The air cracked.
A sound like a sonic boom split the clearing.
All of them—Ollie, Vic, Rod—were thrown back from me as if the world itself had recoiled. Lyra screamed, stumbling as her glamour shattered, her power flickering out in raw terror.
She stared at me like she was seeing a monster. Then she ran.
My whole body seized as the power surged up my spine, burning through my ribs, my throat, my eyes. I wanted to scream—
God, I wanted to scream—
but nothing came out.
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t breathe.
I could only watch.
Ollie was still writhing on the ground, choking, gasping, because—
I was draining him.
Not touching him.
Not even close.
My body was stripping his magic, his strength, his life—
violently, instinctively—
like some starving thing had woken inside me and decided he belonged to it.
And I didn’t even care. For the first time – I wanted it.
I wanted to hurt him. All of them. And it scared me.
And then—
Ash moved.
He woke with a shudder, eyes snapping open with feral clarity, and in the next breath he launched himself at Ollie with the force of a freight train.
No hesitation.
No mercy.
He hit him so hard the ground shook, ripping into Ollie like a wild animal protecting its mate, fists slamming, teeth bared, a roar ripping from his throat so raw it didn’t sound human.
Vic tried to run.
Ash’s hand shot out. His magic snapped around Vic like a hook.
He flung him into the air—at least fifty metres up—
and let him fall.
Rod didn’t get far either.
