Gunmetal Magic: A Novel in the World of Kate Daniels

burned through me, I blinked, and Raphael pulled me off the floor. My teeth rattled in my skull.
    “Ah-ah-ah,” Anapa-Moon said. “I told you not to leave.”
    Raphael hurled himself at the window ward. His resistance to magical wards was higher than mine. The defensive spell clutched at him, sharp whips of orange lightning stinging his skin. His body jerked, rigid. His eyes rolled back in his skull.
    I grabbed him and pulled him back. The orange lightning kissed me, and I almost blacked out again. We crashed to the floor.
    “Fi-fi-fo-fum,” the moon sang. “I smell the blood of hyena man and I’m coming up the staaaairs.”
    Raphael’s eyes snapped open. He surged off the floor and looked up.
    If we busted through the floor, we’d fall right into the welcoming embrace of his security. Going through the ceiling was our best bet.
    “Pick me up!” I called.
    He grabbed me and thrust me upward. I punched the ceiling, putting all of my strength into it. The panel broke from the impact of my fist, and I hit the wood beam underneath it.
    “What are the two of you up to?” the moon wondered.
    I hammered the ceiling with my fist again and again, widening the hole. The wood cracked, then broke under the barrage of my punches. I tore the broken section of the beam out, hurling it aside, and punched the darkness. It tore and the night sky winked at me through the narrow gap. No attic. Wewould break out straight onto the roof above. Raphael set me down on my feet, took a running start, and jumped, flipping in midair, kicking at the opening I had made. He landed in a roll as a shower of wooden boards hit the floor. “Go.”
    I crossed my arms over my head and jumped. Wood and shingles hit my forearms, and I grabbed onto the roof and pulled myself up. The edge of the roof glowed with magic. On the ground below, huge orange symbols stretched across the luminescent lawn, a pale yellow glow coating every single blade of grass in a sheath of magic. The entire yard around the house was warded and it was a hell of a ward. Great.
    Raphael forced his way through the hole behind me.
    Landing on the lawn wasn’t an option. The magic could fry us or do something worse. I spun around looking for a tree, a tower, a wall, anything close enough to jump to from the roof.
    At the far end of the roof a long cable dived down to the wall that surrounded Anapa’s home.
    “Power line,” we barked at each other at the same time.
    We dashed along the roof. I danced onto the power line and ran along it, balancing on my oversized feet. One, two, three, tilt, tilt…I leaped on the low stone wall that separated Anapa’s house and yard from the street. Raphael pulled off his shoes, hurled them into the night, took a running start and jumped, catching the power line with his arms. He swung himself back up on it and walked slowly, arms out, suspended between the glowing orange lawn and the black sky.
    I held my breath.
    The side door of the mansion sprang open. A deep rumbling roar reverberated through the night, made by a cavernous mouth. My hackles rose.
    Raphael swayed, ran the next ten feet, and jumped, clearing the remaining distance in one powerful leap. He sailed through the air and landed on the wall, next to me.
    A bright, unnaturally yellow flash of light exploded on the lawn. I didn’t wait to see what it was. We jumped down off the wall into the street and ran.
    The roar chased us. Out of the corner of my eyes, I caught a glimpse of a huge shadow leaping over the wall like it was nothing. The creature landed on the street behind us, as big as a rhino, its head with a huge mane armed with long crocodilianjaws. Its odor hit me, a pungent oily odor, reminiscent of rotten fish, old blood, and decomposing sweat, shot through with an unnatural stench. Revolting, violent, terrible, it lashed at me, promising death. Fear squirmed through my body. My instincts whipped me into a sprint.
    We raced down the street.
    The thing behind us roared again and gave chase. It pounded after us, huge, but freakishly fast.
    I glanced back. The distance between us was shrinking.
    The air turned to fire in my throat. A stitch pricked my side.
    Run. Run faster. Faster!
    I glanced over my shoulder again. The beast was gaining. We were sprinting full-out, and it was gaining.
    We took a corner at breakneck speed. A ruined building loomed in front of us, a big, dark wreck with a gaping black hole in its bottom floor. Raphael pointed at it. We veered right and