she wouldn’t kill me on purpose, and yet… I wasn’t sure she had a handle on herself. I wasn’t sure she would remember to let go.
Fear kindled within me. Her focus on ignoring her pain was so acute that her eyes were closed. Air dried up in my lungs, no more coming through my closed-off throat.
No one was coming to help me.
With Austin across town, maybe no one could.
I released a hand from around her wrist and reached for my pocket, for my knife Cheryl, but claws raked across my side. I’d changed into my gargoyle form and completely forgotten about it. I had claws! Why wasn’t I using my claws?
Blackness clouded my vision, my head light. A rush of dark rage rose through me, fueling my resolve. I punched my claws into her stomach, piercing flesh. She groaned but didn’t relent. I ripped down, opening thick, messy gashes that spilled blood down on top of me. Still she held on. This woman was tenacious. I punched into her chest next, then her neck, ripping to one side. The sickly gash that opened up would’ve killed a human. She merely flinched, one hand losing strength and nearly reaching for her neck.
It was all the leeway I’d get.
I knocked her weak hand off my throat, pried the second one away, and then shoved her back. As I did, I hit her with another punch of magic that blasted her up and off.
Throat bruised, breathing ragged, I hopped onto my feet. Pulling up every ounce of power I possessed, I sent my own thin slice of magic, the nastiest spell in the Ivy House library. It cut through the air, straight for her. Her eyes widened and she poofed into her phoenix form and spread her mouth wide to catch the spell. She swallowed the spell, and I immediately sent another. This one was weaker—exhaustion was setting in—but hopefully still strong enough to beat her down.
But it didn’t have the chance. Before the next spell could reach her, she squeaked and then burst into flames, falling into a pile of smoldering ash.
The second, and now unnecessary, blast of magic continued past her, heading straight for the basajaun, who’d snuck in at some point, as if taking in a matinee movie. He was hunkered down in the tree behind the phoenix, a terrible location to watch the fight.
He dove out of the way before I could do more than holler, “Loork oww-t!”
My spell crashed into the large pine and blasted a hole into the trunk. Wood crackled and the tree shivered. I held my breath, wondering if it was going to come down. Silence descended on us, everyone else clearly wondering the same thing. Loud pops and crackles preceded the tree shaking, starting to lean, gaining speed.
“Get out of the way!” Hollace yelled, running for me.
Nathanial got there first, wrapping his arms around my middle. His powerful wings beat at the air, and we darted skyward, gravity ripping at us, the speed thrilling. The pine fell, but we were already up over the treetops, still gaining altitude.
“Phoe-nix kii-llerr,” Nathanial said in my ear, his speech within his gargoyle form amazing, his pride unmistakable.
I wanted to tell him that she’d nearly been the victor, to ask why they’d all sat watching while she nearly strangled me, but it would’ve been too arduous with my gargoyle mouth. I’d chastise everyone later. Instead, I relaxed in his grip, pointed at the open horizon, and said, “Fll-y.”
He altered his hold to be more comfortable and then shot out into the big blue horizon, the others joining us in no time.
I had enough power and perseverance to take down a phoenix.
Cyra didn’t fight dirty, though, and a lot of mages did. Elliot surely would. If I gave him the opportunity. Which was why I intended to hit him with my most powerful spell the second he was in my sights.
Three
“Another!” Niamh picked up her glass without looking up from her laptop and rattled the ice cubes within it. The evening was coming on, and she sensed Jessie was on her way to the bar to check in. Niamh had to finish up before she got there. The name of the game was to keep all nonessential information from her until she could handle bad news.
Lately, Jessie could barely handle good news.
“Hey.” Ulric stopped behind Jessie’s open seat, recently evacuated by some tall and thick yoke who slobbered a lot. One of Austin’s flunkies, no doubt. Some of the