Page 24 of Wicked Enemy

Lightning zapped through the air. I yanked up a metal shield and shoved the white bolt aside right before a blast of water shot towards me. Shifting the shield, I barely managed to redirect it before a combined attack of wind and fire tore through the air.

“Fucking hell,” I growled as the white boots began bombarding me with attacks from the ground while a whole squad of them ran towards the door to the building I was standing on.

By the wall right below me, two men grabbed Ben’s limp arms and started dragging him back across the streets. I only managed to shoot one spear of metal towards one of them, which the woman who had yelled earlier easily redirected, before I had to return all of my attention to blocking their barrage of attacks.

From the open windows of the house, I could hear people pounding up the stairs.

I swept my gaze around the area.

The fight inside the constables’ headquarters was no longer audible. And since none of my people had miraculously appeared on the street, that meant that they had lost the battle and been recaptured.

Ben was unconscious and now captured as well.

Eight white boots were hurling attacks at me from down on the street, and eight more were racing up the stairs to force me into a close-range battle.

Fury and desperation and utter disappointment roared through my soul.

So close. We had been so fucking close!

I shot metal walls at the constables below with increased speed. Magic hissed and crackled through the air as they blocked them while firing back. The pounding footsteps from inside the building drew closer.

And at that moment, I knew that there was nothing I could do.

I had already failed.

Again.

I had once again lost against the fucking white boots.

Calling up a massive wall, I hurled it at the people on the street below. It was large and fast enough that I knew they would need everyone’s power to block it.

The moment they were distracted, I whirled around. And then I did the only thing I could do.

I ran.

Chapter12

My stomach flipped as the corridor around me became blurry. It felt as if I was being yanked forward and spun around and pushed downwards all at the same time. Then the world around me came back into focus.

Nausea rolled through me again. Bending over, I vomited into the lush green grass.

“By all hell,” the man next to me growled while still keeping my arm in an iron grip.

I just stared down at the grass below my feet while throwing up again.

Confusion trickled in at the edge of my mind. Grass? How could there be grass here? We had been standing in Gemma’s corridor only seconds ago, so…

I trailed off as the last of the dizziness evaporated and my mind finally caught up with the situation. Slowly straightening again, I swept my gaze around the area.

We were standing somewhere out in the middle of the grasslands. The ground sloped upwards on all sides, and straight ahead was a small cabin with a few trees around it.

Shit.

I turned to the man holding on to my arm. Now I had my proof. This was indeed the worldwalker.

Since we were down in a valley, it prevented me from figuring out how close to Malgrave we were.

Icy dread slid down my spine.