Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
As I reached Sebastian, a spell hit his defensive barrier, and I returned fire without thinking, accidentally releasing another one of the stronger spells. A spray of blood said it wasn’t a maiming blow.
“Crap,” I muttered as Sebastian’s eyes widened. He clearly hadn’t seen that spell before. “Sorry,” I tried to say, but the words came out in a mess of syllables.
Shifters filled the space. They were better suited for such terrain. It was why working with both groups made us ten times more effective. A huge Kodiak burst through the trees. Drex saw the mage and charged him with a snarl.
He wasn’t part of my gargoyle’s connections, though, and I didn’t have a defensive spell on him.
“Wait!” I tried to shout, bursting into my human form and closing the distance between us. The mage fired twice in quick succession, his eyes round with terror when he saw the charging bear. A wet stain spread across his crotch, and I expected him to freeze. He didn’t, though he would wish he had.
His first spell hit Drex with a loud sizzle. Drex flinched but didn’t stop, and my defensive spell covered him before the second spell could hit. That spell bounced off, back toward the mage. It sprayed him, the ground, the tree next to him and a bush with magical acid. Well…globs of magical acid, more like. The tree trunk started to sizzle, as did the dirt, and the bush…and the mage.
He screamed and looked down as the globs of magic burned his clothes away.
“Oh, no,” I said, wracking my brain for the counter spell. I was sure I’d learned it…
The mage’s shrieks grew louder as the spell blistered his skin and spread. I hadn’t known it would do that.
Drex stopped, transfixed by the writhing, screaming mage.
The mage patted himself to stop the burn, spreading the magic to his hands, something else I hadn’t known would happen.
“Crap.” I shoved at Drex’s big shoulder to get him to move out of the way. “I think I can fix this.”
“What the hell is that spell?” Sebastian asked, stopping beside me. “Jesus, Jessie, that kinda thing was outlawed in the dark ages.”
“Ha ha, very funny.”
“I’m not sure I’m kidding?” He sounded confused, as though he were trying to remember history.
“Like mages outlaw anything. It’s fine, though. There’s a counter-spell.” I tried what I thought would do it.
The mage screamed in anguish as a gaping hole opened in his belly.
“Ah, man.” I breathed heavily and thought about throwing up. “That wasn’t the counter-spell.”
“Oh, we get to kill?” Dave asked from somewhere behind me.
“No!” I put out a finger and looked around. “No, killing. This was an accident!”
Someone screamed before quickly cutting off.
“That was an accident,” one of the basandere called.
I sighed. This hadn’t gone as planned, and it was mostly my fault. Cyra would never let me live this down, especially because she was stuck above the tree line and couldn’t participate. At least she’d followed directions and hadn’t set fire to the trees.
“Right, okay. Well…” I put my hands on my hips and listened. Silence. We’d gotten through the enemy.
Austin stood off to one side. Only a few of our people were hurt and none of them badly. This hadn’t been a powerful force, and they’d also been unprepared. Niamh had been right. We’d now have to figure out what information Momar had been after.
“Fine,” I said. “There’s still a bunch alive, so I call that a win. It’ll be good enough.”
Someone tsked, and Nessa walked up. Her hair was messy, and she held bloody knives. “Jessie, Jessie, Jessie,” she said with a grin. “Niamh is going to be so mad at you.”
“Should I make art out of him?” Edgar asked with a toothy grin. “It always sends some sort of message.”
The big Kodiak was staring at me. Even the bear face looked shocked.
I held out my hands. “We’re not all perfect, okay? Sometimes my spell work is a little…”
“Volatile?” Nessa guessed.
“Horrific?” Sebastian said.
“Surprising,” I finished. “Sometimes it is surprising and doesn’t react how I expect. They were the enemy. They had it coming. Anyway, let’s head back.”
Someone grunted in pain—Phil—followed by a loud scream.
“That was an accident,” Phil yelled. “Kinda.”
I bowed in defeat. I couldn’t even yell at him. I’d started it.
14
Jessie
The afternoon waned as I sat in a lawn chair in Drex’s lovely backyard. The water lapped at the sides of the pool and a glass of sparkling wine sat on my right, untouched. Mr. Tom had thought the wine would improve my spirits.
A shape in my peripheral vision caught my notice—Drex, walking along the stone path that led from the back door. The watery sunlight highlighted the plains of his narrow face. He carried a glass of sparkling wine.
“Jessie,” he said by way of hello, and took another of the lawn chairs.