“We have to hurry,” Nikolai urged as he sank fluidly to a cross-legged position. “He is killing so many. And every time he uses me—it burns out pieces of who I am.”
Aria lowered herself so her knee touched Nikolai, and a shiver ran through his big body.
Cara gestured for Lucas to sit on the other side and join hands with the big man. When he did so, he suddenly couldn’t breathe.
He’d felt it the last time, too. It was like getting nailed by lightning, a pulse of pure electricity that coursed between the three of them. Linking them together and carrying them someplace they had never been before.
It incited physical riot within Lucas. He gulped.
Wow. That’s some powerful mojo.
Mojo? What the hell does that mean?Nikolai’s mindvoice was as deep as his real one.
Magic, you idiot. Where have you been?
I grew up in a desert.
Oh, right. But you get the Star Wars refs.
Everyone gets those.Nikolai met Lucas’s gaze and quirked him a smile. The black receded, replaced by a gray so pale it was silver.
Let’s do this, brother,the Perditor said.
Lucas stiffened.We are not brothers.
The eyes gleamed at him.Yes,he said.I believe we are.
* * *
Aria swayed as Lucas let her go.
Cara had kept them at it for longer, this time, determined to eliminate as many runes as possible.
Ten. They’d managed ten. That meant they’d done twelve in total. Out of fifty-three.
It wasn’t nearly enough.
Cara’s face was lined with exhaustion, and Lucas had lost all the color in his. He stumbled when he tried to stand.
Aria’s heart squeezed painfully. “This is not progressing fast enough.”
“It’s as fast as we can manage,” Cara said, rubbing her temple with shaking fingers.
Lucas braced himself against the wall. “Nikolai says it isn’t enough. Galeran is moving too fast.”
Why could Lucas talk to Nikolai, and not her? But the words struck ice into her heart. “Is there any other way to do this?”
Cara sighed. “If I could be physically near him, I would have more to spare to disable the runes. But Galeran has hidden him well among the crystals. And even if we knew where he was, there is no way to get close enough to him to do the work.”
Lucas stared at her, before offering, “We need more energy.”
“I can take more crystal dust,” Aria mused. “That would help.”
“I could take some too,” Lucas said.
She stared at him. “I thought Morphs shouldn’t take crystal dust.”
He shrugged.
