Chapter 3
Rani
He did not just say that. Ezra’s smirk sent the butterflies in my stomach spinning like a tornado.
The feeling lifted into my chest and pulled until I thought it would break my heart free of its cage and run off with it.
Who the hell does he think he is? His smirk deepened at my stunned silence, and I did the first thing I could think of to knock it off his face.
I flipped him off.
Alicia drunkenly frowned at my reaction, but Ezra only laughed. Fuck it, she could have him. Turning to face my normally docile sister, I gave her my sweetest smile.
“Go for it, sweetie. Just make sure he wraps it, okay? This beach isn’t the only thing infested with crabs, if you know what I mean.”
With a pointed look at his crotch, Alicia’s nose scrunched, but I was already gone.
“Hey, hold on a fucking second—”
Ignoring Ezra’s outraged curses, I slipped away, ducking under waving arms and weaving until a whole mass of dancing bodies was between us. The only downside to this plan was where it put me. Smack dab in front of the ocean. Like a sucker punch to the gut, all the air left me in a giant whoosh .
How could something incite such longing in me, yet be terrifying at the same time? The sun shone down on white capped waves like an array of diamonds. Surfers broke through the sparkling show, and seagulls cawed over the techno music blaring behind me.
No one noticed me here, trapped on the edge. The next surge crashed against the shoreline and pushed over the sand, stopping just inches from my toes before being sucked back out again. My head throbbed, and my skin felt shrink-wrapped around my bones.
I wanted nothing more than to throw myself out there until the water covered all of me.
I needed to swim, to sink, to dive through the currents and let them carry me away.
Even as my heart cried out for it, my body shook with terror at the thought of going in there.
I trembled so hard I could barely stand straight, and my knees kept buckling no matter how hard I locked them.
I didn’t used to be like this; terrified and weak.
Something had to give. My anger grew just enough, and in a last-ditch effort to save my sanity, I overrode my fear long enough to dip my toes into the next receding wave.
It was a lightning bolt to the system, my body jolting at just that one, cool touch.
Like a crisp apple to the starved or the relief of ice on a burn, I soaked in all the sea had to offer and then some.
Oh my God, I missed this. The squishy sand under my feet as shells raced over my toes.
The suction of the ocean as it pulled, pulled, pulled, and then crested with another glorious rush of water.
My headache all but vanished, and I took my first deep breath in weeks.
There was still a nagging at the back of my mind that warned me I wasn’t ready to go out too far, but something told me the sea missed me as much as I missed her.
“Ohmygod, Rani, your hair is so beautiful!”
The squeal tore me from the spell I was under, and I turned to face Kinsley. She’d never talked to me before, but now she couldn’t stop gushing about my hair. She reached out as if to touch it, and I jerked back, causing my feet to sink even deeper into the sand. The water was now up to my ankles.
“Sorry,” she let out an adorable laugh. “It’s just so pretty. What products do you use?”
Before I could answer her, another sister approached us. Her eyes were hyper-focused on my face, like she’d never seen me before.
“Holy shit, your lips are like puffy clouds of pink. Don’t you think, Kinsley? Like, the pinkest, puffiest clouds there ever was in the sky!”
What in the fucking fuck was happening right now?
The girls cooed and complimented me in high-pitched excitement as I just stood there, at a complete loss for what to do.
Did I thank them for the overly weird and completely unnecessary comments about how my eyebrows were like too perfect and would I like them brushed?
“Did you guys ingest LSD or something?” I asked, wondering if I needed to find the house mom or someone to force-feed them a bottle of water.
That got another round of giggles, and I stepped back as they moved closer. The water gently lapped around my knees, the sea suddenly pliant as if it too were confused by what was happening. A group gathered, and every single person had something to say about me.
My skin was so smooth , my boobs so perky , ‘ damn girl your legs go on forever .’.
Not bad for my self-esteem, but extremely strange when paired with, ‘ I want to take your fingernails and wear them like diamonds in my hair .’.
I had no idea who said that little delight, but I didn’t want to find out.
With the water now up to my thighs, my earlier panic reared its head.
My chest went tight, and I knew a panic attack was on the horizon if I didn’t get my feet back on dry sand.
I tried to wade in to shore, but there were about twenty people surrounding me, and none of them backed away when I asked them to move.
Gone was my headache and the fatigue that plagued me, and I found myself considering making a break for it.
It sure felt like I could run a mile right now.
“Bitch! If anyone’s going to get her a drink, it's going to be me!”
“I’m her favorite sister, Maelyn!”
The water grew choppy as the crowd fought among one another over who was my favorite.
I hadn’t said one word to these people, but they stared at me like I was some Hollywood superstar offering one golden winner best friend status.
I’d had enough, and when one dude got too close, I pushed against his chest until there was room for me to move.
Then all hell broke loose.
A small channel appeared, like a lifeline begging me to take hold, and I ran for it.
Hands landed on my arms and shoulders. Fingers sunk into my hair and pulled until it felt like there were a thousand different people trying to tear off pieces of me.
I screamed. Pain lanced across my scalp as my bun was torn free and my long hair hung down past my chest, giving even more opportunity for these fucking psychos to grab at it.
“Back the fuck up!” Ezra’s shout was clearer than a pistol shot, and dangerous enough that everyone paused, giving him a window to reach me.
My head throbbed, and there were a bunch of places along my back and arms that stung with what I knew had to be fingernail scrapes, but with my feet still planted in the water, I felt like I could do anything. How weird was that?
Practically crawling now, I scrambled to Ezra’s open arms, and the chaos resumed the second he put his hands on me.
He covered me with his own body, shielding me as best he could as we ran.
It was impossible to move swiftly in this position, and the horde just kept coming.
More and more people adding to the frenzy.
“What’s going on?” I cried. “Why are they acting like this?”
Was this the work of the djinn? Had they finally returned to seek their revenge?
“It’s your siren call, babe. Can’t you feel it?”
My what? In one quick move, Ezra grabbed my waist and threw me over his shoulder. Air was knocked out of me with every step, but we finally put distance between us and the crazies calling for me with shrill cries. We neared the parking lot, and I could only hope that meant safety.
“Find your source of magick and shut it down,” he demanded, but that did nothing to help.
I turned my head and saw others from the party take notice of the absolute insanity that half of their friends were committing. One look at me, a heartbeat passed, and then they too suddenly ran at us from a different angle.
“I don’t have magick!” I called back, but really wished I did at this point, then maybe I could make this all stop.
Ezra made some sort of growl mixed with a scoff and hiked me up higher. “You picked a hell of a time to play helpless, babe.”
The loose sand made running near impossible, but he powered over it like a champ, never floundering or losing speed. His free hand glided up and down the back of my thigh in an almost absentminded caress. I tried to swat it away, but it was hard to reach with half my body hanging down his back.
I whacked him in the kidney instead.
“I never said that, you prick!” Whack. “Put me down and I’ll fucking show you helpless!”
I wiggled in his hold, alternating between trying to break free and landing futile hits on his back. Ezra dodged to the left, readjusted his hold on me, and took off again. The rough movement and new position allowed me to lift my head and get a close-up view of what bore down on us.
“Never mind!” I cried. “Don’t put me down, don’t put me down.” His shirt tore from how hard I gripped it. “If you let go, I will kill you!”
His laugh was smug, and if slapping him wouldn’t get me trampled, my hand would have met his cheek. “Your begging needs some work,” he teased. “But I’ll help you practice.”
His hand gave a final squeeze on my thigh before it swung behind us. A wave of ice shards flew into the mob, freezing a few feet and knocking their owners off balance. Their fall had a domino effect that took down a couple more, but not enough to matter.
“Say it with me.” How did he have enough breath to taunt me and run across the sand? I got my answer when his voice rose several octaves. “ Please, Ez, don’t let go. Don’t stop. Move that hand high— ouch!”