Page 98 of Junk Magic

“What are you doing here?” I asked blankly.

He stared at me for a moment, and then his mouth remembered how to form words. “You said to get on the truck!”

“I didn’t mean you—”

“Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that?” he said shrilly. The guy was clearly losing it, having probably never seen combat before, and this was a hell of an introduction. But there was no way to go back, and nowhere safe to drop them off.

And then I was shuddering all over from a renewed barrage, which should have popped my already pathetic shields and fried us all. But, somehow, my protection held, although I had to look down to see that I wasn’t shot full of burning holes. And even so, I was left feeling really unwell as we wove through the battle toward the corridor.

Which we were never going to reach if I didn’t get some damned help!

I grabbed the father’s shoulder. “Can you drive?”

“What?”

“I need Caleb to help me shield. Can you drive?”

“No! I have a baby! I can’t drive!”

“Sebastian!” But he was no help, either. He’d broken out of his shock and started scrabbling against the limited protection I’d managed to keep up, trying to rejoin the fight.

Which meant that my shield was getting pummeled on both sides now, as what looked like half the mages in the arena converged on our ridiculously slow-moving ride. The fastest were already surging up the sides, blocking the light and threatening to stop us just by their added weight alone. And that was assuming my shields didn’t pop, which—

Yeah, that’s what I’d thought.

My protection gave up the ghost and they swamped us—which was good, since the ones behind them would have torn us apart with spells otherwise. Of course, these were about to do the same with lead, only they didn’t have time. Because Caleb somehow got a shield up in place of mine.

It clamped shut like a vise, cutting off our attackers—literally. Half a dozen torsos tumbled inside the truck as the rest of their bodies fell away outside of the new shield. It also left several very much living dark mages trapped inside along with us, including the one who was staring me in the face.

Sebastian grabbed the other in those great jaws of his, before slamming him repeatedly against the inside of the shield bubble, causing Caleb to curse and the truck to swerve wildly. And the father to yell and cover his boy with his body, hunkering down between his bardric and the door. For my part, I barely reacted, because something had just come over me.

But this time, it wasn’t nausea.

A shiver tore through me, carrying a sound along with it. It wasn’t a scream or a howl; I wasn’t sure what it was, except that it was terrible and skin ruffling and deafeningly loud. The dark mage reared back in shock, the spell in his fist dissipating as he lost concentration, not that it would have mattered.

Because my hand shot out at the same time and—

“Oh, my God!” the father screamed, which was rich considering what he’d just seen his bardric do. But Weres were used to violence from their leaders, even found it comforting at times. They weren’t accustomed to seeing a war mage rip a man’s beating heart out of his chest and sit there, seriously considering eating it.

Put it down, I told myself harshly, and received only a snarl in return. Put it down now!

And then I realized that Caleb was yelling at me. But not about the heart. But about—

“Fuck!” I said, shoving the mage out of the way and vaulting over the seat. Because Caleb was having trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time.

“You try it!” he snarled, which was fair.

Maintaining a regular shield was usually no problem even in battle, as we practiced it for hours every day in training until it became as automatic as breathing. But expanding it to cover an entire vehicle was something very different, as I’d just had the chance to find out. And splitting your attention while doing so to also drive?

Well, that was why we were about to hit a wall.

I grabbed the wheel with blood slick hands, and Caleb punched a piece of his already tatty looking armor outward, throwing several mages into the dirt. Then crawled around on the outside of the truck, because the front seat was too packed to give him a pathway. The vehicle swerved, he almost fell under the wheels, and we missed crashing into the wall by inches.

And then sped around in a wide circle, spewing sand, because eight hundred pounds of Were had been just subtracted from our load. Sebastian had finally Changed! He was sprawled naked in the front seat, looking dazed for some reason, which might not be great for his dignity but was awesome for our chances.

“Get onboard!” I yelled at my partner, who was clinging to the outside of the truck and somehow continuing to shield even while mages attempted to shoot him through the holes.

“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do?”

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