Ironspark by C. M. McGuire

Author:C. M. McGuire [McGuire, C. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance
ISBN: 9781250245267
Amazon: 1250245265
Goodreads: 51236251
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Published: 2020-08-25T00:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

How it happened, I wasn’t sure. But it felt right. For all her power, this was still my head. My dream. And I’d be damned if she was just going to take that from me.

The mirror wood shimmered and shifted around me. Glass strained to maintain its shape, but I concentrated, shoving my will against it. Spider-web cracks crunched across the glossy surface, distorting my face until, with a screech, it shattered around us. The silvery blackness of the mirror wood gave way to the sharp grays and glowing golds of an active steel mill. For just a moment, I stood alone, the new surroundings rippling around me until they solidified. Augustine Steel Mill, courtesy of my memories from a ninth grade field trip. My blood wasn’t enough. Probably a nail wouldn’t be enough either. But this? She’d feel this.

As soon as the world manifested, I sprinted for cover, crouching behind a low set of stairs, hidden in the shadows. It took everything I had to summon enough composure to glance around the corner of the stairs. Mab paced through the dark, dirty factory, every muscle in her body tense as a live wire, her eyes burning wide. The burning crucible behind her almost matched her fury.

“You think this will do anything?” Mab shouted.

A rebuke welled up inside me, but I had to swallow it back down. She was disoriented. It wouldn’t last long. Time to look for a weapon. Something long-distance. Maybe I could dream something up. A gun? Did bullets have steel casings? Crap, that was something I should have known! A crossbow, for sure, with iron-tipped arrows. That should do the trick, right?

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, imagining a loaded crossbow in front of me.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Footsteps echoed through the empty mill, the reverberations pounding louder and louder. I leapt away from the stairs, scrambling over old tools as Mab crept down the steps, her fingers dancing just centimeters above the toxic iron railing. Her large eyes drifted back and forth. She didn’t have to search for me. Not really. In her territory, she’d track me down sooner or later.

I clutched the crossbow tighter in my hands, willing it to solidify as she inched nearer. My breath caught in my throat. I forced myself to raise shaking hands, train the crossbow on Mab’s chest.

She turned to face me, her lovely face cast in shadow and the molten light of steel.

“Now, Bryn. Is this necessary?”

My finger twitched a second too early. With a fwing the arrow flew, not quite at her heart, but it tore through the gauzy layers of her sleeve. Mab jerked back with a screech, one hand flying to her shoulder as royal blood seeped out like spilled ink. Good Lord. I’d actually hit her. I’d actually hurt her.

Mab straightened, her lips curled into a sneer. The crossbow flickered out of existence. Something in my brain switched on, cutting through the noise with a single, overpowering command.

Run!

I darted farther into the mill, my bare feet slapping against the hot, dirty ground.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.