Black & White Croakies by Sam Cheever

Author:Sam Cheever
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Electric Prose Publications

13

An Evil Kind of Delight

I threw myself at Grym. “I’m so sorry! It was all I could think of to do.”

Grym wrapped his arms around me, holding me so tight it constricted my lungs. A tiny spark flared on the shoulder of his shirt and I smacked it down with the palm of my hand. Smoke wafted around us, creating a cocoon that turned Grym’s hug to something I hadn’t expected.

As if he’d felt the change too, Grym lifted his head and looked down at me, his usually warm caramel gaze made inscrutable through the haze.

We stared at each other for several beats, something coiling warm and interesting in my belly, and then the smoke burst apart and a hand snaked through, grabbing my arm. “Come on, Naida!” Sebille ground out, yanking me out of Grym’s arms. “We need to move now!”

I reluctantly turned away from Grym, trudging along behind the sprite as she hurried around the corner and we caught up with the others.

“Follow me,” Aberdeen said. He hobbled through the smoky air, his big boots clomping against the ground and his wispy gray hair floating around his head. We kept to the smoke for as long as we could, though we were all choking from it by the time we stepped out of Lea’s yard.

It had been good cover and, when we took off running across the open grass leading to the little playground down the street, I felt exposed and vulnerable.

My gaze kept sliding toward the sky, where clouds still roiled angrily high above us. The gods of the artifact world were still agitated.

That wasn’t good for us.

Aberdeen reached the merry-go-round and stepped onto its wobbly surface, grabbing a curved handle in the center as it moved out from underneath him. He motioned frantically for us to join him.

I stared at the play structure, frowning. “What are you doing? This is no time to play.”

The guy truly was crazy.

Aberdeen shook his head. “Just do as I tell you to. Hurry. I feel something in the air.”

He was right. As soon as he said the words, I realized the pressure was building again. Whatever had pelted us from the clouds before was gearing up to do it again. With no better ideas myself, I stepped onto the merry-go-round with the others. Aberdeen nodded toward the cats. “Somebody had better hold them.”

“Why?” I asked, reaching for Wicked.

Lea bent to pick up Hex just as the structure began to move.

“Hold on!” Aberdeen said.

As if his voice had called for more attacks, the ground a mere ten feet away exploded upward, sending dirt and rock into the air above our heads.

We covered our heads as best we could while still holding onto the structure. Grym grabbed the handles on either side of Wicked and me and bent over us as hard clumps of dusty dirt pinged against the pocked metal surface.

And then I no longer noticed the falling debris. Because the world had begun to spin fast enough to pull the breath right out of my lungs.

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