“What are you doing, Beth?” Kira hisses.
“We can’t get a good shot at him if he doesn’t show himself.” I channel my magic from my hands into the whip and snap it at the giant’s head again with the full force of my power.
A bellow rattles the mountain and my teeth clack together as I stumble to the side full force hitting a tree with athwack. Pain sears up my side where I made contact with the tree. One green eye blinks open from the side of the mountain, glaring at me.
“So much for the distraction,” Kira mumbles.
“It wasn’t working. This is much more direct.” I shrug and drop my sword back into the ether.
Raising a hand, I call the lightning, lighting up every nerve ending, and point the open palm at the giant. Kira sidles up next to me, palms raised in the same way as mine, but before she canattempt to call fire, we are both airborne. A huge hand slams into my body as the giant roars his pain.
White spots dot my vision as I slam into the side of the mountain, rocks digging into my back and slicing at my arms.
“Kira,” I shout. “Are you okay?”
“Define okay,” she groans, slumping to the ground in a heap.
“Can you move? You really want to fucking move.” The forest sways as I attempt to stand but tilt sideways.
“Yeah, and now I’m pissed off.” Kira stands, her hands glowing blue as flames lick across the skin on her palms.
She doesn’t flinch. I scramble to my feet and stalk closer to the giant and shake my head to clear the dizziness. This is crazy. This giant needs to be stopped before we all die from blunt force trauma from being slammed into trees.
“Let’s fucking end this.” I call my magic more than I have called it yet.
The sky darkens as clouds roll over the sun and lightning builds above us in the sky. Kira stands tall, her own magic pulsing angrily as she forms a large ball of fire so dark blue it’s nearly black.
The giant thrashes, snake legs hissing far below as we stalk closer. “On the count of three.”
“One,” Kira says, widening her hands and the ball grows to about half her size.
“Two.” Lightning forks and sizzles with electricity above the giant’s head.
He bellows in fury, but it doesn’t topple us this time, too focused on the magic and keeping ourselves steady.
“Three.” Kira hurls her ball of molten lava at the giant as the sky opens up with twelve arcs of lightning slamming into the giant’s head.
The giant roars and I distantly hear Raven curse as fire erupts from the giant’s snake legs down below us.
Cracks form beneath my feet as I push my magic into the sky, continuing the strike on the giant even as the earth crumbles beneath my feet.
“Fuck, Mimas was the mountain. We need to get out of here before he crumbles to ash.” I grab a still dazed Kira, her magic still building as she throws one fireball after another at Mimas.
“Not yet,” she shrieks. “I can do this.”
“Kira, we’re going to be trapped under tons of rock and rubble. He’s gone. We have to move.” I yank her away from the giant’s head and race down the mountain. “Get the SUV and get the fuck away from the mountain.”
“What?” Raven calls back.
“Get the fuck away! There’s going to be a landslide,” I shout.
“Shit.” Raven does as she’s told and hauls the others away from the chunks of falling rock just before they are all crushed.
Mimas bellows again and the ground cracks and widens beneath my feet but I keep running, gripping Kira’s arm. As the giant explodes into ash, the ground beneath my feet falls and I’m airborne for only a second before I’m falling with a scream.
“Draven,” Raven yells. “Do something. They’re going to be crushed beneath the rubble.”
Kira’s gaze meets mine and in that second, regret fills me because I greatly miscalculated the plan. Here and now, we’re both going to die. I blink back tears as I careen through nothingness, ready to meet my end. I open my link with Jayden for only a second.
