AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She knew a signal when she heard one. Wordlessly, she and Ruby were on the move, too, stealthier than the two men as they made their way further to the end of the parking lot.
“Invisible. Do the invisible thing.”
“Grab my hand. Plan?”
“No time. We free them all. Stall Ven. We…”
The words died when they arrived at an empty spot.
“It’s too late,” Ruby lamented. Then… “Look!”
They were wrong. The hull of the ship was still visible from their spot, a shadow against the backdrop of white clouds. It was also steadily sinking.
“We can catch it,” Nicola blurted out and got the most incredulous stare. Then, to her shock, her spontaneous words were met with Ruby’s nod.
“We can catch it.”
The woman took her hand and pulled until they were running again. Ruby’s confidence sparked hers as they stood on the very edge of the Sky, where they still had a whisper-view of the ship. It would be gone in seconds. Their chance would be gone in seconds.
“Hold my hand. Don’t let go,” Ruby warned, shuddering with nerves.
“I know. Go. Jump.”
They leaped, throwing caution to the wind while the actual wind battered them from every direction. There was a slim window for another warning, so Nicola turned to face the Sky and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Find us! Come find us!”
A glow embraced her. Then she and Ruby were freefalling fast and hard.
Chapter 16
The voice was all Isaiah needed to push him to end the fight, punching the last pirate headed his way and shaking his bleeding knuckles. Then the words registered.
“Shit. Maddox!”
“I know,” the half-vampire grunted before he decked out his last opponent, too.
It occurred to Isaiah that they had swords and weren’t using them, too pumped up in the fight they had been winning. All of that crumbled to dust when they raced to the edge and saw nothing but clouds and the dark sky.
Find us. Come find us.
Maddox whirled on him with a hiss. “They jumped. Is that instant death?”
“No,” Isaiah said slowly, trying to be the saner one as he analyzed the situation. “Not if Ruby maintains her calm and magic. She can soften their land. She might even make it to Ven’s ship.”
But it felt like his insides were going crazy at the idea of the two women out there—at the thought of them not making it to the ship and Nicola headed straight to the sea, where she had no defense at all if they got separated. Maddox understood this, too.
“Ship. Now.”
Maddox didn’t argue, following him as they made their way through the same shortcut paths until they arrived at their berthing spot. He jumped into the ship to find his men ready for an attack and the traps in place, but now they had a different agenda.
“Nic and Ruby jumped after Ven’s ship. They are out of the Sky.”
Just like that, the weapons were dropped, and the crew scrambled into their next roles. They got out of the lot in no time, but it felt like time was crawling as he stepped toward the steering wheel and did the necessary motions to take their ship back to the sea. In its descending state, they basked in the dark silence. Then the world opened up, and the shouts ensued.
“Glow! There’s a glow to the right!”
“That’s them,” he said, focus latching on to the spark of red-white that could be mistaken for lightning. Ruby. He turned the wheel, then realized they were still very far away. “Hang on to something!”
