Chapter 12
The wind blew through my hair and beat against my face as Percy ran through the outlands. I clung to his back, squeezing my thighs around his middle as I gripped his fur in my hands.
Percy hadn’t been lying about it being faster, but it was hell on my hair and I was sure I was getting air burns on my face.
“How much further?” I shouted over the wind in my face.
“Not much more. We just have to keep ahead of any shifters who might sniff us out.”
A chorus of howls was the only warning before a dozen shifters appeared behind us, in hot pursuit.
“Percy!” I gripped his fur tighter. “They’re closing in on us. Fast.”
“Hold on!”
If I thought Percy was going fast before, now he was hitting breakneck speed. I huffed a scream and clung to him like my life depended on which, at this moment, it did. I could hear the pounding of the other shifters’ feet as they chased after us. Their snarls and snapping of their teeth made my heart race and fear to freeze the blood in my veins.
A shifter moved in on Percy’s right flank and snapped its jaws at me. I flinched away before kicking my foot out to smack them right in the snout. It slowed down, shaking his nose before coming at us once more.
“Has your magic replenished?” Percy growled back at me.
Thankfully, the rest in Percy’s cave had given me enough time to recharge my magics. Besides the tiny bit I used on Percy, I was raring to go magic-wise.
“Yes, but I don’t think I will be able to freeze them all. There’s too many of them.” I sat up slightly and took in the shifters. More of them were quickly closing the distance.
“You won’t have to. Just long enough for us to get out of the outlands.” Percy turned his head to look over his shoulder. “They won’t follow us into the Candy Forest.”
“What?” I glanced from him back to the shifters. “Why won’t they go into the Candy Forest?”
“Can we talk about this later? Magic now, explanations later.”
“Right.” I used my thighs to keep my hold on Percy’s midriff. “Time for some payback.”
I pulled my powers into my fist and waited until one of the shifters closed in on us. When the shifter’s jowls came within an inch of latching onto me, I let my fist rip.
Solid ice hit the beast right in the snout. I might not be the strongest person in terms of muscle, but getting hit in the face with a thick brick of ice wasn’t pleasant for anyone. It knocked the shifter down, and thankfully, this one stayed down.
The next few shifters came on us too fast for me to hit them all with a punch to the snout. Choosing to go on the defensive, I shot ice at their paws, freezing them in place while they snarled and snapped at us. Unfortunately, several more replaced the three I just froze.
“We’re almost there,” Percy called over his shoulder. “Just a bit further.”
“Hurry,” I replied, then squealed as one of the shifters got a hold of my pant leg. I wrapped my hand around its snout, digging my nails in as my power froze through. It whimpered and released me with a sharp cry of pain.
I sucked in a big breath and looked behind me. There were still quite a few shifters left and a lot of space between us and the woods.
I considered an ice wall, but there wasn’t any water to use. I could freeze things, but I couldn’t create something from nothing. Covering myself with ice was easy, and using the water in someone else’s body was just a bit trickier. Anything bigger than that, and I needed a supply of water to enchant.
Glancing around the dried ground, I tried to think of where I could get some water. Something had to keep the plants alive. An idea came to me. I didn’t know if it would work, but I had to try.
I conjured blasts of cold at a few more of the shifters, freezing them in place as I expanded my magical senses, searching for the water that had to be deep beneath the surface.
I dug deep… and then I found it. There was not a lot but enough for what I had in mind.
“Hold steady,” I told Percy. Using one hand to hold onto his side, I leaned over and reached for the ground below.
My hand barely brushed the wasteland dirt, but it was enough to latch onto the water beneath the surface. In one magical motion, I pulled the water up to the surface and froze it. A slick of ice covered the ground, causing the shifters chasing after us to slip and slide around. In their desperate efforts to keep their bearings, all they managed to do was crash into one another.
“That ought to slow them down.” I smirked at my handiwork, but it was short lived.
Pain seared through my arm. A shifter had snuck up on me while I’d focused on my magic and grabbed my free arm between their jaws. I winced at the pain in my arm, then a scream slipped out of me as my legs started to slip off Percy.
In a frantic attempt to stay on Percy’s back, I built the ice back up on my hand and hammered the shifter’s jaw. “Let go, you fucking mangy mutt!”
This one was either tougher or crazier than the others. It didn’t let go right away like the other one. In fact, the more I hit it, the harder it bit down on my arm.
My inner thighs were burning. I couldn’t hold on much longer. My shoulder burned as it felt like my arm was about to be ripped out of its socket. It only got worse every moment the shifter held onto me.
Eventually, I couldn’t keep my perch anymore.
“Percy!” I screamed out as I slipped off of his back and tumbled to the ground. I rolled across the hard ground, and right into the plush grass of the Candy Forest.
The shifter released my arm with a yelp as it hit against some kind of barrier at the edge of the forest.
I just laid there for a moment catching my breath and trying not to move my arm more than I needed to. There was definitely some tissue damage there. Maybe even a broken bone.
“Bianca!” Percy rushed over to me, his nose sniffing along me until it landed on my injured arm. “You’re hurt.”
“No shit,” I grunted, rolling onto my back and then into a sitting position.
The shifters had stopped at the edge of the Candy Forest, but they hadn’t retreated yet. They prowled and growled, even throwing themselves against the barrier every once in a while. The shifters glared at us as if that was going to make us change our minds and let them tear us apart.
I winced and held my arm close to my chest. “Not that I’m complaining, but why can’t the beast squad get through?”
“Tara’s aunt.” Percy leaned over me, a low growl in his chest as he stared the shifters down. “She was afraid the other shifters would change their mind and come after me. She didn’t want to take the chance. They can’t enter the Candy Forest without permission.”
I looked up at him, shifting and then winced as pain shot through my arm. “It must not be a general barrier spell against all shifters if you can go in and out.”
“No. It’s not.” Percy wouldn’t look at me. His eyes were completely focused on the shifters still hanging out around the edges.
“Percy,” I grunted and winced once more. “I need to get back to my place. Patch my arm up and everything.” I used what was left of my shirt to put pressure on the bleeding bite marks.
Finally, Percy jerked his eyes away from them and back to me. His eyes trailed over me, lingering over where I’d been hurt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t do a very good job protecting you, after all.”
I shrugged. “That’s alright. I’m alive so we’ll call it even.”
I tried not to think about the fact that this was the end. The deal was done. Percy didn’t have to stay with me any longer. A thick ball of emotion made its home in the middle of my throat.
“Anyway, Tara is going to be waiting for me and you know… the council and all that. I don’t have much more time left to do the deed.”
“Right.” Percy nodded his head. “Then we better go. Do you need me to carry you?”
I frowned. “What do you mean ‘we’? The deal was you get me in and out of the outlands. Well, I don’t know about you, but we’re not in the outlands anymore.”
“I know.” Percy lingered next to me. “But since you got hurt, I figured it was the least I could do.”
“Oh.” I blinked at him. “Yeah, I guess. And a ride would be… nice.”
Bending at the waist, Percy scooped me into his arms, careful to keep the damaged arm on the outside so I wouldn’t crush it against him. I leaned into him, breathing him in before forcing myself to stop.
“Alright, puppy, forward.” I bounced in his arms as if that would make him go faster.
Percy peered down at me with a warning stare. “Watch it your mouth or I’ll watch it for you.”
I grinned and then winced as he started to walk. “Kinky.”