She didn’t stay sitting for long. A twig snapped underneath Arachne’s foot, sending a loud crack through the otherwise peaceful woods. Jumping to her feet, Shalise pointed her wand with one hand.
Two fingers on her other hand pressed together, sending a bolt of lightning straight towards Arachne.
Fear settling in as a chill in Eva’s stomach, she watched the bolt move through the air as if in slow motion. Not willing to lose Arachne so soon, Eva jumped. Unfortunately, she was moving in slow motion too. Her dive didn’t make it to Arachne in time.
Electricity crackled across Arachne’s carapace, focusing on her chest before darting down into the earth. A few loose leaves caught fire around her feet. Arachne had her mouth open, twisted into a frown as she glanced down at her chest.
Eva stood, blinking in surprise and shock. The lightning hadn’t even left a mark on the chitin. It was just as shiny and black as ever.
Whipping back around, Eva immediately recognized why. Shalise’s glove was covered in runework. The same runes that she had used back when she had first started on the glove. No alterations. Not surprising, Shalise wasn’t an expert or even mildly experienced in runes. The runes that did exist were not designed for seriously harming even a human, let alone a demon. The glove had essentially been solely to surprise Zoe during one of her training seminars.
Clutching at her chest and breathing out a small sigh of relief, Eva closed her eyes for just a moment. “You scared me,” she said.
“
“You aren’t,” Eva said, voice flat. Being able to see into people’s bodies had greatly increased her ability to tell truth from lies. At least in relation to exaggerations like that. Shalise’s heart was beating, and fast, but nothing out of the ordinary. “But what are you doing out here?”
“Lynn told me to run. So I ran. We already decided on what I should do if something happened. I’m to run out here, pick a direction, run around, and essentially get myself lost.”
Shalise breathed a light, relief-filled sigh. “If you are all she was worried about, I suppose I can go back before she finds me. Unless you’re here to kill me.” She gave a weak chuckle, obviously—hopefully not believing that. “Or kidnap me. Actually, please kidnap me.” Turning her head to her shoulder, Shalise breathed in a few short breaths through her nose. “I haven’t had a proper shower in forever.”
Eva took a step away with a slight wince. The forest and a light breeze was keeping any scent from Shalise away, but no need to take chances.
“I hate to break it to you, but I have no idea where Lynn Cross is. She did something to you and herself to hide the two of you from Nel. We showed up and haven’t seen her.”
“What? Where–”
A crack echoed through the forest. Where it came from was almost impossible to tell by the sound alone. Unfortunately, there weren’t too many places where it could have come from.
“Zoe might be in trouble.” Eva took three steps before realizing that Shalise hadn’t moved. “Coming or not?”
“Lynn–”
“Might be in trouble too. Come on.”
Eva grabbed Shalise’s arm—carefully—and dashed through the woods. Going backwards was hard, the path through the forest was barely clear and twisted more than once.
A plume of smoke rising in the distance removed all need to navigate the thick brush.
Author’s Note: Along with this chapter, the preview site for my writing should now be live. For those who have read the two chapters posted on my Patreon, there is a third now available. For those who haven’t read them, the site should be available to everyone. Unless I screwed up the permissions. I don’t know if comment moderation will carry over from this site or not, so your comments may not be immediately visible. If something looks wrong or you can’t access it at all, yell at me here or there or anywhere.
TL;DR: Preview of possibly new series available at towercuratorpreview.wordpress.com
The Powers that Be
Coughing twice, Zoe waved a hand in front of her face. A quick order shield had been enough to deflect most of the debris. Dust still made it through. While it was possible to make a shield airtight, it generally wasn’t a good idea if she wanted to breathe for more than a few moments.
Of course, she hadn’t anticipated all the dirt being thrown up into the air, effectively blocking off her breathing anyway.
With a whip of her dagger, Zoe quickly cleared away the dirt around her, filling the space with fresh air and letting her see once again.
She almost immediately wished that she hadn’t.
