WORK IN PROGRESS: Three Witches #1: Magnus and Magnolia

Chapter 18 (Magnus): I Felt Safe

***TW FOR VIOLENCE***

You won't know until you get to her which Magnolia is real and which one is an illusion.

The disembodied voice of Tarek rang in my head as I followed the sound of Magnolia screaming and ran down an alley, adrenaline pumping through my body, all the body aches and pains forgotten in my need to get to her. I saw her, one woman against the five men standing around her, pushing her around. Use your magic to buy me a minute to get to you!

I didn't bother calling out to them, just launched myself into the middle of the bastards and started fighting them to get them away from Magnolia. One pulled out a chain and started lashing out with it, connecting with my head and arms a few times before I could get close enough to him to rip the chain from his hand and return the favor. I got in a lucky shot right across his eyes that had him bellowing and then one directly to his throat. He went down just as another one jumped on my back while one more came at me with a knife. He sliced me a few times before I was able to flip the guy on my back over and straight into the knife the other one was about to stab me with. 

The last two came at me, one getting behind me and holding me by the arms while the other hit me in the face and stomach until I leveraged the fucker holding me, leaned back and kicked the asshole in front of me in the face, breaking his nose with my heel. Twisting, I started in on the last bastard and he put up a good fight, trading punch for punch, until I delivered a hard, direct shot to his temple, taking the fucker out.

Did I mention I was fucking naked?

The little assholes had meant it when they said I could bring whatever I had on me at the time I broke Noli's heart.

Speaking of...I looked around the alley for Noli, wondering if she'd hidden away from the fight. "Noli?" I called to her. 

I ran behind the dumpster looking for her, but she wasn't there. Panicking, I ran down to the other end of the alley, ignoring the occasional piece of broken glass jabbing into the soles of my feet. I looked down the street to either side of the entrance to the alley and couldn't see her.

Whoosh!

I felt a rush of air, a moment of disorientation and suddenly I was at the ocean. Really? 

"Magnus! Help!" Noli screamed, and I could see her about a hundred yards off shore, barely visible, her arms waving, She sunk under the waves before she popped up again, and without thinking, I ran into the water and then when I was far enough out, I dove under the waves and began swimming toward Noli. It seemed to take forever to make any progress, but I pressed on, forcing my arms and legs to move faster and faster. There was just enough moonlight to see Noli when I looked up occasionally to make sure she was still dead ahead. Instead of getting closer to her, however, she seemed to be moving farther away from me.

When I was finally narrowing the distance between us, I dug deep for the strength to go faster, hoping the blood in the water from my various cuts wouldn't attract any nighttime hunters with sharp teeth. I kept swimming, refusing to think about that, and then I heard a scream near shore. Turning in the water, I saw that Noli had moved closer to shore, so I started for her, my muscles screaming as I fought to get to her, the undertow seeming to come from nowhere, making me fight harder against it.

I felt something rough brush against my leg, and I forced myself to remain calm. A minute later, ten yards out, a fin appeared and began moving toward me. Shit. Shit. Shit. I wanted to freeze but continued stroking smoothly through the water, splashing as little as possible, keeping my movements coordinated instead of jerky, not wanting to become a motherfucking Shark Week victim story. I got bumped again, two more times, but focused solely on Magnolia and getting to her.