The tiger lunges, claws retracted but teeth bared. I throw up a shield, the shimmering barrier flaring to life just as he crashes into it. The impact rattles through my bones, but the shield holds.
“Good!” Wylder calls, already back on his feet. Blood trickles from his nose, but he’s grinning like a maniac. “Again!”
He moves in tandem with Orion this time. The tiger circles left, Wylder right. I track them both, my heart beating so hard it’s pushing at the base of my throat.
Orion moves in fast. It’s a distraction. I shift my shield to block just as Wylder strikes from behind. A burst of wind magic slams into my back and sends me sprawling.
I hit the ground hard, the earthy grit of dirt gathering on my tongue.
“Dead,” Wylder announces at the same moment a practice arrow hits him square in the back and knocks him forward.
“Dead,” Asher says, grinning ear to ear.
My cheer seems to light Wylder on fire, and it’s on again. He comes at me, and I don’t think. I justact.
I call every element at once.
Fire roars to life in my right hand, while water coils around my left wrist. Air whips through the clearing, lifting my hair, and the ground trembles beneath my feet. Spirit magic blazes blue around me, raw and unfiltered.
Wylder’s eyes widen.
I throw everything at him.
He raises a shield just in time, sage green light flaring bright as my assault crashes against it. The force of it drives him back another step, then another. His jaw clenches, muscles straining as he holds the barrier.
For a moment, I think I might actually break through.
Then his magic surges, and the shield explodes outward in a shockwave that sends me flying.
I hit the ground hard, rolling twice before skidding to a stop. “Damn it.”
Footsteps crunch toward me at a jog, and then Wylder crouches beside me, his expression unreadable. “That,” he says quietly, “was excellent.”
I blink up at him, chest heaving. “Um, hello? I lost.”
“But you brought it.” His gaze drops to my mouth again, lingering. “You came at me like you meant it.”
The space between us feels charged, electric. He reaches to the ground to help me up. When I’m back on my feet, he doesn’t let go of my wrist. Instead, his thumb brushes the inside of my pulse point.
For a heartbeat of a moment, the world narrows to just this—his hold on me, the rise and fall of his chest, the way his gaze drops to my mouth before flicking away.
“Good work.” He quietly steps back to assume a fighting stance. “Again.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The Emberwood Fall Festival transforms the town fairgrounds into a scene you’d see in a Hallmark movie—one that smells like cinnamon and cider, and depicts everyone in cable knit sweaters drinking from steaming cups as they smile wide and chat with their neighbors.
Nothing has changed in five years.
And yet, everything has.
Once we have our tickets, the six of us step off to the side and get acclimated inside the entrance.
Sebastian unfolds the map that’s given out with admission and divides the fairgrounds down the middle with his finger. “We’ll take the midway, the tractor pull, and the craft and baking contest buildings. You take the local vendor booths, the livestock arena, the live band stage, and the fields with apple and pumpkin picking.”
Asher snorts. “Of all the future planning sessions I spent with school councilors, ‘demon hunting at the fall fair’ was never a blip on my option form.”
I grin. “A little short-sighted, if you ask me.”
