Collision: The Alliance Series Book Three (6 page)

“Watch out!” Carl yelled.

I spun around in time to see an even bigger monstrosity rise from the smoke–red and long-limbed and snarling.

Where did it come from?
Stupid how that was my first thought, but panic made me freeze up for a moment. It lashed out in a sea of sparks, and several guards fell, lightning encasing them. Carl swore, backing up, and other two monsters appeared alongside it–
where the hell did
they
come from?

“My stunner’s out!” Carl yelled. “I’m calling for backup–if you run out of shots, just
run!”

I had five shots left. Ignoring my pounding heart and shaking limbs, I ran at the nearest creature, which advanced on the fallen guards, and shot it with the stunner. A blast of magic far stronger than the stunner should have hit the creature in the face, sending ripples of magic pulsing outwards–only by pure luck did it miss the guards on the ground.
Damn.
If it hadn’t been for the adamantine in my blood, the backlash would have probably knocked me out. I wasn’t in control.

“Guys, stay back!” I yelled at two other guards who’d come to stand alongside me. “It’s not stable.”

I’m
not stable.

But I had no choice. I struck with the stunner, sending a searing bolt of lightning at the nearest beast. Except the lightning didn’t come from the stunner. It came from my hand.

A nearby guard swore. “I’m out of shots.”

“Take mine,” I said quickly. “I can fight without it.” Magic seemed to want me to.

“Thanks,” he said, blinking like he was surprised I’d give away my weapon, and caught the stunner.

A snarling bundle of red smoke descended on us. How many of these things were there? For every one I knocked down, two more appeared, sparking and trailing smoke. I struck another with a bolt of magic, aiming at the floor to make sure I didn’t hit any of the other guards. The beast dissolved in smoke… and then divided in two. Like some ghastly hydra. Both halves growled at me, sparks flying out from their clawed, smoky red hands.

Shit. I backed away, thinking hard.

A rumbling sounded, and the ground trembled under my feet.
What the hell?
I’d thought the reinforced floor was impervious to any kind of hit.
The magic. It’s got to be the magic.
Lucky my shoes were magicproof, too.

“I’m getting outta this corridor!” someone shouted, and the sound of running footsteps clattered on metal.

A growl sounded, but before I could strike the two smoky creatures down, both dissolved into a formless red haze. Through the fog, guards ran everywhere, shouting, while I struck out with magic, to no effect. The magic-creatures had turned themselves into smoke, and it was like trying to beat up a cloud. At least we all looked equally ridiculous, I thought as I spun on the spot in what probably looked like an undignified ballet manoeuvre. Another guard face-planted, while a second tripped over him and brought the two of them crashing into a heap.

And the floor shook again, the smoke coalescing in the centre to form one formidable beast, filling the space from floor to ceiling. A shower of purple-red danced off the walls. I jumped back, but not before a spark grazed my forehead. The pain was more sharp than electric. Wincing, I braced myself against the wall, out of range of the magic. I still couldn’t see the creature. It was made of pure magic, and didn’t have a solid form. But I could feel the energy burning, and it was all concentrated in one place. The monster had pulled all the magic in the area into itself.
It has to burn out. It can’t keep going like that.

But the monster didn’t show any signs of slowing down. Stunner shots mingled with the sparks, and inhuman screams told us at least one hit the target. My hands shook too much to risk aiming another magic shot, even as I felt the creature’s magic surging through the air. A bolt of pain shot through my forehead. I reached to touch the skin, and found it blistering hot.
I thought magic couldn’t hit me!

I thought I could absorb it—magic and antimagic both, because of the adamantine in my blood. Whatever that creature was made of didn’t follow the normal rules.

I spun around in the dark, not daring to fire in case I hit a person instead of an enemy. I had no weapon now.

A hand reached from the darkness and closed around my neck. I screamed as my skin burned, and kicked at the shadows. I fired a shot of magic, hoping the wall was where I remembered so it wouldn’t rebound and hit anyone. A howl echoed in my ears and the grip around my neck went away, though the burning sensation remained. The brief flare of light illuminated the corridor, and a person running towards us.

Kay.

The light went out again. Kay swore, and sparks flew again, forcing me to back away, arms shielding my face.

“There’s backup on the way!” Kay shouted over the chaos. I couldn’t see him anywhere, and several people shouted as sparks from the creature rebounded off the walls again.

“We’ve got it!” someone yelled. “Quick–everyone with a stunner get over here!”

Kay shouted, “Everyone get down!” The corridor lit up in a flash of lightning, outlining three guards in the act of wrestling a bear-sized creature to the ground. In the gleaming light, their hands and faces were marked with vivid red burn-like marks. I edged towards them, but I couldn’t hit the creature at close range with so many people nearby. The magic emanating from the creature buzzed in the air—it writhed underneath the guards, and I knew, with certainty, that it was about to burn out.

Several stunners fired at once, and the creature exploded. Fragments of metal scattered on the ground, and the blazing light faded as the blue sheen slowly returned to the walls and ceiling.

Whatever the creature was, it was dead.

“What the hell was that?”

“Did any of you get hit? Fucking
burns.
”

I bit back a cry as pain tore through my neck again. A burning sensation hit my forehead, too, and I pressed my hand to it, biting down on my lip.

“Ada?” Kay was at my side. “Shit.
Shit.”

I winced as his hand brushed against my neck. “I got hit,” I said. “I thought…”

I thought magic couldn’t affect me.
But I was wrong. Dead wrong.

Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, but several others had those burn-like marks on their hands and faces–the uniform blocked any more damage. Every minute or so, a sharp sensation jolted my forehead and neck and made my skin tingle all over with pain. Magic?

Kay steered me towards the stairs.

“You don’t need to do that,” I said, pulling away and climbing by myself, Kay directly behind me. “I’m fine.” As my feet touched the ground, another sharp pain sent me staggering into the wall.

“Ada… damn.” He touched my forehead lightly. “That’s magic burn.” His fingers brushed my neck, then his fist clenched. “What did it do to you?”

He seemed more agitated about it than I was. It wasn’t like it was serious–
ouch!
I instantly took that back.

“I hit it, don’t worry.”

“Wish I’d taken it out myself,” he said through clenched teeth, eyes flashing back to the marks on my neck.

“You didn’t get hit, did you?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “I got here too late.” He took my hand. His was freezing cold, but then, so was mine. “Hang on. We’re getting out of here.”

“What
is
this?” I said, touching my neck. It didn’t hurt to touch, oddly, but the skin felt tender, white-hot. “It was just a spark.”

“Magic burn,” he said. “That creature was pure magic. Did you see where it came from?”

I shook my head. Another sharp pain made me clench my fingers around his. “Why does it keep–
ouch!”

“Because it’s magic burn,” he said. “I hope it’s not long lasting. It’ll keep shocking you until it wears off.”

“You’ve got to be joking.” I stared at him. The blue Passage light gleamed in his eyes.

“It’s like when you get hit by backlash,” he said. “I’ve no idea what power that creature was drawing from, but it shouldn’t have been able to hit you.”

“Well, it did.”
Ouch.
“And this is going to keep happening?
How
long?”

“I don’t know.”

“That’s really helpful,” I snapped.

“You’re lucky it wasn’t worse. At least you can still walk.”

“At least
what?”
And there I was, expecting one degree of sympathy for a second… wait a minute. “It happened to you?”

“Twice.”

“When… the backlash hit your hands.” It had slipped my mind that when he’d used third level magic to kill Janice, the backlash had burned the skin off his hands. I hadn’t realised magic had an aftershock, too, because I’d been in a coma at the time. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Ouch.
“How long did it last for you?” Suddenly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

A pause. “Two weeks.”

Damn. “Seriously? Like, day and night?”

He nodded. “On and off.”

You didn’t say anything.
But I shouldn’t have been surprised.

Pain seared across my neck again. “Can’t I put an ice-pack on it or something?”

“You can try, it might help.”

“It didn’t work for you.” And now I felt guilty for snapping at him on top of everything else.

Kay’s hand steadied my shoulder as pain made my knees go weak. “No, but it might not affect you as badly.”

My head throbbed. “Uh-huh.” I let him rest his hand on my shoulder. I was tired, and I’d have appreciated it more if not for the pain.

“I’m an amplifier. That probably made it worse. You’re…”

“Supposed to be magicproof,” I said. “Adamantine. It’s my real name, actually.”

“It is?” He looked at me, as if surprised I’d told him. But I wanted him to know.

“Yeah. Nell’s fault. Lucky it’s not on my Alliance ID. That’d get everyone talking.”

“They’ll already be talking,” he said. “About this. I’ve no idea what that thing was.”

“Me neither. It was like the kimaros on Aglaia, but more… sparky.” But if it could break through adamantine protection, the Alliance were in major trouble.

“Sparky,” he said. “Ms Weston will be thrilled if you put that in your report.”

I groaned. “I’m not reporting now. She can’t expect me to fill out files like this.” My hands shook, and I was grateful for Kay’s steady hand on my shoulder for balance as we made our way through the corridors.

We wound up back at Central, and Kay walked me down to the infirmary before going to report to Ms Weston. From what I gathered from the others, the main corridor in the Passages had been in chaos, because this magic-related issue rebounded across the Multiverse.

The Alliance’s medical division had their work cut out. One nurse, Saki, gave me a Death Glare that puzzled me until I remembered I’d attacked her when I’d been held prisoner. Oops. I’d forgotten to apologise. But now wasn’t the time. Complaints and yells of pain filled the infirmary, where instead of lying on the beds, the guards were dashing around moaning loudly about the magic burn.

I was sick of it already. Every time I relaxed, another spark of pain reminded me. The nurse told me the marks would fade quickly and wouldn’t scar, but the pain would carry on until it ran its course. Apparently, it was very rare that the medical staff dealt with magic burn, which was why they didn’t know
how
to deal with it. Only sympathy for Kay having to put up with it for two
weeks
kept me from joining in with the complainers. Once the nurse had checked me for other injuries, I was free to walk back upstairs to the entrance hall.

“Ada!” Jeth ran over to me, communicator in hand. “They wouldn’t let anyone downstairs. What happened?”

“It’s not serious, I’m fine. The marks’ll be gone in a few days.”

He scanned my forehead and neck, fist clenching around his communicator. “Shit. Does it hurt?”

“Not much–ow.” I stepped back as he touched my forehead with a forefinger. “There’s no cure for magic burn, it’ll go away on its own. I’m
fine,
Jeth.”

“What’s going on in there?” asked Jeth, indicating the stairs down to the infirmary. Guess he’d heard the noise.

“A bunch of people complaining. No one’s seriously hurt, but there was this freaky magic-creature. I’m not sure even the Alliance knows what it is.”

“Damn, Ada,” said Jeth, worry creasing his forehead. “It’s not safe in the Passages now, is it?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. They say this magic level chaos is happening all over the Multiverse.”
Ouch.

“Ada?” Kay crossed the hall towards us from the guard office.

“I’m fine,” I said wearily. “They checked me over, let me go.”

“I thought so. Iriel and Raj had to break up another fight. It’s madness in the main Passage. I think they’re going to lock it down.” He held his communicator in one hand, and tapped on the touch screen.