A greasy blob of magic plopped against my hand. The light flickered and then it was gone.
“You asshole!” I rubbed my hand on my pants, trying to rid my skin of the feel.
Oh, hell no. This guy wasn’t getting the best of me.
Ignoring the sickening feeling of its magic, I held my hand in front of me one more time. “Bring me light. Light! Light!” I yelled the spell, putting my willpower in it.
The light bloomed brighter—floating on top of my hand—but blipped out faster. This time the greasy magic spread all the way up to my elbow.
No. No way. I wasn’t going to let this asshole win.
I threw all the will and determination I had into the words. This spell would light the world up. I screamed the words. “Light! Light! Light!”
The light burned so bright I had to squint. Aside from the ring of light around me, everything was black. There was no horizon. No ceiling or walls. Just the black endless pool around me.
Maybe if I ran—
The light was slapped from my hand. The magical blow knocked me on my ass and I was bathed in darkness. Again.
Someone was messing with me.
I jumped up from the ground. “You piece of shit!” I stomped around in a circle. “You’re so fucking scared of me you won’t show yourself and you won’t even let me have any light? You’re pathetic!” Spit flew out of my mouth as I shouted. My breath heaved. Fur rippled on my arms again, but I wasn’t ready to be a wolf. She couldn’t help me here. Not yet.
By the time the last echoing remnants of “pathetic” hit my ears, my wolf was under control.
I needed to know who or what I was up against and why it’d dragged me here. If it’s ultimate goal was to piss me off, then it was doing a fan-fucking-tastic job. But there had to be a better reason. And I had to figure it out. Fast.
I couldn’t walk my way out of here. Taunting hadn’t worked. It could snuff out my magic like it was nothing. So what was left?
Wait? I hated that, but I wasn’t sure what else to do. So, I sat cross-legged with my hands on my knees. As freaked out as I was, I had to find a way to calm down. There had to be a way out of this. I just hadn’t thought of it yet.
I closed my eyes, and then I heard a noise.
It was faint and so far away that I held my breath until my lungs burned, straining to hear it again.
My heart picked up its pace. The sound was like a whisper on the wind.
My jaw cracked as I clenched my teeth.
At least I didn’t have to wait long. Whoever—whatever—had taken me was going to show itself very soon.
I stood and balanced on the balls of my feet, hands loose at my sides. I was either going to run or fight. I wasn’t sure yet. But I was going to be ready.
I licked my dry lips as I listened, focusing all my energy on hearing whatever was approaching. At first, the noise was nothing more than a soft hiss, but as it grew louder, I realized it wasn’t a hiss at all. It was a voice. Not just that. It was words. The tiny gap of silence between the sounds meant there were two words.
But I couldn’t decipher them.
The voice grew louder, becoming a dark rumble that made the hair on my arms stand on end, but I still couldn’t make out the words. It was more of a rumbling growl than anything else. I wasn’t sure if it was the dark or the tone of the growl or the magic under it that made me want to run.
I clenched my fists as I waited in the dark for whatever this was to show itself. I couldn’t run. I wouldn’t give it the satisfaction of knowing that I was getting scared. I was going to face whatever was messing with me. I was going to get the hell out of here. I was—
“You’re mine!” The voice suddenly yelled so loud my ears rang. Evil magic hit my skin. It was like I’d been dropped into a pool of ice-cold slime. It coated my body—my soul. Dread tip-toed up my spine, and I knew I was majorly screwed.
I didn’t care about not having a direction to run anymore. I didn’t care about not showing my fear. And screw fighting.
I moved—hauling ass as far and as fast as I could.
Everything in me screamed to keeping running until I couldn’t run anymore. And then I was going to have to run some more. I didn’t want to see this thing’s face. I never wanted to see whatever that was. I only wanted to get out. Away. Now.