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She found it, and fumbled it around in her hands until it was pointed away from her.

“Good, good... now pull the trigger—”

The gun flashed and made a burst of bubbles.

She flinched and dropped the gun to clutch her ears. Underwater, the explosion would have been deafening.

The glass cracked, but didn’t break. Lana stared hopelessly, her chest convulsing as she fought her instinct to breathe.

Aecora frowned and stood up.

“Shoot it again,” I whispered. “Shoot it again, Lana. You can do it.” Water rose to my neck.

Lana went back down for the gun, aimed it at the same spot—good girl—and pulled the trigger again.

Her bubble shattered.

The waterfall dumped her, coughing and gasping for breath, on the muddy ground.

Still holding the gun, she took aim at my bubble, her eyes burning with fierce determination, and managed two shots before she collapsed from exhaustion.

My bubble splintered, then cracked, then burst open, and I was dragged out with the escaping gush of water.

This time, I was ready.

I hit the ground and ducked into a roll, swiped the Glock out of the mud, and darted into the trees, already swinging my arm back toward Aecora to fire. She flinched and conjured another bubble around herself, which absorbed half a dozen bullets before shattering.

She whipped her hands out, palms raised. I threw myself sideways as a glass cage clamped around the space where I had been, just missing me. I scrambled into the underbrush. Having lost sight of me, she screamed and spun around in circles, conjuring bubbles haphazardly around the clearing, then she brought another wave smashing through the trees.

This time, I was ready. I anchored myself to a thick tree root and weathered the flood. When it passed, I military crawled through the bushes.

She was moving too fast, whipping around in circles, wrapping every twig that moved in a shiny glass bubble. I couldn’t get a clean shot, and I needed a clean shot.

A headshot.

Only thing that would incapacitate a demon.

It wouldn’t kill her, no, but it would scramble her brain long enough for me to burn her.

But if I missed, I’d find myself right back in a bubble again, likely with my gun and severed hand in a different one.

Across the clearing, the bushes rustled.

Aecora swiveled toward the sound, hands raised to attack.

To both our surprise, a stark naked man stepped into the clearing, arms raised in surrender.

The man I recognized as myself.

“I give up, Cora,” he called in a gravelly voice. “I’m unarmed, I’m no threat.”

“Attagirl, Lana,” I whispered.

Well, now she’d seen me naked.

Technically, more than that. She’dbeenme naked.

Aecora imprisoned her in a bubble anyway, then sauntered up the glass, giggling. “Are you trying to seduce me, Jame? My,my, you’ve lost your touch. But not your body, I see. Maybe I’ll take you home and put you on display,just... like... this.” The words slithered off her tongue.