by Martha Carr
“Will do,” he responded in her earpiece. His voice was muffled, and she could hear chewing a second later.
Guess that explains why he’s been so quiet. Kind of a blessing.
The drone hummed and whirred into the sky until it was hundreds of feet up.
Lily patted her tactical harness. Shay smiled. The girl was already internalizing good tactical awareness both pre- and post-battle. If her precognition couldn’t save her, that very well might.
“So what about the crystals?” the girl asked. “They are all weird and artificial. They probably took them and did a bunch of tests, right?”
Shay grabbed a shovel from the back and tossed it to Lily, and picked up her own. “From what Dr. Weber said, all the crystals were stolen not that long after the last excavation. The archaeology community still doesn’t want to admit this place might have anything to do with magic, and more than a few people have tried to argue the crystals never existed. That it was all a fraud by pro-Oriceran scholars.” She headed toward the fence, Lily trailing after her.
“But you think the crystals were magical?”
Shay nodded. “Yeah.” She frowned. “The only weird thing is that they’ve done preliminary magical surveys in the area. They’ve found traces of what might be magical energy, but not what they’d expect. I don’t know all the details of why, but from what I’ve read, it’s basically the wrong ‘flavor.’”
If that pixie’s right, then I think I know why. That might also be why no one serious has looked into this place.
Lily shrugged. “Maybe it’s just like the magical version of finding some rusty old screw from centuries ago. Might not be a big deal. Some local rednecks probably stole the crystals to sell for dust.”
Shay chuckled. “Could be. Again, I don’t know the details, but those crystals probably had something to do with the portal if there was one here.” She walked toward the fence. “We have the exact coordinates from Dr. Weber’s old paper, so we’re gonna do a little quick digging.” She jumped to the top of the fence and then over.
Lily vaulted the fence using her free hand. “I don’t get why no one else has done this. I mean, I know you said they lost funding, but this place has been here a long time, and no one has finished digging it up just because of one batch of stolen crystals?”
“Lots of controversy over the site for a lot of reasons. Some of it because it involved Native Americans, some of it because this is private land that’s changed hands. After Weber’s theories started spreading, a lot of reputable archaeologists didn’t want to do more work, worrying about being associated with fringe pseudoarcheology. Like I said, even today, it’s still got a little taint because of it. You have to understand, kid, that a lot of these archaeologists spent their entire careers saying people like Weber were idiots. Some of them are trying to run down the clock rather than admit they were wrong.”
Lily laughed. “So the guys who are supposed to be figuring out the truth are ignoring it because they don’t want to admit they were wrong?”
Shay grinned. “Funny how that works, isn’t it?” She continued strolling to a pit at the other edge of the fenced area and slowed as she approached the edge, a frown building. She dropped her shovel.
There was freshly disturbed soil near the pit, along with a huge hole in the center of the pile of dirt. From the even spread of the dirt, it looked as if someone had brought a massive drill and dug into the ground beside the existing pit.
The tomb raider hurried over to the hole and pulled out her phone to verify her coordinates. “Shit.”
The new hole extended several yards, and there was a puddle of water at the bottom of it.
Lily jogged over. “I’m guessing that was where we were supposed to dig?” She sighed.
Shay’s face tightened. “Someone got here first.”
The teen’s eyes widened, and she jerked her head around. “Something’s coming.”
Peyton cleared his throat. It took the tomb raider a few seconds to realize it was him and not Lily.
“There’s a problem,” he declared.
“Problem?”
Shay unholstered her gun. “Besides the fact that someone beat us to the super-deadly artifact?”
Lily dropped her shovel and pulled out her gun as well.
“All my cameras are frosting over on the drone,” Peyton explained.
She looked up. The black dot floated high in the sky, nowhere near high enough that temperature should be such an issue, especially in Montana during the summer.
“Crap,” Peyton shouted. “The drone just stopped transmitting.”
A few seconds passed before Shay realized the drone was falling from the sky, something glinting around it. It smashed into the ground in the distance with a surprisingly loud crash given its small size.
“Peyton?” Shay crouched low, her gun ready. She looked back and forth for an enemy. “Peyton?”
Nothing but static.
Lily swallowed. “That was definitely magic. I’m not getting any visions, but I can sense the magic.”
A loud pop ripped through the air, and the two women spun toward the source. Something was zooming right toward them: a semi-translucent blue sphere.
Shay pushed Lily into a pit and threw herself in right after. The sphere smashed right where they’d been standing, shattering into hundreds of pieces. The tomb raider covered Lily’s body with hers. Several pieces of debris slammed into her, a few ripping through her shirt and back and burning.
Shit. This hurts, but wait…it’s not too hot. It’s too cold. Oh fuck.
The tomb raider gritted her teeth at the pain and hopped back to her feet as she spun toward the site of impact. Lily stood and shook her head.
Yulia Solokova stood there, clad all in white, her wand in hand, a dozen small blue stones orbiting her and her wand at the ready. “Convenient that you’re both here. Convenient indeed. I don’t believe in luck, but this might change my mind.”
There are a lot more of those blue stones than I’ve seen her have before. What does that mean? She’s more powerful now? And what the hell? Was she in that ball of ice?
Shay glared at Yulia. “This isn’t Antarctica. It’s Montana in the summer. You’re at a disadvantage here, bitch.”
At a minimum, Shay hoped the witch couldn’t pull off summoning ice hands and walls as easily.
“Keep telling yourself that, Aletheia.” Yulia shot Lily a cold smile. “You have something that belongs to me, little Gray Elf.”
Lily lifted her gun. “For my father, bitch.” She opened fire. The bullet dropped to the ground inches in front of the witch, encased in ice. The girl kept pulling the trigger until the gun clicked empty, but none of the bullets made it through. It took several clicks before she stopped. She ejected the magazine and reloaded but didn’t fire again.
The Ice Witch watched with an amused smirk. “I allowed you two to live in Antarctica so you would have time to reflect on your defeat and know fear.” She grinned. “There’s been enough time.”
Shay hopped out of the pit opposite the witch. “Come on, Lily.”
The girl narrowed her gray eyes on Yulia and jumped out of the pit. “You’re not leaving here alive, bitch. I don’t care what it takes.”
Yulia shook her head, chuckling. The blonde patted a pocket in her white leather jacket. “I just came here for the artifact, but killing you both will be such a wonderful bonus.” She whipped up her wand and disturbingly familiar blue hexagonal patterns formed in the front.
Here it comes.
Shay and Lily jumped out of the way when sharp ice lances emerged and flew toward them. The pair ran toward the SUV.
The tomb raider blasted a few quick shots off at Yulia but didn’t do any better than her protégé at hurting her. “You’ve wounded her before, Lily, which means the damned shield is at least partially about concentration or angle or some shit.”
Lily ducked as an ice lance flew right over her, her expression dark. “I don’t just want to
wound her. I want to kill her.”
Shay grabbed a frag grenade from her belt and pulled the pin. She waited before throwing it. The grenade exploded a couple yards away from the witch. There was a bright blue flash, and dozens of pieces of icy shrapnel fell to the ground, but Yulia didn’t even look to have been scratched.
Need a better strategy, and fast.
The wounds in Shay’s back continued to throb, but she ignored them.
The tomb raider’s major advantage this time was that she hadn’t decided to fight an Ice Witch in the middle of Antarctica. The dry environment and summer conditions should be enough to somewhat even the playing field. She just needed a weapon that could pierce the woman’s defenses.
Shay’s eyes widened, and her gaze shot to the still-open SUV. “Lily, I’m gonna make a break for the Masamune. That should be able to cut through her—"
Agony shot through the tomb raider’s shoulder, and she tumbled to the ground. The ultimate oxymoron: burning cold. A sharp shard of crystal-blue ice was embedded in her left shoulder.
Lily threw a couple of grenades at Yulia and hurried over to Shay to help her up. The pair stumbled toward the SUV.
The tomb raider gritted her teeth. Her left arm was useless now.
This shit is going from bad to worse. Just need thirty seconds for a potion.
Yulia chanted something in Russian and swirled her wand. The blue glyphs hanging in the air brightened, and a solid, smooth sphere of ice started growing in front of her.
Each step jolted Shay’s wounds, spreading the pain farther. They arrived at the SUV just as the Russian stopped chanting. The now-massive sphere hurtled toward them.
Shay and Lily leaped over the hood of the SUV. The sphere slammed into the vehicle and knocked it onto its side. Lily’s reflexes allowed her to roll out of the way just in time, but the wounded Shay took a direct smash on her legs. She cried out in pain. Something crunched, and pure fire shot up her leg.
Fuck that hurts, but at least we’ve got some cover for a few seconds. Got to keep it together. We can still win this.
With a shaking hand, she yanked the shard out of her shoulder. She screamed and tossed the blood-covered ice to the ground. She pulled one of her two healing potions out of a belt pouch and downed it.
“Aletheia,” Yulia called. “It’s so delicious that I can finally pay you back for what you did to me on that island, but I want you to know this doesn’t end here. Your death is just the beginning of your humiliation.”
You want me to beg for my life, bitch? Not gonna happen.
“What do we do, Shay?” Lily whispered.
Shay took a deep breath and slowly let it out as her wounds sealed and the pain vanished. “Attack her from both sides. Just need to distract her enough.”
Yulia chuckled. “Or did I already kill you with that last attack? That would be disappointing. I know a lot about you, Aletheia. More than you realize. I’ll kill that little bitch you have with you, but even that won’t be the end, Shay Carson.”
The tomb raider jerked her head up. “What are you talking about?”
“You think I don’t know who you really are? My power’s been growing. After I kill you and the girl, I think I’ll travel to LA. Imagine what people would say when I kill your precious James Brownstone. I’ll kill him and crucify him in ice. I’d love to see that on the news.”
Shay gritted her teeth. “You stay away from him, bitch.”
“No. I want you to die here, knowing that I’ll destroy your lover as well. His death will be slow and agonizing, and he’ll die cursing your name and ever knowing you.”
Shay jumped up and unloaded several rounds, but none made it past the witch’s defenses.
Yulia wagged her finger. “Did you actually think you could win against me? Pathetic. You just got lucky during our first encounter.” She sneered and started chanting in Russian. More glyphs inlaid in encircled hexagonal patterns appeared in the air, and several ice balls started forming.
“Any visions?” Shay asked.
Lily ran a hand through her hair, her eyes wide. “Nothing. I’m sorry.”
“Yulia was surprising me on jobs long before I met you.” Shay ejected her magazine and reloaded. “Just need to find the weak spot.”
“But where?”
“If one of us can just get behind her, that might work.” Shay peeked over the hood. Three massive ice spheres hung in front of the witch. “But we have to mo—”
Yulia stopped chanting, and the deadly ice hurtled toward them.
Fuck. At least it’s not my kitchen or some damned cave underground.
A bright flash blinded Shay, and she blinked her eyes a few times until they adjusted. A small golden orb spun in front of the SUV, a pulsating kaleidoscopic forcefield extending from it on either side. Piles of broken ice lay on the ground beyond it.
Daniel Goldstein stood there on the side closer to her in a black suit and silver glasses, as she’d seen him on previous occasions, but this time he wore a strange glossy black harness over his shoulders and around his chest. “Hmm. That worked better than I thought it would.” He pressed a button, and the harness unbuckled and dropped to the ground. “Like my rabbi back home used to always tell me, you just need to use the right tool for the right job.” The CIA agent smiled. “And you don’t always need magic when you have nice toys.”
Lily blinked and poked her head up. “Who the heck is he?”
Shay chuckled. “Lily, this is Daniel Goldstein. He’s CIA.” She looked back at the man. “You tomb raiding on the side now, Goldstein?”
“Tomb raiding? No, but the fact you’ve just asked that explains a lot about you, Professor Carson, and why you feel so free to tell your little friend about who I work for. I’ll trust in your discretion in this manner, both of you.” The man offered them a bright smile and turned back to the scowling Yulia. “Snegurka, huh? I’ve read so many reports about you, but now I meet you. It’s sort of a sick honor. It’s my lucky day.”
The Russian witch narrowed her eyes. “If you value your life, you’ll leave.”
“Can’t do that.” Daniel shook his head. “I’ve got an investment in Professor Carson.” He glanced her way. “Who I’m beginning to believe is a lot more than a simple archaeologist, and the fact that you’re here only proves it.”
Yulia snapped her wand up and blasted several more ice spears toward them. They slammed into the golden orb’s shield and bounced back, falling to the ground. She hissed in anger.
Daniel reached into his jacket and pulled out an odd silver handgun. The barrel was too small for it even be a .22. He eyed Shay and Lily. “I can cover you if you want to leave.”
Shay shook her head. “I owe that bitch.” She nodded toward Lily. “And Yulia fucked over her father.”
Lily gave an angry nod.
Yulia pointed her wand at the sky. She was now all but screaming in Russian. Floating glyphs painted the air around her, and her eyes started glowing azure. Blue flashes appeared in the sky.
Daniel aimed his gun at the witch. “Whatever she’s doing, it’s not good, but I don’t think even this baby will be enough to get through her basic shield.”
“I’ve got something that will.” Shay holstered her gun, jogged to the back of the overturned SUV, and pulled out the Masamune tachi. She hurried back over to Lily and the CIA agent. “I just need her distracted. If I can get close with this, I can end all of this.”
Daniel nodded. “Just be ready to go when I give the signal.”
Lily frowned. “But what’s the signal?”
“Oh, you’ll know.” He winked.
Dozens of encircled hexagonal patterns of light winked into existence in the sky around the trio. The stones that had floated around Yulia before now whirled around her so fast that they looked like twisting blue ropes.
Daniel snapped his fingers. The force field disappeared, and the golden orb dropped to the ground. Lily sprinted forward but not directly at Yulia. She opened fire.
> The CIA agent pulled the trigger on his silver pistol. A thin needle shot out. When it reached the witch, it exploded. Blood dripped down cuts in her face, and she jerked her wand down.
Shay sprinted forward, raising her sword.
This shit is over, Yulia.
A deadly hail of dozens of ice lances blasted from the sky. Lily whirled and spun. The projectiles embedding themselves behind or in front of her.
Daniel slapped his watch. The frozen missiles bounced off an invisible forcefield mere inches from his body.
An explosion of pain shot through Shay’s back and leg as three lances impaled her. She continued her charge, her sword raised high. Each step was excruciating, but she was so close now. So damned close.
Yulia glared at her and aimed her wand.
Too late, bitch.
With a scream, Shay pierced the witch’s heart with her sword. She pushed forward until the blade stuck out the other side.
Yulia blinked and coughed up blood. Her wand dropped to the ground, along with the blue stones.
The tomb raider coughed up blood as well and managed a laugh before falling to the ground.
I win.
Yulia stumbled forward a few steps. “But I was to be immortal.” She fell to the ground face-first and stopped breathing. Her crystal-blue eyes stared at Shay.
“Fuck,” Shay moaned, rolling onto her side. She coughed up more blood. Each breath hurt.
Lily and Daniel rushed to her side.
The tomb raider looked up at Lily. “You okay, kid?”
The girl nodded quickly, tears streaming down her face. “Shay, you’re dying.”
She winced and forced herself onto her knees. “Wouldn’t be the first time. Just…get these things out of me, and I can use a potion.”
Daniel gave her a grim nod. “Hold her, Lily. Sorry, Professor Carson, this is going to hurt like hell.”
“Just do it,” Shay barked through gritted teeth.
The CIA agent leaned down and yanked out the first lance. He pulled out the second, and then with a mighty kick knocked out the third. Shay screamed each time.