Page 25 of Hex and the City
Meanwhile, the thief had secreted the bag of sand back on their person, extracting something from another pocket. Check that. A handful of somethings. Shards of transparent crystal. Quartz, was it? They gleamed with faint, eldritch light. Definitely magical.
I cursed under my breath. If only I’d dissipated and done the job myself. Then again — quickening sand to the face. This was the better option. Likely the more painful one, too, but at least I’d leave with my life.
Probably. Maybe.
The crystals tinkled and clinked, then sat there in the cracks between the tiles, as if nothing had happened. I raced straight for the thief, slipping myself behind them, locking one arm around their neck in a chokehold. They struggled against me, rasping for breath. The thief gave a hoarse, voiceless chuckle.
“Leon!” I shouted. “Get back.”
The magic operated on a delay, as it turned out. The shards scattered on the ground expanded instantly in volume, growing from little slivers into jagged crystal formations. Sharp as glass, hard as diamonds. The already ruined tiles fractured into tiny pieces. Within seconds, the giant crystals had vanished, too, reduced to dust.
“Holy shit,” Leon stammered, chest quickly rising and falling as he goggled at the ground.
“Nifty little trick,” I muttered, where I thought the thief’s ear would be, right below the strap of their crystalline goggles.
The musculature of the body writhing against me felt human, enough that I wanted to conclude prematurely that we were dealing with another person. A mage, most likely. Plenty of vampires and werewolves and supernatural creatures in the arcane underground, but none could be bigger assholes than humans themselves. True story.
Clever, cunning, and extremely wriggly to the bitter end, the thief said nothing, the better to conceal their identity. Shockingly strong for their frame too, damn it. If I could just free one hand, yank that mask off — but wait.
What was that smell? I thought I caught a whiff of something vaguely familiar, the scent immediately blown away by a sudden breeze.
No. By the sudden arrival of bodies within a nearby space. The displacement of air via teleportation magic.
“Stop right there!”
That wasn’t Leon, and it clearly wasn’t the thief, either. New voices. I scanned the courtyard for them, my stomach sinking when I spotted the three new figures — each wearing a white mask.
“Fuck,” I snarled. “The Masques are here.”
I was distracted enough to lose my grip over the thief. They twisted hard, ripping themselves away from my grasp — but ripping part of their suit in the process, too. I looked down in disbelief at the scrap of material in my hand, then up again, trying to match the missing piece to the rest of the puzzle.
Either the thief was moving so fast I couldn’t spot where I’d torn off their clothing, or they were wearinganotherblack garment underneath. The world’s most annoying costume reveal. I leaned forward, meaning to give chase, but the thief swung an arm at me. Glimmering slivers shot from their wrists, burrowing into the ground at my feet. I had seconds to react.
Leon reacted for us both. He rammed me with the full weight of his body, knocking us both onto the tiles, away from the crystal slivers. The air burst out of my lungs as I slammed against the dirt and broken terra cotta.
Better than the fate awaiting my body back where the crystals landed. They took root within seconds, exploding into another brilliant formation. My heart pounded, my mouth dry as I panted. If my feet and legs had occupied the same space as those crystals — God, I couldn’t even imagine the mess of mangled flesh and bone.
“Thanks,” I breathed, clasping Leon’s shoulder tight, easing us both back onto our feet. I shoved the torn scrap of something in my pocket.
The Masques gathered to either side of the anomaly, correctly gauging the edges of its field. They gestured with their hands, muttered to themselves, then clapped, triggering their counter spell. It worked. The anomaly fizzled, a pulse of air shooting out across Naranja Plaza. Every tile within the field shattered, returned to their present state. Plants withered in seconds.
Leon pointed at the far end of the courtyard. “They’re getting away!”
The shadowy figure was already running for the streets. Two of the Masques broke off to give chase. I clenched my teeth, tilting my body forward to go into a full sprint. The air before me wavered, then somehow solidified, the final Masque stepping in to block our way.
“Brisk morning, isn’t it? Gentlemen. A word?"
I thrust my finger at the same place where Leon did. “There’s the source of your anomaly. We need to — ”
The Masque raised his hand, the swirl of threatening white energy in his palm matching the brightness of his smile.
“Please, gentlemen. I insist.”
13
LEON
“We just want to have a little talk.”
