Chapter 177
RYDEN
“Brace yourselves!” Amelia yelled.
“For what?” Nora asked. It didn’t take long, she said, “Oh, my Goddess.”
Another earthquake rumbled, shaking everything around us. This time, it was stronger and longer than the last one in Tahoe.
Amelia stared at me. She didn’t bother hiding her fear. “This isn’t normal.”
“I know.”
As the ground danced in waves, we stilled until it stopped. Then another howling roar erupted. This time, it came from both mountains. Are gazes flew to the mountains surrounding us.
“This isn’t good,” I muttered, not hiding my fear. The mountains began to shake as if they were controlled. I watched its slope break and fall apart.
A low rumble swept over the mountain causing a huge avalanche. The trees were falling like dominoes, rolling down from the top towards us in the form of a landslide.
“Shit!” Lucius stared at us. Fear flashed in his eyes. “Run! Away from the valley!”
“Go ahead, I’ll follow!”
“Ren, what are you doing?” Amelia stopped running, turning to Ren. “Now is not the time to play hero.
“Trust me on this!”
“Let’s go, Amelia. He knows what he was doing.” I grabbed her by her arm, running far away from Ren.
The guys were way ahead, leaving us behind.
My heart pumped so hard. My lungs constricted as I ran so fast away from the rolling mud. I could still hear the crashing of trees pulling off their roots, and dropping to the ground.
Whatever happened in there, looked like it was set up. It was a trap, and the director knew we would follow the breadcrumbs he left for us.
One moment I was running, and the next thing I knew Amelia wrapped her arms around me, and I was lifted off the ground.
I yelped in surprise as I watched the ground from above. I instantly saw the guys running towards the beach.
“Baby, I’m gonna drop you off with them. I have to go back to check on Ren.”
“Next time, a little warning would be nice.”
She only replied to me with a chuckle.
My heart was still in my throat when she dropped me on my feet. And then she flew back like a bird to find Ren.
“Holy shit!” Guston had his eyes wide staring at the shore. The water was slowly pulled into the ocean leaving nothing but seabed, rocks, and waste. “Is this what I think it is?”
“A tsunami,” I found myself mumbling. “We need to leave.”Guston glared at me. “Where? We came from the forest, and we almost got killed, and now we’re about to be killed, too. Do you know what it is?”
“Traps.”
It didn’t take long, Lucius cursed. “Fuck!”
Lucius began stepping back as the largest wave came our way. It was as tall as the building.
“This is not right.” Bryan finally found his voice. “This is too fast. I just watched the water suck away from the beach, and it only takes less than two minutes to rush back. This not normal.”
“None of these are normal, Bryan,” I told him.
“Is that a tsunami?” Theia pointed at the obvious as the ocean rose more, starting to form a crest. “Shit, I don’t wanna die drowning. What should we do?”
Bryan came to Theia holding her in the hand. “I think we should start running back.”
“Nora, maybe you can talk to that thing or we all gonna die.” I knew she was doing something as she was standing straight, staring at the waves. Her eyes were the color of the ocean. Then she walked towards the shore, making me nervous. “I hope you know what you’re doing or we find ourselves washed up in the Indian Ocean.”
I didn’t even know what I was saying, but I was scared as fuck, the same thing if we stayed in the valley, and we could be buried under tons of landslides.
She touched a part of the water. The small waves started forming, moving towards the huge waves as if sending them a message, about a hundred meters away from us.
“Whatever she’s doing, maybe we should walk away,” Guston said to everyone.
“You go, guys. Find Amelia and Ren. I’ll stay with her.”
“Are you crazy?” Dane asked, widening his eyes at me. “We can’t stay here.”
“We’ll be fine. And I don’t leave a man behind.” I laughed nervously making him frown. “I trust her and her power. I know she can do it.”
“You’re insane, Braxton!” He ran away with Kailin.
“You’re not the first time to say that!” Instead of running, I could still feel my chest constricting and my heartbeat had never slowed down. So I sat down behind Nora.
As I looked at the ocean, the waves slowly calmed down, decreasing its wavelength, and losing the crest and its intensity. I didn’t even know what to feel about it, but I was surely impressed with Nora.
She let go of a shuddering breath as she stepped back and sat next to me. She was catching her breath when I held her.
“Are you okay?”
She shook her head. “I’m exhausted.”
“Maybe you should swim to energize yourself?”
She glared at me. “Do you walk into the fire when you’re exhausted?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Quite frankly, I think I’m losing my shit, Nora.”
A crash of waves reached us, wetting our clothes. At that moment, I didn’t mind anymore, considering we just cheated another death by drowning.
“Why did you stay?”
“I believe in you.”
“Thanks.”
“You did it, bitch.” Amelia ran towards us, hugging Nora from behind. “Wow. I wonder what the scientist would say about that.”
“It reached the buoy, but I didn’t hear an alarm,” Ren said as he joined us and sat next to Amelia.
“So, tell me what did you say to the tsunami, Aquagirl?”
“I didn’t talk, Ryden. I let it feel the calmness within me, amplifies it. How do you control the fire within you? You rule over it. Even if it’s a part of you and your wolf, you have it under control.”
“Look at you.” I patted her knee. “I’m proud of you.”
“Guys, we should go back.” Guston came back as soon as the tsunami was gone and didn’t reach the short. “After cheating deaths twice, maybe we won’t be lucky the time around. Call Zarah to portal us back to Tahoe.”
I stood up and looked at Guston. “I agree. I have a strong feeling the tower was meant to fall in that Valley to trap us, and the earthquake and tsunami should kill us all.”
“I’m calling Zarah now,” Amelia grabbed her phone and checked. “No service. How is this even possible?”
“I don’t think I’d ever want to walk again, how do we send a signal to Zarah?” Kailin asked.
“I’m exhausted, too, and I’m hungry,” Theia said. “Can you catch us fish, Nora? Ryden, use your fire to cook the fish.”
“I don’t like fish. Are you still up for a few minutes of rest?”
“I’ll go find some coconut. I’m thirsty.” Ren walked away. Dane went to join him.
“I’ll check on Zarah.” Amelia looked at everyone. “Stay right here. Watch your back. I’ll be right back.”
“Do you know where to go?” Drake asked her.
“You better stop questioning her from now on.” Hawk patted his back as he walked towards the shore.
“What was he saying, Ryden?” Fawn whispered at me.
“Just watch.” I tipped my chin at Amelia walking. She was just there before us, I hadn’t even blinked, and she was gone.”
Fawn jerked, gripping me. “I don’t see a portal. How did she do that?”
“Hawk just told you to stop asking questions.” Lucius stood next to me. “What was Arakiel planning?”
“I think I know what is all about,” Kailin started. “Cyrius was like this when he tried to kill the entire underworld. We played cat and mouse for weeks. In the end, he was after the strongest ley line so he could harness the energy from the ground, making him almost formidable.”
“I was thinking the same thing last night.” I stared at Kailin. “Let me guess, the crack in my land was not an accident. He meant to open that area, but I don’t know why.”
“I have a few ideas,” Lucius said. “He could summon the wraiths—”
“The wraiths again?” Guston came and crossed his arms over his chest. “We haven’t had any more incidents since we got this ring, but let me guess, the cracks are pathways for the wraiths to get in and spread all around the city.”
“I was saying, the wraiths under the ground, while his militia will march above. This is a diversion. He knew we would attack the tower. The ley lines and the locations were breadcrumbs he left for us to follow.”
“Thank Goddess. You’re back.” Theia stood up.
Amelia came back, seemingly catching her breath. “We have a bigger problem.”