Fourteen mentally ran through a list of his favorite weapons but none suited his current need. A sword would be too flashy for his purposes because the size he would need would only slow him down. A staff would be helpful for keeping multiple targets at bay, but it wasn’t lethal enough. A pike would be better, but he wanted something with even more stopping power.
“That’s enough to go on, I think.”
Fourteen frowned. “I haven’t picked anything yet.”
“Shush. Let me work.”
“Things are about to go critical upstairs!” Adelle called, eyes still unfocused, staring at something Fourteen couldn’t see.
“You shush too,” Jack muttered under his breath.
Fourteen felt a rush of something go through his hand, and the stick glowed, pulsing through a rainbow of colors. He watched, mesmerized, as the dummy lengthened and changed shape before his eyes.
When the glow faded, Jack stepped away, leaving Fourteen to inspect his work.
He’d never seen anything like the object in his hands. One end looked vaguely like a poleaxe mixed with a scythe. Rather than ending in a point, the blade went to the very end of the weapon, and the edge was jagged, rather than curved. It looked positively lethal.
Fourteen smiled. He wasn’t sure if it showed up on his face, but on the inside he was beaming.
When he inspected the weapon closer, he noticed the edge of it shimmered with the multicolored light he was starting to associate with Jack.
“Oh wait, one more thing.” Jack took the weapon back and ran his hand along the base of the staff, leaving a blaze of rainbow fire in its wake. He handed it back to Fourteen. “This end is for humans. Any of those that come at you could have a nightmare inside of them, and if they do, that should knock it out if you can get it through their shields.”
Fourteen held out the metal plate from his jacket and showed it to Jack. “I used this to take out a witch’s shield earlier. Is there any way to attach it to this?”
Jack gave a low whistle. “That… would be a bad idea right now. I’d need time to keep it from blowing up in our faces, but maybe we can experiment after this is over?”
Fourteen’s inner smile broadened. He was starting to like this guy. Violence toward him was officially suspended indefinitely.
Jack continued, “The other end is for anything coming at you that’s squiggly, slimy, or just fucking terrifying. It might not stop ’em, but you should be able to slow ’em down until we can deal with them.”
“Time’s up,” Adelle, announced. “We have to do this now, Jack, or their shield won’t survive what we’re about to do!”
“Looks like it’s showtime.” Jack grabbed Fourteen by the arm and pulled him carefully over to Adelle. “Take her hand, and when I say jump, you jump with everything you’ve got.”
“Copy.” Adrenaline flooded through Fourteen’s system. He had no idea what was about to happen, but he was ready for this fight.
Jack flung the egg from earlier at the rocks overhead. It suspended in midair and pulsed, faster and faster, until it looked like a strobe light. Fourteen’s night vision was going to be completely shot.
By some unspoken gesture, Adelle dropped her shield a split-second before Jack shouted, “Jump!”
Fourteen complied and was relatively unsurprised as the ceiling gave way before them as they flew up and out of the pit. He hadn’t been certain what to expect, but he’d already decided Jack and Adelle were to be trusted—for now—and he only gave his trust to people competent enough not to smash themselves against several tons of rock for no apparent reason.
As they came up and out of the pit, Fourteen tried to find Cym, but the debris from their dramatic entrance made it impossible to see anything.
Rather than smacking into the ground as it rushed toward them, they touched down lightly. Fourteen assumed he had his boots to thank for that.
“Was that the only jump they had in them?” Fourteen didn’t want to have to take off his boots to keep fighting, but he didn’t like the idea of fighting in something he hadn’t practiced with.
“The only big one, yes, but for the next hour, you’re going to want to be careful with your fancy ninja moves,” Jack informed him, ignoring a spell that crashed against his shield.
“What about this?” Fourteen shook his new weapon. “How long will it last? And I’m not a ninja,” he murmured that last part to himself.
A handful of witches staggered toward them out of the gloom and dust. Even at a distance, Fourteen could see something white and malignant pulsing inside their bodies—it looked like he was about to get a crash course in fighting with Jack’s upgrades.
“You keep telling yourself that,” Jack said with a laugh and put his back against Adelle’s. Fourteen saw him pull something out of his sleeve that looked like a sword made of living flame—it crackled and hissed angrily. “Your weapon will last as long as I want it to, so have at it.”
Beside him, Adelle pulled off her belt and snapped it. It blazed with orange fire, lengthening and growing until it grew to the size of a bullwhip.
Maybe these guardians weren’t so bad after all.
Chapter 22Cym
Cym, Sterling, and Hester flew skyward, bouncing around inside their shield like a trio of unfortunate hamsters inside a ball. Absently, Cym noticed it looked like they weren’t the only ones affected by the blast. Most of those assembled around their shield had become airborne as well.
The shield sailed through the air, arcing over the heads of dozens of huddled figures looking for cover, and bounced into the forest, exploding upon impact with an old rotted-out log. The shield’s dying act had been to take the brunt of the fall, but all three occupants lay dazed and disoriented in a tangled mass of limbs on the dark, dank floor of the forest.
“Get your ass off my face!”
“Stop stepping on my hair then!”
Cym lost a chunk of hair in the ensuing struggle as three bodies tried to untangle themselves after being tossed around like wet knee-socks in a dryer.
Unfortunately, Cym only remembered that one of their members needed to be watched closely after the rock smashed into the side of his head.
Gods fucking dammit. He’d just had someone fix that. He was going to need to look into getting a helmet at this rate.
