Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
“Half of you would be dead if it weren’t for Jessie’s ingenious spell work,” Sebastian said, looking out over the meadow covered in the fallen enemy. “She shouldn’t have been able to reflect blasts from those guns. That’s the precise reason they use them—they strip away magic. If you’d just blanketed everyone in a defense spell, it wouldn’t have been enough power. The way you applied shields individually, as needed, with your vat of power behind them, was”—he ran his fingers through his hair—“unbelievable. Incredible.” He gestured around us. “A normal mage couldn’t do this.”
“You have enough power to do it,” I told him. “It wasn’t at the top of my power scale.”
“I might have enough power if I were close to the person, sure,” he replied. “But a normal mage can’t fly through the air and then use magic exactly where and when it’s needed. I am… I’m…”
“Flabbergasted?” Nessa basically pranced by. “Verklempt? Shocked? Astounded?”
“Alpha Ironheart wasn’t the only mage lighting it up,” Broken Sue said, clapping Sebastian on the back. For once, Sebastian didn’t flinch and move away. “If we’d had a weird mage like you fighting for my pack when those mages attacked, we wouldn’t have gone down.”
Sebastian shook his head. “I need to find a way to be closer. I need to start training to be part of the fighting. I feel like a coward way in the back. Even Nessa was in the action.”
Broken Sue’s demeanor changed, and his mood soured. “She shouldn’t have been,” he growled.
“What you need is someone watching your six,” Austin said, studying him. “We should’ve had someone go around the battle and take the mages out from the back. It was an oversight not to.”
“Hindsight is 20/20,” Sebastian replied. “But I did have someone watching me. There were a few basajaunak keeping post. It, amazingly, made me a little less afraid of them.”
“It’s a nice feeling having the monsters on your side,” Austin said, his joke hidden behind his stone façade.
“It’s a nice feeling not being the biggest monster at the party,” Sebastian returned quietly.
Broken Sue took a deep breath, and I could tell he barely stopped from wincing. “You’ve got a long way to go to be considered the biggest monster at these parties, weird mage. A long way.”
“We shall see,” Sebastian murmured.
A basajaun roared. I glanced that way in time to see an enemy bashed against a tree and thrown ten feet.
"Holy—! What the hell?” I exclaimed.
“It is done,” he said.
I turned away quickly. “There’s no way I can stop them killing the survivors as a punishment for trespassing, is there? Since this is their territory?”
“No,” Austin replied, still looking that way. “To do so might cause offense.”
“And then you’d be the one bashed against the tree,” Sebastian said unhelpfully.
“Okay.” I nodded. “That’s probably my cue to get out of here. What are we going to do with the bodies?”
“Here we are, miss.” Mr. Tom walked over to us with a handful of muumuus and Dave in tow. “And for you, Austin Steele. Broken Sue.” He passed them out before moving on to the gargoyles, all sitting a ways away. Ulric had lain down and closed his eyes.
“The basajaunak will handle the enemy bodies,” Dave said. “Maybe Cyra will give them a hand, though.”
I grimaced again. I might have a better grip on my gargoyle now, but that didn’t mean I found any of this tasteful.
“The basandere asks,” Dave said, looking between Austin and me, “if you would like to return to the village to rest. We can carry the wounded on slings. They are being made now. He ran ahead to tell the healer we were coming. She can reset bones and stitch up flesh. She is more than capable.”
I could feel the pride buzzing within him. We must’ve shown well to his people. He’d gotten what he wanted.
“That would be great, Dave, thank you,” I said. “Thank her for me. And how about you? Make sure you get stitched up.”
Dave looked down at the seeping red in his hair. “In time. But now I must carry out the punishment for trespassing before it is all done without me.”
Someone screamed. The sound cut off quickly.
“It is done,” one of the basajaunak in that direction said.
“God, this is grisly,” I murmured. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Do you want a ride?” Austin asked, and I knew he was asking if I wanted to ride on his back.
“Yes, please. I’m exhausted and getting more tired by the moment.”
“And she heals,” Sebastian muttered, watching the basajaunak work. “She does spells that shouldn’t exist, protects her people while flying, and she heals. Female gargoyles are now my favorite creature. And they’re pretty—”
“Who’s he talking to?” Niamh asked as she walked up, dressed in a muumuu. She hooked a thumb Sebastian’s way.
“Oh, no one,” he answered. “I’m just trying to process all of this. There’s no way we should’ve wiped the floor with this crew. No way. It’s inconceivable. I feel like I’m dreaming.”