“Did you guys ingest LSD or something?” I asked, wondering if I needed to find the house mom or someone to force-feed them a bottle of water.
That got another round of giggles, and I stepped back as they moved closer. The water gently lapped around my knees, the sea suddenly pliant as if it too were confused by what was happening. A group gathered, and every single person had something to say about me.
My skin wasso smooth, my boobsso perky, ‘damn girl your legs go on forever.’. Not bad for my self-esteem, but extremely strange when paired with, ‘I want to take your fingernails and wear them like diamonds in my hair.’. I had no idea who saidthatlittle delight, but I didn’t want to find out.
With the water now up to my thighs, my earlier panic reared its head. My chest went tight, and I knew a panic attack was on the horizon if I didn’t get my feet back on dry sand. I tried to wade in to shore, but there were about twenty people surrounding me, and none of them backed away when I asked them to move. Gone was my headache and the fatigue that plagued me, and I found myself considering making a break for it. It sure felt like I could run a mile right now.
“Bitch! If anyone’s going to get her a drink, it's going to be me!”
“I’m her favorite sister, Maelyn!”
The water grew choppy as the crowd fought among one another over who was my favorite. I hadn’t said one word to these people, but they stared at me like I was some Hollywood superstar offering onegolden winner best friendstatus. I’d had enough, and when one dude got too close, I pushed against his chest until there was room for me to move.
Then all hell broke loose.
A small channel appeared, like a lifeline begging me to take hold, and I ran for it. Hands landed on my arms and shoulders. Fingers sunk into my hair and pulled until it felt like there were a thousand different people trying to tear off pieces of me. I screamed. Pain lanced across my scalp as my bun was torn free and my long hair hung down past my chest, giving even more opportunity for these fucking psychos to grab at it.
“Back the fuck up!” Ezra’s shout was clearer than a pistol shot, and dangerous enough that everyone paused, giving him a window to reach me.
My head throbbed, and there were a bunch of places along my back and arms that stung with what I knew had to be fingernail scrapes, but with my feet still planted in the water, I felt like I could do anything. How weird was that?
Practically crawling now, I scrambled to Ezra’s open arms, and the chaos resumed the second he put his hands on me. He covered me with his own body, shielding me as best he could as we ran. It was impossible to move swiftly in this position, and the horde just kept coming. More and more people adding to the frenzy.
“What’s going on?” I cried. “Why are they acting like this?”
Was this the work of the djinn? Had they finally returned to seek their revenge?
“It’s your siren call, babe. Can’t you feel it?”
Mywhat?In one quick move, Ezra grabbed my waist and threw me over his shoulder. Air was knocked out of me with every step, but we finally put distance between us and the crazies calling for me with shrill cries. We neared the parking lot, and I could only hope that meant safety.
“Find your source of magick and shut it down,” he demanded, but that did nothing to help.
I turned my head and saw others from the party take notice of the absolute insanity that half of their friends were committing. One look at me, a heartbeat passed, and then they too suddenly ran at us from a different angle.
“I don’t have magick!” I called back, but really wished I did at this point, then maybe I could make this all stop.
Ezra made some sort of growl mixed with a scoff and hiked me up higher. “You picked a hell of a time to play helpless, babe.”
The loose sand made running near impossible, but he powered over it like a champ, never floundering or losing speed. His free hand glided up and down the back of my thigh in an almost absentminded caress. I tried to swat it away, but it was hard to reach with half my body hanging down his back.
I whacked him in the kidney instead.
“I never said that, you prick!”Whack.“Put me down and I’ll fucking show you helpless!”
I wiggled in his hold, alternating between trying to break free and landing futile hits on his back. Ezra dodged to the left, readjusted his hold on me, and took off again. The rough movement and new position allowed me to lift my head and get a close-up view of what bore down on us.
“Never mind!” I cried. “Don’t put me down, don’t put me down.” His shirt tore from how hard I gripped it. “If you let go, I willkillyou!”
His laugh was smug, and if slapping him wouldn’t get me trampled, my hand would have met his cheek. “Your begging needs some work,” he teased. “But I’ll help you practice.”
His hand gave a final squeeze on my thigh before it swung behind us. A wave of ice shards flew into the mob, freezing a few feet and knocking their owners off balance. Their fall had a domino effect that took down a couple more, but not enough to matter.
“Say it with me.” How did he have enough breath to taunt meandrun across the sand? I got my answer when his voice rose several octaves. “Please, Ez, don’t let go. Don’t stop. Move that hand high—ouch!”
With my teeth marks in his back, his laugh shook my entire body this time, and we lost traction. We had enough of a lead that no one ripped my hair out because of it, but my heart raced all the same. Ezra struck out with his magick again and again with zero concern for where it landed or what damage it caused. Though it didn’t look like anyone was seriously injured. No one even noticed where the random ice was coming from, so lost they were to whatever spell they were under.
Each wave of Ezra’s power echoed inside me, plucking at something I’d never noticed. With my eyes clenched shut, I focused on it, following it to a buzzing hive of light that filled me all the way up. A small gasp escaped when the realization dawned on me. Ididhave magick.
