Alina made slashing motions with her hands to cut the vines with her magic and I turned to see Felicity directing the vines with her hands. Some grew down from the trees and others slithered across the ground like snakes.
I’d been told that the Earth element could be used to manipulate the earth and rocks and plants, but seeing it in action scared the crap out of me — especially when Felicity was using it to try to hurt us.
Alina threw magic and Felicity put up a shield. The magic dissipated as it touched the shield and Felicity returned fire.
The vines stopped moving once Felicity was distracted and I sidestepped the one that had been reaching out toward my feet. Movement caught my eye and I saw other members of Felicity’s friend group standing nearby — three girls and one guy. They were edging closer to Alina, who was holding her own against Felicity.
My head was still foggy, but I needed to help. I wished that Alina could have healed me properly and cursed Felicity’s name under my breath.
I stood there like an idiot watching them fight. There was no way for me to help without hitting Alina. My mind raced. I felt so helpless. As I watched the group moving slowly, I thought that maybe I could do something to keep them away from Alina. I put the quartz down into my bra so my hands were free and it was still touching my bare skin, hoping that it could help me heal faster.
One of the girls moved her hands into position like she was going to blast Alina with her magic, so I pushed my magic toward her the same way I used it to lift objects when I was training and she fell onto her butt. I didn’t push too hard. I didn’t want to hurt them. Just stop them. They turned their attention to me and I had to use a shield, but I also managed to pick up sticks and rocks using magic and “throw” them in their direction.
There was no time to celebrate the fact that I was actually using magic for self-defence. I had to concentrate on fending off their attacks.
We were flinging objects and raw magic around and some of the surrounding trees and bushes caught fire. I was worried we’d start a bushfire, but I couldn’t afford to be distracted now.
One of the girls called out to the guy, “Jason! Put out the fires!”
At least someone was thinking about protecting the bush and not getting us all killed.
Now I had two girls coming after me and one was attacking Alina. I could see Jason using his magic to put water onto the fires from the corner of my eye, but I had to keep watching the girls.
A rock hit me on the leg and I winced. One of the sticks I’d thrown hit one of them on the arm and it was bleeding, but I was beyond caring if I hurt them. They weren’t holding back; they were out to inflict pain.
One of the rocks they threw hit me in the forehead and pain shot through my head. My legs nearly gave way. The last thing I needed was more damage to my head. I swore and blasted her with raw magic, singeing her dress. She swore and patted the spot with her hands to put it out while the other girl blasted me. I was slow to put up my shield and felt the heat of her blast on my arms.
It was my turn to swear as I ducked behind a tree to check my injuries. My arms were hard to see in the moonlight, but they didn’t feel burnt at all. I frowned. I was sure she’d hit me.
“Come out and fight,” one of them taunted. “We won’t hurt you.”
Bullshit. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because you hurt Emily. Maybe even killed her. Because you took her boyfriend from her. We’re here to defend her and punish you.”
I crept forward, hoping they couldn’t see me moving toward another tree with a larger trunk. “No. You’ve got it all wrong. Emily has a lot of enemies. It could have been anyone. Maybe even Felicity.”
“No. Felicity is her best friend.”
“Felicity has lost it.”
I made it to the other tree and heard a blast and both of them swore. I guessed that they’d snuck up to the first tree and blasted where they thought I’d be. Maybe they’d blasted each other. I hoped so.
“Where are you, bitch?”
As if I was going to answer them.
I crouched down and crept along the floor of the bush, trying desperately not to make any noise and wondering if there was a magic spell of some kind that would make me move silently amongst the dry leaves.
This was madness. Why were they doing this? Why wasn’t anyone else from the party stopping them? Where were Blake and Marco and the other guys?
Once I got further away from them, I stood so I could move faster. I could hear them searching for me and wished for the cloaking spell Jackson was talking about when he’d first burst into the rec room at Mirrabooka. Where was Jackson now? Maybe he’d actually left earlier when he’d walked into the bush. I just thought he’d be around somewhere out of sight.
Why was I wishing he was here? He couldn’t do anything to help me.
“There she is!”
I ducked and a blast of magic hit the tree to my left, so I took off running.
“Come back here!”
As I ran further into the bush, it was harder to see where I was going. The taller trees were blocking out the moonlight and the glare from the fires had faded away.
I dodged and weaved, throwing out magic behind me as I went. As I rounded the trunk of a tree, I stopped in my tracks and screamed. There was a man standing there that had been burned from head to toe.
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