by T. S. Snow
At the last second, I remembered to release his shirt.
Theo was hit, and he started to convulse before he dropped to the ground.
I wanted to make sure he was okay, but I couldn’t afford the distraction. Theo had sacrificed himself for me; I couldn’t drop my guard now and make his sacrifice be in vain.
With my heart beating in my ears, I looked around the room. The Jess look-alike was on her knees, throwing up. The boring-looking guy… He was still standing, but he looked furious. One hand at his ear the other holding his MET, his eyes burned with hatred. And the big, burly guy had collapsed on the floor of our cell, blood coming out of his ears.
Oh shit.
I had not meant for the pressure to be so strong it would actually blow up his inner ear. I’d hoped to just fuck up all their balances, really.
Boring-looking guy started to activate his magic, and I didn’t think, I just acted. As fast as I could, I threw a small fireball at him, just to buy us a little time. As expected, psycho dude ducked, raising his MET and throwing a barrage of ice spears at me.
I raised my arms, even though they were shaking from the effort, and tried to conjure a wall of fire.
Even if it was thin, I just needed it to be big enough to protect me from the ice.
A small, flimsy fire materialized in front of me, barely thicker than a piece of A4 paper.
Weak as it was, it was at least a little effective; most of the ice melted from the heat.
I ducked, trying to avoid the remaining spears, but a couple still sliced into my cheek and shoulder. Pain flared to life where I’d been cut, but I couldn’t afford to let it distract me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Logan had taken advantage of my little diversion. He moved in incredibly fast, using the tray of food from earlier as a shield to block some dark matter orbs that had been hurled at him, and then he went straight for the KO.
As in, literally.
He discarded the tray and threw an uppercut that hit the psycho right in the chin. The minute the psycho’s head snapped back from the hit, Logan used his elbow to hit him straight in the face.
As if that wasn’t enough, Logan jumped back and quickly kicked his opponent right behind the knees, making him drop to the ground crazy fast.
K fucking O.
Amazed, I turned to him and gave him two thumbs up.
“That was badass, dude. Nice teamwork!” I raised my hand for a high five, but he just rolled his eyes at me.
Well, all right then. Whatever.
Not like I wanted to praise him, anyway.
Logan walked closer to psycho and punched him in the face once more, rendering him unconscious.
The savage.
I forced my jelly legs to move and walked closer to the Jess look-alike. I felt kind of bad for her, considering her face had paled a hell of a lot and the floor around her was looking even more gross than it had been. I held my breath when I got near her, because the stench of vomit was just too damn much.
I really didn’t want to hurt her any more if I could help it, but I couldn’t just leave her the way she was and risk her coming after us.
“Where is your MET?” I asked, trying not to breathe through my nose.
It…wasn’t going well.
Jess number two looked at me and narrowed her eyes. I just sighed.
“Listen, we can do this one of two ways—you can give me your MET and I’ll just lock you in here, or you can be difficult and I’ll have to knock you out. Personally, I’d much rather not hurt you, but I’m not going to risk my own life for yours.”
I extended a hand, palm up, waiting to see what she’d do. Goddess, I hoped she wouldn’t just use the MET to attack me, because that would be unfortunate as hell, but she couldn’t possibly be that dumb. Logan approached and stood right behind Jess number two, as if waiting for her to fuck up so he could knock her down.
“Time’s ticking,” I said, steeling myself to attack. Why couldn’t anything just be easy?
“My sister… Where is she?” Jess number two asked, her voice shaky.
I winced. I honestly hadn’t meant to fuck her up this bad, or any of them really. But I wasn’t as in control of my wind magic as I would’ve hoped, and clearly, not all my attacks had held the same strength. At least I’d just messed up her balance and gotten her sick, rather than completely exploding her inner ear or something, like the burly dude.
Oopsie.
“You mean Jess? She’s fine. In jail, but fine. She turned herself in to AMIA,” I replied, tilting my head.
“You didn’t…kill her?”
“What? No!” Was that what the resistance had told her? “No, no, no.” I shook my head vehemently. “She’s fine. Alive. Completely still in the land of the living. Why the hell would I even kill her? I don’t even want to kill you, and you were going to kill me!”
Jess’ sister just nodded before she took a band off from around her forearm and handed it to me.
“Go, before anyone comes down here to check if we finished the job,” she urged. I exchanged a look with Logan and got to my feet.
I put the MET band around my own forearm, though I couldn’t use it. I drew comfort from having an MET on me, even if it was stolen goods.
A big boom came from somewhere upstairs, and I looked up, half expecting the ceiling to start collapsing on me.
“What the hell was that?”
My eyes met Logan’s, but he just shook his head.
“Doesn’t matter. We’ll worry about it when we have to. Let’s just get out of here,” Logan commanded.
I nodded. He was right—there was no point being anxious about things I couldn’t change. At least not right now, anyways. First, we had to leave the cell and go upstairs, then we could worry about whatever the fuck we were going to face up there.
“Right. Yeah.” One glance around the room had me pausing. Theo lay sideways on the floor, his shirt burned on the chest where he’d been hit by the electric ball. No way was I leaving him behind after he’d taken a hit to protect me. He might be an idiot, but he was my idiot. “Uh, could you help me carry him out of here?” I asked Logan.
Logan stared at me for a minute, probably wanting to say no, fuck him, but in the end, he just sighed and walked closer. “I’ll carry him. Again. You need your hands free so you can use your magic.”
Wait. Again? I frowned. When had Logan carried Theo? There was definitely a story there.
He crouched down, and in a move I’d only seen in movies, did this crazy thing where one second, Theo was on the floor, then the next, Logan was standing before me with Theo over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.
Theo groaned when Logan draped him over his shoulder, but he didn’t really open his eyes or anything.
Good enough.
Kinda wanted my phone to take a picture of this bromantic moment, but alas…
Oh, right. Had to focus. We had asses to kick on our way out of here.
I knew I should’ve mentioned to Logan that my magic was running almost empty, but I didn’t want him to worry more than he already was. Besides, with my hands free, there was more than just magic I could do.
All my years of training had not been for nothing.
I grabbed the food tray that Logan had used as a shield earlier. Granted, I was way more likely to go all Kung Lao with the tray and use it as a weapon rather than as a shield, but it’d definitely work in our favor.
I took a deep breath and got out of the cell, waiting for Logan to pass through before I locked it. The three musketeers had conveniently left the key in the lock when they entered to kill us, and now it sucked to be them, because it was the same lock that was going to keep them there.
Though, they’d be alive. It was a huge difference that proved we were the good guys.
After locking up, I put the key in my pocket and took a deep breath. It was time to get the fuck out of Dodge and bring down the resistance while we were at it.
14
Logan
I swore to the Goddess, when we got out of this damn place, Theodore would owe me his fucking soul.
For the second time in a handful of days, I was saving his ass, this time literally carrying him around as we climbed the stairs out of the dungeon we’d been thrown in—it was more a cellar adapted as a prison, but Charisma had called it a dungeon so many times, the name had kind of stuck.
The only reason I’d even agreed to carry Theodore this time was because he’d gotten hit while saving Charisma. I didn’t want to look too closely at what that meant or how it made me feel. I didn’t want to think about how protective I felt of her.
All I knew was that when I’d seen that asshole’s magic attacks heading to Char, my heart had stopped beating for a second.
The last time I’d felt this much fear had been almost a decade ago.
I didn’t like it.
Now, instead of standing beside Charisma and helping her fight our way out, I had to stand back and carry Theodore’s dead weight, trusting Char to fight on her own. It went against my every instinct, but she really was our best way out. Besides, if it came down to it, I at least had enough magic now that I’d be able to throw a couple of dark matter orbs of my own.
Being this weak was frustrating, but if I timed it well, even one single small orb of dark matter should be enough to knock someone down.
Hopefully, it would be enough to save Charisma.
We reached the top of the stairs, and Char turned to me, placing a finger to her lips.
As if I needed her to tell me to stay quiet. Instead of rolling my eyes like I wanted to, I just nodded, and that was all the confirmation she needed.
Char stared at the door for a second longer, taking deep breaths, probably trying to make sense of all the noise coming from outside.
It was loud as hell. There was a lot of yelling, and I wasn’t entirely sure, but it kind of sounded like there was some major fighting going on.
So either we were right below some kind of drill training facility, or the resistance was under attack and we were about to meet our rescue party.
I should feel grateful for the rescue, but honestly, their lack of efficiency was pathetic.
However, at least it was working as a distraction for us to get out.
Char opened the door, and as I’d expected, there was complete chaos around us.
We were on the ground level of some sort of warehouse. It was far bigger than the place Theodore and I had stormed in to investigate, but just as dark.
Or it would be, if not for all the magic being thrown around.
On my right, there was a pile of boxes on fire, and it did a good job of illuminating most of the room.
Charisma gasped in shock, and that attracted the attention of a mage in front of us. He turned, eyes wide, and sent a dark matter orb at us.
No, you fucking don’t.
I raised a hand and sent my own dark matter orb at him. They collided, cancelling each other out.
Char took advantage of the opportunity, and she hurled the tray she’d brought along with her like a fucking frisbee. It hit the mage in the stomach, and he curled up, arms around his belly.
Charisma raised her hands above her head. “Twenty points!” she yelled, but thankfully, there was too much noise around us and no one heard her.
“Char!” someone yelled, and we both turned to the left, where Blaze Futhark came running towards us.
Forgetting the time, place, or the sheer chaos all around us, Futhark ran straight to Charisma, lifted her from the ground in a hug, and kissed her.
I stood there, confused. Hadn’t she said she was in a relationship with a Necromancer? I knew she’d been with Futhark before, or at least I’d guessed it, based on the reports I’d gotten from my people, but they’d broken up.
Was she dating both of them at once?
They broke the kiss, Blaze still clinging to Char. “I’m so glad you’re safe. I’m sorry, Char. I’m so sorry. I never should’ve let you go. I’m so sorry.” He kept saying it over and over again as Char clung to him.
I wanted to give them my back, let them have at least a moment of privacy, but this was not the time. They could have their little reunion later. First, we had to get out of here.
So I cleared my throat, and it was incredibly amusing to see them both freeze and look at me.
“As cute as this moment is, could we please get out of here before you two continue your little reunion?” I raised my shoulders so Theodore’s weight would be better distributed, using it to illustrate my point.
Charisma turned as pink as her hair and let go of Futhark as if he’d suddenly grown incredibly hot.
She smiled sheepishly at me. “Right. Yeah, sorry, uh… Anyway, let’s go beat up some bad guys so we can get out of here.”
She looked around the room to determine the safest path out and then started walking towards it.
“Char, wait!” Futhark ran up to her and activated one of his runes. Seconds later, a round, see-through shield appeared in front of them. “This way; we’re less likely to get caught in the crossfire.”
Surprisingly, he turned to me. Digging in his pocket, he pulled out a small, dark rock, closed his eyes, and concentrated. A dark-blue activation circle materialized above the rock, and I watched as a rune of the same color started to appear on the dark rock. When he was satisfied, he opened his eyes. A second activation circle appeared, and a second shield materialized. He handed me the rock, and the minute I touched it, the shield appeared in front of me.
“This should keep you two safe enough. But it’ll only be good for an hour max. If the rock breaks, so will the shield, and vice versa.”
I nodded my thanks, and we started to make our way towards the exit.
Most of the mages that had been fighting were already down, and the chaos had started to subside.
Suddenly, a big wall of ice appeared in front of us, forcing us to stop in our tracks.
Shit.
Before we could so much as blink, fire consumed the ice, melting it and leaving us standing in a puddle. Then Blair Illudere, bastard daughter of Diego Illudere, appeared, grinning and brandishing a fucking katana.
She ran at the Elemental Mage who’d erected the ice barrier, yelling some kind of war cry. The mage raised an earth shield to block Blair’s strike, but at the last minute, Blair dropped to the ground and swept under their legs, making them lose their balance.
Blair then got some zip ties out of her pocket and tied the mage’s arms before she got his MET and threw it far away.
“Blair!” Char yelled, running towards the other woman.
Blair raised her head, a smile taking over her face.
“Char! Fancy seeing you here,” Blair replied before she was engulfed by a hug from Char.
“You’re a terrible rescue party,” Char joked, and Blair rolled her eyes.
“Clearly, I’m just here for the free excuse to kick some ass. I knew you wouldn’t need any help, but try convincing your men of that.” In direct contrast to her words, she put Char at arm’s length and checked her for injuries.
Seemingly satisfied, she nodded and then turned to take the rest of us in.
The minute she saw me and my cargo, her grin got bigger and she pulled out her phone, taking a picture before I could protest.
I narrowed my eyes at her, but she just pocketed the phone again.
“Don’t worry, that’s blackmail material for Theo, not you,” she said, winking. “Now c’mon, follow me. I’ll lead you guys to the exit so we can take you to safety. AMIA’s agents have just arrived, and they’ll take over, arrest everyone, and do cleanup. There should also be a Healer or two outside, ready for us.” The way she cast a look at both Charisma and I left no doubt she meant we desperately needed a Healer. Little did she know, Theodore was in far worse shape than we were.
“Rude. This is the latest trend in Paris. You just don’t understand fashion, Blair,” Char sassed, indicating her dirty clothes.
>
Blair didn’t say anything else, she just turned and led us to a hole in the wall.
As in, a literal hole in the wall. Someone had gotten a little too carried away during their break-in, because there was an entire chunk missing.
“What the hell happened here?” Char asked, staring at the huge hole.
Blair pointed at Blaze, as if to say it was his fault, but Blaze shook his head.
“Don’t you try putting the blame for this mess on me,” he said, but he was grinning.
“Oh wow. I had no idea you could turn into the Hulk.”
At Char’s remark, Blair laughed, and even I had to fight a smile.
“Hulk? She blew the thing apart,” he commented before turning his head. “Oh look, I see the Healers,” Blaze said, dragging Char towards two people in green robes, while Char just kept asking him all kinds of questions.
I followed after them, squinting from the sudden light.
It was crazy to think all this had happened in the middle of the morning. AMIA probably had their hands full trying to keep this under wraps, avoiding humans walking in or even just hearing the commotion and calling the police.
Although, right now, all I could see outside the warehouse were a few black SUVs, so it was more likely that they were hiding what was happening with an illusion, rather than pretending to be the human police.
Charisma said something to the male Healer, and he raised his head. The minute he saw me carrying someone over my shoulder, he rushed to my side.
“Sir, this way, please,” he said, leading me to a van with the back open and instructing me to place Theodore on a small stretcher inside.
I placed him on the bed, adding this to the number of times he owed me, and straightened. The Healer jumped right into action, not bothering to ask me questions, and as his green magic manifested and he began to work on Theodore, I turned my back to leave.
