The sensation intensified. A weird vibration twitched my muscles as something built up inside me.
Lightning blasted through me.
I went as rigid as a pole, every muscle locking harder than it ever had before. Burning agony lanced every nerve and I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t scream, couldn’t think as a raging current ripped through my body, racing from his hands to the ground under my feet.
Kai was kissing me and he was electrocuting me. He was going to kill me.
Thumping, running footsteps, then an impact.
The electric current cut off as I crashed to the ground, a body half on top of me. An alchemy bomb shattered under my hip, and an ear-splitting bang erupted, accompanied by a blinding flash.
Arms clamped around me, hauling my limp body half up.
“Tori!” Justin shouted. “Tori!”
Through blurred vision, I saw Kai roll to his feet. Turning to me and Justin, he raised his arm. White power arced between his fingers and sizzled up to his shoulder. His face was strangely blank, as though he were completely unbothered by Justin tackling him to the ground in the middle of his kiss-and-die attack.
I don’t know what made me look, but my gaze slid left.
She stood a dozen paces away in the shadows of another tree, dressed in slim-fitting black clothes with her raven hair pulled up into a ponytail. She held a silver chain with a disc-shaped pendant on the end, spinning it around and around on her finger as she watched us.
Our eyes met. She pursed her lips and blew me a mocking kiss.
At the same moment, Kai stretched his arm toward me, his hand balled into a fist. His fingers snapped open—and a bolt of electricity shot for my chest.
A howling gust of wind struck us. I hit the ground a second time, Justin crushing me as he fell too.
“Don’t move, Kai!” Makiko shouted. “Stay down!”
I dragged my head up. Makiko stood over Kai, steel fans aimed at him. From thirty yards away, Aaron sprinted toward them. Neither was looking toward the tree. Neither had seen the woman.
Justin was right beside me, and his shirt had slid up when he’d fallen—revealing his gun tucked in his belt. I grabbed the weapon, swung it up, and pulled the trigger three times in swift succession.
My aim was normally good, but my arms were still trembling and the shots missed. The assassin dodged behind the tree, and an instant later, rippling blades of air struck the trunk, flung by Makiko and her fans. The aeromage vaulted toward the woman, and with a furious roar, Aaron changed direction, closing in on the assassin from the other side. Fire blazed over his forearms.
The mentalist spun away from the tree and ran between two vehicles. Her dark ponytail, streaming like a flag, darted through the parking lot.
Aaron ran into the lot after her, and Makiko streaked away in pursuit.
“Tori,” Kai croaked.
I twitched fearfully, but when my gaze found his face, my fear vanished. Horror and guilt twisted his features, his hands shaking as he pushed up onto his knees. I recognized the torment in his dark eyes. I knew exactly how he felt—because I’d felt the same after nearly shooting Justin.
Knowing what he needed, I reached out. He pulled me into his arms and fell backward as I slumped limply against him. Clamping me against his chest, he sucked in an unsteady breath.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t realize what I was—”
“I know.” I clutched him, arms around his neck. “She did it to me too.”
Justin shuffled closer to us, crouched awkwardly as though ready to leap up in an instant. “Does Tori need to go to a hospital?”
“No.” Kai loosened his grip on me. “But a checkup with a healer and a potion for burns would be a good idea.”
That did sound like a good idea. I felt like I’d been cooked from the inside out, and it hurt like a bitch.
“What kind of game is that woman playing?” I snarled, sitting up. “Is she toying with us? Making you kiss me, then electrocute me to death as slowly as possible?”
Kai shook his head. “The only reason I didn’t kill you instantly was because I hadn’t built up a lethal charge. I can’t create electricity instantly the way Aaron does with his fire.”
“What about the kiss thing?”
His expression darkened. “Maybe she made me kiss you while I killed you for the same reason she tried to make you kill your brother with his own gun.”
Before I could ask what he meant, the sound of stomping footsteps interrupted us, but it wasn’t Aaron or Makiko returning.
“What the hell?”
Blake’s annoyed shout rang across the lawn. The terramage strode toward us from the hotel’s main entrance, his quarterstaff thumping the ground with each step.
Panic shot through me, and Kai shoved to his feet, hauling me with him. Justin scrambled up, favoring one leg. As Blake stalked closer, I braced for the first attack, desperately hoping Kai had some lightning juice left.
He stopped a few paces away, scowling. “I heard someone babbling about gunshots and a man on fire in the parking lot. They called the police.” He thumped his staff against the ground. “You said you were leaving!”
I stared at the terramage, confused as hell. First, why would he approach us like this when he could’ve attacked us from a distance, which was the terramage specialty? And second, his expression was all annoyance.
No apprehension. No real anger. No twitchy nervousness, fearful glances at his surroundings, or suppressed loathing—which meant our sudden appearance neither concerned him nor angered him.
Either he was the world’s best actor, or he was neither a cultist nor being blackmailed by the cult.
“Oh shit,” I blurted.
Kai and Justin looked at me with tense frowns.
“The assassin wasn’t here for us. She was here for Blake, and we got in the way.” I pointed at the terramage. “Someone else in the Keys of Solomon is a cultist mole, and that person wants us all dead—including you, Blake.”
Chapter Eighteen
I felt so much better. Really fantastic. My whole body was numb and a little chilled, and damn, I was enjoying it. Getting internally barbequed had not been fun.
Perched on the edge of a clinical bed in an otherwise nice bedroom, I waved cheerily at the healer’s back as she exited through the open door. I waited approximately eight seconds, then bounced out into the hall. Following the sound of a rumbling male voice, I found a living room—or rather, the waiting room. Healers’ houses were weird that way.
“Hellooo,” I sang cheerily. “How are y—”
Aaron, Kai, and Makiko all shushed me. Scrunching my nose, I stuck out my tongue at them.
Blake was pacing at the other end of the room, his phone held to his ear. “Right … I appreciate your help. Yes, I’ll do that. Take care.”
He ended the call, then turned to the trio on the sofa. “Same thing. That’s four guild members who hadn’t heard anything about trouble in Enright or any teams being sent to Portland. It looks like my reports never made it to the rest of the guild.”
“Who were you reporting to?” Kai asked.
“The fifth officer. I don’t know him well. We’ve only met in person a handful of times.”
I planted my hands on my hips. “The officer must be the mole, then. He sent an assassin after us.”