Page 28 of Chase Me

Oh, yeah. There was something out of a nightmare behind her, she could feel its hot breath on the back of her neck. Breath that smelled like poo mixed with pig guts.

“I get witch.” Its voice was slimier than a drunk used car salesman on the last day of the year.

Was he talking about her?

See? TDTL. Of course he was talking about her.

The real question was, what the hell was she going to do about it?

Fear curdled her brain like rotten chocolate milk, but somewhere in the gooey center was Mrs. Bohacek's voice. “Use what you've learned.”

What she'd learned was this world was not what she'd thought it was. Oh, and she was a witch.

A smart witch.

Ciara stuck her hand out and pointed toward the sky. “Look, a big purple dragon.”

She hoped against hope that had distracted the monster for just the second she needed. She pivoted and pointed at it, the handset for the phone still in her fist.Wind help me now. Pretty please.

The black snakelike creature flew into the air and landed on top of the metal awning with a crash. Ciara screamed, partly out of surprise and partly because it had worked. That was short lived.

The thing reached for her and snagged one shoulder of the dress, which tore when she blew it into the sky again.

The first wave of exhaustion hit her, but nothing like it had in Jakob's lair. She stood firm in her spot, not letting it seep into her bones.

The beast came at her again and again, each time she blew it away like Wile E. Coyote standing in front of a windmachine. The waves of fatigue grew bigger with each of her efforts. She maybe had one more push in her but knew that a tsunami of tiredness would hit her.

Either she could use the wind again and run away or try something different. Mrs. Bohacek had said she had an affinity for the earth element. She had gotten out of that stupid cavern. Earth it was.

She crouched to the ground but miscalculated and hit it hard with her butt.

The demon thing must have taken her new position as weakness, because it charged at her again, but this time fire spewed from its mouth, exactly like what she thought a dragon could do.

Shit, shite, shat.

In her mind, she envisioned a wall of dirt, and in reality, one flew up between her and the fire. She had every intention of burying the bastard in the ground but she couldn't seem to move. That tsunami had hit her.

She was going to die. Her gravestone would read – Eaten, and not in the fun way. Didn’t that just sum up her whole damn life.

Another monster swooped down and Ciara shut her eyes tight waiting for the first chomp. Maybe if it bit off her head she wouldn't feel the pain.

No pain came. Was she already dead?

She took a breath, but dead people didn't breathe as far she knew.

A voice rumbled around inside of her head. Adrenaline pumped through her blacking out anything but her fight or flight instinct.

“Go away, and leave me alone.” Even the effort of saying those words sent her into a gray tunnel of oblivion.

No, she would not die this way.

She stood again, not knowing where the energy came from, but using it anyway. She was operating a thousand percent on instinct now. The wind whipped around her, helping to hold her up. She shot it out in all directions, hoping to blast her enemies to kingdom come.

That voice was back in her head again, but this time it was laughing. Not like Snidely Whiplash, but like… Jakob.

She rubbed her eyes and saw the big green dragon sauntering toward her. She couldn't have been happier to see him if he was Puff the Magic Dragon.

Ciara. You were magnificent.

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