Page 138 of First Ritual

I surged forward in the offered space, jabbing twice, then coated my hand in an iron charm before gripping Huxley’s shoulder to punch him in the gut.

The air left him. He doubled over, stumbling back. Following up, I ran forward, crossed one foot over the other and released a kick to the middle of his chest with brutal force.

He flew.

“Not incoming,” Sven panted. “Huxley’s defense team has engaged with ours.” He surged forward to keep pressing Huxley back.

We nearly had him in the corner. Then we could get him into a hold that his slippery smokey act couldn’t escape.

I was surprised Huxley didn’t have a partner.

No sooner had the words left my mouth then my back prickled with heat. I dropped flat and rolled as daggers of blue sliced over where I’d just stood. Fuck.

I popped up, readying a barrier to hurl if necessary.

I didn’t recognize the proven standing there and blocking the exit.

“I get the new girl.” The guy winked.

He wasn’t Huxley’s partner. This was Fertim’s move.

“Aren’t you lucky,” I replied, taking a beat to sync my next rhythm with Sven’s ebb and flow.

Throwing a barrier between me and the new proven, I spun and darted forward to continue the onslaught on Huxley. Punch, deflect. Drop to my knees and spin. Kick to the back of his knee. Slide between his legs. Uppercut.

Huxley caught me with a ringing blow to the temple, and I used the momentum to clear the space for Sven’s next set. Damn, the bastard had included a charm with that hit. A charm designed to sink into my skin and disable me.

I wasn’t sure how to pull it out—and didn’t want to do that because the obvious was usually the wrong answer when it came to a charm like this. I wrapped the creeping ends of the attacking magic in a freezing charm to prevent them continuing their work, then whirled back to fight the other proven.

I dropped the barrier I’d erected.

The proven abandoned his attempts to break my defense and raced forward. Not as fast as Huxley.

The proven hurled forward an oil slick that coated the floor, splashing up the bookcases and covering the lower books. Whoa.

I cast a barrier around my body and swept aside his ringing blow. The guy spun away, and changed direction far too quickly given the oil. How was he not slipping?

He was coming in for another attack.

Sometimes the most logical solution wasn’t the prettiest. I let loose a wave of magic to topple the surrounding bookshelves and cover the floor. Then, I turned the shelves to sawdust to coat the oil.

Payback for the library recording the books I’d borrowed.

Sven’s labored breaths were loud and clear in the silence following the deafening thunder of falling shelves and books. I whisked sawdust into the air and created a hurricane around the proven who had managed to dodge all the books and was readying himself for another attack.

Whirling to Huxley, I barked an order at Sven who dropped back.

Huxley was tired too. Good.

I summoned a book, drew my arms back, and slammed the tome into Huxley’s face. He was thrown back into the corner.

I’d just slapped a grimoire with a book, and that felt fantastic.

Sven’s choked laughter reached me, but I was robbed of answering with a grin when a javelin of magic speared me.

Cold.

Ice.