While I’d been sitting on the porch, drinking lemonade, Finn, Bria, Owen, and Phillip had been getting into position in the woods, ready to snipe at Grimes, Hazel, and their men when they showed up.
My friends fired another hail of bullets at the gangsters, shattering the windshields and denting the car doors that they were crouched behind. But I kept my eyes fixed on Grimes and Hazel, who were staring right back at me, as unconcerned by the bullets as I was. I stayed where I was, because this was the moment I’d been waiting for, my chance to finally take them out.
For Sophia, for Jo-Jo, and for Fletcher.
“What did you do?” Hazel spat out.
“Just made sure that you all get what you so richly deserve,” I snarled back at her.
Hazel shrieked with rage, and the flames crackling in her palm intensified. I tensed, thinking that she might hurl her ball of elemental Fire at me, but instead, she turned and threw it into the woods. The Fire hit a tree and exploded, sending flames shooting into the air and licking at the leaves and grass along the ground.
In the distance, I could hear Finn yelling at Bria and the others to watch the Fire. He knew as well as I did that they couldn’t afford to let the flames get out of control, or the whole ridge might go up, along with Fletcher’s house—and then we’d all be dead.
Hazel laughed with dark delight when she realized that the flames were spreading. Bria left her hiding spot in the woods to rush over to the burning tree. Grimes’s men drew a bead on her, but Finn and the others laid down
another round of gunfire to cover her. A bluish-white light flared in Bria’s hand, and she sent out a blast of Ice magic that quickly turned the flames into thick, twisted icicles.
Hazel’s cackle cut off. Another ball of Fire popped into her hand, and she reared back, ready to throw it at Bria and roast my sister where she stood. I palmed my knives and charged at her, determined to keep that from happening.
Hazel saw me coming out of the corner of her eye. She waited until I was in range, then whirled in my direction and shoved her hand—and the flames flickering on her fingertips—right into my face.
I had just enough time to reach for my Stone magic and use it to harden my skin, head, hair, and eyes before the molten heat engulfed me, making me feel as though I was standing next to an open furnace. Hazel wasn’t as strong as Mab had been, but she was still a powerful elemental in her own right, and it took me a moment to push back and snuff out the flames of her power with my own Stone magic. Smoke drifted up from my body, and sparks and ash fell from my clothes.
Hazel’s eyes narrowed. “So it’s true. You do have Stone magic, along with all that Ice you threw around on the ridge.”
“You really should have listened to the rumors,” I hissed.
“Because now I’m going to kill you with it, just like I have all the others before you. Just like I will all the others after you who are stupid enough to mess with me and mine.”
Another ball of Fire popped into Hazel’s hand. “Not if I kill you first, bitch.”
Instead of answering, I threw myself at her.
I stabbed out with my knives, trying to end Hazel once and for all, but she reached for even more of her magic, turning her fists into two flaming torches. Every time I swung at her, she thrust the flames of her magic into my face, making me retreat. So I reached for my Stone magic, used it to harden my skin, and went after her again.
Hazel realized that I was coming after her through the flames, and she stepped up to meet me.
Every time I swiped at her with my knives, Hazel reached for even more of her magic and tossed it in my direction. Since I didn’t want to get burned alive on the spot, I kept my distance.
Finally, though, I grew sick of Hazel’s game and stepped through the flames toward her. One knife to the heart, and she’d forget all about using her Fire power on me. She’d forget about everything except how much I’d hurt her.
And I did
But Hazel was as good a fighter as I was. Strong, quick, decisive, ruthless. Every time I lashed out with a knife, she managed to block the blow. She punched out with her fist, flames shooting out from between her fingers, and made me duck to one side. I came back up on the left with a knife, but she was already there, anticipating the blow.
And on and on it went, with neither one of us able to do any real damage to the other. All we were really doing was wearing each other out and using up all of our magic in the process.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Grimes watching us while we moved in circles around the yard. Every once in a while, he would turn and throw a ball of Fire at the woods, forcing Bria to use her Ice power to counter it, and keeping the others pinned down there, but mostly, he watched me battle Hazel.
Yeah, he’d be the kind who liked to watch. I wondered if this was another way he got his kicks, besides torturing people in his pit of death or hunting them down like deer in the woods. I hoped he enjoyed the show, because he was going to get a front-row seat for round two. I was killing him as soon as I finished with Hazel.
I shut Grimes out of my mind and focused all of my attention on Hazel once more. Back and forth, we fought, kicking up dust, dirt, grass, gravel, and everything else that was underfoot, as though we were in the center of some whirling dust storm.
Finally, though, I saw an opening, and I took it. I raised both of my knives high and went in for the kill.
Hazel caught one of my hands in hers, then the other one. We seesawed back and forth, with me trying to drive the blades into any place on her that they would go and her easily using her mix of giant and dwarven strength to keep me at arm’s length.
“What are you going to do now?” she hissed, the flames of her magic licking at my skin, trying to break through the protective shell of my Stone power.
“How about this?” I hissed back at her.
I head-butted the bitch as hard as I could.
I caught her square in the nose, the bone crunching like cereal under my forehead.
I drew a knife across Hazel’s right arm, making her yelp with pain. I ducked to one side, and her flaming fist sailed right on by my face.
A cut on her left arm this time, followed by a gash to her stomach. Hazel lurched forward, still swinging at me, but I easily sidestepped her blows.
A deeper, more brutal strike went in and skittered off her collarbone before my knife slid free of her body.
