The tar tightened harder around my legs the more I fought it. Panic slammed through my chest so violently it physically hurt.
My breaths started coming, shallow and fast, while Olivia’s eyes locked onto mine across the cavern. For the first time since I met her, I saw real fear.
Think. Think, Calix.
I looked toward Rack desperately.
A fae illusionist had trapped him in some kind of phantom battlefield. Wind tore wildly around him while he attacked enemies that didn’t exist.
Fuck. Think!What breaks tar? What breaks adhesion?
My hands frantically jammed through my pockets until my fingers closed around one of the small explosive air capsules,and my eyes flicked toward my watch. One unused water spell left. An idea sparked instantly.
I slammed the activation button, and water burst into existence above my head in a massive suspended sphere.
The demon controlling the tar looked at it and started laughing.
“Need a bath?” they called out over the rushing water. “Might be hard scrubbing all this off.”
I released the suspended sphere above me. Water crashed downward in a violent wave, drenching me completely and flooding across the tar wrapped around my legs.
The black sludge hissed and bubbled as the water soaked into it.
At the same time, I pulled the small air grenade from my pocket and held it up between two fingers. Hopefully, this didn’t blow my damn feet off.
“Nah,” I said with a grin and all bravado, “didn’t you know?”
The demon suddenly stopped laughing. Its hood slipped backward as it stared at the water flooding the tar.
I smiled wider. “The trick to tar is hardening it.”
“What? NO!” she screamed, and I threw the grenade directly at my feet.
Boom.
Compressed air violently detonated outward. The soaked tar instantly hardened, becoming a solid weight around my legs. I gave it a good tug, and it shattered apart beneath my strength.
Stone-like chunks exploded away from me while I ripped free and blurred forward at vampire speed.
The fairy illusionist barely had time to turn before my hand cleanly punched through its chest . Warm blood burst across my arm, and when my fingers closed around something soft inside its ribcage, I crushed hard.
The fairy’s body convulsed violently before going limp. I ripped my arm free and threw the corpse aside without slowing down, then I charged straight for the madman… and slammed face-first into a forcefield.
The impact cracked against my skull hard enough to make the cavern ring.
I snarled and planted both hands against the shimmering barrier, shoving everything I had into it, but nothing happened. The magic held firm.
Inside the barrier, the human calmly lifted a knife from the altar beside Olivia. Ancient runes glowed faintly along the blade.
“No!” My scream tore through the cavern.
Suddenly, a cyclone exploded around the barrier. Air and fire spiraled together, swallowing the entire forcefield in a roaring storm, and the chamber shook beneath the pressure.
The human staggered backward, lowering the knife while staring up at the destruction spinning around him.
“Calix,” Rack barked sharply, “get behind me!”
He stood several feet away with both hands extended outward, fingers trembling violently while he forced more and more magic into the cyclone surrounding the barrier.
