Midnight Mage

17

The bracelets began to brighten, the metal heating. The scent of my burning flesh hit me an instant before the pain. I dropped to my knees with a muffled scream.

Pressure built in my spine until my back bowed. The power inside me writhed and bucked against its constraints.

My father’s voice whispered in my mind.

Praesent ut libero…

Live to be free.

The bracelets withered and turned to ash.

CRACK.

I went blind at the first expulsion of energy, barely managing to keep my palms angled toward the ground. The base of the nearest tree split in half, sparks and gouts of smoke billowing from its remains. Gasping, I clenched my hands and ground my teeth.

Stay with me, I told the lightning. Not yet.

I didn’t think. I scrambled to my feet and ran, following the shimmering trail of the Omega’s magic. When I reached the tree line, I crouched behind a trunk and peered out at the road.

I saw the Prime first, lying on his side in a pool of blood, fifteen feet from the smoking car. He was angled away from me. By his stillness, he was either unconscious or dead.

Adam was a pillar of white radiance between the Prime and a line of three men in black camo. Disjointed blue sparkles filled the air around the Liberati, darting like erratic stars. The central figure held an unnaturally smooth sphere, about the size of a basketball. In the glowing, milky depths was a wriggling crimson snake with fluorescent green eyes and a forked tongue.

What. The. Unholy. Fuck.

A flash of white and a snap was followed by one of the Liberati falling to his knees. He shook himself and rose back to his feet, even the magic of an Opal Mage repelled by his cipher defenses. Adam had no such protection. The crystal sphere flared bright red, the snake lashing from side to side. Adam cried out, his corona flickering wildly before bouncing back to full strength.

“Give us the girl, Omega, and we’ll let you live!”

Wait—what?

I looked down at my arms, lit up like the Fourth of July, and knew once I appeared I’d be immediately visible. That freaky alchemy would head my way, without any assurances that the Omega would protect me.

In fact, I wouldn’t blame him if he grabbed the Prime and ran. He didn’t know me or owe me loyalty. Regardless of the Prime’s convictions, right now I was a liability that could get them both killed.

It wasn’t a choice, really.

I stepped out from behind the tree. Immediately, four sets of eyes snapped my way. I guess I was brighter than I’d thought.

“Dammit, Alfea,” snarled Adam, apparently more irritated that I’d disobeyed him than that I’d obliterated his spell.

“Alfea Sullivan,” spoke the central man, his bald head gleaming in the firelight. “Come with us. We are not your enemy. Your father is safe and waiting for you.”

The lies stung like wasps. My arms burned. My palms burned. My whole body, toes to crown, burned with white-hot rage.

The first lightning bolt missed, striking a tree with a rending screech of wood. The second was deflected at the last second by the crystal sphere. The third, however, found its mark, ricocheting off the ground and slamming into the leftmost man. He didn’t make a sound as his body flew backward and crumpled against a tree.