Page 58 of Wrongfully Magicked
A body needs electricity to function. The brain is just a large computer. Take the power away, and they drop into a coma like the guy on the ground. Prolonged contact would have taken him offline permanently. I could have electrocuted him, but that takes too long to build up enough charge, and I’m conscious of Anita getting farther and farther away with each second that passes.
I turn toward the guys, taking a step to help, then glance over my shoulder to see Anita and her attacker disappearing into the trees.
“Go,” Porter orders, his chest heaving as he dodges a fist full of claws, the big man never taking his eyes off his opponent. It doesn’t surprise me that he knows everything that’s going on around him. When a second man comes for him, I grit my teeth, clenching and unclenching my hands to keep from joining the fight. Knowing he can protect himself better than Anita, I whirl and do as I’m told.
Though I’m fast and light on my feet, I’m not nearly as fast as Cassius, and I curse when I’m barely able to keep up with Anita’s kidnapper. I watch as her arms and hair sway with every step and swallow hard at how tiny she looks against the monster’s back.
The man is moving fast, uncaring of the woman carelessly tossed over his shoulder. Branches and twigs claw at her, and I have no doubt she’ll be covered in welts and bruises by morning.
By the time I get close enough to reach her, I notice the man is covered in tiny, brownish green scales, and I mentally curse. It’s like fucking body armor, and I don’t doubt that one blow would shatter every bone in my hand.
The thought of her facing off against the man all by herself has anger boiling in my blood.
She never stood a chance.
Wanting retribution, my fingers itch to touch him and drop the fucker, but I fear my abilities won’t have any effect on him.
I need to touch flesh, not a hard shell, so I’m forced to keep my distance for now and just follow.
I refuse to gamble with her life if I’m wrong.
Women have an equal chance of being born mage or beastling. They’re not prized in our culture…so why would they target Anita?
No one should have known she was with us.
No one could have known we were going to investigate the crime scene except MID.
That means either they were watching us.
Or worse, the killer who is leaving mutilated and magically desiccated bodies lying about willy-nilly sensed Anita was near and decided to make his move.
But why would either use wildlings to do their bidding?
The only thing I can deduce is that they are easy to blame and no one will question it if they take the fall for the crime.
The vegetation thickens, and since I don’t have armor to protect me, my progress slows to a goblin’s pace. By the time I finally wrestle my pants away from a rather thorny vine and look up, my quarry is gone. My heart threatens to explode in panic, and I whirl, frantically searching in every direction.
But it’s like they vanished.
I sink my hands into my hair in frustration, trying not to let my panic consume me. Searching around me, I nearly sag in relief when I find a trail of broken branches. Careful not to lose the path now that I found it, unsure I’ll be able to find it again, I take my time, even though my instincts scream at me to hurry.
If I hadn’t been paying such close attention, I might have missed the pit in the ground—that or broke my neck when I fell into it. I pull up short, then crouch, cursing that I don’t have the ability to see in the dark.
Taking a deep breath, I drop through the hole in the ground without hesitation, calling myself all kinds of a fool, but the idea of giving up and leaving Anita to her fate is unacceptable.
Somewhere along the way, she became important to me. While Anita is tough, she’s also more fragile than she wants to admit. She isolated herself to keep safe, and my heart aches for her meager, solitary existence.
I can commiserate.
As a tech’er, I’m doomed to suffer the same fate. I’ll eventually lose interest in life when I can no longer resist the lure of the machines.
Until I met Anita, I didn’t realize there was an alternative.
I desperately want that future. Anita just has to survive long enough for me to show her everything that she’s been missing.
The instant I find her, I’m determined to show her that she’s mine.
ANITA
