Page 81 of The Nowhere Witch

“Give me something notyourelated.”

“The wall. They think once they kill you, the wall will be destroyed with you and freeit. Isn’t that how you supposedly built it in the first place?”

Bingo. A wave of magic surged through me instantly. I raised my hands, shooting it toward their wall. A blast as loud as a bomb filled the air, and then a buzzing muted all the noise. A blinding light filled the sky, and I was knocked off my feet by my own magic.

I woke with my cheek in the snow and an opaque, swirling blue dome all around me. Utterly drained, I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked around at the small area, probably no bigger than thirty feet in diameter.

Gregor was lying on the ground not far from me, and there was a glowing black stone in the center. I got to my feet, laid a hand on it, and jerked back. It wasit. This dome was acting as a field around it, containing it from the outside. But I was on the inside with it this time. How had I done that?

I moved over to Gregor, who was curled on his side. Everything he’d done had walked him into this position, and yet it was hard to see him right now, curled on his side, too weak to stand.

“You idiot. You chose them, and they didn’t even give a shit about you.”

I didn’t know if he’d taken a bad blow or what, but he wasn’t getting up. He wasn’t bleeding, but he looked like death on closer perusal.

I knelt down, putting a couple of fingers to his wrist to gauge how strong his pulse and magic were. Both were barely there.

“Gregor, what’s wrong with you?”

“I’ve got nothing left.” He turned onto his back, but it seemed to take everything he had, and there was still no sign of a visible wound. “They took all my magic. Every last drop.”

“During that… Whatever that chanting was?”

He nodded, but just slightly.

“Why am I okay, then? Why didn’t they take mine?”

“You’re too strong. They couldn’t.”

I should’ve hated the guy. On some level I still did, and yet it was hard to hate anyone enough to want to see them like this. After all, he’d believed in what he was doing, as I had. We just believed in something different. That shouldn’t have made us enemies, but it had.

“We’ll get you out of here. You can go to Rest.” I couldn’t jump puddles, but I’d go into hock to Hawk if need be. He’d have no reason not to help, since Gregor was effectively neutralized anyway.

He shook his head. “I won’t make it that long.”

I walked over to the opaque dome that enclosed us and laid my hands on it, trying to push through. It felt like pushing on the side of a mountain. I shoved harder, knowing it wouldn’t work.

I laid my hands on it again, this time feeling for its magical signature. There were too many to count. It was me, Belinda, Raydam, evenit.

What kind of monstrosity had I made? I couldn’t get us out, not even to save Gregor’s life. I definitely wasn’t going to be able to save myself. I’d signed my own death warrant.

“Tippi,” Gregor called.

I went and knelt beside him again. “I’m working on it. I’ll come up with something.”

“Please, tell my father I’m sorry. I never wanted to hurt him.”

“You’ll be…”

He shook his head, using the last of his strength to grab my hand. “I’m dead, Tippi. Just promise me you’ll tell him.”

“I will.” The image of Zark’s heart breaking as Gregor had left him at the bar was burned in my mind.

His hand went slack as his eyelids drooped. I settled down next to him, listening to the death rattle in his chest.

32

I’d tried every piece of magic I’d learned and more that I’d made up. Nothing worked. The only thing I could guess was that I’d hijacked the dome they’d been creating around me, and then somehow suckeditinside.