I bit my lip as a ball of magic flew at my stomach. I whirled to avoid it, then shot out my hand. Water speared through the air and straight toward a pixie.
Using an enormous amount of magic could be dangerous since we’d likely need my magic to help us cross that damn marsh. Bastian sheathed his sword, then hopped down, grasping on to the tree branch with his hands and dropping to the ground. He landed in a crouch as more pixies descended upon him.
Then again, we wouldn’t make it to the marsh if I didn’t do something now.
Kara and Mia burst through the ship’s doors, and slid down the deck to the ground. I breathed in relief as their shadows stretched behind them.
“They’ve got their shadows too,” a pixie yelled, pointing. “He won’t be happy about this.”
This was getting out of control.
“Goji,” I called to the pixie up in the air. “We have to retreat. I’m going to use my magic to outrun them. On the count of three, you go.”
“The hell you are!” Bastian growled after running his sword through a pixie right as magic swiped against his cheek, leaving yet another cut.
Kara and Mia joined in the fighting, but more pixies emerged from the jungle. My body grew cold. This would very well be the end if I didn’t act.
“She’s right,” Mia shouted. “We can’t keep them at bay for much longer, not when there’s so many.”
Bastian stopped fighting and locked eyes with me.
“Trust me,” I said.
His hand tightened around his sword, and he gave a nod.
“One,” I said.
Bastian kicked a pixie away.
“Two.”
Goji blasted her magic and started flying backward.
“Three!”
Mia, Kara, and Bastian ran, and Goji flew through the air, all of them getting behind me as I pulled at that thread inside of me, calling for my magic to aid me. It wasn’t as strong, here, so far away from my home, but it was enough. The water flowed through my veins and out the palms of my hands, a wall of it forming and holding off the pixies as everyone ran. I strained, stretching the wall so high it touched the canopies, so wide it stretched to the tree line. The pixies threw their magic at it, but they couldn’t break it.
My muscles shook with the effort, and I turned and ran, my entire body feeling like it was being pulled in two different directions as I held that wall behind me. Bastian glanced behind him, slowing, but I shook my head.
“I’m coming,” I yelled. “Just keep going, and don’t you dare stop!”
Mia and Kara sprinted ahead of him, and Goji flew above him, her gaze darting down to Bastian and then to me.
Kara cried out ahead and faltered, and it looked like she’d twisted her ankle. Mia ran to her sister and grabbed her arm. “Help us, Bastian,” she yelled to her brother.
His brows furrowed. “Don’t you do anything stupid, you hear me?” he said to me.
I shook, the strain of keeping that wall up weakening me. “I promise,” I said back. “Go help your sister.”
He gave me one last look, then swore and ran toward Kara. She put both arms around their necks and they continued on.
My magic quaked inside of me, that thread I pulled at so close to snapping. I wouldn’t be able to hold the wall much longer, but we’d at least gotten a head start.
With a final effort, I pushed the wall forward, and looked behind me to see it crash into the pixies, knocking many of them from the air, whooshing over them like a wave. Some threw up their magic to shield themselves, while others pushed through the wave. I was so weak now, I could barely walk, let alone run.
The marsh wasn’t far from here, and if I squinted, I could see the tree line where we’d be able to escape if we could get through the shadows—and then we’d face the crocodiles. Suddenly, it all seemed so impossible, and I fell to my knees under the weight of this mission.
The pixies began moving forward again, and I turned and crawled on my knees, digging my fingers into the dirt, pulling myself forward with slow, painful movements. My joints ached, and my head pounded after that use of magic. I grunted, pulling myself forward again. I could no longer see Bastian, trees blocking him from my sight—and me from his.
