by Lola Dodge
I’d take him up on it.
The blood from his wounds already smeared my hands. The spots warmed.
Energy flowed into me drip by drip. Wynn’s strength.
“You don’t die.” He squeezed my wrists tighter. “Promise me.”
“Neither of us dies,” I repeated his own words. I wasn’t sure I believed them, but I chanted them to myself like an incantation as his power sank into my skin. Neither of us dies. Neither of us dies. Not today.
As Wynn’s stamina refilled my tank, the gray worms faded from my vision and the feeling returned to my arms. I had one chance.
I couldn’t hold back, even if it meant draining both our life forces. Seth couldn’t be left to wander town, putting more and more people into this same situation.
No more Hands. No more warlock nonsense.
I knew I couldn’t end him myself, so I wouldn’t bother trying. I didn’t need to attack. I needed to call the cavalry.
My arms were mine to control again, but I kept a loose grip on Wynn’s neck. Seth hadn’t noticed I was driving yet, so I didn’t want to clue him in.
Tipping my head back I stared at the zenith of the warded dome. The weakest point. That wouldn’t have mattered with only my own power to burn, but now that I had a second person to draw from…
We had a shot.
I gathered every tendril of magic in my body and then dug deeper, pulling from the well of my life force. Wynn’s magic was still flowing into me and I threw it into the ball of energy. A ball wouldn’t work though. I mentally pressed it together until the power manifested in front of me in the shape of a bullet.
Part of me wanted to blast Seth, but as much as I wanted payback, I’d only get it if the Syndicate found us in time. I scrunched my eyes tight and pointed at the ward above my head. Fire away.
The ghost of a gunshot echoed.
My magic stuck just inside the dome of Seth’s ward, the bullet of compressed energy caught against the now-visible blue-black field. Energy drained out of me like I was running a faucet full blast. Sitting up was too much. I collapsed.
Flat on my back, I fumbled until I gripped Wynn’s fingers. His energy flowing into me was the only thing keeping me from passing out.
With spots flickering in front of my eyes, I focused everything I had on the ward. Go. Work.
I had to push through.
The bullet of power spun. Slowly, so slowly.
Seth’s ward glowed with the challenge. Still solid.
Wynn weakly squeezed my hand. “You’re holding back.”
Where was I holding back? I was putting out so much magic I could hardly keep my eyes open. The only thing I was holding back was enough energy to keep breathing. I’d left Wynn a little more than that so he didn’t lose out to his injuries. If I took more…
“Take what you need,” he repeated, voice strained. “I won’t be anyone’s puppet.”
“Me neither.” I bit down, clenching every muscle from my jaw to my toes and drawing every last bit of power either of us had.
Better dead than Seth’s Hand.
But if we could, I wanted to survive.
Go!
I heaved, throwing everything into one last effort.
The bullet of power pushed and pushed and—
Craaaaaaack.
The ward gave. Just the zenith.
The bullet slipped through the teeniest crack and shot into the sky. The ward resealed itself right away, but it was enough.
My vision flickered in and out so I couldn’t see where the bullet went, but I felt the knot of power zooming high and away. I pushed it until I started to lose control and then nudged it with one last blast of my energy.
The power exploded in a glorious red firework that glittered in the sky. The boom rolled over me sweet as heavenly harp music. I sagged into the ground, numb to everything except that sound and my grip on Wynn’s hand. He was still feeding me power. I stopped drawing but gave him a squeeze. The Syndicate could find us now.
Seth snapped and the ward disappeared like nothing.
“Drag them out.” He waved to his Hand, who crouched in the reeds at his feet.
The man who’d run us off the road had lost the ball cap shielding his face. He was older than the last Hands, with salt and pepper hair and a giant gash in his chest oozing blood into his once-white button-down. He stumbled toward us at Seth’s command, but without the compulsion, he wouldn’t have been standing. The man’s footsteps dragged across the ground as he wobbled. He looked more like a zombie than the Wu Servants ever had.
A thrill of hope shot through me. Maybe I wasn’t standing either, but this guy was fightable.
I started to mouth as much to Wynn, but he’d passed out again. With the static fuzzing my head, I wouldn’t be far behind him.
Just stall. Magic mostly spent, that was the best I could do.
The Hand grabbed Wynn by the ankle and started to drag. I kept hold of Wynn. When my arm jerked, the Hand struggled to pull two bodies at once. But no matter how the man bled, Seth obviously wasn’t letting him give up. Step by step, he pulled us toward the growing sound of water.
When we pushed through the reeds, I knew where we were. The river followed the same path as the canyon road. That meant Seth hadn’t dragged us too far from wherever we’d crashed.
The Syndicate had to be close by.
Hold on. If I could buy a few more minutes, Seth would be toast.
“Put them here.” Seth stood at the edge of the river. White rapids crested over rocks all the way downstream and the water moved fast. I let go of Wynn and the Hand stumbled at the loss of weight. He wobbled straight into the river but caught his balance before he went down.
“You’ve about lived out your use, old man.” Seth reached out and power twirled around his fingertips. He made a sharp tugging gesture, and the Hand pitched forward, splashing face-first into the river. A wisp of red-black energy rose from his chest, making his back arch in the water. I flinched but couldn’t look away.
Poor man. At least now his spirit would be free.
Seth absorbed the power through his palm in a flash. By the time I blinked away the burst of light, the Hand’s body was already washing away. My skin tingled with suspicion as Seth paused to watch the man float down the river. Why would he care about killing another Hand? Did he know—
Oh, no. “Mr. Moretti?” I croaked the question, already knowing the answer.
“Used to be. Not anymore.” Seth’s voice dripped satisfaction, making my guts roil. “Looks like you’re next down the river.”
I dug my fingers into the dirt and tried to crawl away, but I could barely lift my head, let alone move forward. “The Syndicate will destroy you.”
“I’ll be long gone before they find us. Just have to finish this last piece of business.”
I froze. Seth crackled with power and he wasn’t trying to hide it anymore. My muscles tensed, wanting me to run far away when all I could do was lie in the mud. I tried to kick my legs or even roll, but I’d overreached myself too far.
“There’s nothing left in you worth draining,” Seth said, yanking me by the T-shirt. “It’ll be more fun watching Agatha and the Syndicate dredge your body out downstream.”
He hoisted me to my shaking knees and started pulling me toward the river. I tried to push him away, but I could hardly find the strength to lift my arms.
Push.
There was nothing to hold back for. I either fought him off or ended floating downstream like he wanted. Never. I managed a wild swipe, catching his hand with my nails.
He hissed and dropped me.
I landed on my face in the shallows and almost sucked in a lungful of water. Flopping and struggling, I rolled onto my back.
Seth crouched over me. He pushed back a strand of my hair, his touch making my skin crawl like caterpillars. “You’re not special. Not even a little.”
I would’ve rolled my eyes, but it would waste too much energy. If he wanted to spend precio
us seconds trying to demoralize me, then let him. He’d lost whatever power he had over me and I wasn’t giving it back to him now. As embarrassing as it was that I’d wanted his approval before, the idea that I could still value his opinion was so laughable. “Your opinion doesn’t matter.”
His lip curled. Before I could draw in a breath, Seth grabbed my neck and flipped me. My face slammed face into the water. Shocked, I took in water through the nose. Coughing, I choked it out.
I tried to lift my head, but he gripped the back of my neck and pressed down hard, driving me straight down into the mud and rocks. I kicked. Gulped. Thrashed. Choking. The flowing water roared in my ears.
Drowning? He was seriously going to drown me?
Panic exploded under my ribcage. I sucked in more water. Choking. Crying. I tried to reach behind myself. Seth dodged the wild swipes.
My lungs burned with river water. Still, fingers dug into my neck, forcing me down, down.
Down.
Not like this. Despair seethed with the water in my lungs.
Then a sharp crack echoed from the surface.
The weight disappeared. Adrenaline made me snap up. I coughed and spluttered, hacking up the water I’d breathed in.
Seth screamed.
He lay half in the water, half on the edge of the river, rolling and gripping his thigh.
Blood everywhere.
What the hell?
I swiped mud and water off my face.
Wynn had crawled to my side with a gun from who knew where. He was aiming a second shot through slit-narrow eyes, so exhausted he didn’t look able to do anything beyond pointing the weapon.
Adrenaline jolted. Please hit.
He fired. The sound boomed, but the bullet flew wide.
Wynn’s arms dropped. “No more bullets.”
I wasn’t sure I could stand, but I had to somehow. First, I grabbed for Wynn. When I bumped his arm, energy crackled between us. Just a wispy little thread, but our connection must still be flowing. “Can you move?”
“Barely.” His eyelids started drooping.
I squeezed his elbow. “Stay.”
It was up to me to finish what he’d started.
Crawling as fast as I could, I made my way through the mud to Seth. He’d tumbled, but he wasn’t rocking back and forth with pain anymore. Now he gripped his leg and magic glowed bright on his fingertips.
He wasn’t really trying to heal himself? Healing magic didn’t work like that. You could patch up someone else if that was your gift, but healing your own hurts drained more than it fixed—like guzzling salt water when you were dying of thirst.
I held my breath, leaving him to it. The more he tried to heal, the less power he’d have to throw at me. But I couldn’t hold the position forever. When my arms and legs wobbled, his attention snapped back to me.
“You.”
My breath hitched. I shouldn’t have come so close.
He lunged for me. I caught his arms first. I shook, barely holding him back. My ears still roared with the sound of the river and my lungs burned.
Not again.
I kicked out and kneed him straight in the bloody patch on his thigh. He wailed and tipped over, splashing onto his back.
I managed a second hit, not as hard. There was nothing left to give.
Seth was already in the water, so I let gravity win, falling down on top of him. He thrashed, trying to throw me, but I was dead weight.
As Seth struggled, his energy shifted. It flowed with the current of the river, being pulled out of him as his blood leaked. Wynn must’ve hit an artery. It felt like someone had tossed a bucket of cursed sewage into the river. The taint made the water froth and numbed wherever it splashed my skin.
Seth hit at my arms, gulping in water. When his face broke the water for a split-second, his contacts were gone. Washed away, revealing the wide, black pupils underneath.
I didn’t want to see. Latching onto his shoulders, I pushed him down, tapping into my last reserves of strength as he tried to shake me off. I couldn’t let go. I hooked my legs around his waist, using every pound I had to weigh him down.
His movements grew weaker and weaker.
But so did I.
And the current was stronger than both of us.
We were sliding farther out. Both of us would be washed away.
I couldn’t see anything but river rapids and even those were fading. The roar of the water dulled. There was no way to pull myself to shore without giving Seth a way out.
So be it.
I could be okay with death as long as I took Seth with me. With no more strength left to hold my head up, I struggled to stay above the water.
From a million miles away, I felt something touch my ankle and pull.
The river tugged Seth away from me. Without my weight holding him down, he bobbed to the surface, but he was deep in the middle of the river and flowing faster. His head slammed a rock before he disappeared under the frothing rapids.
I wanted to let out the biggest yelp of victory, but I was still in danger. Get out of the water. Swim!
Another tug against my ankle and I moved closer to shore. Wynn lay mostly in the river, yanking me toward safety.
Thank you, Wynn. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I worked with him, gripping handfuls of reeds to wrench myself closer. When my chin was on solid ground, I fell down gasping.
Exhausted. Hurt. Still tainted with too much of Seth’s magic for comfort.
But alive. Breathing sweet air.
Wynn let out a gasp. “Told you…neither of us…dying.”
Relief pricked the last bubble of energy keeping me conscious.
I slipped into the dark.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I wasn’t sure when the women of the Syndicate rolled up, but I was distantly aware of familiar magic and a blanket being draped over my shoulders. I had no idea what else was going on, but the warm hands were attached to someone who cared about me.
It’s over.
When I woke staring at florescent lights, I knew I was in the hospital again. I tilted my head, expecting to find Wynn waiting.
Instead, Mom sat dozing in the recliner.
“Mom?” My voice lifted a raspy octave. Her red-tinged hair shined with grease and she was tucked into her spot with a pillow and blanket like she’d been there a while, waiting for me to wake.
She stirred at the sound of my voice. Blinked. “Anise?” The pillow dropped and she lunged to squeeze my hand. “How are you feeling, sweetie?”
“Fine.” Except not at all, but the aches and weakness felt like nothing next to my shock at seeing her. “How are you here? You can’t be here, can you?”
She gave my hand a squeeze. “You were air-lifted to Albuquerque. I’m still your emergency contact, so the hospital called me instead of Agatha.”
I covered her hands and closed my eyes, inhaling the comforting smell of her rose oil. “Seth?”
“One of the nurses told me they pulled a couple bodies from the river. You’ll have to get the rest of the details from Agatha.”
The last tension oozed out of me. Dead.
He was really dead.
Although I might need to see the body to be sure. For now, I relaxed into my pillow. “What about Wynn?”
Mom unfolded from the recliner and walked around the bed. She slid open the curtain to reveal the bed next to mine.
Wynn lay hooked up to a whole bunch of machines, shoulders bare and bandages stretched across his chest. Another dressing covered his head, and his mop of shaggy hair had been buzzed off. With his cheekbones gaunt against his face, he looked like a different person.
But Wynn’s magic and presence were the same as ever. Just that little spark of power that let me know he was there. The sight of him laid up made my chest tighten with guilt. He’d paid a high cost to save me. “Is he going to be okay?”
“He had a few cracked ribs and internal bleeding. The doctor’s under the impression that he
should’ve woken up already, but his energy is tapped out. Did he lend you his magic? Or his life force?”
“Both.” I would’ve died without him. Again. “I think I owe him a pie.” With no wasabi added.
Mom laughed. “You must be feeling better if you’re ready to get back into the kitchen.”
“What about Agatha and the rest of the Syndicate?” I asked.
Mom moved back toward my bed and smoothed a few stray hairs behind my ear. She left her hand on my cheek, and I leaned into it, totally content to find her here.
“She must be staying away to give us time together.”
“You’re not leaving yet?” I gripped her wrist, holding her to me. Eventually, I’d be ready to head back to Taos, but for now, I just wanted to be with my mom and forget my mistakes and their consequences. There’d be time for those later.
“I can stay. The question is, do you want to stay after this?”
She wasn’t talking about the hospital.
Leave Taos? Leave Agatha’s?
Never. Whether a warlock or a dragon, no caster, creature, or force of nature was going to chase me away. No matter what kind of danger I faced now or in the future, holding my ground was the only way to reach my dream. “I can’t walk away.”
Mom clicked her tongue. “How did I know you’d say that?”
She did know me too well. She stayed to chat until a nurse came to pull her aside. The woman’s voice carried through the thin curtain. “Sorry to bother you, but there are some women asking to come in? Apparently, they can’t visit until you leave.”
“Of course. Let me say goodbye.” Mom strode back around the curtain. “I’d better yield the floor and let them check on you.” She bent to kiss my forehead. “I’ll find a hotel close by and ask one of the nurses to call me when I’m clear to come back.”
“This curse sucks.” And at this point, it was ridiculous. What did it matter if she and the Syndicate women were in the same room together? I needed to ask Agatha if there was any way to lift the binding.
“I earned my punishment. I’m happy enough to see you awake and healing.” She patted my head. “Get some rest, okay?”
