Gracie Abrams is eking out a solitary existence, fighting day-in, day-out against the drain of working customer service and nursing two newborn kittens in her off time. Out on her own ever since her sister moved in with her boyfriend, the burden of...
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An Exit sign gleamed above our heads. Floor lights, tiny and round and interspersed like a museum exhibit dotted a faint and wispy trail into full-on darkness. The illumination wasn't enough to show us what rested above the floor. It only helped to make me doubt where I put my feet. For all I knew, the very next inch to the left of those little lights disappeared into a cliff that reached the pits of hell.
"This way," Sam said confidently.
Talia brought up the rear, keeping hold of my sweatshirt. I grabbed Sam's, too, so we walked in a loose train. I wasn't sure if Sam's confidence came from knowing this place so well, or if she had some way of seeing clearly in the dark.
Whatever it was, it wasn't all that important. It didn't matter what magic existed or what Sam could do with it. What mattered was whether or not I trusted her to lead me through this darkness.
My hand clenched in the sparse material between my fingers, and I fought the urge to grab her hand. We would be fine. We were only here to gather notes about immoral spells that were most certainly against the law...even among witches. It's not like Patty or Ginny had gone around killing anyone. Sure, they had sent Itachi and Pride after us, though I'm not sure about Rengoku. But it's not like anyone died, right?
The hallway continued on a narrow track. I could feel walls near my arms on either side, our breath puffing out and echoing right back to us. There was a humidity that came from being inside a heated building, heated more extremely because of the cold outside. Soon, my sweatshirt felt like a smothering cloak, my hands swelling into burdensome sausages. Each flex of them sent painful tingles through the limbs, but I still held on tight.
"Sam," Talia whispered, and we stopped.
Sam crouched, pulling me down with her. "I know," she said.
I glared into the dark ahead of us, but I couldn't see anything. Nothing.
Before I could whisper, "What's wrong?" Sam snapped her fingers, and light burst to the tip of her finger like a lighter.
"Fire bands," Talia murmured. "Nice."
I didn't know what fire bands were, but I was wondering why Sam hadn't used that from the moment we'd walked in.
"I have lightning, ice, and wind, too," Sam whispered, and then she began to crawl.
Talia held me back with two urging pats against my shoulder, so I watched the teenager move across the floor, only stopping at some unidentifiable spot. There, Sam's curly head blocked whatever it was that she was doing, but it wasn't long before she sat up, glancing over her shoulder.
I had never seen such bleakness in her eyes before. Surely, being surrounded by magic and magical things shouldn't look like...that?
Talia hummed, then she said something that I didn't bother asking for clarification on: "The Voss shell?"
