Sorceress, Interrupted - By A. J. Menden Page 0,68

like a crack starting to open in this reality. I cursed under my breath.

“I can’t break it without a spell book,” Cyrus said. “I don’t know the counterspell and this tracer’s on too tight.” He dropped my arm and saw the light. “Oh, shit. Fantazia!”

“I see it,” I said, teeth gritted.

“Lock it down!”

“I’m trying! Siamo vicini.” But telling our assailants that we weren’t open for business wasn’t helping, and they pushed their way in farther. Every inroad felt like a punch to my stomach.

I doubled over in pain just as I saw Cyrus hurry over to the other side of the room. He punched one of the cultists who had somehow made it halfway inside. They scuffled momentarily; then Cyrus got the upper hand and pushed the cultist out.

“Shut it down!” he hissed.

“What do you think I’m trying to do? I’ve already tried hanging out the closed sign, but it’s not exactly working.” I was beginning to see stars from the pain.

“Then try something else!”

“The only other thing is kind of drastic.”

“Will it keep them out?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then do it!” He pushed another cultist outside.

The pain and stress had gotten to me. “Fine,” I snapped. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. Ce ne andiamo.”

As the words left my mouth, the walls shuddered horribly. The rift disappeared, causing Cyrus to fall over from the sudden end to his shoving match. The transmitter Mindy made for me squealed with feedback and then went silent. I ripped it off and set it down on a table. But . . . it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I leaned against the nearest table for support and breathed deep.

Casting the spell had taken a lot out of me, as did the aftershocks of the cultists trying to break in, so I sank to the floor exhausted but relieved. From my position there I could see that someone had stuck gum under one of my tables. Nice. I suddenly wished I had better chairs than these strange but stylish abominations scattered around the bar. I could use magic to change them, I supposed, but I’d done enough casting for one day. Especially after that last spell. I decided to just lie on the floor and collect myself.

“You did it!” I heard Cyrus say across the room.

“Yes, I did,” I agreed. “But at what cost?”

I could hear the frown in his voice. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

I sighed. “I took us away for a while. My last spell did, anyway. I moved the pocket universe away from reality so no one can access it for a while. Nor can we leave.”

I heard scrambling as he sat up. “You’re kidding!”

Sighing, I dragged my tired body into a sitting position. I could see him getting to his feet. “Sorry, but I’m not,” I said, using the table to help force myself upright. Maybe I didn’t want to stand up, though, considering the way he was frowning at me.

“For how long?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Until that tracer spell dies. A day. A week. A month. For however long it takes. I built my spell on theirs. And when we do get back, I’m going to have to change the locks,” I realized. “I can’t have cultists busting in here to kidnap me when I sleep.”

I sighed, realizing a few other things. “The door everyone used before is permanently shut down. Talk about bad for business. None of my good customers are going to be able to come around for a while—at least, not until I get them a new address. Of course, one of my good customers is trying to kill me, so . . .” I shut off the steady stream of babble when I saw his eyes darken.

“Well, what did you do it for, if it’s going to cause so much trouble?” he blasted. “Surely there are other spells you could have used.”

“Not any I could think of. Not with you pressuring me to hurry!” I frowned at the irritation he was projecting. “Listen, you were the one getting all bossy back there and telling me to do whatever I could to make them go away. I did, and now you’re getting grouchy? If you can do better, next time you cast the spells and I’ll punch the cultists!”

“The last time you did that, I had to come to the rescue!”

So he had. And, as terribly old-fashioned as it was, that he had come to my rescue was a huge turn-on.