Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 227(@200wpm)___ 181(@250wpm)___ 151(@300wpm)
“Call them off, Jessie,” Sebastian said urgently. “Hurry. We’re running out of time.”
I shifted back into my human form. “Back off, guys,” I said, trying to instill my voice with urgency and command without shouting. “Back off!”
Tristan stepped away, panting hard. He flexed and unflexed his fingers.
“I need healing, Jessie,” he said with a growl. “It got a bite in. Its poison is potent.”
I got to work immediately, but Dave darted forward for another go at the flower, clearly in the grips of what had become a personal vendetta.
“Dave, back off,” I said, zapping him with magic. “Stop!”
Austin lunged forward to help, and Tristan took the cue to lend his aid, but I signaled for them both to stop as I stepped between the basajaun and the flower.
“Jess, no!” Austin knocked over the rope stand to get to me, running into my wall of magic instead.
Dave tried to reach around me and grab the flower’s neck, but I blocked him and then pushed at his chest.
“Stop, Dave!” I shoved a little more, helped by stinging magic. “Stop!”
He blinked in confusion and frustration, his hands still up, but I had his attention.
“We’re going to try something else,” I told him. “Edgar likely has more of these things back at Ivy House. You have my permission to try and kill one of those if you like, but right now we need to sort this out in a hurry, and Sebastian has an idea.”
Dave’s eyebrows drooped, and he huffed out a breath through his nostrils, not at all happy about the turn of events, but he stepped back.
Austin was there, putting his hand on Dave’s shoulder and quickly moving him away from me.
“It’s fine.” I pushed Austin a little to make room. “He’s fine, relax. We don’t need any more testosterone shoved up in this mess. It’ll just set him off again.”
“Okay, Jessie, quickly—“ Sebastian glanced across at the other flower, now issuing a low, constant hiss in our direction. “Right, so instead of trying to eradicate these things immediately, which doesn’t seem to be working anyway, we can just cage them in.”
“What do you mean?”
He worked his hands and started muttering, and I quickly caught on to the spell he was using. He’d tweaked it, but I knew the basics. When he looked to me for help, I joined him in the casting. Sweat was beading my brow by the time he finally nodded, and we released the spell together.
A hazy pinkish shine wavered in front of the more aggressive flower. It immediately struck out, hitting the spell as though it was a solid wall.
“No, start again,” Sebastian said. “Let’s make it bigger.”
We did it again, working quicker now. It completely encircled the flower this time. We backed off and the surly flower settled down slightly, watching us, not hitting the confines of its new magical prison.
Austin righted the rope around the exhibit, something the other exhibits didn’t have—Edgar’s half-hearted attempt at protecting visitors. Austin made the enclosure a bit larger than before, giving the flowers more space.
The flower watched him until he stepped away, Tristan with him. In a moment, it started to sway calmly. They apparently didn’t hold grudges.
I puffed out a breath. “Good thinking,” I told Sebastian, shifting my gaze to the other Attack Flower 3.0. “How close do we have to get to use the spell? I’ve thrown it through the air before, but this casting was more complex.”
Talking echoed around us. I glanced at the clock. The judges had to be just around the corner. The fair itself would open in another fifteen minutes. We had to solve this now. Right now.
“Let’s see if we can just…”
“Here.” Nathanial quickly stripped and shifted, reaching out to Sebastian.
“This won’t be noticeable at all,” Sebastian murmured sarcastically, turning around and lifting his arms.
“No, no.” I gestured Ulric forward. “Smaller is better. Nathaniel’s wings would reverberate throughout the whole space.” Ulric quickly stripped down. “If he and I stay by the wall, we’ll be magically hidden. That should be close enough to cast that spell, right?”
“You’ll be hidden. I’ll be floating in midair while applying a magical jail cell around an attack flower,” Sebastian said.
“Wait, here.” Nessa handed Sebastian a little vial. “Get invisible. Quickly. Someone is literally right around the corner.”
Sebastian drank it down as Ulric lifted him into the sky. I transformed and followed them a moment later, cursing my shimmery pink-purple wake as I crossed over the flower exhibit. It was a testament to how supportive we all were of each other that we weren’t just tramping through the flowers and dealing with this on foot. Then again, I would’ve been naked. That likely would have been noticed if I’d stayed in human form.
We got to work near the wall, the tingling of magic telling me my gargoyle powers had kicked in, and I was blending into the stone and concrete behind me. Sebastian worked quickly, pushing me, much more experienced and just all around better. I kept up, barely, adding the needed power.