Brad crossed his arms. "Name one."
"Your smile."
"My smile, or my fangs?"
"...Both?"
Brzt.
My phone went off. So did Jim's.
The couple whipped in our direction. They glared at us for a second, then started back across the street. I watched them, until they disappeared back into the bar.
"Kira," Jim said.
"What?"
"We have a situation."
I pulled out my phone.
A text, from the NIMP Emergency Alert line.
Emergency situation at the Great Swamp Metro Stop. Please report there immediately.
Bring your weapons.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Police had cordoned off the area surrounding the Great Swamp station with rows of scary Police Line: Do Not Cross tape. A ring of spectators formed around it, all peering down the cement staircase that led underground.
"Step back," an officer said to the crowd, as we approached. He pulled back a length of tape, and waved us through.
They looked at us warily as we passed. We wore the same jackets we did with the Tentaclon—jackets designed to resemble police, or FBI, or any government organization that didn't involve magic. We couldn't let the public know there was something otherworldly happening in the bowels of their subway system.
Jim had a stack of them in the back of his monster truck, for occasions like this. He always seemed to be prepared.
"Do we know what's going on?" I asked Jim, as we descended the concrete steps. The scimitar slapped me in the back with each step, and my shoulders ached. Up ahead of us, I saw Abby's curls, next Gavin's dark hair. My heart plummeted.
"No. You got the exact same text I did, Kira."
We made a right, and descended another flight of steps.
"I heard it was ogres."
I turned. Walking next to me was the elf I'd seen before at NIMP's headquarters. She towered over me—easily six feet tall—and except for the bow in her hand, she looked like she'd just stepped off the catwalk. Or an Instagram post. Her bronze skin glistened in the subway lights, and her black hair swayed gracefully across her shoulders.
"You're the new girl, right? Kira?" she said, extending a hand. "I'm Apurva, or Apu for short. Team Chartreuse."
I shook it. Her skin was incredibly smooth—like she moisturized every ten minutes, on the dot.
"Let's not jump to conclusions."
A man popped up on Apu's side. With his blue eyes, thick brown beard, and plaid shirt, he looked more like a lumberjack than a Hunter. Except for the shimmering sphere of water that floated above his outstretched palm, the surface jiggling like Jell-O.
"All we heard," he continued, "is that something's blocking the trains down here. Metro's been clogged up for an hour."
"Last time it was ogres," Jim said, glancing at Apu. "So that is a good guess."
"Yeah. It's totally ogres, Eric."
"Fine." The ball of water bounced up from his palm, then down, as if he were juggling it. On the second bounce, it hit an overhanging pipe and shattered. The water fell back down on Eric, drenching his face.
Jim and Apu laughed.
"Are you a mage?" I asked. "Like Abby?"
He pursed his lips, as if I'd horribly offended him. "No. I'm a water Elemental," he said, puffing up proudly. "Watch this."
He raised his hands. The damp puddles that had accumulated on the cement floor levitated up in a shower of suspended droplets. Then each drop split apart, again and again. Dividing like cells. By the time we reached it, it was a fine mist.
"I hope that was just water, Eric," Apu snapped at him, as the mist fell on our arms and faces. "You just had to show off for the new girl, didn't you?"
“I wasn’t showing off, I was just—”
The four of us suddenly halted to a stop.
The thirty-or-so Hunters in front of us had stopped, frozen on the dimly-lit platform. Hushed whispers threaded through the crowd.
Standing at the front was a police officer.
"Okay, looks like you're all here. Good, good..." He eyed us nervously, as if he wasn't used to speaking to Hunters. "So. About an hour ago, our rail detection systems informed us there's some kind of mass blocking Track 2, between this stop and Banyan Circle." He pointed to the tunnel hewn into the concrete wall, the tracks disappearing into the darkness. "Whatever it is, it's giving off a magical signature, so we haven't touched it yet. Don't want to get into trouble!"
An attempted joke, but no one laughed.
He cleared his throat. "So, uh, I guess that's it. Go on and do... whatever it is you do."
"Aren’t we going to get run over?" a woman at the back said, with a strange symbol tattooed on her neck.
"No, no, definitely not! We've stopped all the trains, and blocked off both stations, so you're in absolutely no danger,” he said, tripping over his words.
"Thank you, Kevin," Gavin said, stepping forward. "We'll take it from here."
The officer looked very relieved. Wiping sweat from his brow, he stepped away from the train and joined the cluster of police at the back.
Gavin jumped down first. He landed on his feet gracefully, the contours of his muscles rippling through his stiff oxford shirt. The others quickly followed—several people I didn't know the names of, then Apu and Eric, then Abby. Then Jim.
I stood on the platform alone, staring down at the tracks. They seemed so far away. Four or five feet below me, shrouded in the shadows of the station.
"Kira?"
Jim looked up at me, his bronze skin glowing in the dim lights. A lock of black hair had come undone from his bun, straying across his face. "Need help?"
"I don't really like heights. Especially jumping from them."
"It's only four feet."
I looked at Jim, eyebrow raised. "Easy for you to say. That's like, what, half your height?"
He didn't get the joke. "No, I'm only six-eight."
"Only," I laughed under my breath.
The murmurs faded as the crowd headed into the tunnel. I glanced at them, fading into the darkness, and then back at Jim. He hadn't moved from his spot, and was watching me. Waiting.
"I'll catch you."
I bit my lip, and glanced at him. "I don't know. It's a pretty big drop, and..."
He walked over to the platform. Reaching up, he grabbed my calves. "Hey! What are you—"
He yanked. Hard. I screamed, falling through the darkness—
Thud.
His broad arms wrapped around me. Warm and strong. Then he released me, and I was standing in the darkness, the tracks under my feet.
"That was absolutely, positively not oka—"
"Come on. Let's go."
He jogged ahead of me. I sprinted after him.
The group hadn't made much headway down the tunnel. They were still near the entrance, chatting jovially as if we were all going out to ice cream. It was a weird dynamic, but I guess they'd been on so many missions like this, it was mundane.
A few people had their phones out with the flashlight app on, but others used more magical means of illumination. Up ahead, Abby held a small, flickering flame in her palm. A short man floated a glowing white orb in front of his face, and a bearded man carried a wooden staff that glowed at the top. Kind of like Gandalf.
The curving metal tracks shone as the lights passed by. It was beautiful, in a way; but dread clenched my stomach, and with each step my heart beat a little faster.
"What do you think it is?" I asked Jim, quietly.
He shrugged, seemingly not concerned. "Could be anything. Ogres. A Tentaclon. Witches performing a black magic ritual to make all the trains crash into each other and kill everyone." He glanced at me. “It’s happened before.”
I gawked at him. "That sounds... bad."
"We're a pretty powerful team. And with you, we're even more powerful." He turned towards me. "It's admirable that you want to learn how to use a weapon, rather than just rely solely on your p
owers."
"Oh, uh. Thanks."
We continued in silence.
Until the shouts rang out. "Really?" "The regular police could've handled this." "I thought it was going to be ogres again..."
Curiosity propelled me. I forced myself between two people in the front row and peered out into the darkness.
A body lay across them.
A human body.
Nausea bubbled up in my throat. I fought the urge to scream—why wasn't anyone else screaming?!—and took a wobbling step back. Strong arms caught me.
"Kira? Are you all right?"
Gavin held me steady.
"She... she was run over?" I finally stuttered.
"Not sure," Gavin said, keeping his arms on my shoulders. "In fact, I'm not even sure why we're here. Maybe Kevin didn't know what he was doing, after all."
Another hand fell on my shoulder. One that was warmer than Gavin's. I looked up to see Abby's face, lit in flickering orange tones from the flame in her hand. "It's okay, Kira. If you faint, I got you."
"No, I got her," Gavin said, in an annoyed tone.
"We both got her, then."
"Fine."
I stared at the lifeless woman, bent and broken on the tracks. White hair, pulled back in a bun. Blank eyes staring up at the ceiling. I can't imagine how painful a death like that is, I thought, my heart dropping. I tried to tear my eyes away. I couldn't.
All I could do was stare into her brown, lifeless eyes.
Then she blinked.
Shouts erupted in the tunnel. I reeled back, my heart pounding. She’s alive?!
But she couldn’t be. She was clearly dead, with her body bent at unnatural angles, her clothes drenched in blood.
Yet she was moving.
She began to twitch, first only in her hands—then her arms, her chest, her legs. Finally, she pulled herself up, head lolling to one side. The images came back to me all at once. The army of undead in the streets, advancing towards me. Gray skin. Lifeless eyes.
It’s just like the hallucination.
The vision.
The woman's eyes remained empty and lifeless as she shuffled forward. "You... will... all... die," she rasped, each word coming out in a ragged breath. She pulled out a short blade from the folds of her dress, and quickly closed the gap between us.
The team jumped into action. Abby's fire swirled in front of her, smoke curling up to the ceiling. The Gandalf-looking guy lowered his staff, and a beam of light shot from its tip. With an odd sucking noise, one of the women began to climb the walls like a gecko.
I reached behind for my scimitar, hands shaking.
Zzzing! An arrow shot through the air. It struck the woman in the chest. She wavered, then fell back. I turned around to see Apu behind me, lowering her bow.
Wow. I guess speed trumps all else. Even magic. My heart soared. Maybe there was a chance for me yet.
I pulled the scimitar from the bandolier. The metal blade reflected swirling colors of light, as the Hunters stood at the ready, holding balls of fire, water, light.
The old woman slowly pulled herself up, her movements mechanical and twitchy. She reached for her chest and with a hard yank, pulled the arrow out. Then her wrinkled face spread into a wide grin of yellow teeth.
"What the hell?" someone shouted.
“How’d she do that?!”
"Fall back," Gavin said. His voice, for the very first time, sounded afraid. That terrified me more than any weird old woman, any dark tunnel full of magic.
For his voice to shake like that... he knew something terrible. That we didn't.
"I said, fall back!" he spat at Abby, who was swirling fire in her fingertips. Murmurs rose in the crowd, drowning out the woman's raspy voice. What's going on? It's just a possession, isn't it? We can take on this old coot!
"Gavin? Uh, what's going on?"
He didn't reply.
As if sensing we were retreating, the woman suddenly broke into a run. She charged at us with a primal scream.
I heard Abby's voice shout "Dragon, go!"
A dragon of fire erupted from her hands. It filled the entire tunnel in a swirling, flickering mass. Rearing its immense head, it pulled its jaws wide and shot down a stream of fire. "Bull's eye!" Abby yelled, as it hit the woman right in the face.
"Nice!" someone shouted behind me.
"Go Abby!" I added, with a cheer.
The flames crackled and hissed as they engulfed the woman. Then she collapsed into a blackened pile of bone.
"And that's how you do it," Abby said, brushing the soot off her hands. A low cheer came from the crowd.
Gavin charged over to her. "I said fall back," he nearly shouted. "Did you not understand me?"
"What's your problem?" she said. "I killed the thing, didn't I?"
"You don't understand. This isn't just some dumb demonic possession we're dealing with. This... this is necromancy."
Every single Hunter went silent. Before I could think, the words came tumbling out of my mouth. "What's the big deal with necromancy? Abby killed her, right?" I asked. "Isn't that—"
"That's the whole point of necromancy, Kira! You can't kill them! You only make them angry!"
"But she—"
Thump.
All thirty of us whipped our heads around, looking for the source of the noise.
Thump.
It echoed against the cement. Coming from deep within the tunnel. Slowly, the sound grew louder, echoing and reverberating towards us.
Shadows materialized out of the darkness.
People. Six of them, marching towards us, their footsteps echoing off the arched concrete ceiling. A foul, fetid smell blew towards us.
They must've been dead long before today. Their gray skin hung loosely off their bones, revealing bits of yellowed bone underneath. Their clothes were torn, covered in dust and dirt.
But they were much faster. In just ten seconds, they emerged from the darkness and closed in on us.
It was a trick.
That first one was all twitchy and slow on purpose. To lull us into a false sense of security.
Crrack! Crrack!
Flashes of gunfire. Deafening sound. Holes appeared in the zombie's chests, and they jerked back with each shot. But they didn't go down.
Not even close.
I gripped the scimitar tightly in my hands.
Whirls of fire, water, magic, light whipped by. Gunfire snapped through the air; shouts and cries called out. Erika raised her hands to her temples, focusing on the undead—but none of them moved. “I can’t control them!” she cried, to no one in particular. “It’s not working—I can’t—I don’t know what’s wrong!”
No one heeded Gavin's pleas to fall back. We outnumbered them, more than three-to-one.
But we were losing.
One of them charged at me. A man. Short and stout, gray skin pulled across his features. I clumsily swung the scimitar towards his head.
He ducked.
The weight threw me off balance. "No!" I yelled, as I careened towards the floor. The blade clattered to the ground.
Crack.
My body hit the tracks. Hard. Pain throbbed through me, and I felt warm blood against my cheek. No, no, no—I groped in the darkness for the scimitar. My hands fell on gravel, wood, metal.
The man cackled behind me. "You fight like a girl!"
I screamed as white-hot pain slashed across my back. I rolled away, forced myself up. He thrust my scimitar through the air—exactly where I'd been lying a moment before.
So much for that enchantment Jim talked about. The zombie seemed to have no trouble lifting the sword.
"No, no," I whimpered as he advanced forward. The blade gleamed in the light, silver and red as the battle raged on. No one seemed to notice as he walked towards me. As I backed away.
As I hit the wall.
I was cornered.
"I'm goin' to getcha now," he laughed, the blade catching in the light. "Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hiiiide."
Someone shoved me aside. I fell to the ground, again. A metal railroad track hit me square in the jaw. Wincing in pain, I turned my head.
Gavin.
The scimitar stuck out of his chest.
The zombie stood in front of him, laughing. Gavin crumpled to the ground, deep red soaking his shirt.
Jim darted forward, through the chaos. With a powerful thrust of his spear, he stabbed the zombie right through the heart. It didn’t kill him—but it slowed him down.
I leapt past them and crouched over Gavin, ran my hands over his forehead. He was cold. So cold. Colder than even a vampire, or a dhampir, should be.
"Gavin?"
"Kira..." His voice came out as a quavering wheeze. I grabbed him by the shoulders, attempted to hoist him up.
I was too weak. He plopped back down, his head lolling to the side.
"We have to get you to a hospital." I reached my arms around his back and pulled; he barely budged. He felt so limp, so cold, so stiff in my arms.
I held his head in my hands, pulled his face close to mine. "You have to hang on, okay?" I said, my voice breaking with sobs. "You have to hang on. You have to—”
Jim stepped in front of me. I watched helplessly as he threw Gavin over his shoulder.
"Fall back!" someone shouted.
The subway was in chaos. Flashes of light, fire, water. Shouts and screams. Sickening cracks of bone against cement.
"FALL BACK!"
I watched as the lights died out. As the cracks turned to hurried footfalls. We ran through the tunnel, spilled out into the station.
"Seal them in!" someone yelled to the police officers standing on the platform.
"What? What happened?" The clueless officer, Kevin, stuttered.
The parked train slowly shifted on the tracks. I turned to see Erika, the telekinetic woman, staring at the train. Fingertips to her forehead. The metal groaned and screeched across the tracks.
Then it slid in front of the tunnel.
The others pulled themselves up onto the tracks. With all the strength I could muster—and a boost from a woman behind me—I did, too.
Sirens echoed down from above. Jim leapt up the stairs, holding Gavin tightly over his shoulders.
No Magic, No Problem Page 8
