Page 37 of Trapped By Clocks and Hearts

The monster’s roar was loud in my ears. The dark gooey plasma around us wobbled and shook as my fire spread across its entire form. Heat seared my face but I tucked Allie’s head in my chest as I flew us up faster and faster, until soon, I could see the light at the end of the whorl of burning beast, like a tunnel.

Shooting out of the rainbow’s maw, we arrived back in the forest. I grasped the nearest tree to catch us, its trunk nearly swinging at the force. With a precarious grip on the branch we’d landed on, I glanced back in time to see the dark beast explode into a million shimmery pieces with a devastating gust of wind that raged across the forest. The intensity of the explosion gouged a blackened impact crater on the ground.

The rainbow was completely obliterated.

Allie peeked out, her eyes still wide as she gazed at all the fallen trees around us. “Whoa. Did you just…?”

For once, I was at a loss.

I hadn’t meant to do that. I didn’t even know destroying rainbows was possible. Then again, I’d never had to fight a rainbow before. I would’ve never had cause to do so before and they weren’t that prevalent on my side of the river.

But surprise was secondary to the load of relief in my chest and then—fury. I glared at Allie in disapproval. “And just what in the hell were you trying to do?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

I set Allie down on the semi-wobbly thick branch beside mine. “I honestly can’t tell if you’re really brave…or just really dumb.”

Rubbing her arms, she wrinkled her nose. “I was curious.”

I groaned again. If I had a Heartfire ember for every time Allie said that. “Haven’t you heard of that saying, like what happens with cats and curiosity?” I ran my hand over my face in frustration. “You should ask Chez. More than a couple of his lives were lost thanks to curiosity.”

“I said I was sorry.” Allie pouted as she adjusted her clothes.

A cat’s head popped up right by my shoulder among the leaves.

Allie almost jumped back into my arms in her startle.

“Someone mention my name?” Chez grinned as the rest of his fuzzy purple body slowly followed to appear.

Half in relief, Allie clutched at her chest. “Chez! How did you get here?”

“I’m a Cheshire cat. I can go anywhere I want.” He stood on his hind legs and mocked a formal bow. “Besides, I’m here to escort you to the Duchess’s humble abode.”

Scooping Allie back up, I flew us back to the ground and set her down on the grass.

Teetering slightly on her feet, she winced. Her white coat had bleeding punctures from the thorny vines. I was sure she had the same red welts I did. It was lucky we managed to escape before the beast could injure her more seriously.

Chez looked from her to me with a shake of his head. “Jeez, you guys look horrible. Allie, are you sure you’re okay?”

She was nursing her arm with one hand. She shook her head dismissively but her nose was still wrinkled. “It stings a little but I’ll be okay. I think Rabb got me out in time.”

The purple cat popped up ahead of us on the grassy path. He craned his neck back to muse, “Hey Rabb, saw what you did just then with that rainbow monster. That was pretty impressive.”

“Of course it was.” I dismissed him, but as soon as I strode after him, I winced at the throbbing pain myself. Now I had a stab wound in my shoulder and bleeding thorny cuts all over. I hissed under my breath as I tried to conjure a healing spell to no avail.

Juuust great…

My magic was sapped. I couldn’t heal myself.

Hobbling along, Allie frowned as she looked me up and down. “You know, for a bad guy, you have an incredibly incorrigible hero complex.” She shook her head in disapproval. “You were already hurt and you jumped in like that. You probably tapped out your mystical core all over again, didn’t you?”

Whirling around, I growled in her face. “I had to! How the hell else would I keep you safe?”

She winced, leaning away, and let out an exasperated sigh. “You keep saying that. Is my life that important to you?”

Leveling my gaze with hers, I was sure my tone was as grave as anything. “I told you it’s as important as my own life.”

Blinking, Allie studied my eyes for a silent moment. It was as though, despite my having told her the same thing on multiple occasions, it had only finally sunk in. She pursed her lips after a pause. “Well then, you’d better take better care of yourself. Or how else are you going to have enough strength to step in to save me again next time?”