Page 22 of Witch

He looked back at the circles and frowned. The protection rune wasn’t redundant as is, but its purpose was limited. Kana couldn’t leave it like that, even if adding more complexity was making him sweat. He carefully drew lines from each protective rune to tie it to the circle and pentagram, which would hopefully keep the bone ward from dismantling the circles before the attack rune finished its job.

Kana studied his circles one last time, looking for any imperfection or anything else he could add, but he didn’t see anything.

Ready? he asked Mika and Sora as he threw open his magic channels to their fullest and started drawing in as much magic as he could. He was going to burn out the channels again, but if it broke the bone ward it would be worth it.

He looked up at the scene in front of him, but only a few seconds had actually passed. Shannon and Abe were still at a cold standoff, Ember hadn’t moved from his protective position at Kana’s side, and the bone ward still lay in an evil-tainted circle on the ground.

Let’s do it! Sora said, his voice firm.

Kana threw his magic into the massive, combined circle. The forest lit up like a flood lantern had been turned on, but before Abe could retaliate, Kana compressed the circle. Twenty perfectly straight lines pierced the bone ward, reaching for the assigned fingers, and Kana activated the runes.

Shrieking echoed between the trees. High pitched, low pitched, full of agony, but the noise wasn’t coming from anyone’s mouths. Kana’s individual circles had popped free of the single larger one and traveled down the line until they surrounded their assigned finger. The demon rune was gone, and in its place was a finger glowing with black fire. The fingers writhed as they burned, and the shrieking only got louder as Kana continued to pour magic into all the circles.

Something popped, like a firecracker going off. Then a second pop resounded, and a third, and suddenly three of the circles were no longer drawing power. A fourth popped, this time where Kana could see the bone finger literally explode into harmless dust within the confines of his circle. The fourth circle went dark, and Kana let it and the previous three go. Sixteen circles left.

“How dare you!” Kana thought he heard Abe yell, but it was hard to make out words when his ears were still resonating with the shrieks. Off to Kana’s right, just visible in his peripheral vision, a shadow of some kind appeared, but Ember dashed after it with six more pops punctuating his departure.

Ten fingers left.

Kana’s magic channels were throbbing with a fiery heat that said it was going to take much longer than a week to heal this time. He still didn’t dare stop.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

Three more gone, and Kana let their circles fade with a groan of relief. Pop. Another one gone, and a grateful pop as the fifteenth finger vanished.

The shrieking was fading, as was the light. Kana heard his own panting breaths, two creatures growling, and Abe yelling something. Kana couldn’t make out Abe’s words, but one of the creatures growling had Ember’s familiar timbre.

Kana gathered magic for one last push, thrusting it into the spell with a yell of his own. The last fingers exploded simultaneously with a massive bang, and Kana’s spell fluttered away to nothing.

He couldn’t feel his body, Kana distantly realized as his knees hit the ground. He managed to splay his hands to either side, which kept him from pitching face-first into the forest mulch, and all he could do was try to keep breathing.

Suddenly Shannon stepped into view, like a ghost appearing from thin air. His hands seemed to float autonomously through the air, easily passing through the space once protected by the ward. Abe’s eyes barely had a chance to widen and then Shannon’s hands landed on Abe’s head, one under his jaw, the other behind his skull.

The twenty-first pop was somehow the loudest of all, as Shannon’s wrists flicked and arms turned, and he broke Abe’s neck.

Just like that, it was over.

Kana distantly thought he heard yelling and the cracking sounds as multiple rushing footsteps broke sticks and leaves, and then he blinked and the forest was abruptly full of people. Hunters, Kana’s brain eventually supplied.

“Kana?” Ember’s voice filtered through the white noise filling Kana’s mind. The worried tone said he had called Kana’s name multiple times.

Kana slowly turned his head, worried if he moved too fast the careful equilibrium keeping him upright would fail. Ember was on his knees at Kana’s side. He was covered in blood, but he seemed to be more concerned with Kana than himself.

“No…magic,” Kana forced out, his lips as numb as the rest of him.

“Okay,” Ember said, sounding relieved that Kana had answered. “We’ll get you some help. Mika and Sora are already asleep, if you want to join them.”

That sounded like a wonderful idea, and as if just the thought imbued permission, Kana’s eyes slid closed, and his body tipped. He was asleep before he hit the ground.

Chapter Eleven

THE FAMILIAR CEILING of the bedroom Kana shared with Ember swam blurrily into view. He blinked and the bland plaster and simple but elegant ceiling fan and overhead light snapped into focus. His body felt heavy, as if a weight was pressing him down into the bed, and Kana couldn’t find the energy to turn his head and look around. Instead, he simply lay where he was.

Someone must have lowered the shades over the windows to darken the room, Kana thought, his brain still muzzy with sleep. Or it was night? But usually at night Ember would be in the bed next to Kana. All Kana could hear at the moment was the twin sets of mewling breaths that said Mika and Sora were asleep, curled together in their cat forms in the oversized cat tree over by the window. He couldn’t hear any of Ember’s familiar sounds.

Maybe it was night and something bad had happened? That thought sent a shot of adrenaline through his body, and suddenly the comfort of lying in one place turned into a light ache that said he had been lying in one spot for too long. Kana let out a soft whimper, but the weight holding his arms in place was too much to overcome, and his brief fight to sit up ended only a half second later.

The bedroom door flew open, and Ember rushed into the room.

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