throat, a buzz under my skin. Johnson’s put up some kind of barrier to keep us closed off from the others.
Help might want to get to me, but until that spell is disabled, I’m on my own.
Well, fine.
“Come at me!” I yell, squaring off against the rogue mage.
It’s probably not the smartest thing to do, but I have to keep Johnson distracted until Dmitri or someone can break that damn charm and get through the shield he put up. Maybe if I can get Johnson to use enough of his force on me, he’ll break through the shield himself? Weaken it enough for the others to burst through?
I gather my magic, feeling it surging in me, and blast it at him. Johnson whips up a shield around his own body, using his charms to help him. I can’t help but glare. Who’s the fucking cheater now? I’m doing this all on my own, without any charms. And I’m managing to hold my own pretty well.
Actually—that means I’m more powerful than he is, doesn’t it?
Johnson makes blades materialize out of the air and sends them hurtling toward me, gesturing with his good hand. I yelp and throw sonic booms out to deflect them, but my aim isn’t great. I’m getting tired, and that’s making me sloppy.
Shit, that was close.
I can hear yelling, but it’s muffled, as if it’s coming through water or a thick wall, and I can’t afford to pay attention. I just have to keep hammering at Johnson until that damn shield comes down.
He sends another whip of fire at me, and this time, I’m too slow. It catches me across the arm, sending white-hot pain flaring through me.
A scream tears from my throat, and I clasp my hand over the bleeding wound. It’s deep, I can tell that already.
As if carried by the pain coursing through me, anger floods my body. Ever since the first day it erupted from me, I’ve worried that my sonic boom is going to hurt people. That I’m going to use it and regret it. I sent Asher to the infirmary by accident once with my boom, and I never wanted to do that to anyone again.
But right now? Who the hell cares if I mess this guy up? He’s trying to kill me; he thinks everyone like me, all Unpredictables, are dangerous and unclean, that we’re some kind of disease. Fuck that shit. All of us—even Alyssa, who’s annoying and shallow and sometimes downright mean—deserve to be treated better than that.
I curl my hands into fists and raise them, drawing on every scrap of anger in my chest and every goddamn inch of magic in my body, then I unleash it.
Johnson goes flying back, and the shield around us wobbles and shatters like glass, sparks of magic fluttering through the air before winking out.
The middle-aged man lands in a heap about twenty feet away, off the stage, sprawled in the grass like a rag doll. For once, I don’t care if I’ve really hurt someone. Later, I’ll feel like shit if it turns out I killed him, but right now, all I can feel is relief that he’s down.
Around us though, the battle is still raging. I turn to get a good look and see Roman crouched at the top of the platform stairs like he was trying to undo the shield. Dmitri is behind him, a trail of blood winding down from a cut at his temple, but otherwise unharmed. But where are Asher and Cam? I swivel my head, scanning the crowd in panic.
Oh shit. They’re still in the crowd, still trying to help the admins and staff stop the fighting. I need to get down there. If we can explain to everyone what Johnson did, maybe—
“Elliot!”
I don’t know which of the men screams my name, just that the next instant my side and head are exploding with pain.
The shield, I think as everything starts to swim, fire enveloping my mind, the world going black around the edges.
The shield was keeping everyone else from getting to us, but it was also keeping Johnson and me from being hit with wayward spells from the battle.
When it went down, those spells became a threat again.
My legs turn to jelly, and I stumble. The blackness eats away at my vision, and pain crawls through me like a parasite taking over its host.
Fuck, it hurts.
It hurts so much…
Someone make it stop…
The nothingness is making it stop, the cool sweet darkness sweeping over me, the