I trembled. They were here. Why? After all these months of avoiding us, dodging my telepathy, they’d returned. Taking rapid breaths, I tried to compose myself, to collect my thoughts, to scan the thoughts of the entire city. If this witch had come, did that mean the rest of the Celestial Coven had arrived, too? Did Theodore return with a legion of demons at his beck and call? Was The True Witch here?
“Witches of your caliber can never hold their own against my glory,” the sizemorphic witch said. “I am Winston Cobalt, the alteration branch of the Celestial Coven. The true coven, the divine coven, the righteous coven. I lead the path to the glory of gods, serving as their vanguard. I come to announce your city’s demise. To usher in a rebirth of this sad world.”
“Oh, shut up,” Ortiz shouted. “So you can change your size. Big deal. I’ll burn you to ashes whether you’re the size of a gnat or a skyscraper.”
“I control more than my size.” Winston smirked. “I control all matter of this world.”
With a wave of telekinesis, Winston wrapped his magic around Ortiz’s white flames, and in a blink, the fire vanished.
“How?” Ortiz searched the area, finding his fire hadn’t vanished. The pulse of his flames called to him, still bent to his control, yet they were nowhere to be seen.
“Such a simple gift you were born with.” Winston snapped his fingers. “The gods have no need for fools such as you.”
The white flames exploded in front of Enchanter Ortiz, knocking him back and crashing through a wall.
Dammit. I shivered, caught in the wake of my frightened students who tried to make sense of the casting.
Other enchanters reported to the scene, each hurling their own attacks, but their magics vanished just as quickly as Ortiz’s had, only to reappear and take out the witches who’d cast the strike.
“I can alter myself and all nonorganic materials,” he explained. “You’re wasting your time attempting to strike me down.”
Even though Winston required a form of contact to alter the size of objects, it seemed he could extend his touch through the proxy of his telekinesis. Rare and damn near impossible for most witches. The level of concentration and channeling required to slip his branch into his root and merge them. That was well beyond proficient. Expertise on a level I should definitely have come to expect from a Celestial Coven witch.
This would be perfect for a floral witch, using primal control over plants to take down Winston Cobalt, but the way he continued manipulating his size while tearing through the street, then shrinking in size to counter any enchanters’ attempted strike. None of them could compete with this witch.
I needed to stop him. A Celestial Coven witch dared to show their face here, and now, I’d remind them all why they spent the last several months on the run. Channeling my telepathy, Ihurled the psychic energy at him, preparing to break his mind before he harmed anyone else.
Nothing.
The faintest glimmer of his surface thoughts revealed themselves, but even those were foggy, blurred, and difficult to comprehend.
It was those enchantments tattooed on his skin. Like the other Celestial Coven witches, he had many of them, likely meant to shield him from magics like mine. Still, I managed to override them when dealing with The True Witch and The Sisters Three. It was the close proximity. Even with my branch expanding in such tremendous force, if I wanted to override his protections and stop him, then I needed to get closer.
I focused my thoughts on the scene and back at my body in Cerberus Guild. Without delay, I bolted from the offices and flew from the building. If I dampened my telepathy and focused on my roots, I could fly there quicker, but unfortunately, my mind synced to the fear consuming my students.
They hid from the battle, watching enchanters get slammed to the ground, beaten without mercy, and bloodied at every attempt to stop Winston Cobalt.
“We’re going to die,” Yaritza thought, her panic linking to mine, her fear growing as it fed off her depression, her anxiety, her doubt.
It was too much. I blinked away her terror, but I couldn’t see anything except shadows. The blue sky turned fuzzy, and my flight floundered. I wobbled, barely able to focus as Yaritza’s fear consumed me. I had to stop it. Stop her.
“You need to calm down.” I ground my teeth, focusing less on my own anxiousness for their survival, and more on a soothing tone that’d ease Yaritza away from her panic attack.
“Mr. Frost?” Yaritza asked.
Jamius and Melanie stared, visibly confused.
“Yes,” I thought. “I’m arriving at the scene soon. Along with other enchanters.”
“You are?” Yaritza asked, then turned to her friends. “Enchanter Frost is on the way. He’s bringing help.”
“I need you all to fall back to a more secure location.” Their current hiding spot wouldn’t last much longer. The nearby cars had already been destroyed, and soon the rocky debris they hid behind would be too.
“We can’t move.” Yaritza shook her head. “If we do, he’ll get us.”
“Not if you hide,” I thought. “All I want you to do is focus on scattered shots that’ll obscure your movements. You and Melanie have the firepower to blind Winston’s field of vision.”
“Right.” Yaritza swallowed hard, but a lump of fear remained.
