“You…” I breathed as my vision cleared. “Your power is doing this.”
Colby shone, radiant and powerful, a star fallen to earth.
“It’s us.” She fed more of her strength into me. “We can do this.”
“Gods,” Taylor marveled. “I knew she would be magnificent.”
Releasing my hair, he swooped his hands in to cup Colby and scoop her off my face.
The tips of his fingers burned when he touched her wings, and he howled with rage.
Freed of his clutches, I braced Colby with a hand then rolled aside to put distance between us and Taylor.
“Where are the girls?” The wand singed my palm. “What have you done with them?”
“Give me the loinnir,” he snarled, fingers curling into his palms. “She was never meant to be yours.”
“Colby belongs to herself,” I informed him. “She just lets me hang with her.”
Incredulity darkened his eyes, and he flung out his ruined hands to summon more electric magic.
Heat engulfed every inch of my skin, tightening it until I felt ready to burst, and then I shattered.
A wave of power blasted out of me, washing through the clearing and immolating Taylor.
The world turned white and too bright for my eyes, but I willed my vision to return, panic coasting down my spine. I wanted to see Taylor’s ashes. I wanted to kick them. But mostly I wanted to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was dead, and Colby was safe from him.
Sweaty and shaky, I sank to my knees to keep from tipping over onto my face.
As shape and color returned, I located the pile of gray dust and breathed a sigh of relief.
Colby, still in beacon mode, shone from the tree limb over my head while she kept watch over me.
“Okay, glowworm.” I threw up a hand to shield my eyes. “Dial it down a few notches.”
“How cool is this?” She twirled in the air. “I’m totally a light mage.”
“Very cool.” Clay stepped up beside me. “You’re absolutely a light mage.”
Too bad her MMRPG friends could never know what a true badass they played alongside.
“Yes, well, use your newfound powers for good.” I squinted less as she dimmed. “Do you hear…?”
An earsplitting caw lodged my heart in my throat. Thaddeus. I had forgotten about him.
“Come here.” I held my hand out over my head. “Now.”
Too late.
I was too late.
Fast as a bullet, Thaddeus swooped toward Colby, his aim perfect.
“Colby.”
Flaring his wings at the last minute, Thaddeus slowed his descent and extended his taloned feet.
A thickly muscled arm shot up as the crow closed in and yanked it out of the air in a tight fist.