Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1) - Rin Chupeco Page 0,53
Kazuhiko’s third son not strong enough?”
“Shut up!” Ken snarled. Light sparked faintly again from the ivory sword, but all too quickly it faded, overwhelmed by the anti-spells. The ice maiden only laughed, and Ken’s hands drifted over to his other sword, as if itching to prove her wrong.
Tala was still struggling. It felt like there was a wave of pure force that was pushing against her mind, preventing the dark fog that she had long associated with her curse from drawing close enough to the spell inside the police van and negate its effects. Every step was a struggle, and she, too, was tiring far more quickly than she wanted.
“The girl!” Appleton suddenly shouted. “She’s a Makiling!”
But Loki was blocking their path, the staff in their hand suddenly, impossibly, long. Tala heard the sound of an actual gun and gasped, but there was a heavy thudding as Loki caught the bullets easily with their stick, stopping the agents from hitting them both.
The taste of something acrid and acidic filled Tala’s mouth, like what she imagined a battery might taste like. But the spell was now there within reach, crackling against the fingertips of her mind. She pushed hard.
The police van’s windows shattered. Almost immediately, the pressure eased, and Tala sank back against the car, her strength exhausted.
Ken’s sword snapped and crackled back to life, light blazing forth. He battered it against the ice maiden’s shield, delivering sharp, thunderous cracks; for the first time since the fight began, the creature’s smile wavered as she was finally forced on the defensive. Zoe had recovered her breath and had rejoined the fight, whip flying and hammering lightning against the ice shields to break them further.
A large sphere the size of a basketball rose into the air, as bright as the moon. It smelled like soil after a long rain, and yet was also strangely bitter. Tala opened her mouth, trying to warn them, trying to scream, but she was too weak and only a croak registered.
With a sound much like the tinkling of chimes, the ball exploded.
Ice blanketed the area. It trapped Tala against the door of the car. It wrapped itself around a stunned Zoe and a startled Ken, pinning them to the ground and forcing them to drop their weapons. Loki let out a startled cry and dropped beside her, a spiderweb of frost covering their waists and imprisoning their arms. Everywhere else the same thing was happening. West in his tiger form growled and struggled against an ice net that had trapped him against a tree.
Breathing hard, the ice maiden lowered her arms. The agents paused, their guns still out, warily surveying the area.
“That your doing?” Appleton asked.
“No,” the ice maiden said shortly. “But this would not have been necessary had you done as I had instructed.”
“Deal’s a deal, but Fermanagh wants more answers than what you’re giving us. I’ll release the Avalon boy into your custody after we’re done with our interrogation. I don’t know what bargain your mistress struck with the people in my department, lady, but we still have our protocols to follow.”
“That will take far too long.”
“That’s what we agreed upon. You don’t like it, have your boss take it up with my boss instead.”
“We can do that,” someone else said. It was a low, painfully familiar voice.
The boy walked into view from behind the police van. Shock pulsed through Tala.
Agent Appleton frowned. “Who’s this one?”
“You said her boss had to take it up with yours,” Ryker said. His fingers were still dusted with particles of ice from the ball he had hurled, and he brushed his hand against his pants to shake them off. His smile was just as cold. “That’s me. Let’s discuss our options right now.”
13
In Which Bad Bureaucratic Policies Have Consequences
It couldn’t be Ryker. It couldn’t. He had kissed her before the bonfire under the moonlight and made her feel real things. He had been nothing but attentive and kind.
And that wasn’t proof at all, spoke that part of her always keen on self-sabotage. Just because he’d been nice to you doesn’t mean you can trust him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be this stranger before you now. It was wishful thinking, wanting to hold on to that old idea of him for a little while longer.
This Ryker was different. This Ryker was smiling like before, but it was a cruel smile she’d never seen on him.
“Ryker,” she said, and, pathetically, it came out a whimper.