Dani tried again to pull up her power and this time it hurt. She had to stop for a while.
Marvin breathed deeply, closed his eyes, and did the same. He shook his head again. Neither of them were having any success.
“Code Heart, room 205. Code Heart, room 205. Code Heart, room 205,” Mable’s voice said.
Then, “Code SOB, room 312. Code SOB, room 312. Code SOB, room 312.”
SOB?Dani thought.Oh. Short of breath. Laughter tittered up through her tight throat.I’m pretty SOB myself right now.
Sandra
Her muscles were quivering,her breath short and fast as she backed away from the door. Whatever Mable was doing with the speakers and the codes, it wasn’t enough. The security team was ready to break down the door.
“Oh. Oh nonono.” She began to pull up her power. “No no. Dear God, please stop them. Please stop them. Oh no. Please stop them. Please—”
A crash knocked her back.
The door rammed open. Slammed against the wall.
Black-suited figures rushed in. They had magic.So much magic.
Sandra released her power at them.
It shuddered through her. Whipped her spine. Blasted out of her gut and down her arm to her fingers. It struck the line of jack-booted thugs.
Power blasted into them.
So much power it was like fire, hot and burning. It ricocheted over them and into the wall.
Overhead, the lights blinked several times and went off.
Smoke blew through the air with the smell of burning feathers.
Soft, odd grunting sounds filled the room.
Emus appeared out of the smoke.
In a panic, small-brained, long-necked birds stomped off their boots and flung their clothes away. Spread their short wings and grunted loudly. Then they started booming, the sounds caught in the small room, reverberating as they raced in circles and then strode, long legs reaching. The wild mob raced down the hallway, claws clacking on the floor. They pecked at everything that moved.
Sandra sank to the floor, trembling with shock, tears on her face. “Dear God. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She burst into racking sobs. Dani slid to the floor beside her and held her as she cried.
Mable
Mable steppedinside the outer door and tripped a black-uniformed guard, bringing her fist across the side of the woman’s neck as she fell. She darted toward the elevators and caught a glimpse of medical types at the entrance to the dining room, some carrying fire extinguishers, all looking confused. She turned and raced up the flight of stairs.
By the time she reached the first landing, her heart was pounding. Her knees ached and felt like small swords were stabbing into them. She broke into a sweat.Thank God for sex or I’d be out of shape. She started up the second flight. Stopped. Breathed.Okay. Maybe I need real cardio.
Two minutes later, her breath finally slowed. There was no way she could do this—save her friends—with brute force. Not even with her martial art abilities and skills.
She went back down the stairs and pulled her power to her. Hot and burning. The stink of brimstone and terror. The ancient human memory of ripping claws, rows of slicing teeth, piercing fangs. Wings spread. Feathers vibrant and rich and tipped with barbs. She opened the outer door and saw birds at the birdfeeder. There were more birds wheeling high overhead. Buzzards. She had never tried to turn buzzards.
She focused her power. “Here there be dragons,” she said, and sent her spell flying directly at the birdfeeder. Tiny dragons began to pop into existence around the birdfeeder. Three. Seven. Nine in all. Looking into the sky, she whispered her incantation and the buzzards gilding overhead snapped into dragons.Yes. Two of the buzzards were gold. The goldies were the queens, just like in Anne McCaffrey’s Pern world.They’re the dangerous ones, she thought.They don’t always come.
“Come,” she whispered to all the birds, putting all her power into the request. And come they did. Mable held the door open and they whipped inside, then followed her into the stairwell.
Mable started back up the stairs. She slowed, stopped several times, and finally at the third floor, she rolled against the wall, blowing hard, her heart slamming inside her chest. “I’m not fifty anymore,” she gasped. A dozen breaths later, she rocked her head back and said, “Okay. I’m not sixty anymore either. Damn it.”
The dragons were zooming up and down the stairwell. They made the most amazing peeps and trilling calls. They were having a ball.
