Page 145 of The Girl Who Only Died Once

“It’s so odd,” he starts, laconic, like he hadn’t just broken through a shield and done…something…to Killian.

Killian twists his fist into the magic shattered in the shield and the very ground underneath them shifts. Stone chips rain from the ceiling of their little cave, a large crack racing across the floor.

The man waves his hand, and the earth ceases to move. Killian twists his hands again, and nothing happens.

“That’s very impressive,” the man says, squinting hard at Chloe, who backs herself deeper into the cave, as if that could help her.

Killian steps in front of her, for all the help that would do.

The man licks his lips, like he’s debating something.

“Is your demon here?”

“Yes,” Killian snarls, voice tight with panic. He twists his arm behind his back, his palm up.

Carefully, Chloe places her hand in his, and he grips her hard.

“I could use a demon handler on my team,” the man says, and in between blinks, Chloe can halfway see some sort of strange magic he’s emitting, half between a shimmer and the glimmer of light reflected from water. “How do you have them leashed?”

Killian squeezes her fingertips, like he’s attempting to teleport them away, but nothing happens.

“I can tell you—or the demon, whichever—are trying to run,” the man scolds, like he’s the worst sort of teacher. “It won’t work, not until I have answers.”

“What are you trying to do?” Chloe breathes, and the man’s lips curve up into a smile. “With the bases.”

With her free hand, she clenches the battery tight. She could transform it into some sort of bomb, some sort of knife, some sort of explosive that’ll spark up in his face, some—

“Kill all involved,” he says casually, like it’s a normal thing to say and not something straight out of a comic book villain manual. “The power vacuum’s significant, it’s not enough.”

“Why attack the Frisse base?” Chloe asks, as Killian attempts to wrap himself in the strip of a ley line right outside the cave, but nothing happens. She needs to stall, needs to figure out how to get Killian back to normal, needs to figure out whatthis stranger’s weakness is. “They’re firmly outside of the power structure.”

His brows raise. “Oh, you do know your stuff,” he says, like a compliment from him means something. “Why were you going after the spirit fox?”

His words settle in the small cave, as Killian’s shoulders tighten further, his breathing rapid.

“Answer for an answer,” the man cajoles. “I could see your pattern, it’s easy to see.”

“Do you have a plan?” Killian asks, his voice low, and the man doesn’t react at all to it. “If I move, can you hurt him?”

Chloe taps against his palm. “Yes,” she says, and the man’s brow raises. “Not for power, don’t worry.”

Killian nods his affirmative.

“Anyone who holds them would be powerful,” the man chides. “Surely you know that.”

“It’s the shield,” Killian says, “when he broke it, he put down some sort of containment.”

“Of course,” Chloe says, and her heart is hammering so hard that the man in front of her must be able to hear it. “Why the Frisse base?”

And the man turns his blue eyes directly to her, and Chloe’s stomach drops. “They have a Terese project leashed up somewhere in that basement and a Necromancer somewhere else.” He smiles, and it’s a dreamy sort of smile. “There’s more than one sort of power in this world.”

“I’ll leave you alone if you leave me,” Chloe blurts out. “There is nothing, nothing that would—”

The man waves a hand, and another silent glimmer of power flicks over her, cooling her blood and chilling her skin. “Tell your demon to stop trying to teleport, it’s getting tiring.”

So he can tire out.

Killian hears the same thing, immediately pulls more to him, a trickle of sweat falling down his neck.

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