Nadine clapped her hands together, and the tiny mageglobe trapped between her palms exploded outward like ball lightning gone nova. A domed shield formed around them, moving quickly over the square. It split down the middle, two walls peeling back to momentarily block the zombies coming from the parks, buying their group time.
“Let’s go,” Patrick called out.
They ran toward the bridge, the group of werecreatures they’d brought into the fold keeping pace but giving them a wide berth to work in, which was fine by Patrick.
“Plan?” Nadine asked as she slid across a hood rather than waste seconds detouring around the car.
“Fire.”
“That’s not going to stop enough zombies to make a difference. The souls will still be wandering and get put back into the dead.”
“Can’t have a zombie without a body.”
She shot him an exasperated look. “This is why you get banned from cities.”
“I don’t get banned. It’s just suggested I never return.”
Nadine rolled her eyes and gestured expansively with her free hand at their current situation. Patrick opted to ignore her silent opinion of the way he interpreted things.
Patrick stuck his free hand behind him and wiggled his fingers. A second later, Wade latched on, and Patrick pulled the teenager along with him. Fatima bounded ahead of them, trailing a coldness the sun couldn’t cut through.
They passed the obelisk, growing ever closer to the dense wall of walking skeletons that waited up ahead. The eerie magic that enslaved souls to animate bones made Patrick squint against the glow hazing the air around the dead.
As he watched, the horde of zombies started to expand, rising up as they climbed each other to block the bridge, a wall of bones that reminded him of that shiver-inducing space in the Catacombs.
“Patrick?” Spencer called out harshly.
Patrick kept running, keeping hold of Wade. “Hold your magic. Everyone, stay close.”
The horde of zombies grew, clawing on top of each other in a rising wave of the dead that blocked out the far side of the bridge. Some skeletons couldn’t hold on and tumbled over the edge into the Seine. The mass of skeletons in front pushed outward like a leading trough, a multitude of old, bony fingers reaching for them as countless skulls with glowing eye sockets kept them in sight.
Patrick yanked Wade closer, skidding to a stop. He let go of Wade’s hand, settling his own in between the teenager’s shoulder blades in a supportive touch.
“Now!” Patrick snarled.
Fire could break most spells, but even magefire wasn’t strong enough to burn thousands of skeletons to ash and leave stolen souls without their anchor.
Dragon fire was.
Wade sucked in a deep breath and let it out with a roar that sounded as if it came from a body larger than the skinny teenager vibrating beneath Patrick’s touch. Fire erupted from Wade’s mouth, bursting forth with such intensity Patrick had to let go of his Carbine and throw up his other arm to protect his face from the heat.
The wave of zombie skeletons collapsed beneath dragon fire, limbs clawing at each other for a safety they would never find. Bone blackened in seconds, getting charred down to ash with every breath of flame Wade let out.
He was warm beneath Patrick’s touch, red scales pushing up through the skin on the back of his neck and on his arms. It took Wade less than a minute to clear the bridge of that group of zombies, but Patrick knew more would soon take their place.
“Move, move!” he shouted.
Patrick pushed Wade forward, catching him under the arm when Wade stumbled over a bone that missed getting burned to ash. He kicked it aside, then swore in surprise when a dark shape dove from the air to catch the tibia up in sharp talons.
The sun was dipping down toward the horizon but still bright in the sky. Its light was suddenly blotted out by the hundreds of crows and ravens that descended on Pont de la Concorde, picking at any bits of bone left. Patrick’s heart was beating double time as they ran across the bridge, boots sliding on the ash that covered it. His face reflected back at him in countless black eyes that watched them, the shadow of someone else’s visage overlaid on his own in their shiny depths.
Wade coughed out smoke, eyes squeezed shut as he heaved for air. Patrick never let him go, hauling him forward with a firm hand.
“Good job,” Patrick said. “You totally get a cookie when this is all over.”
Wade choked out a laugh that smelled like fire and sulfur, golden eyes with their reptilian slitted black pupils blinking rapidly. “Cookies. Plural.”
“As many as you can eat.”
