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I stared at Fred as we exited the other side, sans unwanted passenger. “I thought you didn’t know how to drive!”

“I don’t!”

“Then what was that?”

He stared at me, confused. “What was what?”

I didn’t answer, too busy vaulting over the seat to stare down through the smoking hole. I spotted Pritkin getting dragged along underneath, clinging to the fence and staring up at me with a bone white face. And then smacking into a pylon and yelling something that looked really profane.

I seconded the emotion, because three mages were somehow still dragging along after him.

“Son of a bitch!”

“What is it?” Fred demanded.

“There’s three more mages down there!”

“What? But there should only be one!”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I snarled, as one of them tried to sling another spell at us, only to have Pritkin all but wrench his arm off. One of the others responded by trying to do the same to Pritkin’s head, but he must have gotten his shields back up, because it didn’t work. But shields wouldn’t last long, not against these guys.

I crawled back up to Fred. “Change of plan.”

“We have a plan?”

“We do now.”

Pritkin’s shields might not work against the mages, but they worked well enough on most other things. I just had to find the right other things. Fortunately, there were plenty of options.

“Aren’t you taking this thing?” Fred demanded, as I got a knee up on the seat so I could see outside.

“No, you’re driving.”

“Didn’t you hear me? I don’t know how!”

“You’re doing fine so far. Just hold the gas pedal down and keep the steering wheel steady. I’ll correct if you get off course.”

“Gas pedal,” he said, looking panicked. “Which one is that?”

“The one your foot is on.”

“And which is the brake?”

“You’re not going to need the brake,” I told him, and yanked the wheel hard to the right.

We zipped back toward the garage and the row of buildings it serviced, the fence streaming out behind us like the tail on a very strange kite. “You can see, right?” Fred asked nervously.

“Yes.”

“Good. ’Cause with this damn hood in my way, I’m almost—Auggh! What was that?”

&nbs

p; “It’s okay, you’re doing fine.”

“But I hit something!”

“You should probably get used to it,” I told him, staring out the back window.

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