Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Ama
"Shit!" I squeaked as the rain began to pour in heavy sheets through the large tree canopy. I tried to cover my face, but all it did was make my visibility worse. Which was why I almost face-planted when I stepped into a puddle that was far deeper than expected.
I let out a small cry, knowing it was going to hurt. Falling always hurts. I had no idea who landed gracefully, but that person was absolutely not me. You’d think that my wings would save my ass from hitting the ground, but they weren’t always quick enough.
A hard arm snapped around my waist, saving me from falling. The person behind me grunted, and my head snapped up to say thank you, only to hit Damien right in the chin. Shit.
He groaned as I winced and tried to separate myself from him. Instead, he lifted me up and continued forward making my eyes widen. I mean, was I going to complain about him carrying me? No. Was it surprising? Yes.
"Thanks," I whispered as Damien offered me a small smile.
"No problem," he chuckled, "You will just have to owe me big time, since I saved you… then you almost broke my jaw just now… and now here I am carrying you."
I appreciated him trying to lighten all of this up, and I couldn't help but laugh. "Hey! I didn't ask you to save me! You could have let me fall. Plus, breaking your jaw? I call bullshit. I don't think I could break any of you, Damien."
"I would be willing to test that," he chuckled softly, the heat in it making my throat suddenly dry up.
Thunder rumbled overhead, distracting and breaking me from the moment as I looked ahead.
Within five minutes, the rain lightened, but it wasn't because of the storm.
No, it was because, as Drayven had said, there was a super thick area of trees that reduced the rain to just a light misting.
The ground was dry, and when Damien put me down, I kissed him spontaneously on the cheek, eliciting a low rumble.
"Good find," I told Drayven, as the Reaper's eyes jumped happily. The moment took me aback because it seemed like he was authentically pleased with my words.
I twisted my hair to remove the excess water from my dark locks and dried my face off with my top. Mind you, the shirt was also damp, but it was better than nothing.
"What are you doing?" I asked Finias as he murmured an incantation, his words soft as he brushed a rune in the space right below the hollow of his throat, "Incrementum."
Almost immediately, more branches began to sprout out from the trees around us, moving towards the center to create a large ceiling-like structure that was so tightly intertwined, the rain all but completely stopped reaching us.
I offered Finias a smile, and he winked then grabbed some extra branches, placing them in the center of the clearing.
Everyone watched him as he murmured another word, and suddenly, smokeless flames appeared in his hands.
He transferred them onto the branches, creating a fire that instantly warmed the space.
"Damn," Nico muttered, his brows raised in appreciation.
"That's cool," I agreed as I examined the other runes on Finias' body. He really did have a lot...which, of course, meant he was extremely powerful, but that didn’t surprise me. I now wanted to know what each and every one of them did.
Was that possible? I mean, it would take a bit, and he would have to be naked, but I wasn't going to complain.
"So, what's our big plan?" Colt asked sarcastically, sitting down and seeming to appear less combative than before. Most likely because he was taking Finias’ threat seriously. Smart man.
"I found signs of people passing about a mile north of here," Adrien reported. "I didn't see any sign of a city or indications of who had passed through. But it looked like someone had been camping there. The fire looked recent, which means they couldn't be too far."
"I didn't find anything outside of this shelter," Drayven grunted.
"Still good," I pointed out. "What about you, Finias?"
"Nothing," he grunted. "Well, except that the smoke from the volcano seems to be getting worse and thickening. I think we made a good choice in getting out of there."
My brow dipped, feeling like something was evading my memory. I couldn't tell what, but it was tugging on me. Trying to invite me back into that haziness from my dream. It was like someone was trying to talk to me, but they were right out of reach. It was a very odd sensation.
“Agreed,” Damien nodded. "So, what do we do?"
"We go to where Adrien was? Check it out, and see if we can walk further to find anything?" I hedged. All of them seemed to nod in agreement, which made me feel a bit better about the idea.
"We should grab a couple hours of sleep," Damien suggested.
"How about two, and we split shifts for the watch?" Drayven amended.
And that was how I ended up curled on my side between Finias and Damien, their body heat making me almost instantly fall into a drowsy lull. I wasn't completely asleep, but my body was at rest, and the cold hardness of the ground beneath me felt almost good on my muscles.
Once again, I could feel that weird sensation of something reaching out to me, but it was just beyond my grasp. Impossible to hold onto...Possibly a figment of my imagination?
All too soon, someone was brushing hair away from my face, and I was blinking open my eyes to find Drayven crouching next to me. "Come on, Princess. We are heading out."
"Don't you guys need to sleep?" I mumbled, hearing a boom of thunder that had me wondering just how bad the storm was outside our little shelter.
"Already did, we took turns but let you sleep the entire time," he explained as I sat up fully, looking around to find the others were prepared to leave.
I mumbled a “thanks”, annoyed that they hadn't woken me up, but also thankful because I had clearly needed the rest. Although, the fact that it hadn't been deep sleep left me feeling a bit off.
Colt kicked some dirt over the fire to extinguish it, then we were on our way once again, heading north as Adrien had suggested. About ten minutes into our walk, I got a weird sensation and a prickle on the back of my neck that had me looking around in confusion.
"Does anyone else feel that?" I asked quietly and on edge.
Adrien made a sound of agreement as he looked around, pausing in his steps and causing Drayven to jerk to a stop and look at both of us.
Colt was searching the treetops above us, and Damien's head was tilted as if he was listening.
Nico's hand slid against my back in a protective gesture that had me stilling with surprise before melting into it, not minding the contact in the least.
"Fin?" I looked around in confusion as I realized the man was gone.
Everything, outside of the sound of the storm, seemed eerily quiet.
I broke away from the men and looked around, noticing an odd shadow drifting between the trees to the left of us.
What the hell? I stepped back and nearly jumped out of my skin when Finias suddenly appeared behind me, covering my mouth with his hand.
The shadow moved closer and seemed to grow in size, the coolness of the air turning downright icy, and the trees creaked against a savage wind that whipped through.
It felt menacing.
"We need to go now," Finias suggested. "I have no idea what that is, but it isn't good."
If our resident assassin was saying that, it couldn’t be good.
Stepping back further, our entire group shifted as I felt Adrien's shadows circle around us protectively, his power seeming to spike dangerously as if it was reacting to the threat.
The shadow froze when the sound of a branch cracking under someone's foot echoed through space.
Fuck.
"Run!" I yelled, turning and sprinting as the sound of a roar filled the air behind us. We couldn’t face this creature in the forest like this. Not only was it obviously comfortable here, but it had home field advantage. I had no idea what we were even dealing with.
I nearly smacked into four trees, and I was cursing our current climate because I couldn't fly.
Instead, I was darting between trees as the sound of growls and a massive roar echoed again, something very large destroying the forest behind us.
I didn't have to look back to know the others were sprinting nearly as fast as I was.
"What the hell is that?!" Colt demanded sharply.
"Umbra," Adrien snarled, the earth rippling as if hit by a tremor. The ground cracked, and I jumped over the growing rift.
Holy shit. I’d never heard of an Umbra before, but it was very clear there was no need for me to ever interact with one again—it was devildamned terrifying.
I could feel sweat breaking out on the back of my neck, and I screamed as a tree fell behind me, nearly hitting me. Drayven's arms wrapped around my center, and he tugged me over his shoulder. I didn't bother fighting him, and he sprinted so fucking fast it seemed unreal.
The other men were quiet, but breathing hard. Then, we broke from the trees.
"Fuck!" Nico growled from the front of our group as he put on the brakes, trying to stop before launching himself over the jagged cliffside.
I called out his name as the rest of us came to a halt, but his foot slid off the end and tugged him over. His hand grasped the edge, and I was immediately out of Drayven's arms and pulling on Nico’s hand.
The Umbra was growing closer, but Colt and Drayven helped me pull Nico back up until he rolled over the ledge, his fingers bloody from maintaining such a hard grip. We were all breathing hard and lying on the ground when the Umbra finally broke from the thick of the trees.
"What the hell," I choked out.
Suddenly, the Umbra was transforming into a massive beast that had to be the width of a carriage, the trees in its path decimated as its prickly fur bristled and its head dipped. Its pure white eyes swirled with black as it let out a vicious growl that vibrated the earth beneath us.