Page 25 of All Out of Flux
Max and Guillotina dashed into the fray, but I had to help somehow, thin out the thugs. Also, a couple of them seemed especially intent on retrieving me for dear old Tío Gustavo.
The goons bore down on me, coming so close that we were practically within punching distance. One quick lunge, a well-executed kick, and I was in for a world of hurt. I needed to hurt them first.
My reflex was to call on the essences of the dragons still swirling within my soul — but after everything I’d learned, why would I turn to them again? Fuck. And these guys were much too amped up for me to terrify with a fear hex. That was assuming I could get a solid grip on them long enough to deliver it.
That left only one option. The blasting hex.
Everyone in the Alcantara bloodline always had a different story for how our blasting hex was created. Some said that it was initially designed to be a prank. Others said that it was in response to the frightfully destructive gunpowder that the Spaniards brought when they first reached Philippine shores.
The stories only ever agreed on two things. That the blasting hex was difficult to master, and that it was a fucking pain to execute.
But did I really have a choice?
Magic ripped out of me in an agonizing pulse, a dull ache in my bones, my skin tingling with the piercing pain of a thousand unseen needles. Brillante goons went flying in all directions, smashing into crates, against the wall. So many sounds of breaking that I couldn’t distinguish between splintered crates or shattered bone.
Gustavo and the Mendez sisters were the luckiest, positioned far enough away that the worst of the blast had dissipated, barely brushing against them with diminished force. Gustavo wobbled in place, waving his arms to regain balance like he was standing on the edge of a cliff. Teresita and Luisita clung onto each other for dear life, their skirts billowing in an arcane wind.
As for the statuette — gone. Gone from its pedestal, that is, floating toward me in a jerky, twitching motion. Clever boy. Somewhere in all the chaos, Max had used his Obfuscate spell to turn invisible and grab the goods.
The shimmering humanoid shape dashing toward me solidified into something made of flesh and blood. Max reachedfor my hand as he sprinted. Our fingers interlocked, and I ran alongside him.
“Stop them!” Gustavo bellowed.
“That was so fucking cool,” Max said, ignoring his uncle, awestruck and breathless. “Why did you ever bother with dragons when you could do all that?”
“Because it hurts like hell,” I replied, still feeling the deep ache in my bones, knowing that this full-bodied soreness would haunt me in the morning. “Can’t use it too much. Break glass in case of emergency. Now I have to put myself back together.”
Max turned his head for the briefest moment, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes. “I’ll spend all night putting you back together. Just you wait and see.”
“Time and a place,” I shouted back, feeling my insides puddling. He seemed to find it hot when I made extravagant displays of magic, and frankly, the feeling was mutual.
A rapid tip-tap of bootsteps caught up with us as Guillotina joined our footrace, her hair whipping in the breeze. “You guys are disgusting. I tell you all the time, but you never listen.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Oh, Tina, you know Max still loves you even if he spends all his spare time on — hold up.”
I stopped running. Max’s fingers slipped out of mine. He widened his eyes at me, jerking his head over his shoulder.
“Leon, what’s the matter? We need to get out of here.”
I blinked, then turned around. We’d made it out of the warehouse, but no one else had, for some reason.
“No one’s chasing us,” I said.
Guillotina craned her neck, angling for a better look inside the warehouse. “You’re right. I mean, the ones you exploded are still putting their bones back together, probably, but Gustavo and the Mendez twins were barely even blasted. Maybe it’s late. Maybe it’s past their bedtime.”
“Tina, that’s mean! Maybe a little ageist, too.” I stretched my arms out and yawned. “To be honest, I’m super sleepy myself. What time is it, anyway?”
Max tapped his watch, lifting its face to his, squinting at the little numbers. “That’s funny. My watch just stopped. That’s not supposed to — ”
My blood ran cold.
“Run,” I shouted, grabbing their hands and pulling tight.
Gustavo was never the real threat tonight. The Quartz Spider wove a tangled web, and we’d walked right into it.
12
MAX
