“Hey, fellas,” I wheezed. “What’s up?”
Celeste stepped forward, both of her swords still in her hands. She eyed me a moment, then jerked her head at the giants. “Get her up.”
The twomen holstered their weapons, stepped forward, and hauled me to my feet. One of them held me still while the other man patted me down. He found all five of my knives, which he tossed onto the top of the hay bale. Once that man had gotten rid of my knives, the other giant let go of my arm, and they both stepped back. Fools. They should have realized that I didn’t need my blades to kill them.
Ilooked over at Owen. “You okay?”
He blinked away the rest of his daze and focused on me. “Just a little headache. You?” He nodded, and I realized that he was staring at my left arm.
“Oh, just a little slice with a sword. Nothing to worry about. You know I’ve had worse.” I winked at him, and Owen grinned back at me.
“Well, if I were the two of you, I would be very worried right now,” Celestepurred.
She started twirling her swords around in her hands, just as she had done earlier during the pirate show, and her hazel eyes started glowing with a bright, golden light. And just like at the pirate show, I sensed a faint gust of magic, one that slowly grew stronger and stronger the longer and faster Celeste spun her weapons around.
A sharp static charge filled the air, raising the hairon my arms and neck. In an instant, I felt like dozens of tiny invisible needles were stabbing into my skin over and over again, and I had to grind my teeth to keep from snarling. The uncomfortable pricking sensation reminded me of Jo-Jo’s Air magic, but it wasn’t quite the same.
It wasworse.
Celeste was still twirling her swords around, but the blades seemed much brighter than before, almostas if they were...glowing. That bad, bad feeling filled my stomach again, and I peered at her weapons more closely.
Hot golden sparks of electricity popped, crackled, and sizzled up and down the two blades, streaking from the hilts to the points and back again in explosive waves. Most elementals were gifted in Air, Fire, Ice, or Stone, but Celeste’s power was electricity, an offshoot of Air,just like Owen’s metal magic was an offshoot of Stone. I grimaced again. Of course, she had electrical magic. Because she wasn’t nearly dangerous enough with those swords already.
Celeste must have gotten tired of showing off, because she stopped spinning her swords around and slowly lowered the weapons to her sides, although those golden sparks kept dancing up and down the lengths of the blades.
“I can’t believe you’re an assassin, much less the Spider, the queen of the Ashland underworld.” She sneered. “And to think that I used to be your biggest fan. I got into sword fighting because of you, and I even dressed up like you at the summer faire last year. What a fucking disappointment.”
My fan? Training with swords? Dressing up like me? I’d expected threats of violence and promises ofpain, torture, and death. Not... whatever this was.
“You’re my fan? How do you even know who I am?”
Celeste arched an eyebrow. “Are you kidding? You’re a real-life assassin who supposedly has a heart of gold and helps people who can’t help themselves. Of course I know who you are.Everyoneon the ren-faire circuit knows who you are. You’re practically a fucking folk hero.”
All four of thegiants nodded, confirming her words, and a couple of them gave me sly, goofy grins. I glanced over at Owen, who looked as bewildered as I felt.
Celeste shook her head. “But I guess this just goes to show that the old saying is true and that you should never meet your idols, because they’ll only end up disappointing you.”
“And how have I disappointed you?”
She let out a loud, derisive snort.“Forgive me for not admiring someone stupid enough to fall through a rickety old hayloft.”
She had a point, although I would never admit it. Plunging through the hayloft hadn’t been one of my finest moments, but sometimes Lady Luck just screwed me over like that. What mattered was picking myself up again and getting back into the fight, and I was an expert at both of those things.
Unlike thesepeople, who seemed to be...amateurs.
All the talk of being my fan and dressing up made me think that Celeste and her friends were only playing at being hardened criminals instead of being bona fide villains. I eyed the golden sparks of magic still shooting off her swords. Well, she wasn’t playing. She definitely wanted to murder me in the most painful manner possible.
Had Owen and I reallybeen captured by some weekend ren-faire players? I bit back a groan. Finn wouldneverlet me live this down—provided Owen and I made it out of here alive.
“Complete and utter disappointment,” Celeste said for the third time.
Fan or not, I’d had enough of her snide criticism. She thought she was better than me? Well, we’d see about that.
“I bet Lancelot and his two friends were disappointedin me too—right up until I killed them.”
My harsh words wiped the goofy grins off the giants’ faces, although they didn’t seem to faze Celeste.
“You guys don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into. This is real life, not some game you’re playing on that diorama,” I snarled. “You’re right. I am the Spider, I am a real assassin, and I am really, truly going tokill you all deadunless you leaveright now.”
