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Be careful,Felix said as they took their positions. No “don’t do it”. No “wait behind me”. Only a simple warning for an equal.
Same to you.
Gabby felt like she was wading through water, with the magic so thick. The guards saw them coming. The magic had the same effect on them, slowing their movements. Gabby shot the closest vampire and moved on. Before the second one reached her, it collapsed, a dart sticking out of its neck. Gabby gave a quick nod to Pierre as thanks.
She ignored a vampire charging her and lunged for the nearest witch. The pressure from the magic was unbearable. She’d stopped breathing seconds ago. Now the magic was trying to grind her bones to dust.
How were the witches unaffected by the power of their own spell? How could the witches, all humans, withstand the spell’s magnitude?
A foot away from the first witch, Gabby slammed into the shield and shrieked. Her front went numb as pain lashed through her, setting every cell on fire.
The blue light expanded and flowed around Gabby, the magic attempting to crush her to pieces. Her joints protested. Her eyes squeezed shut against the immense pressure. Through her eyelids, the light grew brighter and brighter until the air vibrated and everything turned white.
Boom!
Gabby’s world exploded.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
TheexplosionflungGabbyoff her feet. Fire seared her skin, an agony worse than burning under the sun. The scream in her throat was cut off as she choked on the gushing wind.
Everything flashed white. Then darkness. She had the vague sense of slamming into the ground. Every bone, every muscle, every cell screeched with torment, as though her body had exploded and was knitting itself together from tiny little pieces.
Seconds ticked by. At least she thought it was seconds. The world returned bit by bit. First, the sounds of humongous things crashing around her. The ground shook. A breeze carried the scent and taste of dirty grime.
Gabby struggled to open her eyes and blinked. Blinked again. She stared at what she assumed to be the sky—drab brown obscured by a thick layer of dust. Her mouth was dry, tasting of ash. A rock the size of a house landed two feet to her right.
Felix?With a groan, she pushed herself up. Feeling returned to her arm, but with the way it burned, she wished for the numbness. Her skin was intact, which was a surprise. She had expected a red mass of muscle with no skin to speak of.
I’m okay.He didn’t sound okay. He sounded like how she felt, like they’d both gone through a meat grinder and somehow lived.
The ground shook again. Another chunk of rubble fell. Gabby rubbed at her eyes to check she wasn’t crazy.
The tower was gone. Shattered.
Only a broken base remained. Gigantic, ivory-colored, glowing stones littered the area, crushing a few of the other buildings. Debris continued to rain down from the sky, sending up clouds of dirt wherever they landed.
Gabby guessed she should consider herself lucky nothing had landed on her. Even vampires couldn’t heal from being crushed to soup.
The magic hadn’t leveled Los Angeles. No, the witches had wanted to destroy the Ruin’s tower.
Why?she asked out of reflex, not expecting an answer.
Let’s find out.
Felix appeared next to her, hair disheveled, dust covering every part of him. Patches of dried blood dotted his cheeks and shoulders. Two jagged holes in his shirt, three in his pants, but he was whole. Unhurt.
She stood up with his help and grimaced. The pain was lessening by the second. The perks of being a vampire.
As they watched, a winged figure dropped from the sky into the now broken structure.
Jiaren.
Felix growled.I knew it.
Before they could move, another person materialized out of thin air.
Alistair.
