by Amie Gibbons
He narrowed his eyes at me, capturing my gaze. “Life isn’t that simple. In this scenario, we are the invaders though. Stick to the mission.”
“That an order, sir?” I made the last word as sarcastic as I could as I crossed my arms.
Grant was in my space in a blink and grabbed my chin, staring me down.
I tried to break away.
And couldn’t.
“We need to get out of here, fast, Ry… Ari,” Grant said, oh so softly. “As of right now, I’m in charge until we get out of here. We can’t have an unclear chain of command, and you have lost sight of the mission. This world is not our concern. Do. You. Understand?”
His will crashed over me, and I couldn’t breathe.
Oh, yeah. Forgot he used to do this all the time.
I nodded slowly, licking my lips. “Yes, sir.”
No sarcasm this time.
Grant nodded and let me go.
I stumbled back, and Ed cleared his throat.
“This guy you’re all looking for, you have a way to find him?” Ed asked.
“Yes,” AB said.
He looked at her and she blinked.
Right, no more info given than necessary.
At least someone was thinking clearly.
“I think this place is gettin’ to me,” I said thickly. “I want out.”
“Get out and forget the mission?” AB asked a little too eagerly.
I closed my eyes.
I wanted to.
But I’d promised Emily.
But we were in real life or death danger here.
Wasn’t that worth more than one guy?
Then again, we could learn things about the Fae while we were here. Get stuff we could use against them.
And that broken girl’s brain sang at me in my memory.
I sighed.
“Ed, how long can you scramble the signal?” I asked.
“No clue,” he said. “I feel more powerful here, that’s for damn sure, but I don’t even know if my magic’s working the same way here. The spell for that might not be doing anything.”
“Can you sense them coming after you?” Grant asked.
Right, cuz he had said something to that effect a little while ago.
Ed nodded.
“You sense them now?”
Ed shook his head. “But that could be my scramble spell coming back on me. But if it’s working for that, should be working for them too… I think?”
He shrugged.
Grant nodded. “Ed, stay with us. We’ll get this guy and get out as one. I don’t want Ari using her powers to open a door more than once.”
“What do you mean, open a door? Don’t you have to be at a specific place, like where you came in?”
“No,” I said.
Grant shot me a glare and I shrank in on myself.
This would’ve been the time to lie, maybe?
“You can just open a door?” Ed asked with wide eyes, looking between me and Grant.
I sighed and Grant waved a hand.
“I can’t just do it,” I said. “Have to have a spell set up to set the coordinates, I guess is the best way to describe it, but I can open a door through dimensions.”
Ed cursed under his breath.
“Yeah,” I said.
“If you can do that,” Ed said slowly, “you should be able to teleport with the proper spells. Where’s the guy you’re looking for?”
“No clue,” I said, pulling out the compass. “This is spelled to point toward him.”
“That’s pretty fucking inefficient.” He sounded disgusted.
I held up my hands. “I’m not the one who spelled it. The part Fae girl who hired me did. Said this was the only way to find him.”
Ed rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath before landing eyes on me. “Do you know how big this city is? And the guy could be moving around.”
I shrugged.
No arguments here.
“Do you know a better way to find this man?” Grant asked.
“A scrying spell would tell us exactly where he is,” Ed said. “But you have to have something of his.”
“His DNA’s on the compass,” AB said. “That’s how she made it.”
“That might work, but I’m not sure.”
Ed looked at Grant like he might have the answers.
Grant stared back.
I sighed. “Okay, if I can pinpoint where he is, can you tell me how to teleport? Or can you do it?”
“I, um…” Ed said. “I might be able to teach you. I’m not really good with my magic. It’s just kind of there. I’ve always had it, always used it, but just for little things. I never studied spells or anything like they do here.”
“Oh.” AB’s eyes went wide. “They have magic schools here?”
I could practically see the wheels in her head turning as she imagined all she could learn.
“Of course,” Ed said. “It’s more like classes mixed with normal school, but yeah.”
“Too bad these guys don’t seem too inclined to teach us,” I said.
“Some might be,” AB said. “Like, they didn’t stop us when we ran, right?”
I bobbed my head.
True.
“Do it,” Grant said. “We’ve wasted enough time.”
“We might want to move,” Ed said. “Even though I’m scrambling our signal, I didn’t start until after we’d stopped.”
We gathered up our stuff and walked back the way we’d came, moving at a fast clip behind Grant, and taking a few turns I wasn’t sure were strictly necessary.
But I wasn’t about to question him.
Wait, why not?
He came in and took over, and I just let him?
This was my mission.
Why was I lettin’ him be the boss?
Because he’s better at it than you, a voice in my head said.
Again, true.
I wasn’t exactly leadership material.
Stereotypical baby and all that.
We marched for maybe another twenty minutes before Grant held up a hand to halt us in another of the small alleys that could only fit maybe two people.
“This is more defensible,” Grant said, looking down each way and up.
If the Fae could fly, I wasn’t sure that was true.
But at least on this level, only one could come from either side at a time, and both walls around us were blank, no windows or balconies.
We couldn’t get much better than that, unless we went inside.
AB nodded and pulled off her pack and Ed started going through it, while I pulled out waters for each of us and passed them around.
Ed had already had two, and I was down to my last few.
No wonder my pack had been so heavy.
Grant pulled out snacks, and we quickly scarfed those.
I was still feeling pretty good, considering all the running around we’d been doing.
But then again, AB’s potion had been to boost my magic, and I hadn’t used a lot of that.
Even ripping the way through the dimensions hadn’t really strained me.
Shouldn’t it have though?
I shook my head.
Too busy to get into any of that metaphysical stuff right now.
We had a fugitive to find.
Ed set up candles and held his hand out for the compass.
I pulled it out and handed it over, hand grazing his.
I braced myself for the First Impression vision.
And it didn’t come.
“What the?” I said.
“Huh?” Ed asked in a distracted tone as he started setting up the candles and put the compass in the middle.
“I didn’t get a vision,” I said.
“Okay?” He still sounded like he wasn’t quite paying attention.
“First Impression?” Grant asked.
He knew what I meant.
I nodded. “I always get them the first time I touch someone. I didn’t get one off you.”
“Magic works differently here.” Ed shrugged.
“What did you see off Emily?” AB asked.
I searched my memory.
“I um…”
“You did touch her, right?” Grant asked in a low tone that made my stomach curl up on itself.
“Ummmm,” I said, grinning wide and stupid. “I don’t remember, but I know I didn’t get any visions off of her.”
“Fuck, Ry-”
Grant slammed his fist into the whitewashed wall, cutting himself off.
He drew it back, the calluses on his knuckles saying why they weren’t bleeding.
He didn’t even have to shake his hand out.
How did I not realize I hadn’t gotten a vision off of Emily sooner?
I was so used to my powers by now, I’d started taking them for granted, especially the first things that came to me like the First Impressions. If I didn’t get one, I just figured I’d met the person before.
It hardly even registered anymore.
I shook my head.
That was no excuse.
A yell made me jerk, and I looked up as guards, judging by their black gis and masks, crowded at the front of the alley.
“Shit!” Ed yelled.
We didn’t get his attention, but those guys sure did.
I pulled my gun, taking position up front, and Grant grabbed my shoulder, stuffing me behind him.
I didn’t even ask before he raised his hands, and I could tell he’d put up a shield without being able to see his magic.
And not a moment too soon.
The guards shuffled at the front of the alley, trying to see in without blocking too many of the others.
I couldn’t even tell how many there were.
AB pulled her gun, and I’d bet the profit from my conference that she’d reloaded it somewhere along the way.
She was good about that.
Me, not so much.
But I hadn’t been shooting back there, so mine was still fully loaded.
Thank goodness.
I pointed over Grant’s shoulder, hoping the silencer spell worked as well on my gun as AB’s, otherwise his ears were in for a world of pain.
And Grant smacked my gun down.
“Sir!” I yelped.
“Shield,” he said. “Could ricochet.”
“Crap! Thanks.”
If I shot and it ricocheted back on us, that would’ve been bad.
“Their shield, or your shield?” I asked, too shocked to form proper sentences.
“Both,” he said, flinching.
The front guard was doing something, and I growled under my breath.
I needed to be able to see what was goin’ on!
Or, my mind flashed back to the woman I took down in the square, maybe I just needed to get in on this fight.
I poured the water out of the bottle and held it in a blob with my powers.
I squinted and flung it forward, splattering on the shield I couldn’t see.
The shield sizzled under my magic and I ground my teeth.
I could do this.
I drew a deep breath, focusing on them. On their shield. Its magic.
It was meant to keep magic out.
Like most things here.
They either weren’t briefed on AB, or they didn’t know she’d gotten through the block around the square cuz it was only made to keep magic out.
“AB,” I said, nodding at them.
“Ghost me?” she asked.
“Huh?” Ed said.
I nodded, choking back a laugh.
Soooo not the time.
AB took a deep breath. “Why would their shield stop bullets then?”
“Mine will,” Grant said. “Ari, if she’s going over there, we have to provide cover.”
“On it,” I said, pulling the water off the shield and spreading it thin over the air, like spreading melted butter on toast.
Grant grunted with the effort of whatever he was doing, and I growled.
I couldn’t do things to my full ability if I couldn’t see.
“What are you guys doing?” Ed asked sharply as I took the glasses off.
Nausea rushed through me as the true world turned on, like Dorothy stepping outta the black and white house into multicolored Oz.
Red ran through everything here.
Even the earth under our feet.
Ohhhhh, that’s why the roads were so dirty.
It was on purpose!
Dirt was there to keep them connected to the earth, even on the roads paved for convenience.
“Where’s an air witch when ya need one?” I breathed.
“What?” Ed snapped, voice high and tight with terror.
“Ed, fight!” Grant and I said at the same time.
I could almost see Ed’s mouth falling open.
“Sir, can you shield AB?” I asked as Grant grunted. “Like, keep a shield around her as she goes, and keep it in front of her or something? Or around her, just in case?”
“I can’t shield both,” he grunted.
I nodded.
“I’ll keep them busy if you can keep her safe. Ed, you do shields?”
“Um, yeah, I guess.”
“Don’t guess!” I snapped. “Can you do one? Just around us? Leave AB out so she can run?”
“Yes. I don’t know how well it’ll hold up against magic though.”
“It’ll have to,” I said. “On three, I go on offensive; AB, run for them, and as soon as you’re through their shield, start shooting. I’ll have your back as soon as their shield falls. Get the one holding the shield first.” I shook my head. “Sorry, should’ve said that first.”
“How do I know which one it is?” she asked, voice high and tight.
Grant grunted, sweat pouring down his face.
I wasn’t far behind, the nausea and shakes making me sweat too.
We needed to get this done fast.
I squinted. “Guy in the middle,” I said. “He’s the one wearing the black mask with the red symbol on the side. I think it means he’s somehow in charge or higher up.”
“Can they physically hurt me once I’m through their shield?” she asked.
“Yep, which is why I have to work fast. You get that down, I’ll do a slow bubble. Grant will have a shield around you though. Just do it fast. Count of three, Ed do a shield around us. Grant, you’re on AB. I’m gonna be attacking. And AB, I want you to run. Get in, take out shield guy, and get out.”
She nodded, drawing her little push knife.
She must’ve lost the big one to the ocean earlier. I didn’t remember us ever getting it back.
How many did she have on her?
“One, two, three!” I yelled.
Grant dropped the shield, and the other snapped in place on cue, just around us, and AB ran for it.
Magic flew through the air, and Grant grunted as sparks sizzled against the shield on AB.
He couldn’t hold it for long.
I solidified my water wall and sucker punched the next shot of magic that came out.
“Ow!” I yelped as it burned my mind. “Hey!”
More magic came out like arrows, and I smacked them down with my water, flinching with every one like they were bugs biting me.
AB cleared the shield, and they backpaddled, too shocked to do anything.
One even screamed.
AB shot the main guy, and the shield crashed down.
“Get ‘em!” I screamed, running forward.
Grant teetered as I ran around him, and I felt him crash to the ground, the shield he had over AB falling with him.
“AB, look out!” I screamed as she shot again and again.
One Fae must’ve been able to see magic like me, cuz he jumped at AB, dropping to the ground and snapping a kick at her leg so hard I swear I heard something crack.
AB fell to the ground with a shrill scream that broke my heart.
And turned my water to steam.
I screamed with her
in pure fury and pushed my will out into a bubble around us.
The Fae slowed, and I rushed through them, shooting each in the head as fast as I could.
My forehead pinched up, and I was out of my ten bullets.
And there was a whole crowd of them beyond.
Fear gripped my heart as a horrible realization hit me.
They had us outnumbered.
And I’d hit my warning sign for holding my slow bubble.
I glanced back as I drew my knife.
How long could I hold this without killing myself?
Grant was on the ground, his life force glowing blue with silver swirls, but he was definitely tapped.
Ed was in mid run toward us, caught in my slow bubble.
His magic was that twisted, horrible red. But it wasn’t nearly as bright as the others.
Lack of use, or maybe just less magic in his system by nature.
Like how some humans were good at certain things and bad at others?
The world spun around me and I collapsed.
Taking my victims with me.
They fell around me like balloons, celebrating my kills.
We’d taken out like twenty.
But that wasn’t enough when they’d brought at least twice that.
AB was crying and shrieking in the background. I could see her slicing above her in a wild panic with her little knife, screaming in time with her swings.
Ed screamed too, and I wanted to join them as my stomach twisted at the magic crawling under my face.
No, not magic.
Spiders.
It came to me in a flash.
That’s how they’d found us.
Their pets, spies, method of mass communication, was a giant net of interconnected magic spider things that sent info down them like a giant neural network.
We never stood a chance.
They would’ve found us no matter where we were on this island.
Cuz they’d tracked us through these horrible little things.
One of the twisty red monstrosities crawled up the side of my face.
I was too far gone to even scream as I felt it wiggle into my ear.
And I passed out before I had to feel it working its way into my system.
Thank God, I thought as darkness took me.
Chapter nine
The nausea hit me first.
Before I really opened my eyes or realized what was goin’ on, I knew I was sick to my stomach.
Kinda like waking up with a hangover when you didn’t quite remember what you’d done the night before, but you knew you regretted it, cuz you were gonna spend the day on the bathroom floor.
