The Skylar Experiment : Beginnings

Chapter Thirty-Two - Hollow Tree

"RILEY," ETHAN HAILED, bending over and ripping something from under his pant leg.

An object found me in the dark, nudging the hand that was gripping the bloodied heel like there was no tomorrow. It was a knife, a wicked sharp blade that reflected the moonlight and my own face. Luc was falling back to us, eyes trained on the ones in front of him, while Ethan approached me, also facing his side.

I exchanged my weapon of fortune for the knife, but truly didn't feel any safer. My knees were shaking. I was using conscious effort to stay upright.

Luc stomped, and a ring of fire roared in front of the wall of bristling leaves, barricading us three within. It was so bright I couldn't directly stare into it, nor did I understand how the Wanderers could tolerate being this close to its deadly heat.

He twisted and ushered me to his back.

"Too far for now," he said so only I could hear.

His hold tightened like he expected me to reject it again. For once, I didn't want to argue.

"How long can you keep this up?"

He peeked at Ethan, making sure he was fine. "Hopefully longer than they can wait, but this isn't... If they think harder, there are things they can do about it."

I watched silhouettes skulk beyond the fire, squinting and testing hands over it. Could this barrier work against us? At best, this was attracting more of them and they were pressing against it, waiting.

Luc raised a hand to the sky, and a vertical beam of light seared above our heads, reminding me of the bat signal. No sooner after doing that, an identical one shot through the flames and nearly caught him in the head if he hadn't leaned away in time. In dodging that, it went for Ethan.

I screamed for him. He whirled and stumbled over a carcass, narrowly avoiding an arm that had tried to slash where he'd been a second ago.

Pissed, the boy retaliated with a third one, sending it into the void. I think it hit when a resounding screech roiled my gut. This... this barrier would not stop this kind of attack and we were shut in.

Luc's hand heated. Veins lit up along the rear of it and he let me go. Static crackled in the air, sparking little prickly fingers along my skin. He released a blast with that worrying sizzle, the same kind when I was in the meadow after the party. It knocked off one prowler, then several others yelped in pain further away.

"We can play that game," Luc snapped.

Fires blew outward as they would under a strong wind, spreading until more bodies were engulfed. Instantly, they wriggled in an attempt to choke it out, but no amount of rolling fixed a full incineration. Skin charred, its stench filling the smoke.

The roils in my stomach were so intense I had to lean on Luc's shoulder and look down, stifling my breath. It moved into my eyes.

I felt him abruptly pull us, and I didn't get a moment to recover. A bony figure had landed in front of us, somehow having crossed through the flames. It lunged, but Luc was swift to end its life with a bolt of raw energy. Several more leaped through the barrier, and I saw what made it possible now.

Luc couldn't maintain it all at once. When he focused on something else, the flames guttered. Behind me, a Wanderer had crossed the limit and met with Ethan. Corpses kept piling around us, and I couldn't wrap my mind around how many must have approached the crowd with the intention to pounce.

A leathery arm reached between me and Luc and managed to grab his collar. Mine lashed without a second thought. He didn't even have time to compute what I'd done, he just glanced up from his target to witness this one collapsing to its knees, blood gushing from the slit in the throat.