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“What the hell, Ven,” I groan, placing a hand to my forehead. “You could have warned me.”
“I did.” She places her hands on her hips.
“You didn’t say you were making me pixie size!”
“Are you going to keep complaining, or are we going to cross this forcefield?”
Without waiting for an answer, she strides forward. I jog to catch up. The hexes that were practically invisible before are glowing brightly due to the size difference, and I see that we can slip in between them now that we’re only a few inches tall. It’s actually not the worst plan…
A brilliant flash of light pulsates right in front of Ven, and then we’re rocketing backwards across the forest floor.
I’m thrown head over heels several times, Ven along with me. We land about a dozen feet from the forcefield, which at our size is quite a long distance. My head throbs like I’ve been electrocuted. What the hell?
“Damn this orb,” Ven groans, clutching her forehead. “It shrunk down with us but was still a bit too big. I didn’t realize it would interact with the hexes.”
I extricate myself from the leaves. “New plan?”
“Well, first I’m going to put us back so we don’t get eaten by a lizard or something.”
Ven calls on her magic again, and a moment later we’re back to our normal size. I sneak a peek down my pants just to be sure everything is normal.
Ven rolls her eyes. “Have a little faith.”
“You did threaten to harm my manhood last night,” I say with a shrug.
Another eyeroll. “Let’s focus, shall we?”
She walks back up to the forcefield and paces in front of it. After nearly a minute she stops and looks at me. “You said your magic couldn’t help us with this. I don’t think that’s entirely accurate.” She cocks her head to the side. “I think I can focus my magic enough to create a doorway in this forcefield. But it’s going to take a lot of strength. A lot. I don’t need any particular type of magic. I just need some extra power. Extra juice.”
“Did you just ask for my juice?” I grin.
She narrows her eyes. “Honestly, Ryder. Be serious for a moment.”
“Well, if you think that will work…”
“I don’t know if it will. But it’s worth a try. I’m not sure what else is going to get us through this thing.” She frowns.
“Okay. Let’s try it. What do you want me to do?”
Ven takes a deep breath and lets it out. “When I tell you, just place your hand on my shoulder and give me everything you’ve got.” She shoots me a look. “Just try not to make it sexual, okay? That’s what got us into this orb situation in the first place.”
“I’ll do my best.” I honestly don’t know if my magic can not be lustful.
She gives me one last stern look, then turns to face the wall of hexes. Magic flares up around her, expanding until it just touches the interior of our orb, crackling along the surface of it. The orb turns a translucent lavender color, visible for once. I know it has to take an incredible amount of concentration for her to hold the ball of magic to exactly that size.
“Okay, now!” she gasps.
I touch my hand to her shoulder and call on my own magic. My magic in its rawest form, without any desire or focus. I’m doing the opposite of Ven—letting my magic be utterly wild. Power surges into her and she staggers a moment, but then a flood of teal color joins with her ball of lavender, and the hexes begin to push apart.
They move like magnets repelling each other, almost touching but not quite. First the wall bows outward away from our orb. I can feel the tension of the two as they push for dominance. It’s like pushing on a mountain and expecting it to move out of the way. Ven’s arms shake, and her breath starts to come in sharp gasps. Even with both of our powers combined, it isn’t going to be enough.
Then, abruptly, the hexes yield and part around us for the barest of moments. We surge through the wall and they snap back into place behind us, sending a vibration of movement along the entire thing like a spider web.
Unfortunately, the sudden surge sends us shooting into the second wall, which is barely five feet beyond the first. We hit it and bounce back, almost ricocheting against the first wall again. I raise my free hand, the one not touching Ven, and shove out with my magic. My boots slide along the leaves of the forest floor, and I manage to prevent us from colliding with it.
Now we’re trapped in between the two walls, until we can get through the second layer.
Ven takes a breath to steady herself and looks over her shoulder at me. I nod, and we shove forward again. But we’ve already spent a lot of magic breaking through the first wall, so this time it’s even harder. Sweat breaks out over my brow, and Ven lets out a whimper as she shoves with all her strength. The perimeter of our orb starts to crackle as her magic falters. If she lets her ball of magic down, even a centimeter, we’re going to get shot backwards like we did when she shrunk us. There’s only the barest cushion between her magic and the hexes as we lean into it.
I place both hands on Ven, one on each shoulder, and offer her a final pulse of power. Everything I have, paired with everything she has.
The hexes give way, parting around us, and we shoot through to the other side. But as we do, Ven stumbles. I collide with her, and we fall to the ground. Ven lets out a scream of agony.
Her ankle is stuck in the hex wall.
