Page 70 of Solar Shadows

OLLIE

“Melt!” the shadow witch cried as she charged through the main entrance doors.

A crackle of blue energy with the black taint of shadow magic flew at me. I ducked in time with Jake, the spell hitting the floral arch, the structure melting into a pool of bubbling pink and white goo.

Close call!

Using the spells in my witchcop bangle, I hit her with Freeze.

She went still. Jake moved forward, firing off the Taser spell at a guy coming in hot from the parking lot. I darted into the restaurant, shooting three Trip spells at the invading witches, glass crunching under my shoes, aiming for Isaac, who was on his knees, healing his injured agent.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

The attack came from nowhere, my ears buzzing from the crash of the glass and the screams thatfollowed. There was blood everywhere, so many hurt, and about ten witches launching spells.

What happened to the shadow witches laying off the attacks? Did Marcus change his mind?

An alarm wailed, and I took cover behind an overturned table. A spell hit, shaking it. This wouldn’t shelter me for long.

I put in a call for backup.

The table shook again, a smoking hole appearing in the middle. With a deep breath, I darted out from my cover, using Blur to hide myself, my focus on The Sun.

I had to get to him.

He had to be safe.

Spells popped off, people screamed, chaos a melting pot of noise, bloody stinks, and violent sights. There were already corpses scattered around me. I pushed the fear into a box, like they taught us at the academy, sealing the lid tightly. Fix the problem, ponder the emotions later. Because there was no place out in the field for our mortal flaws to trip us up.

Isaac was tangled up in my emotions though. Panic wouldn’t stay in the box, it kept rising.

He has to be safe…

Counting down from three, I charged and dove into a slide as shadow magic flew overhead.

“Shite!” Ben cried as I came to a skidding halt beside him, the table on its side providing shelter.

Isaac, still awake after healing his agent, smiled at me weakly from where he sat with his legs stretchedout in front of him. His face was pale, blood blooming on the right side of his shirt.

I cramped up everywhere, eyes fixated on the red flower spreading across the teal material.

Not The Sun. Not The Sun. Not The Sun.

The world became a murky soup around me, his injury the clearest point of horror.

Not him…

Don’t take him…

I broke out of my trance. This wasn’t the time for this.

Helen held his hand, shaking, her clothes spattered with blood.

“I’m getting you out of here,” I said.

He collapsed onto his side, convulsing, eyes wide, mouth slack.

“Darlin!” Helen hissed, panicked, her hand slipping away from his. “No, no, no. Isaac.”