At the same time she dodged to the side and back, closing some of the gap between them.
She could feel the power gathering between them, but it was already too late for the attack she’d planned.
A bolt of energy slammed into her chest. Another whizzed past her as she fell back, feeling like the air had been knocked out of her lungs. At the same time, her head spun and her vision blurred.
Behind her, she knew Jake wanted to leap from the bushes and rush to her.
Somehow she managed to shoutNo!
If they got him, too, they were lost.
No, they were already lost. Mickey and Kira must have been practicing their skills for a long time. They were stronger than she and Jake under the best of circumstances, and now she was lying on the ground with her head spinning.
Sadness and horror came down on her like a thick, dark cloud. Everything she had hoped for with Jake was lost. They should have run and figured out what to do next. They’d been crazy to stay here and fight.
She turned back toward Jake, but he was hidden from her.
Get away, she whispered in her mind. At least she’d have the satisfaction of knowing they hadn’t killed him, too.
What happened next totally confused her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Rachel heard a loud rustling in the bushes. A flock of small black birds took flight and flapped away. Then Kira screamed.
Swiveling her head, Rachel saw an enormous alligator come creeping out of the vegetation along the bayou. Then another. Then the snake they’d seen earlier slithered into view, followed by a family of raccoons.
The raccoons ran past, but the other animals were slower and kept heading for the center of the parking area where the other couple stood. As Rachel watched, she knew that Jake was doing it, sending a low level of warning energy through the underbrush, telling the animals to escape–and not toward the water.
While the predators advanced, Kira and Mickey instinctively backed up, before sending a bolt of energy at the lead alligator, making it shudder and go still.
But changing their focus gave Rachel and Jake the edge they’d needed.
Even with Jake hidden from view, she felt him gathering power, and she helped as best she could. As Kira and Mickey sent a bolt at another alligator, Jake flung a ball of energy toward Kira. It caught the edge of the blast she’d sent at the alligator and hurled it back toward her. The double whammy had her staggering. She fell to the ground,her eyes wide with shock that these two novices had knocked her off her feet.
Jake was ready with a second blast, and Rachel struggled to help.
She braced for an attack, perhaps from Mickey, but he had gone down on his knees beside Kira, his total focus on his fallen lover.
As they’d agreed, Jake ignored him, sending another charge at the woman who had directed the attack on them, and Rachel heard her make a gurgling sound.
Rachel lay on the ground, panting, sure that she could summon no more energy, but when she felt Jake reaching for power again, she gathered every ounce of concentration she could scrape together, adding as much as she could to the effect.
Ruthlessly, Jake launched one more bolt at Kira who shuddered, then went still.
Mickey leaned over her, cradling her in his arms, his expression urgent and terrified. He must be trying to communicate with her, but he wasn’t getting any answer.
He laid her gently on the ground, then raised his head and screamed, turning toward Rachel with a murderous expression on his face. She could feel him gathering energy on his own–without Kira--and she knew he was going to strike her. She was too weak to fight back. Too weak to run. If he hit her, she was dead.
Before he could attack, Jake came flying out of the bushes. Like her, he must have used up all his psychic energy bolts, but he could still use conventional force.
Hearing Jake coming at him, Mickey whirled, but he was already on the ground, and Jake landed on him.
“You bastard. See how you like this.”
Grabbing Mickey’s head, he smashed it against the surface of the parking lot. The other man tried to fight back,but he was no match for Jake’s rage and for his physical strength. Mickey had been relying on psychic abilities for so long that he’d lost any physical fighting skills he might have once possessed.
In the face of the onslaught, he went limp, and Jake rolled off of him, then ran to Rachel, gathering her to him.
