The worry for his anonymity comes flooding to the forefront of my mind. If word about him gets out, more hunters will come. It’ll be an endless barrage of enemies forever.
Bright blue light spears through the shelter of Bastian’s arms with a loud, electric snap, stopping that worry in its tracks. I tremble as a doorway opens through space and time. A figure appears like a shadow in the light, rippling through it as they stalk forward.
Another waitress appears, this one in a tight black bodysuit with glittering diamonds on the hemlines. She looks like an Olympic gymnast.
She pulls free of the watery portal with a comicalbloopthat makes the light quiver. Bastian growls a warning deep in his chest, but the woman seems unfazed.
Her arm pulls apart at the elbow, snapping open like a switchblade. She spears the discarded half of the corpse on the ground, and the body begins to melt into her. Her arm blade gets thicker as the material siphons up her body.
It’s like fucking Terminator…
Bastian keeps me pinned to his chest with one arm as he draws through the air with the other. Gold-glittering black magic pours out of his talon into a twenty-foot-long spear.
The gymnast taps her neck, and another silhouette appears in the doorway…then another. Bastian’s growl turns more feral as he hunkers down, curling over me with the golden spear in hand.
The second woman to appear is wearing a police uniform, and the third is in a gauzy, boudoir nightgown.
“Master says she won’t hurt the girl if you come with us now,” the three women say in unison.
“You’ve already hurt her,” he rumbles. “And for that, you and your master will receive death.”
forty-one
Ghosts in the Shell
Bastian surges forward and the three leap up to meet him. He whips the spear through the air faster than I can register. Two sharpclangsring out. The policewoman skitters through the dirt before us and the gymnast flies across the lot into a sedan. The heavy crunch of metal on metal and the resulting car alarm pierces the din of the festival.
The nightgown woman must’ve dodged the initial attack, but it’s all happening so quickly, my attention so split, I can’t see her.
Bastian roars as he staggers forward, then spins. His spear makes contact with something, and he lunges, driving the tip forward. Nightgown dodges the jab, leaping ten feet up with staggering grace. We lock eyes for a flash and she smirks at me. Her gown flutters as she drops back to the ground and immediately falls to a crouch to avoid another swipe of Bastian’s spear.
A shadow moves in my periphery much too fast, and I fire my lightning on instinct. The orange bolt collides with the policewoman and throws her to the ground, a smoldering hole in her chest. Creamy blue liquid spurts from the wound, but Bastian spins out of the way before I see if she gets up.
My energy wanes in the aftermath of the lightning strike. It’s like concrete boots, dragging me into the depths. The crushing cold surrounds me, making me shiver. It felt like this after I had healed Bastian. Could it be that I used too much magic? Is the lightning attack too draining?
Bastian hisses at Nightgown as she stalks him, turning side to side at a distance. His spear can’t reach unless he lunges, and if he does, he’s exposed without his other arm for defense.
“Set me down!” I yell.
“No!” he snarls.
Bastian whips his tail around and slaps the gravel beside the robot, making her flinch. That tiny movement gives him an edge, and he dashes forward, jabbing with his spear. Nightgown twists and turns, side-stepping Bastian’s onslaught with ease. He’s wasting too much energy holding me. Heneedsboth hands and full mobility.
Gymnast flies in out of the darkness and stabs into Bastian’s reaching arm with a spidery leg protruding from her back. He rears and she reaches for me. Bastian is fast, bringing his arm to his mouth and chomping down, but Gymnast is faster, rocketing away with a shove of her feet.
Bastian grunts as Nightgown scores a hit on his leg. Glittering black blood sprays across the ground and shimmers in the dimmoonlight as he drops to his knee. He snaps at her and lashes out with his tail against the approaching Gymnast. Both robots retreat a measure.
Gymnast prowls as Nightgown stands over Policewoman’s body, sucking up her blue goop and lengthening her arm blade at the same time. What the hell are these things made of?
The two robots touch hands and there’s a flash of blue between them. Nightgown adopts the back weapon design, letting two, wriggling appendages free with a snap.
Bastian takes a step back and I hear shouts from people behind us in the festival grounds. The ongoing car alarm roused interest and now…we’re putting everyone at risk.
“We need to get out of here!” I tell him.
Without a second thought, Bastian leaps into the air and pumps his massive wings. Within seconds, we’re a hundred feet above the fair, but not long after, the robots are following us. Blue light is spread between their back limbs that buzz like wasps.
“They can fly!”
