Page 77 of Outlaw Witch

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Isit at the edge ofThe Spire’s rooftop, rain pounding down on the top of my head, soaking me through. My hair is plastered to my skull and my skin is ice cold. But I stopped giving a shit about that or anything else hours ago. My back rests against a brick wall and I can see the city skyline to my right and the ritual site to my left.

It’s now well into the night. I don’t know exactly how much time has passed since the ritual failed, or how long I’ve been sitting here. I haven’t moved in so long my legs are numb.

Roscoe and Zeph took an unconscious Fabian downstairs ages ago, but I couldn’t make myself leave. Instead, I sit here mutely staring as the runes get washed away by the steadily falling rain.

What went wrong?

I can’t wrap my head around it.

The runes. The potion. The magic fucking words all said in the right order.

It all seemed to go off without a hitch. But something at the last minute threw the whole thing off.

Did I mess up in absorbing Fabian’s magic? My power is usually so damn greedy, I have to fightagainstit absorbing all magic.

Maybe it was because I was trying to drain him, sucking him dry. Usually, the sponge inside me draws just enough of the other person’s magic so that I can replicate it and add it to my bag of tricks. They don’t wind up noticeably worse off and most of the time, no one notices that I’ve even taken anything from them.

Maybe I wasn’t strong enough to absorb all of Fabian’s magic.

Which begs another question. How the hell did he know Icoulddrain his magic? Has he known the whole time what I can do?

Do the other two know as well?

I mean... they must have overheard him when he asked me to take his power from him, right?

Just how close am I to my secrets all spilling out?

I slump down, head in my hands. Honestly, I have zero idea what happened. It should have worked. And now Fabian’s unconscious and we have to wait a whole moon-cycle before we can try again.

Something tells me that the thing inside of Fabian won’t be happy about us trying to remove it.

Fuck.

If it was mad before, it’s going to be furious now.

A rumble of thunder sounds in the near distance and I lift my head in time to see forks of lightning lashing down over the city. Another crack of thunder follows this, so loud it makes me startle. I jump again as something warm lands on my shoulders. It’s an oversized jacket that smells of something warm and spicy. Someone has snuck up on me and I’ve been too lost in my head to notice.

“What the hell are you still doing out here?” Zeph grunts and I glance over my shoulder to see him glowering at me.

“You’re fucking soaked,” he growls, staring me down.

And, of course, my mind goes to dirty places. My thighs rub together involuntarily at the mixture of his words and the tone used to deliver them.

I seriously need to get laid. Although it’s not my fault, Zeph’s voice could be used as a natural lube.

... clearly I’ve lost my mind sitting out here.

We agreed. Me and my vagina had a frank discussion after last time and decided we’re not stooping that low again. No matter how hard up we are, or howgoodthe release might feel.

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