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Auggie cursed behind me as the situation exploded.
One of the ji
The sudden impact knocked the wind out of me. A bright flash of pain sliced through my skull and back.
Dear God.
My gun and badge clattered to the sidewalk. I slid down the wall to my feet, crouching down like some animal, one hand on the pavement as a surge of blinding anger, anger so powerful and excruciating, erupted through me, stinging a path all the way to my fingers and toes. It was hot and cold. I couldn’t contain it, whatever it was. But it erased the pain, so I welcomed it.
A loud hum vibrated from my core. I straightened as the ji
My gaze darted to my weapon directly between me and the asshole ji
He paused. I smiled sarcastically.
The sane part of me screamed. What the hell was I doing? Dive for the gun! But the sane Charlie immediately evaporated, overcome by the hum of energy that squelched any opposition. I cocked my head at him. “Come and get it, you alien loser.” They hated to be called aliens. And I lived to irritate the hell out of them.
A low growl issued from deep within his chest. He hunched his shoulders and ran at me like a bull after a rodeo clown. At the last second, I sidestepped and stuck my arm out, co
I kneed him in the gut as the other guy, finished with Auggie, jumped on my back. My knees buckled, and we went down in a free-for-all of hands and feet. One of them fisted my hair, lifted my head, and then slammed my forehead into the pavement.
Pain exploded, radiating over the curve of my head. Tiny rainbow crosses danced in my vision. A wave of nausea clenched my stomach. My strength and confidence wavered. Desperate, I bit the hand closest to me, getting a mouthful of thick, hot blood as black and tasteful as tar. I turned onto my back and kicked as hard as I could.
There was blood in my eyes. I couldn’t see. I hurt all over. They were wi
Frustration welled inside me. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t happen. Not again!
I tried to tap into the anger of before, into the strange confidence and strength that had overtaken me. Please come back. Please help me, I begged, letting my body go slack and opening myself to the strange darkness I knew coiled under the surface even as their fists pounded into my belly and face.
The pain subsided and the familiar hum returned. I breathed a quick sigh of relief, nearly choking on the blood in my mouth, wanting to gag from the metallic spill sliding down my throat and pooling in my tense, empty stomach.
And then I fought back; like an animal, panicked, wild, hearing only my heart pounding through my eardrums and swinging at anything that touched me.
It seemed to go on for hours; a slow-motion dream that wouldn’t end.
“Charlie! CHARLENE ELIZABETH MADIGAN, STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”
Rough bands pi
The wail of sirens filtered through my disorientation along with my sister’s voice saying my name over and over again.
I was so tired. Too tired to fight anymore.
Cold water splashed on my face, bringing me sputtering back to reality.
What the hell?
My feet were off the ground, my back pressed flat against the brick wall, held there by thick vines that wrapped around my limbs and torso. The vines had come from a potted plant near the map store.
Bryn stood in front of me, holding an empty bucket and staring up at me with tears and worry.
A crowd had gathered, a group of tourists snapping a few pictures. Others were drawn to the gruesome sight of Auggie’s lifeless body surrounded by broken and spilled vials, their liquid framing him in a macabre rainbow of color and blood; and the three ji
Bryn’s chest rose and fell quickly. Her healthy skin had turned ashen. The smile that always lurked in her eyes was gone. “Charlie,” she urged again, this time with a catch in her voice.
My mouth was too swollen to talk, but I didn’t have to ask. I knew Bryn had done this, had stopped me. I let my head fall back against the brick and pain shot through my skull. Bryn closed her eyes and mumbled. The vines withdrew, setting me gently on my feet. I crumpled to the sidewalk, and she was there, holding me, getting blood all over her pretty yellow sundress. She smoothed the damp hair from my face and talked to me in a soft, soothing voice, rocking me back and forth, her cheek pressed against my temple. The scent of herbs and spices clung to her clothes, skin, and hair. It was a good smell, the kind that eased my confusion.
She was crying, saying she couldn’t lose me, not again, and not after Co
Our brother. My twin.
A senseless act of violence when we were teens, and he was gone.
He was the reason I went into law enforcement, to protect my family, to keep assholes and killers off the streets of my hometown. Bryn had been fourteen when Co
I’d felt it the moment Co
Bryn’s rambling continued, but I didn’t hear her words, just the sound of her aching, choked voice. Thinking of Co
I lifted my head and stood with Bryn’s help just as police and paramedics arrived.
“Charlie,” she whispered. “You’re healing.”
“What?”
She stared at me oddly. I could barely see her through the swollen skin around my eyes. “The cuts on your face, they’re healing.”
I touched the split lip, the movement of my arm painful. Everything hurt. Breathing hurt. “Are you doing it?” I struggled to ask.
“No, it’s not me. It’s you.”
“It’s not me.” No, it couldn’t have been me. I didn’t have powers like Bryn. And I was okay with that. I had my own kind of magic. It was called a Nitro-gun, a 9mm SIG Sauer, and a Hefty (a Taser-like High Frequency Tag capable of disabling or destroying the sound-sensitive Elysians). That was all the conjuring I needed.