Book 16: Swallowed Hole

Lexa

Austin brushes my shoulder as he moves in front of me, the two of us towering over the beach on our perch high above the waves. Without the fires, the beach is practically invisible, but it’s the silence that’s unnerving. I look out over the water with the slightest turn of my head. It’s a clear, beautiful night… at least, it was. A strange storm funnels toward the shoreline, smoke-like tendrils of dark mist creeping over the sea in whirls and swirls that carry the unmistakable taste of… copper. The mist floods the beach. Strange orange-hued lightning crackles in the silent storm beyond without the warning of thunder.

Magic. It has to be.

I try to step forward, but he stops me with a hand curled around my forearm, his grip tightening in warning. Neither of us breathe. Neither of us move. I can feel the tingle of magic between us as we send our silent commands for an explanation to the screams through the mind-link.

I tug out of his grasp