Page 30 of Body of Echoes

She narrowed her eyes at me and scrunched her face. “Just because you’re the princess, doesn’t mean I have to listen to you, you know.”

“I know,” I said with a frown. “But you are my friend. And I love you. And I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Her head tilted to the side, a happy expression glimmering with awe. “You love me?”

I furrowed my brows. “Of course I do, Topine. You’re lovely and energetic and kind.”

Her thin arms wrapped around my waist slowly. “No one has ever said that to me before.”

“I will say it to you whenever you’d like. But,pleasetake us home.”

“You can’t do it?”

I tightened my hand intertwined with hers. “No. My magic doesn’t work right.”

“Oh gosh. I didn’t know that.”

I smiled wide, lowering my lips to the top of her head. “Take us home please.”

She shook her head. “But, I want to see more.”

My chest tightened at her defiance. I had to appease her and get her home somehow. “Well, what if we walk home? That way you can see more of Ellion City on our way back.”

She shrugged. “I guess.”

With her hand in mine, we left the bathroom and began walking. The feeling of eyes on us spiked my anxiety. I obsessively scanned the vicinity, examining anyone and everything for a threat.

And as we exited the downtown area, turning down the red-bricked road, we bumped into two large men wearing black coats and gray pants.

Something clanked together on their hips as they halted in front of us.

“Move,” Topine spat.

I caught a glimpse of golden shackles strung on one of their belts from under their coats. “Excuse us,” I muttered and yanked Topine around them.

They whispered to each other as we hurried away. I looked over my shoulder to see that they had turned in our direction and had fallen into step behind us.

“Topine. Take us back now,” I mumbled. “Cidris.”

Topine’s face scrunched in anger as she turned in one fluid movement to face them, breaking her handfree from mine. Her spine was straight, a smile graced over her face, and her pointed chin was tipped down.

Out came her hand as glitters of gorgeous, coiled patterns snaked down to her fingertips.

My breath hitched, watching as the two men broke apart, reaching for their shackles. “No!”

Out of her hand came a blast of diamond smoke that raced toward one of the men. And while she focused on one of the Cidris, the other flung his shackle at me.

I watched in horror as it curved from the far left to a straight line right in front of me like a homing missile set to detonate on my wrists. I gasped as I stepped to the left to dodge, but it moved with me and latched onto my wrist with a crunching clasp. Blood pooled at the pressure in my hands, cutting off the circulation and my magic. “Topine!”

Her attack landed. Glittering smoke lassoed around the man’s chest, sending him backward onto his ass. Then, she laughed and disappeared.

I turned to run, hearing the whistle of the second shackle coming for me. My feet fled, one after another in a straight line toward Aldris’s house, praying I could outrun them somehow. With my free wrist secured to my chest and out of line from the shackle, Ifelt it smack against my shoulder blade and fall to the floor. I let out a small cry, catching the attention of other passerby.

Fletcher’s magic awakened, zipping through me like it wanted to help, but I couldn’t get it down my free arm. I gave my magic rapt attention, calling it forward, knowing it was my best chance. It ran in shaky straight lines down my arms, only collecting in one of my hands as I tried my best to teleport.

Thankfully, I felt it. I felt the wind. I felt it take me away. And when I pieced together, two sets of strong hands grasped my arms and a second shackle clasped down on my wrist.

CHAPTER

---