Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,39
low, chittering sound. On the ceiling directly above his head, a shadow larger than the others loomed over him and grinned, baring rows upon rows of sharp, knifelike teeth.
“Die!” Ken said, and swung the sword.
There was a thunk. He’d made a small miscalculation, and his sword had stopped a few inches from the shade’s face. The bright blade had glanced off a book caught in its upward trajectory and had done no damage. Both boy and shadow gazed down at the blade. Then Ken looked back at the shade, whose teeth had lengthened considerably.
“Aw, bollocks.”
The shadow leaped.
Ken’s second attempt with the blade was more successful. This time, the sword caught the shade right along its midsection, slicing it almost effortlessly in two. The pieces landed on the floor with a nasty clunk, melting away. The other shadows, alerted by the sound, converged on Ken, sprouting claws, talons, and, in some cases, a second mouth filled with just as many razor teeth as the first.
Two of the lunging creatures were dispatched in the same manner, but several more slammed into him before he could raise the blade a third time, sending him into one of the bookshelves. The bookcase fell onto the one behind it, which in turn fell over the next, and the next, culminating in a disastrous domino effect that rendered more than half the library into complete shambles in less than two minutes. The few patrons still loitering fled, shrieking.
Struggling out from between two fallen shelves, Ken crawled frantically to his guitar case, but was yanked back. A shade had latched on to his foot; he could feel incisors digging deeply into his flesh, drawing blood. Ken kicked out, hitting it square in the face with his boot. Gritting his teeth against the quick flinch of pain, Ken neatly decapitated it with one broad stroke, then stabbed it again for good measure. The bright sword sang through the air, making short work of the rest.
When the last of the shades disappeared, Ken found himself sprawled on the floor, surrounded by piles of books, dislodged shelves, and loose papers that floated down, settling on his nose.
“Stupid shade. What did he have to go and bite me for?” Gingerly, he waggled his toe, relieved that it was only a scratch. “Blasted thing better not have rabies.”
He turned his head. The second sword lay beside him, a bright and inviting black.
“No,” he told it. “I’m still not using you.”
Something large and vaguely threatening loomed over him. Ken could sense it even through the stack of papers blocking his vision. He nudged them to one side.
A librarian stood over him, hands over her hips. She did not look happy. “What,” she began, in a voice that could be heard for miles around, “do you think you’re doing?”
There wasn’t much he could say to that. “Uh. Saving the world?”
It was almost a blessing that the wall behind them exploded before the woman could strangle him.
10
In Which Tala Dunks on an Ice Maiden
Her phone was still useless by the time Tala arrived back at Elsmore High. With the game over and most of the students at the bonfire—the ones that hadn’t fled yet, anyway—the school was as silent as a mausoleum. Surprisingly, the doors were open; some intrepid custodian had forgotten to lock up for the night.
She was just in time, spotting the firebird as it entered through one of the windows and, based on what she knew of the school layout, into the boys’ locker room.
She’d hoped that leaving the bonfire would free up any network congestion problems, but the lines were down all over town, and she couldn’t even get a bar. Either her phone was damaged, or whatever was disrupting everything else had also been intelligent enough to cut off access to all communication in Invierno.
It was the Snow Queen. It must be the Snow Queen. Who else could it be, especially after that ice wave that had tried to kill her and the firebird? The thought scared her. She wanted to head back home and find her parents or search for Lola Urduja and the others, but she was also sure she’d only be walking into an empty house. They must have caught wind of the weird things going on by now.
Cool. Supercool.
Tala was still shaking as she traveled down the darkened corridor. She knew coming here alone was a bad idea, and she was tempted to run back to the desert. At least she wouldn’t be alone there.