Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2) (43 page)

“Oh, crap,” Alec said as the guy he’d shot his unsuccessful spell at reached out to grab him. Alec took a step backward, then his foot slipped off the edge of the rock. He swung his arms around like a tightrope walker to try to keep from falling. I reached out a hand to steady him, but before I could get a hold of his arm… he was gone.

I was confused for a fraction of a second, because I knew he hadn’t fallen. Then I remembered his trick in the library the day I slimed him. He’d portalled. The confusion of his disappearance stopped the forward progress of our attackers. I thought frantically as Alec reappeared a couple yards behind them.
A straight-on magic attack didn’t work. Brute force will have to do.

With what I envisioned as the force of a hurricane, I pushed a huge amount of air at the guy in front of me. He flew into the air and landed on his rump twenty yards away. Alec had the same idea, just without the magic. He crouched down and ran at the man that was easily four times his size. He hit the guy at about the same time my opponent flew through the air. Alec’s full-forced hit landed on the back of the man’s legs, but his attack was pretty much a flop. All Alec succeeded in doing was buckling the guy’s knees so he fell down on top of him. The air whooshed out of Alec’s lungs.

I backed up a couple of steps and blasted the guy before he could pummel Alec with his ham-sized fists. I used the same blast of air spell as I had on his companion, hitting him a little higher in the chest so the spell was a safe distance away from Alec. He flew head over heels, off the rock face we’d just climbed. I heard him land with a thud and leaned over the edge to see if he was still moving. He’d fallen about fifteen feet—and the crazed giant bounced right back up onto his feet like he’d landed on an air mattress.

I looked over at Alec as he slowly got up and glanced over the edge. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye and turned in time to see the other guy lumbering toward us at a speed faster than a man his size should have been able to accomplish.

“Oh, crap.” I hit him with another blast of air, hoping to give Alec and myself some time to strategize, but the big oaf was ready for it and just turned his massive shoulder into it, ducked his head, and stood his ground against the torrent of air.

The beast I’d blown off the rock
jumped
the fifteen feet up and landed next to his companion.

“Firepower,” Alec yelled.

We both commenced to discharge some of the harshest blasts of magic we could muster. They slowed only slightly as our balls of fire and exploding stars slammed into them. Their bodies seemed to just
absorb
the magic. When they were almost within reach of us, arms outstretched like zombies from some old B-list movie, Alec employed his portalling trick, landing a safe distance behind them.

I refused to panic. Instead, I pointed a hand at each magic-eating monster, and said, “
Subrigo
,” infusing my will into the word and concentrating on sending the spell out of both hands.

Hanging ten feet in the air above my head, the two men dangled helplessly. The corners of my mouth twitched into a small triumphant smile. Not because I thought I’d beaten them, I was just happy the levitation spell had worked. The solution was only a temporary one, though, and it took a huge amount of energy for me to keep them afloat.

“Alec,” I forced through clenched teeth. “We need a plan, here.”

He ran to my side, looking from one enemy to the other. They were silent, but struggling against the predicament I’d put them in. The silence was odd, but we didn’t have time to analyze it.

“I’ll re-dose the other four real quick,” he said.

“Hurry.” I could feel the magic draining out of me—magic and energy I would need desperately in the very near future.

He hurried and was back at my side in a few seconds.

“Alec, use your
sight
. See if they have any sort of shield around them.”

He concentrated and I felt him shudder when his
sight
opened. “Yeah, yeah. Eww. Definitely not humans. They have a shield. It’s pretty crude, kinda like the one Joe had Seth make that’ll absorb attacks.”

“Great,” I said with more patience than I felt. “Now
disassemble it!
”

“Oh, yeah, right.” He turned his attention back to the levitating men. It took him a full minute to break down the crudely constructed shields. “Okay. Drop ‘em and fire!” He said inside my head.

They crashed to the ground and before they could even get their feet back beneath them, Alec and I blasted them. Knowing they weren’t humans, I gave it my all, blasting them with my signature blue lightning. It didn’t take much before all that was left of them were two smoldering piles of gooey charcoal.

I turned to look at the other four assailants with my
sight
open. They, unlike their now dead companions, were really human men. Their eyes were huge with fright.

“What should we do with them?” I asked.

“I don’t know. We can’t exactly leave them here to join the enemy as soon as our spells wear off.”

Stepping close to them, I looked down on the men who had made deals with the devil. “I know what to do with them.” I turned to look at Alec with a satisfied smirk on my face.

“What?”

“How about you portal them to that little boxed-in canyon where we imprisoned Grease Ball and his friends? Leave them there, and we’ll deal with them later.”

Alec smiled and pounded me on the back hard enough to force me to take a step forward, stepping on one of the men’s hands. The crunching noise sounded painful. Too bad. “You’re a genius, Paige. I’ll take these two first. Be right back.”

Resting my back against a big rock, I sat while Alec did his thing. Just as he returned from his second trip, I heard Johnathan in my mind again.

“Everyone check in, let me know you’re okay.”

I concentrated on the mind-talking spell and sent out my reply. “Alec and I are okay. Had to dispatch four humans and two…” I looked at Alec, I had no idea what they were, I’d never looked at them with my
sight
open.

“Orc-like things,” Alec sent.

“Orcs?” I asked, one eyebrow raised with doubt.

“Yeah, all gray skin, smashed noses, and twelve inch tusks. Ugly suckers.”

“Halli?” I heard Johnathan send.

I held my breath. Several nerve wracking seconds later, she answered, “We’re here. Just finished off a swarm of Sprites. Sharp little arrows. Poison. Seth’s shield saved us.”

“Poison? Are you okay?” I sent.

“Fine. Just need to rest a few minutes.”

“Johnathan, everything okay with you and Joe?” I asked.

“Yep. We ran into a little trouble. We’re both good, though. Joe says everyone rest for ten minutes and then continue on. We need to be in position soon.”

I laid my head against the rock I leaned on. Only a few minutes passed before a feeling of dread crept up my spine. I whipped my head up and looked out over the terrain we’d passed to get where we were. I scrambled to my feet.

“Alec,” I whispered. “Look.”

He stood next to me. “That probably isn’t a good sign.”

I sent a message over our mind-link. “The fog is rolling in… fast. We’d better forego resting and get into position.”

I looked toward the town of Moab and saw nothing but unnatural fog for as far as I could see in that direction.

lec and I scrambled up the steep incline, the loose rocks making the journey difficult. Our destination was one of multiple small caves where we had a decent view over the elephant rocks to the dead zone where we assumed the dark ceremony would take place. Alec went in first, holding a
star-bright
to light the way.

The small cave was cool inside, but slightly warmer than it was outside. We made ourselves as comfortable as we could on the dirt and rock floor. Alec extinguished the
star-bright
so our position wouldn’t be given away by the glowing blue light. I semi-reclined against the cave wall, facing the entrance. Alec handed me a bottle of water and a granola bar out of his backpack—which would stay in the cave during the fight.

“I’ll take first watch, Paige. You need to rest. Levitating those two
things
that long must have been exhausting.”

“It was. Thanks, Alec.” I closed my eyes and dozed off almost instantly.

A tendril of fog reached out and touched my foot. I sat up and pulled my feet further into the cave, my heart beating a rapid, heavy metal drum solo in my chest. The fog had reached us. I used my shield bracelet and blocked the entrance to the cave. I wasn’t sure what it would do, if anything, but I didn’t want that fog inside with us.

I scooted up next to where Alec sat near the entrance. “I can’t see anything,” he said, staring out into the thick haze that blocked everything from view.

I shuddered. Memories of blindness seeped into my mind—and I didn’t like being reminded of that. “How long was I asleep?”

“Probably not long enough. Less than an hour.”

“Well, I won’t be able to sleep now. You should get some rest. I’ll keep watch—or at least listen—for any movement up here or below.”

“I’m okay. I didn’t use up nearly as much energy as you.”

“Okay.”

We sat in silence. Listening for any intruders. It was the eeriest feeling I’d ever experienced. Alec entertained himself by bouncing small pebbles off the shield.

I wished Johnathan was with me. I didn’t like being separated from him, especially when danger was imminent. But, I knew the danger of losing all of us in one moment of undetected ambush, was too great. We had to come from different directions in order to increase our own chance at surprising the enemy. As thoughts of Johnathan filled my head, I heard his voice.

“It looks like the party’s starting early.”

Alec and I looked at each other. It couldn’t have been any later than nine, although it was hard to tell with the fog making it almost pitch black for the last several hours.

“So early?” I sent back out to the group.

Joe and Johnathan were closest to the dead zone, hiding among the large boulders at the base of the
Parade of Elephants.
“Yes. People are starting to show up. The fog is clearing around the dead zone.” His voice came to me in a whisper, even though only the Five of us could hear it.