Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109329 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
This time I didn’t mistake the furious look of the massive predator.
“Tristan, get him out.” I pointed at the limp gargoyle. He was alive, but he was not feeling so great.
Aljoe barely bothered with the remaining challenger, his bite to his favorite target—the jugular—nothing more than proof he would’ve won. I was confused by that for exactly one moment.
Then the big beast turned to me.
19
Jessie
“Do you really want to end up in a cage again, bro?” I asked him, backing into the center of the space.
“Jessie—” Sue frantically hurried to my side.
“Get out of here.” I shoved him away. “He’ll take you out just to get to me. Leave the path clear. Let’s teach this bastard a little humility, shall we?”
I had a beast, too, and she didn’t feel fear.
Those golden eyes locked on mine. The lion circled.
I yanked off my muumuu and tossed it to the side. I shifted and threw up a wall of blistering magic because now I knew how this lion worked. He was used to ending a fight as quickly as possible. Kill shots were his survival mechanism, because when in combat, survival was all that mattered.
Before I finished shifting, he was leaping at me. He hit my wall of magic and a sound like a huge bug zapper rent the air. He grunted even as he flew to the side, a pretty tame response, because that had to hurt like hell.
I pinned him with magic that I was pretty sure he’d eat or scratch through. This spell wasn’t at the top of my power, but I wanted to make a statement. And maybe—just maybe—get a little payback for Aurora.
I landed on him, attacking with claws and teeth and spells, scratching and tearing and ripping at him. I yanked out chunks. I cut him deep. Then, as the last shred of my magic was ripped away, I flew into the air.
He jumped at me like a feral beast, his teeth snapping right next to my toe.
Good God, this guy was powerful. I didn’t think he could jump so high.
I hammered him with spells. He crouched, watching me, handling the pain while he waited for me to get closer. He knew I would.
He was right.
I dove to the side. He launched.
“Olé, fucker,” I tried to say. It came out a jumbled mess, but it didn’t matter because I flung my hand up like a matador.
I wrapped that lion in a spell and then dropped down onto his back like he was my pony.
“Ride, sparkle farts!” I hollered, scratching him anew.
He pivoted, rolled, did some other beautifully graceful thing—I couldn’t tell; I was suddenly slamming against the ground—and then he was on me, trying to return the damage.
I had the wind knocked out of me and reacted in a way I shouldn’t have.
Magic exploded, ballooning in all directions, and I knew the second I’d loosed it that it was a doozy.
This time he did howl. The spell flung him off, and I had a flash of pure panic that I’d done something I couldn’t take back. That I didn’t have a way to stop.
I shifted as quickly as I could. “Oh God, I’m so sorry.”
He lay on his side, panting and bleeding freely. Red puddled under him. I’d paid him back for Aurora and then some.
“Oh no. It’s okay.” I slid into the dirt beside him.
“Jess, no!”
I hadn’t realized Austin was here.
The lion struggled to get up. His eyes still blazed fire and ferocity. He was readying for a last-ditch launch at me. It reminded me of Drex.
“Don’t move, moron,” I called. Fashioning a spell to keep him put, I put my hands on his furry shoulder. “Don’t move, and don’t shift. I’m healing you. Indigo!”
“I’m here, but they won’t let me get closer,” she cried.
“Kick them in the balls. Hurry up! I accidentally went too hard.”
I took deep breaths, assessing the danger. I needed to warn the Elder. I shouldn’t be doing these challenges anymore. I hadn’t trained for mock battles; I’d trained for war. There was a difference with magic like mine.
“Oh God, okay.” I placed my hand over a gaping wound awash with red. He had several others like it. We had to get this stitched up so that he didn’t bleed out.
“I’m here. I’m here.” Indigo slid in beside me. “Cripes, Jessie, what did you do?”
I didn’t even know what spell I’d used to cause this. It wasn’t anything I remembered. A hybrid I’d created randomly.
“We can fix him.” I elevated my voice. “We need hands. We need to apply pressure to some of these wounds.”
“We can do this.” Indigo closed her eyes and lowered her head over Aljoe’s fuzzy head. “This isn’t beyond us.”
I closed my eyes too, using all my energy on healing, thrusting it into him as hard as I could. More bodies crowded around. Other hands glanced off mine as they got into position. Slowly, the wounds stitched together under my palms. His breathing became less labored and less shallow.