Page 77 of Jagged Souls

The fire disappears, but my arms are burned raw all the way up to my elbows. I fall to my knees, and Maddox is immediately beside me, trying his best to heal my wounds.

“Never give up hope like that, Micha,” he says as white light flows from his fingertips. “We willalwayscome for you.”

“I can’t go through that again,” I rasp.

He looks up at me as his magic helps dull the pain. He can’t heal me completely, hasn’t learned enough, so my skin is still puckered and raw. “Listen to me. If the worst happens today, you keep yourself alive however you have to.”

I shake my head.

He grabs my hands and squeezes. “You have your sister to yell at and protect from a demon prince, and you still need to kick my ass, then Varius’. So yousurvive, Micha. We will never stop coming for you.”

I stare at him, the panic in my throat making me mute. He knows I might not be making it out of here today. Sau is struggling to stand up, healing herself almost as much as she is attacking Eduardo. He’s still on the defensive, unable to get a blow in, but if he can just hold out, eventually, she’ll weaken too greatly to heal. One of her monsters has been killed, the other two are struggling to keep the werewolves off Sau, and more wolves keep pouring into the gym.

“I’m stepping out to pull your cage into my shadows now, okay?” He releases my hands. I have a sudden urge to hold on to him, to not be alone, but I wipe my sweaty palms on my thighs and nod. “It might be a while until I can bring you out, but if something happens to me, my brothers will find you. Never give up hope.”

My pulse spikes at the idea of being trapped in this cage on the Plane of Monsters, not being able to move from the middle of it without being torn to shreds by beasts I cannot see. I’ll be lost in a pitch-black world, slowly and painfully starving to death.

But it’d still be better than my fate with Antonio.

I nod, stronger this time. “Do it.”

He squeezes my hands, then slips from the cage, but just as his shadows start to swirl on the floor beneath his feet, one of the werewolves rushes him. A growling black ball of fury tearing up the ground behind him.

“Maddox!”

Sau turns and blasts the werewolf in the face, but it’s left her open to an attack from Eduardo. His crimson magic arcs towards her, and she only just manages to throw up a shield. White light flows from the fingers of her other hand as she presses it over her heart. She can’t heal any damage the use of magic is doing to her, but she can remove the pain.

If it’s in her heart though, how long can she possibly survive?

Smirking like the sleazeball he is, Eduardo attacks her again.

Relentless.

Powerful.

Not letting up to give her a chance to go on the offensive.

Her blue shield wavers under his red blasts of magic, and for a second I wonder why she doesn’t just take him into her shadows. Then I see the shield he has erected all around his feet – a circular wall about six inches tall, three feet in diameter. Her shadows can’t scale vertical surfaces. There’s always a counter to magic if you can find it.

Another werewolf charges Maddox.

Two more.

Three.

He keeps trying to fight them off with one hand as his other pulls on his shadows for me, but every time they fully form, he’s forced to use both his hands to protect himself. Then they disappear, and I’m still here.

Refusing to just stand here waiting to be saved though, I drop my eyes to the double-walled circle around the cage. If I can disrupt it, it’ll force Eduardo to start his spell all over again. If Sau’s here, the boys can’t be far behind. Buying another one or two minutes could save my life.

Dropping to the floor, I reach an arm through the bars and bring forth my fire so it crackles in my fingertips. I’m not trying to let it out this time. I know I can’t control it, but if I can just get it to burn through me, perhaps that’ll be enough to smudge the black lines.

Enough to break the spell.

To save myself.

But I never get the chance to try it.

Sau goes down, her shield shattering, her face covered in blood.