“Well, I’m sure she won’t get in our way.”
I smell a rotten scent. This scent is way different from the scent of a typical corrupt mystic. I grab Donovan’s shoulder and turn him to face me. He’s aware that something is up.
“I think your mystic arrived fashionably late.”
Chapter 29
I hold onto my purse as we walk around the classy gathering. I check to see if my broomstick is still in my purse along with anything else I’d need to kill a mystic. My dagger is strategically placed along the side of my thighs on a strap, so I’m good to go. To my right, there is a VIP section, and guards are at the entrance.
I notice two masked people sitting, drinking whatever is in their clear glasses. The girl has blue hair and the guy’s chocolate brown hair glimmers against the gold lights.
The piano player is pressing on his keys, trying to keep the mood in the place as luxurious as possible. I sniff for the stench once more, but this time I can’t pick up on it. Donovan waits for me to say something.
“Strange abilities you got there for a witch.”
“I wouldn’t know myself. I thought it was normal.” I brush my fake blonde hair out of my face and behind my shoulders. Emily is gliding around the event, also looking for anything out of the ordinary. “I can’t smell the mystic anymore.”
“That’s okay. Let’s keep moving.”
If Donovan brings out his broomstick in the middle of a place like this, it would only bring attention. It’s too strange looking for it not to. I place my martini glass on a staff member’s tray as they walk past to me.
The scent comes back into my nose. My ears perk up as I listen to the mystic walking around the building. I single the sound of their footsteps out amongst the many other people in the place. If you look up, you can see that there are many levels in this place. We just happen to be on the very first level. There are glass edges where you can look down without falling to your death.
As I glance up, I see a strange woman with black hair and a white mask. The smell is coming from her. “She’s upstairs on the third level,” I whisper into Donovan’s ear. “Don’t look up. She’s watching us. Act casual. The elevator is to your right.”
He’s holding my waist. What do I do? Keep the act going, I guess. I lean in to kiss his cheek.
He’s obviously stunned at how professional of an actress I am. Biting my bottom lip and flicking my hair back in front of me, I relax.
My nose flares as the smell of another mystical scent much different from the one I’ve noticed before enters the building.
Donovan walks into the mirrored elevator as it dings, going up. I cross my arms over my chest and walk around, studying the pictures in the gallery. I wait to receive the stench once more. It’s still lingering in the air.
My ears perk up at the sound of strange movements. I turn around to see that the two people in the VIP section are now gone. The guards are also gone. I scan to see if Emily is still greeting her guests, but I can’t find her.
The piano’s music grows louder as another staff member offers me a drink. I say no thank you, but suddenly I hear a scream from in the middle of the masked crowd. The chandeliers above all of us flicker for a quick second, movement in the building comes to a stop, and the music becomes silent.
“Hey! Watch it, jerk!” A girl shouts.
“Kristen!” Another person shouts.
I rush over to see what the cause of the commotion is. I glance upstairs and see that the woman who was watching me is now gone. Donovan is rushing somewhere, as if he caught a glimpse of her. I see him disappearing into the crowd upstairs. I hear the sound of shattering glass.
I blink, confused. I rush to where the sound came from and, right in front of me, a lady is on the ground, her martini glass and liquid on the floor next to her hand.
“Oh my God! Someone please call the ambulance!”
I hear someone choking to my right. I move the people who are standing still out of the way. Why would anyone just stand and watch someone on the ground?
“Call the ambulance!” I shout. I reach the person who is about to choke. I’m not sure how I knew he was about to but, a few seconds after I reach him, he begins to choke.
I start helping him, but the guy is too bulky for me to get a grip around. He falls to the ground, his glass of martini breaking. The lights in the glowing building flicker off as people around start screaming. Someone else is about to choke, but I am pushed on the ground.
“Get out of the way!”
“Help!” They shout.
The lights flicker on and in the center of everyone is the blue haired girl from the VIP section. Her eyes are glowing blue and so are the markings on her arm. This is the mystic I was smelling, but not the one I smelled first.
“Please! D-don’t,” Kristen manages to choke out.
“That thing has Kristen! Someone help!”
The mermaid skips around with a masked Kristen’s hair in her grip. She drags her on the ground. The lights flicker back off and then on. Kristen is now belly up with a dagger in the middle of her stomach.
Blood begins to slither between people’s feet. The crazed crowd becomes out of control. They push and shove people around. One person ends up tripping me.
I fall to the floor. And one of the guards from the VIP section is now playing the piano.
The many screaming and sounds overwhelm my senses. The lights keep flickering as one of the bulbs bursts, painting the entire building in a blue, tinted dark color from the full moon outside.
I place my hand against my thigh, feeling for my dagger. I need something to protect myself with just in case. Because of all of this commotion, I’ve lost trace of Donovan. Without removing my eyes from the mystic in the middle of the crowd, I find my weapon and walk toward her slowly.
I block someone from pushing me and I begin to feel the markings on my arms light up. I can’t seem to find my broomstick, though. I remember getting out of the car at the valet and then having my jacket removed from me.
They must’ve taken my jacket to coat handling. I turn and gaze behind me at the bunched up coats in a separate room. I make my way to the area, looking for my beige jacket that could possibly have my broomstick in the pockets.
“Looking for this...?” sings a harsh but light voice above me. I glare up to see the mystic holding my jacket and twirling her blue hair. “You know, your sense of fashion is horrible,” she says, wrapping the jacket around my neck and dragging me across the floor.
My hands fly up to the leather as my back slides on the polished tiles. I am then tossed against a table as food and drinks pour onto the ground next to me. The mermaid is humming a melody as she skips toward me, preparing her next attack.
Falling down onto my body, she lifts me up and chokes me against a wall. Her freezing moist skin cuts me. She grabs my hair from the ground and drags my hair, but I force my leg up to kick her face. She falls onto the ground. I stand up, looking down at her and cracking my neck.
The mermaid dissolves into a liquid as she vanishes. I feel like she isn’t dead. I step back slowly and step on a piece of glass. The building is now empty. I look upstairs. I don’t see Donovan or the woman. The blue tint from the moon glows on my skin. I remove my mask.
I feel a pinch within my head. I know something is about to happen. Wet hands grab my neck from behind. I elbow the mystic and force her onto the ground. I take a piece of broken glass and attempt to stab the monster beneath me.
I quickly gash her stomach with the glass in my hands. I’m bleeding from the sharpness of the blade, but I don’t care. She moans but giggles as the bleeding on her arm and stomach glows light blue. She’s healing herself.
Can’t kill a mermaid if she’s not in water...
My eyebrows brush against each other and my lips purse together. The glass breaks from outside, courtesy of Donovan and Eric punching through it. They’re both bleeding. Donovan grabs Eric’s collar, but Eric manages to get out of his grip. Eric quickly glance
s at me, then runs away.
I press my knee down on the mermaid beneath and come to the conclusion that she must be Eric’s girlfriend, Tori, one of the mystics I fought at the beach. I remove her mask as she smiles and then liquefies once more.
Flipping into the scene acrobatically, Emily appears, her dirty blonde hair whipping over her shoulders. She glances at the mess I’ve made fighting off Tori. I stand up, fix myself, and look at the palm of my hands.
The cuts from holding the glass are now gone. It seems like my body has healed itself. I was wondering how Jared healed himself and why I couldn’t. I guess now I can. I grab my jacket from the floor and pull out my broomstick. Then I tuck my weapon into my pocket.
“What happened to that other mystic, Donovan? I see that you were occupied with your brother,” Emily says.
“She got away,” Donovan says.
I still smell her here. I walk toward the elevator. “She hasn’t left.”
As I press the button, I notice, in the corner of my eyes, that something is moving on the fourth level. Donovan and Emily see my glance and look up as well. Emily fixes herself and begins to run in another direction, taking the stairs. Donovan rushes over to me and hands me a dagger.
“Be careful, okay?”
“Don’t try acting nice now,” I say, entering the elevator. As it slowly closes, I see my reflection. Inside the boxed transportation is nothing but four mirrors surrounding me. I’ve never been in an elevator like this. It’s mind boggling.
I glance down at my arms as they glow from the markings swirling around. All of a sudden, they want to glow? There is a line of blood just right underneath the right side of my lip. My hair is a mess and my skinny jeans are now scratched up from my previous fight.
Suddenly the elevator stops moving upward. I circle around, looking up at the roof only to see my reflection once more. I click the button for the fourth floor again and again. There is a beeping sound indicating that it is out of service. I take my dagger and trace my hands over the glass.
I knock to see how dense it is and if I can break through. Seeing that it isn’t as dense as I thought, I take off my wig, step back, and allow my senses to control me. I close my eyes, then open them, aiming my sharp blade at one of the mirrors inside the elevator.
The wall shatters, creating a jagged hole leading into darkness. I cover my face with my arm to guard myself from the breakage of glass. I kick a few other parts out of the way.
I smell the same rotten stench in the small space I am in. I look out of the hole I’ve created only to see light purple eyes blinking from above, watching me.
The eyes blink once more and disappear as the elevator begins to move once more, only this time with increasing speed. I step back, immediately afraid that I might get forced out into the hole from gravity. Little cracks sound off around me.
My eyes follow a sudden crack developing on the glass around me. One by one, the mirrors I’ve gazed into burst away, leaving me in the middle as wind blows around me. It feels like I am in the center of a hurricane. I kneel down as the elevator proceeds to fly up. I glance to my right and left. I need to get off before I crash into the rooftop of the building.
I stand up as metal wraps around my stomach, forcing me to my right. I land on top of Donovan. He’s saved me once more. I watch as the elevator explodes into the ceiling. Donovan protects me from the explosion, holding me in his arms. He turns off his broomstick as I continuously cough from all the smoke.
“Look at me.” He forces my head toward him. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Thank you.” I cough. “I think I saw her. She caused the elevator to react that way.”
“Emily has a trace of her. She’s on the fifth floor now. We need to get up there.”
Without saying anything, we run away from the elevator disaster and enter a door in front of us. There is an exit sign pointing up the stairs. It is flickering on and off and the light bulbs upstairs are also running out of juice. I hear the sound of electricity buzzing as we run up the stairs. Her scent travels back into my nose.
“We’re closer than you think,” I say. “She’s different than the rest.”
“How would you know?” Donovan turns on his broomstick. It forms into a silver sword. There is a door ahead of us.
“I just know…Trust me this time.”
“Stay behind me. This mystic could be a dangerous one.”
We open the door and walk on grey gravel. From a distance, I see the full moon and the many other tall buildings. It’s obvious we’re on the rooftop now. I step forward slowly, walking to the edge. We’re pretty high up and it’s a long ways down. Being here kind of reminds me of Donovan’s little hideout.
He appears by my side as we stand next to the edge and feel the breeze on our skin. My ears perk up. I feel like I need to avoid something. Turning around, I successfully dodge a dagger that shoots over the edge. Leaping from a tall structure is the purple eyed mystic. She stands still in front of the door we walked out of. She sidesteps a neon green arrow that was shot from behind her.
“Donovan, watch out!”
I push him to the side as the arrow stings the tip of the edge on the rooftop. Emily comes from behind the corner, holding a small bow in her hand. Her eyes are glowing green as she shoots another neon arrow at the mystic only this time her target vanishes into a dark, shadow-like dust. Emily walks toward us.
“It’s not a mystic. It’s a corrupt witch,” she says, glancing at Donovan. “So get ready.”
I hear a poof sound as the witch appears on the edge. With her beautiful purple eyes, she watches me carefully. Then she poofs away once more and appears behind Emily. The elf takes her bow and slaps it across the witch’s face. The witch blocks the attack and forces Emily on the ground as Donovan turns, his broomstick in hand. The witch turns with her broomstick too and vanishes into dark smoke again.
I walk forward slowly. My heart drops. “Donovan, she’s going to be behind you.”
“What?” he says, turning to look at me. I furrow my eyes as I study the space where I predict her appearance will be.
“Now!” I take out my dagger and fling it in the direction of where she will appear.
She appears and successfully blocks my dagger with her now neon purple sword.
Emily readies another arrow and shoots it directly at the witch. Donovan slashes his whip. The whip manages to wrap around the witch, so I figured it was my turn.
I sprint toward her, picking up my dagger on the ground and leaping into the air, aiming to bring my blade down on her. Unfortunately, my weapon stabs the ground as the witch vanishes once more.
“She’s too fast,” Donovan says, breathing harshly.
“What can you expect?” Emily growls.
“I trust my predictions.” I eye my surroundings. “She’s playing with our minds,” I say.
The witch appears along with a dark shadow beneath Emily and Donovan. The shadow wraps around their legs and slithers up around their bodies, holding them captive. The witch turns around and hops on top of the edge. She twirls around and studies me as she tilts her neck to the side.
She waves her sword in the air and purposefully falls off the edge. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but the same uncontrolled adrenaline rush I was feeling while fighting David on the staircase fills me once more. I turn to see Donovan vanish as well as Emily, following him into darkness. Maybe the witch wants to single me out? I run up to the edge to see where she fell to.
I place my hand into my pocket and take out my broomstick. The silver swirly lines are glowing and so is the red button. I know she is not down there. My instinct is telling me otherwise.
I step back, strongly feeling as though she is behind me. A swift, cold breeze swipes the side of my cheek.
I sidestep an attack I wasn’t fully aware of. I turn around as she glares at me. She lunges forward, aiming for my heart. The weapon in my hand burns against my palm. The markings on my arms begin to fre
eze and burn.
My broomstick activates, forming into the same purple sword she is holding. Both of our swords together create an X-shape as she presses against me. I know what she is going to do next, so I hold onto her wrist as she vanishes, taking me with her.
We end up on another building. She fights me off of her and then swipes her sword through the air, trying to cut off my head. I duck and try to swipe her legs. She leaps up and kicks me against the ground.
She backflips toward the edge and gets ready to leap off the edge. Somehow my thumb moves itself over the button on my broomstick, making it form into a neon purple whip. The whip slithers around her ankle. I yank her back onto the ground and pull her toward me as my broomstick turns into a sharp little purple dagger.
Breathing frantically with my hair in my face, I place my knee on her chest. The harsh wind forces the masquerade mask off of her face. I see a facial structure I’ve seen my entire life. I bite on my bottom lip, the face I’ve seen when I was only a child. She looks up at me, her purple eyes fading into its usual light green.
“Mom?”
Her face becomes worried and sadness fills her. Suddenly, her gaze locks back onto me. Her mood shifts as her eyes fade back into their purple color. She head butts me and kicks my body off of her. I crawl to where my broomstick fell out of my hands.
Mom’s broomstick turns into a sword as she approaches me slowly. Her chocolate brown hair is flowing with the wind. She slams her weapon against the floor, missing me. Tears fall from my face. My mom is trying to kill me.
Her broomstick morphs into a purple whip as it wraps around me. As she yanks her whip back toward her, I fly across the hard ground and roll beneath her legs. She kicks me over, holding her broomstick above me.
Her eyes fade into their normal color and then back to purple. She is going in and out of corruption. I know that she will kill me because there isn’t any going back from being corrupt. I close my eyes and roll to my side, grabbing my broomstick as she misses me.
Mom grabs my neck and holds me up to the full moon. Morphing her broomstick into a dagger, she holds her blade against the skin on my neck. I feel my broomstick burn within my grip. The pain is overbearing and I’m not sure why my hands are freezing.
Mystical (The Mystical Trilogy Book 1) Page 26