Page 55 of Midnight Rules
It gave Kinnison enough time to move out of the way of the green cloudy substance. He pushed Cass out of the way at the last minute too. The green substance fell to the ground, blending into the grass.
Kinnison didn’t hesitate when he slashed the witch’s throat open.
Iven created a stream of fire. Using the flame from the ball he’d already created took less energy than conjuring a new flame.
He made a steady stream between the ball and his hand. All he had to do was bend the stream at the right opportunities.
Witches gathered near the cornfield. They were out of range of Iven’s flame, so he couldn’t use it to get to them. But it was clear they had death and destruction in mind.
Within seconds, Kinnison doubled over and held his gut as if it were being ripped out of him. He fell to the ground. The shift came upon him in an instant and he took on his human form.
Iven couldn’t leave Kinnison. If they were going to make it out alive, they needed his magic. But he couldn’t leave the witches unattended, either.
If he froze all of them at once, it would drain his energy, which would bring them right back to the real problem.
But he could stall their magic. He could only do it for a few minutes. But it might be enough time to get out of there.
He wasn’t sure why he didn’t think of it before. Well, he knew why. It was a dirty move. One that came with consequences.
Cass must have known what he was about to do because he shook his head. “We work together.”
Iven threw his flame at a witch who was running toward them. The witch chanted a spell. It was clear from his smirk that he thought he had the upper hand. But the smirk turned into surprise and then pain as the flames engulfed him.
“How?”
“Freeze each one in my way. That shouldn’t drain you if we go one by one.” Cass stepped toward a witch, challenging him. The witch was easy to kill.
Iven didn’t need to help Cass.
The next one wasn’t so easy. She had a spell ready when Cass came at her. She was slower than Iven though. So before shecould execute the spell, Iven froze her in place and Cass slashed her throat.
They repeated the process one more time before their enemies caught on.
The witches, who were hurting Kinnison, turned on Cass. He doubled over.
Dread twisted his gut. He panicked, not sure what to do. Conjuring the magic that would stall the witches was almost instinct and born out of fear. The magic grew inside him. He almost lost control as it left him and entered each of the witches.
Their eyes widened in shock and then they screamed in pain as their magic hardened inside them, turning into a sort of cancer that grew.
Kinnison and Cass stopped writhing in pain. Cass was the first to stand. His gaze met Iven, and he cursed.
Cass shifted and took out the witch closest to him. They were easy pickings without their magic. The one thing separating them from vulnerable humans was the one weapon they no longer had. The council prohibited a magic user from stalling another’s abilities. The punishment was severe.
Kinnison didn’t hesitate. Marric’s mother had been a witch. Kinnison had to know about stalling magic and the laws regarding it. Yet his only response upon recovering was to shift into his third form and kill as many as possible. He was ruthless in his pursuit.
Everything stopped when police sirens sounded in the distance. Kinnison and Cass stopped picking off the witches as though they were plucking weeds, and Iven ended the spell that stalled the magic. But the witches were fast to recover and when they chose him for a target, the pain was severe.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Marric fought to stay conscious. He only needed to get outside with Zinnie’s poisonous concoction, release it, and then get out of the area. But he could feel his body giving up. The heaviness of his muscles weighed him down, making each step feel as though he wore barbells for shoes. And his vision blurred at the edges, tunneling with each step. But he saw Riley and Griffin ahead of him.
His hearing was just fine, though. He heard Emery say she would go instead.
Marric shook his head as he walked toward Riley and Griffin. They wanted him, not her.
Her pleas turned to sobbing. “Let me go!” she yelled on repeat. Zinnie, or maybe Maggie, must have been holding her back.
He had the tube and bottle in his arms, clutching it as though it were his baby.
