PROBLEM - Anthony Lockwood

CHAPTER FOURTY SEVEN

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xlvii

don't do alcohol either, kids

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MAGIC WAS EVERYWHERE, and Alice was almost drunk on it.

She staggered away from everyone, seating herself beside a gravestone. Her head was still throbbing, but the pain behind her eyes wasn't blinding anymore.

Her arm was no longer bleeding, but Alice didn't need it to. She hadn't chanelled the dead as a source in a long time, and though she didn't want to admit it, it made her feel alive in a way that blood magic never could.

She dug her fingers into the grass.

"Deane..."  the spirits seemed to say, "Deane...."

The power was euphoric.

And then pain stabbed through her head. Not pain - agony. This time, Alice wasn't ready.

She watched in shock horror as George fell inside the circle, and the silver net became dislodged, and Bickerstaff's voice tore through the air.

"SUBMIT TO ME!"

"EVERYBODY RUN!" Alice screamed, her throat going raw from the force of the shout, "EVERYBODY RUN!"

She staggered to her feet, grabbing her knife and darting forwards.

She was too late.

Bickerstaff's ghost began to form, wind gathering like a tornado and shadows collecting and forming a huge spirit, eyes wide with fire and magic. It was like a giant was before them, or some ancient djinn. The ghost was alive with shadows and magic and death.

With pure chaos.

Magic reverberated through the air, almost screaming with intesity. She could feel it in her bones, in her very soul.

It roared, like a forest fire.

Like hellfire.

Alice was dimly aware of all of the workers and sensitives running, tearing away from the scene in pure terror. She brandished her dagger, running forwards.

With every step, she called to the dead.

She threw open the floodgates of her own magic.

Alice let a scream tear from her throat as she jumped, throwing herself towards Bickerstaff, her knife up.

Thunder began to rumble, it was as if the sky quaked.

Lightning flashed in the air, catching Alice's dagger in her hand and illuminating the scene so brightly that she was nothing but a silhouette.

Alice stabbed Bickerstaaf's ghost, the force from the lightning generating a shockwave that made her cry out as he roared in pain. Crimson flames flashed from within his shadows, so hot that Alice felt as if the skin would peel from her bones.

She didn't let go of the knife. She screamed as she clung onto it, pouring more magic as the knife cut through Bickerstaff, sending her falling.

"ALICE!" Lockwood yelled.

Alice cried out as George tossed the net over Bickerstaff's body, causing his ghost to disappear. She fell and all of a sudden the breath was knocked out of her as she came crashing onto the ground.

"Fuck!" Alice cried, her whole body shaking as she coughed, letting her knife fall from her grip. There was blood dripping into her right eye. She must have hit her head.