Page 42 of Mud

Yes, it was, but the whole world was made wrong.Wewere all made wrong. I hadn’t expected justice a day in my life since I lost my parents, and I wasn’t about to start now.

“Now!” Michael called, and Erid actually screamed when she raised her hand toward me. White flames danced on the tip of the bone she held in her fist, then shot for me lightning fast. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut.

At the same time, Michael’s wand came to life, vibrating with two strings of blue flames as they snaked their way from the bottom of the wand’s handle tightly secured in his fist. They spiraled around and became one at the tip before launching at me just as fast as the Whitefire.

My instinct was to close my eyes, but I didn’t. I wanted to see. Ineededto see.

And I did.

Magic, white and blue guided by second-degree spellscrashed onto the shield that pulsated orange when it held it back from me. The shield held perfectly, just like I’d hoped. With my gun in hand, I moved as fast as my body let me, and I jumped to my feet. My other hand was raised, my magic ready, dozens of spells I’d learned solely for this purpose fresh in my mind, but I only needed one. Just one spell to knock them off me, give myself enough time to run.

Michael laughed.

“Look who has tricks up her sleeve!”

“Goddess-fucking-damn it, Michael!” Erid shouted, enraged, while Jim and Jam stood side by side, watching.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Not as wounded as you made us think, were you,” said Michael, smiling sneakily at me as he came closer.

So much was on my mind that I wanted to say…

I trusted you. You were supposed to lead us, take care of us. I am your responsibility—you swore to protect me with your life. You’re rotten on the inside. If I die, she’ll find you. You’re going to die, too, very soon.

I said nothing because words don’t really make any difference to anyone, so I didn’t bother. It was easier. Less time wasted. The outcome was the same, anyway.

“Now!”Erid shouted, and I took that as my cue, too.

I moved.

Throwing myself on the other side of the tree to use it as a shield, I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath when their magic hit the trunk hard, sending splinters in the air, making the ground groan.

I counted backward in my head from three as soon as the groaning stopped, and then I moved again. The spell I chose was third-degree, and it would cause a very big explosion when I unleashed it, but it was going to take a few seconds to complete. Until then, bullets flew in the air,and the shield I’d initially wrapped around myself was already getting weaker, so the bullets from Michael’s and Erid’s firearms went through. The entire woods turned to chaos once more, and I jumped over dead catfairie bodies while I moved farther back. The two of them moved with me, hiding behind tree trunks to avoid my bullets until my gun was completely empty. I had magazines strapped to my person, but there was no need for them anymore. I lowered my gun and the silence that followed when we all stopped pulling triggers made me feel like I’d suddenly stepped into a dream.

Erid and Michael moved away from the trees where they hid, about twenty feet away from me. Jim and Jam were still keeping their distance to the side, not engaging, not protecting themselves, either. Just watching.

My eyes were on Michael, and he was most definitely not smiling anymore. Instead, he looked a bit panicked as he wielded his wand at me, and his magic shot out to meet the red flames extending from my hand.

Boom.

I smiled when my magic swallowed his and kept going. It was the reason why I’d chosen a third-degree spell, even though it was going to use up a lot of my energy. The spell was much more powerful than Michael’s, and it slammed onto him hard before it took him down to the ground. He screamed and we heard the sound of his bones cracking, but I couldn’t even be relieved because Erid was still standing.

Erid still had her bones in her hand as she chanted,shoutingout the words as if she wanted me to hear them, wanted me to know exactly what was coming—and I did. Her spell was second-degree, but it was going to paralyzeme in place as soon as it hit me, and I most definitely didn’t want that.

“Jim, Jam,move!” Michael shouted when I started to run, hoping to stick behind trees, because Erid’s spell was going to take a few more seconds. If I hadn’t been wounded, and if I hadn’t just performed a third-degree spell against Michael, I’d have been faster.

If I hadn’t stayed up all night, I’d have been more focused.

If Michael wasn’t such a traitorous prick, I would have been just fine.

Then a gun fired.

The sound echoed in my head, chasing away every thought in my mind, including the one that insisted I would make it, that I was close enough to the river, that they couldn’t even see me anymore from the trees.

That thought was wrong. They could, and Michael’s aim was true. The bullet caught me right in my left calf and sent me tumbling to the ground, rolling and rolling until a tree trunk stopped me in place, knocking the wind out of me as it did.

Pain. Red hot pain took over my senses and I saw, heard, felt nothing but it. Fuck, that hurt so badly. The bullet had gone through me—Ifeltit coming out the other side, and I had no idea how much damage it had done but it hurt. I heard myself screaming even though I wasn’t really aware of anything that wasn’t my leg, but I was also moving. I was sitting up, pulling my leg closer, my gun no longer on me. My hands shook as I pressed them against the wound gushing out blood like from a faucet.

Pressure. I needed to apply pressure before I called up a healing spell again.

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