his jacket. The janitor turned and, with a shocking show of strength, threw the mage off his feet and into the bubble. Sydney squawked as he somersaulted, coming up within the circle. Light glittered on his blond hair and accentuated the tattered state of his white jacket. Before he could exit, Ben jumped over and shoved him further in.
“That’s right. You think I’m just gonna lie down and let you sap me dry? You’re gonna have to work for it. Just try and lay a hand on me. I’ll have you cryin’ ‘grampa’ before I’m through.”
His hook mashed Sydney’s ear. The mage hopped away, hand to his wounded face. His appalled look was so comical Dani almost laughed.
Ben waded in. Sydney took several more hits to tender spots, chuffing and grunting with each. Dani saw the moment when testosterone and adrenaline took over. Sydney stiffened under the barrage of hits. Shoulders flexed. Fingers tensed. Nostrils flared.
Ben’s next punch came straight at his nose. With a yell, Sydney latched onto Ben’s hand. Darkness pulsed.
Dani cried out as Ben withered. One instant, he stood gray-headed, wiry, and tall. The next, his hair flowed white and coarse. He shuddered and hunched, spine twisted out of true. His skin turned mottled with purple and brown. Each joint poked out, knobbly and swollen.
Ben bent before Sydney, hacking and wheezing. “A’ight. Good start. Hit me again.”
Sydney hesitated, still gripping Ben’s hand. The janitor reared back, though his arms and legs shook as if he might collapse.
“Do it. Else I’m knockin’ between your legs to prove you ain’t got a pair.”
The fury in Sydney’s eyes flared, as did his power. Ben’s face contorted in a silent howl. Dani spun away, hands over her eyes, refusing to watch.
Awful silence waited behind her. The softest groan made her turn back. Ben’s limbs were as thin as kindling. The jumpsuit hung off him like skin ready to be shed. He was almost unrecognizable, practically a skeletal mannequin with his eyes sunken deep in their sockets. A few scraps of hair clung to his scalp. Warts spotted his neck and his lips had taken on a purple tint.
Sydney dropped the janitor and backed up, disgust writ on his pale face. As he retreated, Dani ran to Ben, fearing he’d been killed outright. His breaths came in fits; his blue eyes had glazed over with thick cataracts. He looked so tiny curled up on the ground. His hands had been reduced to claws, which she gripped, trying to offer her strength.
“Dani?” His voice had faded into a crow’s chuckle.
“I’m here,” she said. “How do you feel?”
“Oh … chipper. Figured on doin’ a jig.” He sputtered. “Guess this is … what a turd feels like just before … it gets flushed.”
Sydney sat with his head in his hands. Dani didn’t give him a second glance, though she knew she was being unfair in ignoring him. Ben had practically forced this on himself, but that couldn’t stop her horror at what Sydney had done.
“Unzip me.”
She looked down at Ben, who fumbled at his uniform.
“What?” she asked.
A yellow fingernail tapped the zipper. “Open up … the suit. It’s blockin’ … the Corruption.”
Dani reached for the tag.
“Careful … don’t be … touchin’ …”
She tugged it down to his waist and moaned in sympathetic pain as Ben’s chest and shoulders were revealed. The Ravishing had spread as planned. The skin across his torso looked ready to slough off, and she kept her hands well away, even gloved as they were, not just to avoid contracting the infection but to keep from hurting him further.
As he’d done earlier, she cradled his head in her lap, trying to provide as much comfort as she could. The back of her mind started screaming about all sorts of germs she might contract, but she ignored it as best she could. He felt too light, as if his bones had been replaced by sawdust. His shallow breaths frightened her, and she listened hard for each one, not knowing if it would come.
While she held him, she woke her power to its slightest degree and let it burrow into the ground around her—the first step in the plan she and Stewart had discussed. Finesse wasn’t and likely never would be her specialty. Natural disasters, big or small, weren’t known for being discrete events, but she could punch hard on short notice.
Now the hybrid just needed to show up.
As minutes turned to ten, turned to half an hour, Dani feared Ben’s sacrifice was for