With screeching tires struggling to gain traction, we finally hit the highway beyond. It took me a second to regain control of the vehicle, but I did as I pumped more magic into the steering stack.
We’d just survived something utterly crazy, but crazy wasn’t done with us yet – and neither were the priests. I picked up their chanting again. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Who was I kidding? It practically ripped the damn stuff out of my body.
Horror plunged through me as I recognized more chaos concentrating around us. We’d just passed under another section of the highway. Massive concrete pillars rose up either side of the five lanes we were traveling through – because I sure as heck was not sticking to my own lane like a polite driver right now.
The unreality hex seeped into the concrete pylons. I watched with slack cheeks and wide-open eyes as this black infection spread up the concrete on fast forward.
“That does not look good,” the rat warned.
It was the opposite – it looked really, really, fundamentally bad. And it was. A second later I heard and saw this crack smash across the highway and obliterate those pylons.
The priests were about to squash me flat.
I didn’t have the time to outrun their attack. So I just had to punch through it. I let more magic spill out of me and sail into the car as I gave it everything I had.
It was just in time as the highway fell on top of us. I would never forget that moment for as long as I lived. As the concrete swept over the car, like a blanket over my face, the light cut out, then the sound, then the air, then everything. The only thing it didn’t take was my fight. I continued to pump more and more magic into the car until it acted like a bullet. It smashed through everything that fell on top of us as easily as a mighty earthworm rising through the ground.
It took a lot of magic – too much for me to count. But just when I felt dry, we rocketed out of the other side of the highway. Flame and concrete dust burst around the car and scattered everywhere.
As my vehicle slammed down onto the road, I lost momentary traction and veered to the side. It took me a second to realize I didn’t have any tires anymore. They’d presumably been wrenched and burned right off the car.
“Crap,” I spat as I was forced to concentrate yet again. Clamping my eyes as tightly shut as I could, I had to imagine a set of tires.
“The priests are almost onto us again,” the rat squeaked. His squeal was more high-pitched than usual. It sounded like he was about to have his tail plucked out.
I could hear the little guy scurrying up the side of his seat. Hell, I practically heard his eyes as they opened as wide as they could.
“What’s going on?” I couldn’t afford to open my eyes as I concentrated on constructing a functional set of tires with nothing but my mind. As for crashing into objects as I well and truly took my eyes off the road, that was the least of my concerns right now.
“The priests’ vehicle has traveled over the damaged section of the highway. They appear to have the ability to fly.”
I swore. They would have the ability to do whatever the hell they wanted with that many practitioners on board. If they wanted to, they could damn well crush Tokyo like a bug.
“Come on,” I hissed as I begged my damn magic to take hold. Just as I heard the priest truck rev up from behind us, my magic finally did it, and I could feel as it recreated a set of tires.
As the car got traction again, I opened my eyes to see the priest truck jerking in alongside us. For the first time, I caught sight of the driver. The guy was wearing a hood that was down so low, there would be no chance in hell that he’d be able to see the road. It wasn’t like he was planning on driving safely, anyway. I watched as he yanked a hand off the wheel and sent a burning mandala spinning my way.
I turned my wheel hard and managed to dodge it. The mandala smashed into a section of road, traveled through it, then kept going, until a second later, a massive explosion tore up through the bitumen. It sent it hailing down everywhere as if that mandala had been the concentrated equivalent of a storm.
“Oh god,” I hissed as I realized I was rapidly running out of magic while it seemed as if the priests hadn’t even scratched the surface of their reserves.
“God is unlikely to help you right now. As is the Devil. Though I am sure they are both rooting for you. You must be your own miracle right now, though.”
Be my own miracle right now? Yeah, so I’d updated this rat’s capacity to speak, but I hadn’t made him into a clipped British New Age gentleman.
I’d have to question whether this was his real personality – if I ever got the chance.
The driver sent another mandala blasting toward my car. This time I couldn’t get out of the way in time. I tried to use a surge of magic to protect the vehicle, but it wasn’t enough. As the spell struck, one side of the car burst into flame. It was the rat’s side. He squeaked and clambered onto my lap.
“Not helping,” I quipped as I tried to send calming magic into the car’s body to stop the fire. No matter what I did, I couldn’t quell the flames – they were no mere ordinary fire. They reminded me of what I’d seen at the orphanage. They had to be chaos flames. As frigging Sonos hadn’t been able to do anything about them, I doubted I’d have that skill.
Swearing again, I started looking around for a new car. There was, thankfully, no one else around. Hopefully the police had done their job and diverted all other traffic. Or maybe the citizens of Tokyo, considering their history with mega monster attacks, had a sixth sense for epic trouble.
While it meant everyone was safe, it also meant I couldn’t find another car to steal. I was stuck with this one.
“Fine,” I snarled as I shoved my foot harder on the accelerator. I didn’t know how to extinguish chaos flames, and I really doubted I could just outrun them, but by driving as fast as I damn well could, at least I was buying myself a chance. This car couldn’t take another one of those attacks.
“We’re on fire,” the rat reminded me.
“I’ve hardly forgotten. And no, before you ask, I can’t put it out – they’re chaos flames. I can’t even begin to get a handle on them—”
“I may be no expert, but there is only one way to fight chaos – order.”
I opened my mouth to say that I could hardly impose order on those damn flames, but then I remembered what I’d done for that concierge back in the tunnel system. I had counteracted his infection by imbuing him with order. What if I could do the same, but for a whole car – a speeding, burning one that had about a minute before it exploded?
The answer was I would just have to find out. “Take the wheel,” I snapped at the rat.
“Sorry?”
“Take the damn wheel.” I dropped it, grabbed my cross, and got ready to hope like crazy.
“My hands are too small.”
“Then use those impressive teeth,” I snapped. “I have to close my eyes and draw within. We’ve got about thirty seconds until this car explodes, and I have no intention of losing that easily.”
The rat dutifully grabbed the steering wheel with his teeth. Weirdly, he was dexterous enough that it actually worked. He was a good driver, too. While I kept my foot on the accelerator, he did the rest.
Meanwhile, I threw my mind, body and soul, into my cross. Now I’d found out it had belonged to my mother, I channeled her energy. I let it swell and swell within me. I’d always felt this unending sense of guilt about my parents. No matter what I’d told myself and how hard I’d tried to reason, I’d believed I’d been their murderer for so long. Now I knew the truth. It had been Hilliker. And he would pay.
I had twenty seconds. It was so few, it barely bared mentioning. I threw my mind into my Deep magic until I could feel it surging around me. It shook up through my throat, pounded through my belly, and exploded out of my hands.
It was so powerful, the rat shuddered. “Do you mind?” he spoke around mouthfuls of the steering wheel.
No, I didn’t.
I gave the car every last scrap of magic I had until it felt like I was a well that had been tapped dry.
Just before the whole vehicle could burst into flames, engulfing us both, the chaos fire abated. It happened suddenly and without warning. The fire went from covering the whole car to disappearing as if it had never been in the first place.
“You did it,” the rat squealed appreciatively as it continued to drive with its mouth.
Yeah, I’d stopped one attack, but more were imminent. As I snapped my neck to the side and stared at the truck driver, I watched his lips pare back and a curse snarl from his lips. I could actually see it, because it literally poisoned the air around him. As soon as the first syllable slipped from his lips, the air began to burn and blister like skin that had been forced into burning oil.
“Dammit,” I spat as I jerked the car to the side. It was a surprise it was still responsive. After all the damage it had received, this beloved little sedan should have been nothing more than ash wafting on the highway. It still grunted appreciably as I locked my foot all the way down on the accelerator and shot forward faster than a photon.
I managed to just put some distance between me and that priest’s curse. I watched in the rearview mirror as it burned the air behind me. It didn’t just sear through the gasses – it created a pitch-black void and sucked everything into it with this unholy pop that sounded like someone crushing a thousand bugs at once.
“They do not appear to be ready to stop,” the rat noted. He was getting a handle on speaking around a mouthful of the steering wheel.
I didn’t bother pointing out that was one of the most obvious things I’d ever heard. No, these priests would not stop until they had me and the rat was a burning pile of saw-blade teeth and fur.
I needed an edge, and I needed one now. As I bent over the wheel, letting the rat drive while I stared at our surroundings, I tried to figure out how to get rid of that truck in one deadly blow. I could go deeper and dredge up my very soul for the last scraps of my magic, but then I’d have nothing left. I really doubted these priests were the only ones out there waiting for me. I couldn’t tap myself dry. Not considering I still had Lilly and Sonos to free.
So I needed something special – something these monsters wouldn’t be ready for and wouldn’t see coming.
“You must act. I fear we are running out of highway,” the rat informed me with a shrill shriek that echoed through the car like a clap of thunder.
“What? This is a major highway—”
“Our friends – sorry, mortal blood-thirsty enemies – have managed to send a team ahead to remove the rest of the highway. We have about three kilometers left.”
That might sound like a lot – unless you were traveling at top speed. It would take a little over two minutes to reach it.
I sat there, pale, terrified, my mind traveling at a million miles an hour as I desperately tried to think of a way to end this fight – and right now.
I stared down at my ring – not the one Sonos had given me, and not my sword ring – but the one that belonged to my sister. Sato had told me with the most reverence he’d ever been able to manage in his whole life that it would lead me to the heart of Lilly’s power. But could I really call on it now? Surely it would take time – and blessed peace and quiet free from marauding priests – to access it?
“I suggest that if you have something planned, you do it now. If you do not, then it has been a pleasure working for you, my lady. Not that we have known each other long. I had hoped I would have the opportunity to share my story, sorry that it may be—”
I tuned him out, closed my eyes, and settled my hand on Lilly’s ring. I took in a deep breath – the kind that felt like it would plunge right through every one of my cells and continue on for eternity. Which was appropriate considering I was trying to access the Deep.
I heard the priest truck rev up beside us. I thought I heard the driver start to mumble more air hexes, despite the sound of our high-speed chase. I ignored it. I even ignored the rest of the priests on the back of the truck as they started to chant this wholly evil spell. It made my ears ring and the back of my neck feel as if someone was trying to grate it into dust.
I concentrated only on the way that ring made me feel. At first, I discerned nothing more than its smooth cold metal. But the more I attuned to it, the more I got the sense of this force – this truly deep energy vibrating within it. I let it take my attention and draw it all the way in.
The rat spoke to me – maybe even screamed at me – but I ignored it completely as I let this sense of endless energy well within me even more.
I did not know my sister. Or so I thought. On the face of it, I’d seen her once, and I’d only learned who she was a few damn minutes ago, but there seemed to be a knowledge of her within me.
This small smile crept across my lips. It had no business being there, considering circumstances, but it remained even as the rat suddenly yanked the car hard to the side as the priest truck tried to ram us.
My sister had always been with me, hadn’t she? Her smile, her warm presence, her hope that I would one day rise up and take back our lives. I’d never been able to identify it before, but now I could see that her energy had always been around me, waiting for the day I would recognize what it was and claim it.
“Here goes nothing,” I whispered as I twisted the ring to the side. I didn’t know what I was doing. This was not my sword ring. I couldn’t activate it like this, but right now my body was taking over as a knowledge external to it rose through me like fire.
The rat shrieked as the priest truck suddenly rammed us. Our car was forced up onto two wheels. You would think it would be enough to steal my attention off my ring, but you’d be wrong. Even as our sedan continued to drive on two wheels perilously, I let the smallest smile continue to creep across my lips.
I twisted the ring all the way to the side now. Suddenly, magic blasted forth from within me. It rose, higher than a plume of smoke, higher than a flare, higher than a frigging eagle. I couldn’t see it, and the priests would have no idea what had just happened, but it was there.
I thrust my eyes open. It was in time to see that we were just about to run out of highway. The little rat hadn’t lied – the road simply stopped, falling away into oblivion. This wasn’t something we’d be able to outrun or jump over. The road had been swallowed all the way up as if some greedy goblin had chowed through the concrete and pylons without the commuters of Tokyo noticing.
“It’s over,” the rat squeaked.
No, it was only just beginning. It was time to fight in the only way a child of the Deep should. It was time to show Hilliker and his priests just what I was born to do.
Chapter 9
I didn’t do anything showy. I didn’t suddenly spread a hand to the side and send magic blasting over my body in a holy display of power and force. Heck, I didn’t even open my hand. All I did was concentrate until I could extend my mind as if it was some kind of force field.
The priest truck tried to ram us again. It smashed right into the sedan. We were still traveling on two wheels. It should have made us flip. It did nothing of the sort. I imbued the car with the true magic of the Deep. As I’d already pointed out, it wasn’t showy. Plumes of smoke and flickering magical fire didn’t light up the night sky. You could barely even see it. Which meant my dear priest friends would not be expecting it.
Just before our car plunged down into the waiting void, I opened my mind and sent the energy of the Deep spiraling into the priest truck. It swept it right off the road and sent it spiraling down into their own trap. It was so quick, not one of them had a chance to scream.
I slammed my foot on the brakes, and we came to a skidding stop just before the void.
The rat let go of the wheel, though a chunk of it came off in his mouth. He swallowed it down, his throat momentarily bulging. He turned around and looked up at me with awe-filled eyes. “My lady, that was amazing. You overcame their magical defenses in a single att
ack. How did you do that?”
I didn’t reply. Slowly, I stared at my hand. That slight smile was still on my lips. It felt like Lilly was here and she was smiling right in front of me. I closed my eyes and took the moment in.
I didn’t have the luxury of time, though. The rat suddenly bristled, his whiskers darting out wide. “I sense more priests on their way. You need to travel to a different, safe section of highway and try to outrun them.”
“Onto it.”
He scurried off my lap, and I grabbed the wheel. Turning the car around in a smooth move, I stared down at my ring with a smile. I watched the way light glinted off it. It kept reminding me of that soft smile.
I even closed my eyes, because stuff it, I’d done far more dangerous things today.
The rat continued to keep a look out. It was by now clear that he had numerous physical and magical senses that he could combine to make him an effective guard. Whenever he sensed priests on their way, he helped me navigate to a new section of highway to outrun them.
Soon enough, we made our way off onto a side road. We drove and kept driving. It wasn’t until two hours passed without a crazy priest-filled truck running us down that I finally accepted we were safe.
Slowing the car down, I pulled off the road next to a copse of trees.
“Damn,” I hissed. My hands were still tight with left-over adrenaline, and I had to pry the fingers back from the wheel one by one.
The rat scurried up the back of the seat and kept watch through the back of the vehicle. “I think we will be safe for now, but I suggest you get rid of the car. Leaving it here will only make it obvious.”
I patted the dash fondly and shot him a peeved look. “I can’t believe you’re suggesting destroying this car. It got us through hell – sorry, chaos.”
“You cannot leave evidence suggesting where you have gone. Trust me, by now Hilliker’s priests will have memorized the look of this fiendish vehicle.”
Better off Dead Book Three Page 12
