Page 18 of Outlaw Witch

Fuck.

The girls coming down here and bullying Hanna is nothing we haven’t seen or dealt with before. Our Hanna is a Blackwater. A member of another of the Archarcan families–which means, by right, she should be in school over in the Luminary District. Except, she’s half witch and half... something else. Something that was discovered after her magic got a little too powerful when she was at the Arcanum Magical Institute and she nearly blew up the building.

She got expelled and then, rather than dealing with the mess, her family shunned her.

Typical Archarcan bullshit.

People coming down here to start shit with her isn’t all that uncommon. It happens every month when her old school chums decide they’re bored and have nothing better to do. But she doesn’t typically take the bait.

On the other side of the barrier, the Archarcan witches’ mouths are moving, but I can’t make out the words. It’s like the flames are acting as soundproofing. Based on their body language, they’re spouting some nasty shit. Hanna’s not responding, though. She’s taking their words and has her teeth gritted, her fists bunched at her sides.

One witch lobs something, and it hits Hanna right in the side of her head. She still doesn’t react, barely even flinches.

“Is anyone else on their way?” I ask Una.

She snorts. “The entire gang is coming, but they’re gonna be another twenty minutes at least.”

“Shit.”

Judging by the way the flames are licking higher and higher, we don’t have time for anyone else to arrive.

“Okay, we need to get this crowd away from here. Then we can deal with those three,” I say. Stepping forward, I wave my hands around and yell, “Hey, haven’t you all got better things to do? Quit gawping and move on.”

Unsurprisingly, my words do fuck all. There are some loud complaints and I wonder if these idiots think they’re still watching some kind of spectacle, instead of a bullying attempt that might just turn dangerous.

That wall of fire isn’t hurting anybody right now, but who knows what might happen if Hanna loses her cool.

I mentally go through my roster of magic, wondering what the hell might help us here. Fire magic is out, obviously. So is the necromancy, since springing up a bunch of zombies is helpful in no situation ever. Pushing out a little of the glamor I used on myself earlier, I try to make the whole spectacle too uninteresting for anyone to bother watching. It doesn’t work so well when it’s not focused on a single person or object, but I get a handful of crowd members to wander off muttering to themselves.

I then step closer to the flames, bracing myself against the sheerheatand hoping I don’t singe my eyebrows off.

“Hanna? Hanna, it’s me,” I call to her softly, trying to keep my tone modulated so I don’t make her jump.

Her eyes flick in my direction, which I take to mean that she can hear me.

“Wanna let me in? You need some help in there?”

She shakes her head and jerks it to the side, toward the crowd. I can see the sweat beading at her temple, rolling down her face and into her dark hair. From the way her fists are clenching, it seems like she’s concentrating hard on something. Somehow I just know that she’s not the one keeping the wall of flames going. There’s something happening here that I’m missing.

I spin around and focus my attention on the crowd again. It must be five deep and people are spread out all along the fiery wall.

Telepathy is something I only ever use as a last resort. It’s illegal and if I get caught using it, I’m fucked. But I can’t think what else to do other than toencouragethese people to go home.

Just as I’m about to release it, the heavens open and it begins to pour with rain.

Without warning, the rain becomes torrential. Bucketing down in massive drops that splatter against the pavement like someone switched a faucet on full blast. The crowd shriek and groan as if it’s acid rain falling from the sky. And then they run for it, dispersing so quickly, I couldn’t have gotten them to leave any faster with magic.

I turn back to the witches inside Hanna’s barrier and focus my attention on the blood flowing to their brains. Blood magic is something else I don’t use often, mostly because it’s so rare that I’ll undoubtedly draw attention my way. But I just need these bitches to pass out.

My hands are shaking with the effort to concentrate on the way their blood runs through their veins. I don’t want to kill them, just slow it down enough to incapacitate them for a little while. Taking a deep breath, I let the magic channel out of me, feeling the telltale buzzing in my gut.

It’s a relief to let a little of it out, like releasing a long-held breath.

They drop like flies. Collapsing onto the hard pavement that’s bound to cause bruises later, but I can’t bring myself to care.

Hanna glances from them to me and then visibly relaxes her shoulders, lowering the barrier of flames until it’s nothing but smoking ash on the ground. I can see her hands are trembling violently from here and leap toward her just in time for her to sink her weight onto me.

“You all right, Han?”

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