“Think you’ll fit through the window?” I shoved everything into my backpack and slipped my arms through the straps, buckling it at my waist before pacing toward the bathroom.
“I think I have no choice.” Discord followed, and I pried open the pane.
“How did they find us?” I stepped onto the back of the toilet and braced my hands on either side of the window before pulling myself up onto the ledge. A quick glance left and right said the coast was clear for now, so I hopped out, my boots thudding on the rocky ground.
“Bedlam is an excellent tracker. Apparently, Seraphine is as well.” He narrowed his eyes at the window. There was no way he’d fit through, so he did what any big, burly demon would do and yanked it from the wall. The glass cracked, and he tossed it aside before climbing out to join me.
“Fabulous,” I said. “How do we get to the temple?”
“The quickest way is to cross the canyon. Come.” He hung a left and strode toward the back of the property.
I jogged to keep up—no more scurrying…yay--and we scaled a chain link fence before darting into the trees. We reached a clearing, and the massive canyon stretched out before us. A steaming stream of greenish-yellow liquid flowed through the bottom, having etched into the volcanic rock for millennia upon millennia, creating ledges and crevices in the mile-deep ravine.
To our right, a visitor center stood in the distance, with an obsidian bridge stretching across a narrower section of the canyon. To our left lay nothing but miles and miles of rocky terrain.
We went left—because of course we did—running along the ridge until my lungs burned and my legs ached.
“Where can we cross?” I panted and slowed my pace.
“A mile ahead,” he said, and he jerked his head toward something behind me. “Quickly.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me down a narrow path, into the ravine. My boot slipped on the gravel, and I fell, my left leg folding beneath me as I rolled and slid deeper and deeper into the canyon.
“I suppose that’s one way to do it.” Discord leaned back, steadying himself with his hand and allowing the gravel to carry him down to my side.
I landed on a ledge with a grunt and unfolded my legs. Sitting up, I clutched my head and squinted against the orange moonlight. Two silhouettes passed above us before disappearing from view.
I stumbled to my feet, gripping the rocks on the side of the canyon, lest my dizziness send me plummeting into the acidic liquid below. “Those two just won’t give up.”
“Not until we’re dead. Come.” He took my hand, and we scooted along the ledge, our backsides pressed against the wall.
I held my breath as I crossed a narrow section of the path, my toes hanging over the edge. My pulse sprinted, and I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth. “How about we kill them first?”
“That would be an excellent plan if we had more weapons.” He dropped my hand and leaped onto a shelf in the rock. I followed.
“We do. Check my pack. The blue bag.” I turned my back toward him, and he unzipped it to retrieve the set I’d picked up at the outfitters.
“Camping knives against poisoned arrows and air magic.” He frowned and handed me two from the set. “I don’t like our odds.”
I shoved them both into my thigh holster. “You sound more worried about Seraphine than Bedlam.”
“I will never underestimate the abilities of a witch again.”
“Smart man.” I started for a trail leading deeper into the ravine.
A slight shift in the wind signaled Seraphine’s presence, and my instincts kicked in. I ducked a fraction of a second before the first arrow whizzed past my head. Straightening, I hurled a fireball the size of a watermelon, but she turned her palm up and rose from the ground, levitating.
A tiny tornado swirled around her feet as she floated over the ravine and descended. She attached her crossbow to her back and shoved her hands toward us. Wind blasted us backward. Discord caught himself on a piece of jagged rock, but I tumbled over the ledge.
I had never fallen from anything higher than two stories, which only gave me enough time to think oh, shit before I hit the ground. With the bottom of the ravine five thousand feet below, I had plenty of time to contemplate my life choices before my body went splat.
Maybe I should have enlisted my sisters’ help in this adventure. Hecate knew I could use one of Ash’s on-the-fly spells. A massive pillow of air to bounce off of would have been nice. Instead, it looked like I’d find out exactly what that greenish-yellow liquid flowing through the canyon was made of.
I was just about to kiss my life goodbye when an invisible cord stopped me mid-air. My body folded as if a rope were wrapped around my waist, and my neck snapped back and forward with enough force to give me whiplash.
I spun, rolling over and over like a gas station hot dog. Seraphine stood at the bottom of the canyon, a maniacal grin stretching across her face as she toyed with me. Discord stood on a ledge a few yards up, he and Bedlam both wielding knives and glowering at each other.
I kept spinning, circling, circling, circling. If Seraphine didn’t stop me soon, she’d have to deal with a vomit cyclone.
