She stared at me for one more single shocked second, before she suddenly shoved into my shoulder and spat, “Move,” into my ear.
It was just in time. Another one of those magical bullets suddenly arced through the air, disappearing over my left shoulder, a bare centimeter from my cheek. If they woman hadn’t slammed into me, I would have died.
I’d come here to save her, but apparently she would have to save me.
My adrenaline had gotten me this far. It couldn’t get me any further.
I had no idea whatsoever what I was up against. I didn’t understand the faceless man, and I didn’t understand the witch, either. Yet as time slowed down for a fraction of a second, I could appreciate that the woman could be no ordinary witch. She didn’t have a twin. The other witch followed her every move and was more like a duplicate. A body double.
With her tight, rigid fingers wrapped around my hand, she didn’t stop pulling me along. Lifting the sedan had bought us a precious few seconds, but abruptly those seconds ran out. There was the sound of thundering footfall, and I felt the faceless man leap, and finally there was a thud, right above us.
I jerked my head back to see he’d jumped on top of the SUV to our side.
I rounded my shoulder, shoved it into the woman’s arm, and knocked her out of the way.
For the first time, I got a good look of the creep.
Before, I’d thought he’d been wearing a mask. Now I realized it was no mask. He just didn’t have a face. Where there should be a face was just skin, as if his flesh had grown up to cover his eyes, mouth, and nose.
It was categorically one of the most terrifying things I’d ever seen, and yet, I didn’t have time to truly appreciate it.
He ticked his head to the left then pounced. As he did, he brought his magical gun forward, waving it like a sword. And as he waved it, it turned into a sword in front of my very eyes.
Suddenly, time slowed down for me, right down. I saw the woman slam into my shoulder, pushing me out of the way.
Then I saw the faceless man’s weapon extend, his sword growing into a spear as he thrust towards the woman.
Time sped up. I had half a second – no, a micro fraction of a second – to process what I’d just seen. Then he leaped.
I felt the woman shift forward, felt her shove towards my arm.
I moved. The vision flowed through me, controlling my every action. I didn’t just push myself out of the way. I threw the crowbar that was still in my hand. Before the faceless man’s sword could extend into a spear, the crowbar slammed right into the center of his forehead. He may not have had any features, but below his mask of flesh was still a head. And that skull suddenly cracked with a resounding thud.
The moment zoomed past so quickly, when it was over, I found myself standing there, frozen.
The witch, however, wasn’t frozen.
As my blow sent the faceless man spiraling backward, she pounced forwards. She rounded both hands into fists, and the ring on her index finger pulsed into life and sent out a crackling charge of magic that covered her completely. Her body double did the same. Both women snapped forward and sent pulses of magic blasting into the prone man.
They sunk into him, and his body twitched violently then lay still.
And, just like that, it was over. I’d managed to stop a murder.
Chapter 3
As soon as it became clear that the faceless man wasn’t about to get up, the witch turned to me. As she did, the power lapping off her ring began to dim. A second later, her body double disappeared in a flicker of magic.
The witch stood there and stared at me before reaching a hand out, grasping mine, and shaking it. “I don’t know who you are, but if you hadn’t come to my aid, that creep would have killed me. Did the coven send you? Are you a soul guard?”
I had no clue what she was saying, and now the adrenaline of the moment was waning, all I could feel was my own terrified heart pumping away in my chest.
Suddenly my mouth was dry, suddenly my throat felt as if someone had tried to choke me. I became woozy, too, and almost fell down.
Obviously, the woman realized I was dizzy, and she punched out a hand, supporting my shoulder. “Whoa, there. Did you use up a lot of your power in the fight? What even is your power? How did you know what he would do?” She frowned through her words as she looped a supportive arm through mine and guided me towards the open mouth of the garage.
It took me a long time to speak. “I… are you alright?”
She offered me a muddled smile. “Yeah, I’m alive, which accounts for being alright. My name’s Bridgette Black. Yours?”
“Chi McLane. But… what was that thing back there?” I jerked my head over my shoulder, staring in the direction of the open garage. “Oh my god, we should call the police,” I realized as I slapped a hand over my mouth.
Things were happening way too quickly. Calling the police after a magical fiend had almost stabbed me through the heart with a spear should not have been an afterthought.
I went to shove a hand into my pocket to draw my phone out.
She ducked towards me and grabbed my wrist. She frowned right into my face. “Have you gone mad, sister?”
I simply stared at her, blinking,
