Trey snarled and punched me in the head. We rolled over on the floor, struggling. I was taller and more skilled than Trey, but he was quick and vicious, and he hadn’t just been shot in the chest. I managed to twist the gun out of his grip, but the move left me open and Trey landed a punch that made me see stars. While I was stunned he got on top of me and started pounding.
I tried to shield myself with my forearms. Trey was straddling me, his weight on my hips, raining blows down on my head. I tried to buck him off and failed, getting a blow to my temple. I felt a flash of panic as I realised I couldn’t get loose. I knew counters to this position, but they needed two hands.
More blows hit my forearms and elbow. My right hand flopped uselessly, and another punch crushed it against my nose, sending a spike of pain through my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see movement at the forcewall, and knew the barrier wouldn’t last much longer. With Trey on top of me, I couldn’t reach my pockets. The boy snarled down at me and started driving hammer blows at my head, forcing me to use my one good hand to block.
With a chill, I realised I was going to lose. It was my fight with Caldera all over again. I was going to be beaten and captured, all because I wasn’t strong enough—
No. Fear vanished in white-hot fury. Not this time.
Trey reared up, fist raised for a knockout blow, the light glinting off the jewellery at his ear and neck. I snatched with my left hand and ripped out both his earrings.
Trey screamed, clapping his right hand to his ear. His left hand fell across my face and I bit, getting a good grip on two fingers. My teeth scraped bone, and Trey scrambled off me, yelling. I let him pull me up, got the half-charged stun focus from my pocket, and stabbed him with it. He went down with a crash.
I spat blood and looked up to see the last line of light from the statue merge with the cube. The statue seemed to double, an arched gateway materialising. As it did, magic surged from the corridor and my forcewall shattered, the gold discs sparking and burning out. Onyx had arrived.
I took one glance towards the door and saw Onyx, Pyre, and too many people with too many guns. I darted for the statue, trying to grab the cube and get through the gate before they could open fire.
I almost made it.
Divination can only do so much. You can dodge, but that only works if there’s somewhere to dodge to. Time seemed to slow down as I floated towards the portal, and just as I was passing through the gate I realised that between Onyx, Pyre, and all the guns, it was actually physically impossible for them all to miss. I managed to avoid Onyx’s force blade, the bullet that would have gone through my head, and the ones that would have taken out my legs. The fire blast and the last volley of shots hit me square on.
Pain seared through me and I fell. Behind me, the gate, destabilised from the loss of the cube and by the attack spells, collapsed.
chapter 11
Silence.
Slowly and painfully, I rolled onto my side. I was lying in the entrance room to the bubble realm, and I was alone. There was no sign of where the gate had been. My upper back and right shoulder blade were throbbing as if they’d been seared, there was a sharp pain around my lower back just next to my spine, and there was something wet above my right hand.
The right hand scared me the most. I looked down.
The bandages on the hand had been scorched off. Beneath, the skin was red, and two bloody holes gaped, one in the middle of the palm and one just above the wrist. Gunshot wounds; the bullets had gone through and through. I could see white bone and had the nauseating feeling that if I tried poking a finger, it would come out the other side.
Twisting my head, I could see that the armour over my right shoulder blade had been partially melted. My armour had saved me, diffusing the heat across my back. From looking into the futures where I stripped, I could see that the skin was scorched, but no more. Finally I reached around with my left hand to my back, afraid that my fingers would find a hole in the armour and the skin beneath, and instead found a bullet embedded in the mesh. There was blood, but the skin was unbroken. It must have been one of the shots that had gone through my hand. I was lucky that it had: if it hadn’t lost so much energy, it would have penetrated . . .
Had it been luck? I vaguely remembered my right arm twisting to shield me as I dived. I hadn’t done it consciously. Maybe it had been a reflex. Or maybe my armour had moved on its own.
“Thank you,” I said quietly, and felt the armour pulse. It was damaged, badly damaged. Imbued items aren’t just things, and they can be hurt or killed. The armour couldn’t have much strength left.
I already knew that I wasn’t being pursued, so I went through my pockets. My stock was running low: I had my gate stones and not much else. I’d lost the stun focus back in the storeroom. One of the few items I had left was a jar of healing salve, and I unscrewed it one-handed and applied it. It didn’t do much—the item had never been designed to treat such severe wounds.
“Guess I should look on the bright side,” I said to no one in particular. “I couldn’t use that hand anyway.” Blood was seeping from the wounds, and for the first time I was glad for the loss of those nerves. If they hadn’t been numb, I’d have been in agony.
I did what I could to bind the wounds, using what was left of the bandages and strips of my clothing. The bindings started to soak through immediately, and I remembered what Klara had told me about my hand not healing. Until I got proper treatment, I was going to keep losing blood.
Better not hang around, then.
I got to my feet and looked down at the red cube. Its glow had died and now it sat silent on the floor, sparks glinting in its depths. “I’m having a rematch with Abithriax,” I told it. “You coming?”
The cube watched me.
I stooped and picked it up, then started walking.
The interior of the bubble realm hadn’t changed much from the last time I’d seen it. Off-white walls and rounded corners gave the rooms a muted, soft feel, and patches of light shone from the ceiling. The silence was total. My muffled footsteps felt like the only trace of life in an empty world.
As I walked, I reached out through the dreamstone. Luna.
Alex! Luna answered instantly. Oh, thank God.
You doing okay?
I should be asking you that. Luna’s thoughts were clear, with no trace of pain this time. You sound hurt.
Had a little trouble getting through the gate. I heard a faint splat; glancing down, I saw that drips were falling from my right hand. I lifted it to slow the bleeding. But I’m inside and they’re not. What about you guys?
Starbreeze dropped us off when Vari wouldn’t stop shouting, then she did a runner. I don’t think she’s coming back.
No, running away’s pretty much her standard reaction when she’s upset. How far away are you?
Miles. Vari thinks he can gate us back pretty close to the mansion.
A sealed door blocked my path. I searched the futures and saw that there were controls hidden behind a wall panel; I pulled it off awkwardly with my left hand and got to work. No point, I told Luna. The whole place’ll be on alert by now. Probably they’ve found the passage we used to get in. If you guys try to break in again, it’ll be a bloodbath.