“What the hell is that?” Vaughn shouted next to me, her hands plugging her ears.
“Trouble,” I managed to pant as I staggered toward Brenda. No way was I going to make three feet much less the twenty feet separating me from the wailing Doppelganger. But I had to try. If I didn’t all of us, including Dyslexia now since she was no longer under Brenda’s thrall, would have first our eardrums shattered, then our brains liquefied.
They didn’t call Doppelgangers death omens for nothing.
But walking toward Brenda was like walking against a wall of sand, each step slower and more sluggish than the last.
Only chance for me was that Jaylene was still taking the brunt of Brenda’s attention. Farm girl seemed delighted to be toying with her closest victim. I only hoped I could reach Brenda before she killed Jaylene.
Mandy wasn’t doing much better, still fetal curved again on the ground. But as long as Brenda kept her focused on them, she wasn’t watching my approach.
How was I going to reach her transmitter?
How was I going to survive?
Beneath my breath I mumbled the first power spell I’d ever learned. It couldn’t hurt and all I could focus on as long as the Doppelganger’s wail echoed through my very skin.
“Justice deities, change my luck. Make me bold. Bring me what I seek to hold.”
Okay, it wasn’t exactly the way the chant went, but I was desperate. Sagging to my knees I started crawling forward, pain from my bandaged hand helping me focus.
“Power seek as power bring. Dark be gone. Light be strong.”
Gravel scraped my knees, blood stinging my good palm as I pulled myself forward.
“Power be. Like to like. Light to dark. Give me the key that will open the gate.”
I fell, face forward, blackness rushing against me.
“All must be balanced. So must we. I seek thine help, Mother Be.”
The wail continued, but a fresh breeze stirred across my skin. I rolled to my side, looking for Brenda.
She stood there, Jaylene a still ball at her feet, nearby a motionless darker lump, Mandy, nearby in the same shape. But it was Brenda who had my attention.
Her mouth open in an “O”, she looked dazed.
Then I noticed Kelly, materialized right behind Brenda.
Where had she come from? What was she doing?
I rallied to my knees. Brenda would eat Kelly for breakfast, especially if farm girl knew Kelly was blind.
“Don’t,” I gave a hoarse shout, both women looked in my direction.
Which gave Kelly the chance she needed. With a cry worthy of a soccer stadium in the last seconds she threw herself against Brenda, grabbing at her hair and face.
Brenda spun in a twirl of rage, then both of them went down. Not finished but stunned. The scream was silenced.
Now.
I staggered upright, closing the few feet left between us and hurled myself on Brenda.
Dog pile.
Brenda scraped and struggled but I was a witch on a mission. Farm girl had killed Serena. And Rolf. And two others. Not directly but her actions had led to their deaths.
No way was she going to get away.
With moves my brothers had drilled in to me on how to fight hard and dirty, I made sure I drew blood. Even as my good hand sought anything that could be a power transmitter.
When my fingers wrapped around a leather pouch sewn into Brenda’s sleeve, I knew I’d won.
Ripping it off with a scream of my own, one that would make a Banshee quail, I held the bag high over my head. We’d broken the magic casting.
“We did it,” I shouted, panting heavily and looking around me. Vaughn was the only one left standing, wobbly on her feet but giving me a thumbs up from where she guarded the still kneeling Dyslexia. Mandy and Jaylene were out, not dead, but hopefully just unconscious. Kelly was on the other side of Brenda, her eyes closed, her hands clutching the earth as if to orient herself.
And there I was, straddling Brenda, my bandaged hand thrust into the night sky, the other hand on her throat to avoid any more screaming. Her black magic powers might be gone, but she was still a Doppelganger.
I’d used my magic against my best intentions. And I knew there’d be payback; there always was. But I had saved the lives of my fellow recruits, so I was willing to pay the price.
That’s how Stone found us as he ripped around the far corner and skidded to a stop, his first telling glance seeking out Vaughn. He looked like he’d been in his own battle, hair mussed, clothes torn. Maybe Brenda had done something to him before coming after us. If I were her, that’s what I’d have done.
Still, I demanded, “Where the hell have you been? We could have died here.”
He straightened. “Trapped by Brenda’s magic. Until you broke her I was sealed in an invisible wall of magic. Besides,” he gave us all a mercenary smile. “Thought it’d be a good training exercise.”
“Exercise my ass,” I snarled. “Get over here and help Mandy and Jaylene.”
“Was that an order, witch?” he asked, not moving.
“Want me to turn you into a toad?” I rolled off Brenda, aware of every muscle in my body protesting.
Kelly, still sightless but not as damaged as the rest of us, turned her head in my direction. “You could do that? Make him a toad?”
“Or a newt.” I mumbled.
By this time Vaughn had drawn near. “Oh, I’d pay good money to see that.”
“Try it Noziak and you’re dead,” Stone snapped, barking out orders to the other recruits who’d appeared as if summoned. Mandy and Jaylene were roused, both alive and probably wishing otherwise. Someone pulled Kelly to her feet and started guiding her back toward the dorm. A couple of security guards with handheld devices, no doubt activating the ankle monitors on Brenda and Dyslexia, gathered those two together and hustled them off.
I didn’t want to know where they were going or what was to happen to them. Try to kill me once, shame on you, try to kill me twice and threaten my friends, you die.
It was Vaughn who hauled my ass upright and caught me until I got my legs. Stone was on the other side of me as we staggered toward Ling Mai’s office. No doubt had to do an after-action report and see if we were all still recruits; after all we’d brought down two of our fellow team members tonight.
We were mostly silent until I wondered aloud, “So if Jaylene’s vision was true, she should have seen five of us against Brenda, not four.”
It was Vaughn who laughed. “Kelly was invisible. Jaylene couldn’t have seen her.”
“Of course.” Why hadn’t I thought of that?
“You guys made a hell of a mess. It's obvious you all need to work on your technique,” Stone said as we stepped over the threshold into the main building. “We’ll have to start training harder tomorrow.”
I went to take his head off, verbally not magically, but there wasn’t enough magic left in me to cast a candle lighting spell. Vaughn squeezed my arm to silence me.
Instead she faced Stone, “Bring it on, Stone. We can handle it.”
And I knew she was right. At least five of us could work as a team. A rough team, but it was a start.
It was enough for now.
THE END
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Please enjoy the followingSneak Peek from:
INVISIBLE MAGIC
Alex Noziak – Book One