Prison Of Hope by McHugh Steve

Author:McHugh, Steve
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2015-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

The full moon and clear skies gave more light than would have been usual at this time of year. Even so, I used my magic to start my night vision well before I reached the forest where Tommy was waiting for us.

Werewolves, like all weres, have three forms—human, animal, and beast. The beast was the strongest, and most dangerous, of all the forms. In his beast form, Tommy stood on two legs, was easily over six feet tall, and probably weighed double his human weight. He was a machine designed to kill and fight. The monster inside him was closer to the surface, and once fighting started, it was more likely to try to convince Tommy to ignore his humanity and give in to the urge to kill.

Fortunately, as a gray wolf padded toward us, it was clear that Tommy had decided to use his wolf form. It was a harder form to maintain, but better for tracking and stealth. There was also less likelihood of the monster inside gaining any kind of leverage. Probably a good idea when dealing with what I was sure would be a very scared fourteen-year-old girl.

“You got a scent?” I asked Tommy, who nodded.

I enhanced my use of air magic in preparation for keeping up with Tommy. In his wolf form, he was faster than anyone in a human form could possibly be, certainly much faster than a natural wolf. The only way to keep up was to use my air magic to increase my own speed and agility, one of the benefits of air magic, just like earth magic users can increase their strength.

I turned to Emily. “You going to be able to keep up?”

She’d drawn runes around her eyes in pen. I recognized the runes as a way to let people see in the dark. It was old, and usually pretty unpredictable, rune magic; either whatever ink you used faded, along with your night vision, or it left you with permanent night vision until you got rid of the runes, sometimes screwing your vision up even more if you were exposed to bright lights before you got rid of them. But it was better than running head first into a tree. Witches tended to have whole books of runes, most of which they kept with the same level of secrecy as sorcerers did their grimoires.

“Let’s go,” Emily said, ignoring my question and motioning for us to get started.

Tommy didn’t need telling twice, and with a quick sniff of the air, he bounded into the darkness beyond and started running at speed. Even with being able to use my fire magic to create a sort of night vision and air magic to increase my speed, it was still difficult to keep up with Tommy, who seemed to avoid branches and trip hazards as if they weren’t even there.

I’d been running with Tommy a lot over the years, and normally it was a fun, exhilarating experience. But this time there was no joy in it.

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