Page 39 of Two Who Live On

Enchanter Evergreen didn’t need his branch for this battle.

The dual-screen vision shook my flight. Each breath was tight, painful, merged by the thinned air and confining alleyway battlefield where Milo fought.

I was too worried about his safety to focus, which meant the only way I could safely reach him was by quelling my telepathy entirely. But the second I turned it off, if I even could, I’d have no idea how he was.

My teeth chattered, watching flames, toxic smoke, ice, and bullets all aimed at Milo. My levitation faltered, frightened, sending me propelling downward faster since my telekinesis continued at full strength. I plummeted like a rocket.

Milo eliminated each one, telekinetically shifting ice to catch the bullets, propelling the toxic smoke into flames that he’d guessed was flammable. Not guessed. Predicted, based on experience.

He soared with levitation and telekinesis at heights none of his attackers matched. Predicting when they would cast, strike, or parry, Milo struck each foe down one by one.

A telekinetic punch rendering them unconscious; a low swoop of his leg to drop them to the ground; shifting their body right as they cast magic and causing chaos onto another one. It had nothing to do with his clairvoyance.

I panted, channeling his strength, my own exhausted body waning. Crashing into a nearby rooftop, I skidded across the shingles, wincing. I needed to help. I punched the roof, cracking a stone shingle.

It wasn’t nearly as effective or powerful or precise as the telekinesis Enchanter Evergreen unleashed. I couldn’t do anything to help. Every step I took, every attempt to use my roots drained my telepathy and hid the scene of Milo’s battle unfolding before my eyes.

He weaved between each of his attackers, dodging branch magics, countering blows, striking opponents, and thinning hisenemies faster than I could take a fifteen-minute flight downtown. Hell, I hadn’t even escaped my neighborhood before he’d dropped half of those in the back alley.

“How’d you… We planned… You couldn’t see…” Gavin stumbled on the gravel, the last one standing, his flames fizzling out as I started to stand again.

“I’ve fought thousands of battles, seen millions.” Milo grabbed Gavin and dragged him toward the steel door. “Each was a learning experience and held a mistake I won’t make again. This one too, in fact, has its own learning process.”

“AH!” Gavin shouted.

“Point is, there’s not a damn thing that can shock me.”

The burst of the door off its hinges created a rattling cacophony in my skull, cascading down the columns of my spine. It made it difficult to stand, to breathe, to cast, or quell.

I needed silence. True and absolute. For just a few seconds.

Enchanter Evergreen slammed Gavin against Cassidy’s bar, leaving the unconscious man there for all to see. Everyone froze, stunned by his actions, so much so the music came to a halt.

“Explain yourself.” Cassidy rose, ignoring everyone and glaring at Milo.

“Seems you’re sharing loyalty.” Milo ripped the enchantment off Gavin’s chest, handing it to Cassidy. “Hopefully, these don’t hit the market soon. I’d hate to see it cut into your business.”

She studied it closely, examining the intricacies that likely differed from those she’d created for purchase. Each enchantment branch had a signature, honestly too subtle for me to register, andright now, my heart pounded for Milo, wishing he’d leave this place before his luck ran out. He stood there, waiting for Cassidy to finish her short analysis.

“They’re quite intricate, almost sophisticated.” Cassidy eyed the half-conscious Gavin. “Shame, really.”

“Why’s that?” Milo’s nonchalance made me shiver.

“I would’ve loved to meet the individual with this branch. It’s artful. Yet, I’ll be busy snuffing them out.”

“Careful.” Milo grabbed Cassidy’s wrist, gleaning unknown futures, but filled with blood that made each step I took to lift myself off this rooftop unbearable. “I’d hate to see you make a choice we’d both regret.”

“So sweet, The Inevitable Future always looking for the best outcome when the world’s shit.” Cassidy broke her grip free, snapping her fingers simultaneously. “Please, escort Gavin to my office.”

Two employees grabbed Gavin and pulled him off the bar, which Milo didn’t object to. In fact, with the enchantment removed, he studied all the outcomes Gavin McCoy might face in this situation. Nothing gave him pleasure, silent as the potential pathways were to me, but he prioritized the future of far more and didn’t see anything worth interjecting over. Gavin’s fate was his own—an unfortunate one he’d have to live with; Milo’s words would have little effect on it, so he didn’t bother.

My heart pinched, synced to his own. Even a man he knew so little about, despised in the moment, it pained him. Milo wanted to care because that was his responsibility to focus on every potential future, even those he couldn’t predict, hopeful for the best. Still, he swallowed that guilt and used the event to easily assuage Cassidy to pass along her information.

“Despite the pleasantries, I’d prefer you leave.” Cassidy slid an envelope across the bar. Turning her head away, she ran her fingersthrough her hair, paying Milo no attention. “I will say, your profile’s way too big to walk through the front doors.”

“That much I caught.” Milo smirked, half tempted to kiss her cheek or hug her for nostalgia and because he’d longed for a future where they each dropped business and simply enjoyed the company of the other. It was a future neither believed possible. “Thank you.”

Milo exited confident the demonic threat hadn’t blocked too much of his branch, despite his lack of focus. Demons held too much immunity to branch magics. Still, he’d called it right. Smaller industry witches would work best at resolving this problem before it escalated.

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