.
That’s the only reason why I’m even considering this. ”
I shuffle on my feet. “Are you sure?”
She nods. “But if he as much as breathes in my direction, I’ll make him regret the day he was born.
” She stomps up the stairs as if they personally offended her.
Rhett, who has been watching everything unfold from a quiet corner, follows her with a what the fuck did I get myself into? expression painting his face.
“Is she okay?” Kaiden asks as he steps next to me.
“No, I—fuck. I wasn’t expecting this. Did you know about any of this? That she and Malik knew each other?”
“The only thing I was aware of is that Malik got into some bad shit in California when he joined a coven of dark witches. When I found him, he was barely alive. He never opened up about that part of his life much, and I didn’t push his boundaries. I figured he would share if he ever wanted to.”
“But he must have known Sam is my best friend. There are photos of us scattered all over my apartment. You said he was there when he put up the wards.”
He runs a hand over his stubbled jaw. “Yeah, but he didn’t say anything about it. And I didn’t tell him she was coming.” There’s a weighted pause. “He’s waiting for our decision.”
I cast a glance at Malik, who’s leaning on the SUV, looking like someone kicked his puppy. Or like he kicked someone’s puppy.
“Sam said he should come because of his healing abilities,” I say.
“Maybe she should go home, then. It’s dangerous anyway.”
“Trust me, once Sam sets her mind on something, there’s no deterring her.”