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Her eyes were wide, clearly verging on panic, but she took a deep breath and reached into the pocket of her sweatpants. She withdrew a glass vial.
“Once more, for old time’s sake.”
I had no idea what she was talking about. She popped open the vial and downed its contents. As she did, her clothes shifted, changing from sweatpants and a jacket to a flowing blue ball gown like Cinderella. I glanced down. Yep, she even had the glass slippers. She tossed the vial aside, smashing it on the pavement.
“Let’s do this!”
Fuck, I wasn’t going to talk her out of this, was I? I really fucking hoped this battle didn’t end with her getting hurt.
I turned to the abandoned building. I could sense the magic within, a beating aura, as once-loved and now-hated as a cold cocktail. Azea: a former friend, one of the assholes who had burned the homes in Free Jinx years ago and sent me threatening letters in prison.
Now, she was blocking me from saving my loved ones while she tormented a town.
I could have roared with fury. Instead, I funneled it into my magic. My mind and body and blood vibrated with the power, and I felt like I could smash the world at a whim.
I lashed out with my magic, grabbing the front wall of the building, tearing it off, and tossing it toward the prison. The wards and shields would take care of the debris.
Azea stood across from me at the foot of a decrepit, winding staircase. Her hair was still bright blue, and her eyes glinted with the same rage I felt. A purple sheen shimmered the air between us as she cast a shield around herself. The Astrosmos rested in her palm. An air bubble churned above it, and as she glared at me, her eyes swirled with the same rainbow-tinted ripples as a portal.
I needed that relic to save my people. I needed it more than air.
“You look like a substitute teacher who’s trying too hard,” Azea sneered. “Are you going to turn a chair backward and rap about fractions?”
“Wow, Azea, you look like an elephant’s ass, if that elephant is giving birth and shitting at the same time.”
Minnie glanced between us. “You know her?”
“Unfortunately,” I said, cutting off Azea. “She’s a coward with the personality of a teenager’s mustache, thin with no layers, and lots of spots where there is nothing of interest at all.”
Minnie nodded. “Reminds me of my mother.”
“That’s your problem, Alyssa,” Azea said, not even bothering with Minnie. “And Juniper’s too. You’re arrogant. Too arrogant to ask for leniency when I have everyone you care about locked away. I can destroy their dimensions at any moment, you know.”
She wanted me to beg. As my anger flared, so did my magic, filling the air before me and straining toward Azea like attack dogs on a leash.
Next to me, Minnie dropped to all fours and twitched her nose. “Get the others.”
Agent Tiptoe hopped off her shoulder to run for the side of the building.
The mouse was getting help, so I kept talking to buy time. “Did you send the portal into the prison?”
Azea glared. “That was for Ram. He wasn’t supposed to bring you out.”
I scoffed. “I brought him out.”
“You corrupted him and turned him against me like you did to everyone.” Her voice cracked. “When you and Juniper broke up our gang, I lost everyone. Half of them went running to you and your little world. The other half went their own ways. Even Sandra, who stuck with me for a while, eventually gave up because she was scared of you and Juniper. Now, even Ram hates me when I was the only one keeping his vision alive.”
I should have felt bad for her because she was right. We had broken up the gang that had been her whole life—and mine once, before I realized that our plan of taking over magic was bullshit. And I should have felt bad for her because I knew what it was to lose everyone; hell, this wasn’t even the first time I had lost my loved ones.
But I didn’t feel bad for her. Not a bit. My stint as a villain hadn’t come out of nowhere, and the part of me that had fueled it wasn’t entirely gone either.
“You bitch,” Azea growled with tears in her eyes. The air bubble above the Astrosmos started to spin, and I knew what was coming. “You’re a treacherous monster, and I’ll make you pay for all you stole from me.”
“You’re right. The bitch is back, and the thing is, I’m better at being a monster than you are.” I attacked.
Chapter 35
Ishapedmymagicinto twin flaming whips, each an extension of my arm, and cracked them at Azea’s shield. As I hit it, vibrations traveled from my magic up my arms and down my spine. But her shield shattered.
