Elemental Assassin 05 - Spider's Revenge

still holding on to my Stone magic to try to protect myself from her power.
    “Gin Blanco!” Mab hissed. “I should have known!”
    Yeah, she should have. But I didn’t have time to trade quips with her, especially since she was drawing back her fist to send a ball of fire at me—one that would end me.
    I sprinted down the hallway, heading back toward the bathroom. But that wasn’t my goal—the Exit sign at the end of the corridor was. Even as I ran, I could feel Mabgathering more and more of her elemental strength, holding on to more and more of her Fire power. I was moving away from her as fast as I could, but still, her magic chased after me, stabbing my skin like thousands of red-hot needles. She was going to throw everything she had at me, and if I didn’t get out of the hallway before she did, I’d be dead.
    Up ahead, a giant who I recognized as one of Mab’s men stepped out of a room that branched off the corridor. The bodyguard ran straight at me, his long, beefy arms outstretched, like he wanted to crush me in a bear hug. And I saw a way to save myself—the
only
way to save myself from Mab’s elemental Fire.
    So I let him.
    I slammed myself into the giant’s body, letting him wrap his arms all the way around me, and then pivoted and spun around as hard as I could. The move surprised the giant, and his feet moved of their own accord, twirling him around and putting his broad back between me and Mab.
    A second later, Mab’s elemental Fire slammed into him.
    The giant screamed as the flames swept over his body. He had no elemental magic, no power of any sort, so there was no way that he could protect himself. Hell, I would have been fried extra-crispy if his body hadn’t shielded mine and if I hadn’t grabbed hold of my Stone magic once more and used it to turn my body into an impenetrable shell. Even with those pieces of protection in place, Mab’s flames still seared my skin, burning, burning, burning.
    I screamed right along with the giant.
    The flames seemed like they lasted forever, even though they flared out after only a few seconds. I drew in a ragged breath, gagging as the familiar, acrid stench of charred flesh filled my nose. Somehow, I shoved the giant’s melted body away from me, even though it disintegrated into smoking ash at my touch. I looked down at the ruined thing that had been a man a second before. The horrible scent of seared skin filled my nose again, and tears streamed down my face from the pain pulsing through my body.
    Bitter bile rose in my throat, choking me, but I forced it down and raised my eyes.
    Mab was at the other end of the hallway. We just stood there, both of us breathing hard and staring at the other, not quite believing what had just happened. That neither one of us had killed the other.
    And then Mab let out a primal, furious scream that made my lips draw back into a matching snarl. I wanted nothing more than to race back down the hallway, throw myself on top of her, and pound her with my fists, just hit her over and over and over again until she was nothing but a smoking red smear on the carpet.
    But the elemental Fire flickered to life on Mab’s fists again, building and building and building as she prepared to take another shot at me.
    I turned and ran, and this time, I didn’t stop for anything. My eyes locked on to the Exit sign up ahead, even though I could hear Mab moving behind me, could feel her Fire magic gaining force with every step that we both took.
    Mab let out a scream and unleashed her magic at meagain. The elemental flames roared down the hallway toward me with all the force of a supernova.
    I forced myself to run faster, to make my legs pump harder, despite the burns and blisters that sent continuous waves of agony through my body. Sweat poured down my face, blurring my vision, and screams of pain slipped from my open lips, but still I ran.
    Even though it felt like I was running in place instead of moving forward, I finally reached the end of the hallway and barreled through the double doors. Mab’s Fire hit them a second later, blowing out the glass and sending the hot, jagged shards at me. The pieces sliced into my back, even as the force of the blast threw me forward into the snow.
    I screamed again, from the pain and frustration of my failure, but there was no time—no time to do anything but keep running. So I forced myself to get to my feet and staggered off as fast as I could into the cold, welcome embrace of the snow.

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