Persie Merlin and the Witch Hunters - Bella Forrest Page 0,68
I clapped my hands together, thrilled for my best friend.
She side-eyed me. “You’re not pissed?”
“Sure, I wish you’d told me sooner, but why would I be mad? This is amazing!” I suddenly felt grateful that we’d come out on this run. “Finally, some cogs are in motion. Now, all he has to do is ask you the heck out, so I can stop feeling like I want to smack your heads together.”
She smiled, kicking a pebble off the edge of the cliff. “I hope so, too.” As soon as it had appeared, her smile faded. “Although, if my dad found out, I can kiss the Institute goodbye. He’ll have me enrolled in an Atlantean university before I can say, ‘This is my life.’ I guess that’s the benefit of being an ocean away from him.”
“I won’t say a word. I won’t even tell my parents, in case the news leaks out,” I vowed. Genie deserved to be happy, and if Nathan was going to make her happy, then I’d run interference to make sure nothing got in their way. Traditions had their place in the world, but there were some that should be left firmly in the past.
Genie sighed. “Thanks, Pers. It’s easy to forget where we came from when we’re here. It’s easy to fall into the illusion that we’re free and truly independent. But I’d like it to be reality. I’d like to think my life is my own to do what I want with.” Her eyes brightened slightly. “Besides, I’ve only got eighty or so years to make the most of it.”
“You’ll be the most badass old lady ever,” I teased.
“Let’s not forget who’ll be badassing at my side,” she shot back with a wink.
I patted the phone in my pocket. “Nathan, obviously.”
“Pfft, he hasn’t even asked me out yet. You and I are already in this for life, my friend.” She linked her arm with mine. “No man will stand in the way of the future I have planned for us. I’m talking rocking chairs, dressing way too young for our age, rainbow hair, dripping in too many jewels, screeching at kids, and generally causing havoc.”
I laughed. “I like the sound of—” A growl tore through the air, silencing all those good thoughts in a heartbeat.
I’d heard that noise before.
“Nathan…” Genie broke into a sprint, kicking up dust as she powered along the cliff path. I chased after her a split second later, all my aches and pains vanishing as adrenaline took over. To my right, storm clouds drew nearer—a foreboding omen if ever I’d seen one.
As we got closer to the lookout spot, a louder growl, more like a roar, drowned out the whistle of the wind and the panicked thud of my heart. Nathan stood there, putting the lone bench between himself and a writhing mass of shadow and red mist. The Fear Dearg was visible, with the kidnapper concealed somewhere beneath. There was still too much distance between Genie, me, and our friend, though neither Nathan nor the Fear Dearg seemed to have noticed our approach. They were locked in a battle, tendrils of green light slithering out of Nathan’s palms as he conjured Earth to his defense. Vines shot out of the ground, slicing through the misty creature but causing it no harm whatsoever.
Nathan’s mouth moved silently. A sphere of swirling black and purple energy pulsed out of his chest, with golden glints pulsing like fireflies inside. I had no idea what it was, but I guessed that Nathan had gone for slightly bigger guns, using a curse since his Elemental abilities were proving useless. The sphere hurtled toward the Fear Dearg and, for a moment, it looked like it might work. The gaseous purple and black unraveled into strands, which snaked around the Fear Dearg’s hazy form. An earth-shaking howl bellowed from the creature’s throat, as though it were in pain. But then, to my dismay, the Fear Dearg seemed to absorb the curse into itself, sucking the strands into its mist. No sooner had it done so than the red mist turned thicker and brighter, until it looked like the creature was glowing with internal fire.
“Nathan!” Genie cried as she sprinted the rest of the way. Blue sparks began to spin around her body as she called on Water, great pillars of it rising from the nearby sea. Without having to move her hands, she launched the saltwater sentinels at the Fear Dearg. I guessed she thought that, with enough