Page 97 of Shadow & Stars
“Holy shit!” I yelped, diving next to Xavier, wrapping an arm around him. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything hurt you.”
How the hell was I supposed to keep that from happening? Blind my opponents with my blingy skin?
Wait. That might not be a bad idea.
Dust fell through the new hole in the sky in heavy clumps, landing on the witches. A couple of them sneezed, others catching the golden flakes, examining them.
“I wouldn’t…” I didn’t carry on, allowing the magic-killing crap to do its work.
Reality soon landed. Hard.
“I can’t…I can’t use magic.”
“Neither can I!”
Cue plenty of panic. I left them to flap around like headless chickens, fully attending to Xavier.
“I’ll get some bandages from the house.”
“No need,” he said, tearing off his already-torn T-shirt. He wrapped it around his torso, grunting as it pulled it taut.
Inky blackness already began to stain it. “What if?—”
“It’s not deep. It’s fine.”
“Okay.” I knew I didn’t sound convinced.
“I promise.” He took my hand. “Hurts a lot, but it’s nothing I can’t deal with.”
“I love your hand in mine,” I blurted. “Sorry. Not the time for this.”
He kissed the back of my hand, then got to his feet, giving me a heavy dose of the warm and fuzzies.
“It will soon be over,” I said, a slight crack in my voice.
“Agreed. Go. Make the wish.”
With the agents paying us no mind, I crossed back over into my time. I drew a heavy breath within the golden light, ready to spring into action on the other side. Do my thing to get the time jar, slip back through the door and open it.
I didn’t expect to meet with an inferno of cold blue fire on the other side.
31
ROMAN
The cold hit me like an army of icy hammers. The flames consumed every building, smothering them in ice, the road resembling an ice rink.
The fire danced like normal fire, but without any smoke seeing as it didn’t burn anything.
Whoa. It was like a new ice age had struck, my bones feeling every freezing bite.
With zero intention of delving deeper into the meaning of this shit, I wished for the time jar.
Nothing happened, not so much as a tiny stir in my device.
I wished again.
Nothing.
