Ethedra shook her head, peering into the vortex. “I see a lotta trees.”
“That’s allfourof them,” Abigail snarled.
Ethedra rolled her eyes. “The fates’re working on it, okay?”
From above came a strangegrindingsound. Abigail stilled and turned her head, trying to pinpoint the origin of the noise. A hanging tree root swayed, then another and another. Abigail lifted her hands, pullingvvystfrom the cavern up her body, shooting it out in a bubble over her head,thinking the ceiling was about to collapse. Ethedra squeaked and disappeared.
The grinding came again, then a sharp crack, then a round portion of earth and rock the size of a bicycle fell straight down, hitting the center well, sending chunks of dirt flying through the space Ethedra had just vacated.
A female with long brown hair in a ponytail, dressed all in black stuck her head in the hole, sneering, her voice hard and her tone rough. “H bitch—I mean witch.”
Another female with strawberry blonde hair in an identical ponytail, also dressed in black, stuck her head in the hole, grinning, looking like a sidekick, sounding like sunshine. “Hey, witch,” she said, pointing at Abigail’s bubble. “Let it down!” White power like wild, silent electricity sprayed from her, hitting the bubble and weakening it, but not penetrating.
This was not what Abigail had thought it was. These were two Promised, encroaching on her space andtrying to out-magic her.“Dim,” she chanted, calculating the best time to let go of the bubble and concentrate her energy into dimness.
From the hole in the ceiling, ‘Biker Chick’ dropped her arm low, holding a mini sledgehammer. She whipped it at Abigail.
“Shit!” Abigail cried, switching targets mid-spell, sucking energy from her dimness and directing it to the bubble. The sledgehammer bounced off the bubble with a loud ‘THUMP’, then clattered to the concrete floor.
“I can crack it,” ‘Biker Chick’ said. She dropped farther into the hole, holding herself with her feet, and for the first time, Abigail saw herharness. They were tied to something up there on the top of the bluff. This wasn’t a strike of opportunity; this was anoperation. If she didn’t get out quickly, she would be caught by thevod, and if she were caught,all was lost.
‘Biker Chick’ brought in a crowbar, hanging upside down like a trapeze artist. She jabbed it at the bubble and wild crackling power leapt across the cavern, striking the bubble, which cracked in the center with a ZZZZAP.
“No!” Abigail shouted. True fear swarmed Abigail’s solar plexus. These Promised had little control of their powers, but they were incredibly strong together, borrowing each other’s power when each attacked. Abigail summoned all thevvystavailable to her, using it to strengthen her bubble. ‘Biker Chick’ twisted the crowbar in mid-air, her expression tight, her knuckles whitening like the tip of her crowbar was actually meeting resistance.
The crack widened.
Abigail swarmed the crack withvvyst, using all her will, all her magical strength. ‘Biker Chick’ countered, grunting and twisting. ‘Sally Sunshine’ helped her, making pull-apart gestures in the air and shouting, “Let it go, Abigail, you’re outnumbered!”
The crack in Abigail’s bubble widened. She called for help. “Ethedra!”
I’m here,Ethedra said in her mind.I’m trying to help but they’re blocking me. I’m squashed flat inside my well. I’m stuck, and can’t move.
‘Sally Sunshine’ sent power through the crack in Abigail’s bubble, chanting, “Stay right there,witch. Don’t usemagic. Forget yourspells.”
Abigail drug her mind free from the commands. Incensed, she cupped her hands and sprayedvvystout in a fire-hose stream toward them, spitting, “Cur-lovers.”
‘Biker Chick’ couldn’t pull back fast enough. She curled into a ball and ‘Sally Sunshine’ spread power around them like a shield. Thevvystexploded against the shield and dissipated.
Behind her came a crack, like old wood splitting, then growling. Abigail turned to see two white wolves stampedingdown the concrete steps, then swarming through the wells, right up to her. The hair on her arms and neck stood and she turned to flee, intending to dim out as she ran, but the wolves were fast, growling, one grabbing her skirt and the other grabbing her forearm with its teeth!
“No!” she wailed, trying to corkscrew her wrist out of the cur’s grip. “You’re making a mistake! You don’t understand what’s going to happen!” The other wolf got its teeth around her other arm and she crumpled. She wascaptured.
The seal of her cask popped like the cork in a champagne bottle, ancientvvystdissipating to nothing, smelling like moldy cheese. Abigail stilled, breathing shallowly, not wanting to agitate anything inside her cask. With the seal broken, the live contents inside could escape, if they attempted. Everything seemed quiet and asleep, and she wanted it to stay that way.
She put on her human voice and started quietly babbling. “I’m just an old lady, I’m not good to eat. I’m scared, I’m so scared. Don’t eat me!”
The massive white wolves held her, genuinely scaring her, making her blubber in exaggerated terror. One had a black circle with wavy lines radiating out from it as arenqua, its lower legs and feet ‘booted’ with dark fur. The other had a black knife as arenqua.
Twovodin uniform ran down the steps. One of them snapped a cuff on her wrist. Abigail curled her other arm close, but thevodgrabbed it and cuffed it too, with her hands in front,thank Rhen. Abigail sagged, considering falling to the ground, maybe feigning unconsciousness.
Their presence of so manyvodand their metal circles around her wrists weakened her, reducing her logic and abilities. She couldn’t decide; she couldn’t think clearly. She cried, forcing the tears, but soon enough they came easily.
“My wrists are sore,” she said, clanking the handcuffs together.
The white wolf seemed to grow, shifting into a naked man with muscular hairy legs, washboard abs, and a thick penis hanging: Sergeant Macalister Niles in all his shaggy glory.
His growl turned to a snarl. “Nice performance.”
