With Silent Screams by Steve McHugh Read Free Book Online Page A

I was about to move when the woman crouched down and suddenly the wooden floor beneath me was no longer solid. It jumped up, grabbing my ankles and wrists and pinning me in place, solidifying into something much stronger than it had been before. Sky was already moving when the ground beneath her did the same, but instead of keeping her in place, it flung her into the far wall, which enveloped her legs and arms so that only her torso and head was free.
    “Fucking bitch,” Sky snapped, trying to free herself. “What the fuck is this shit?”
    “Alchemy,” I said and the woman’s head snapped toward me.
    A second later, she was up from her couched position, sprinting through the door.
    “Come back here,” Sky shouted, full of rage at her situation.
    I threw a blade of air magic from one hand, into the wood that held the opposite wrist. It was a tricky maneuver—too close and I’d have sliced through my wrist—and it took me three attempts, but I managed to cut through the bonds of wood and dropped to the ruined floor.
    “Go get her,” Sky shouted. “I’ll be fine.”
    I took after the alchemist at a sprint, making it through the door maybe a minute after her. The illuminated numbers above the lift said that it was still near the lower floors, so I ruled that out as an escape route. That left only the stairwell, which I blasted open with a jet of air; I didn’t want to get jumped by anyone waiting. I stepped through the door and heard the bang of a door above me.
    I took the stairs two at a time until I’d cleared the three flights and reached the only door above me: the entrance to the roof.
    The wind was freezing cold, and it had started to rain as I opened the door and stepped onto the roof. It contained a mass of metal pipes, air conditioning units, and a variety of electrical equipment that supplied a lot of power to the hotel. The mass of steel meant that the winds, which had been biting at ground level, had some of their sting taken out of them.
    Across the large rooftop stood my target. She was glancing over the side of the hotel at a smaller building a hundred feet away, too preoccupied to hear as I crept toward her. Once within a good distance, I created six tendrils of air, which moved toward the woman until they’d wrapped silently around her ankles and calves. By the time she noticed what was happening it was too late and I’d hardened the air into a substance easily as strong as the steel that littered all around me.
    She screamed as I pulled back, causing her to drop to the ground. She slammed her hands onto the concrete roof, and I found myself falling back as the roof bucked in an attempt to get me to release my magic.
    “I don’t want a fight,” I told her.
    “Yeah, says the man who just threw magic at me.”
    “Point taken.” Not everyone who isn’t a sorcerer can identify magic when it’s used against them. She’d clearly had some run-ins with magic users in the past. I released the magic and put my hands up. “Okay, I just want to talk.”
    The roof stopped doing its impression of a bucking bronco and allowed me to stand up.
    “Talk,” the woman said.
    “You plan on keeping the balaclava on, or do I actually get to see your face?”
    “Get on with it,” she snapped.
    “Who are you? And why were you in that hotel room?”
    “If I’m not going to remove the balaclava, I’m not going to tell you my name. And that last part is none of your business.”
    Her green eyes held a determined expression, and her tone suggested that she wasn’t used to having to explain herself.
    “My name is Nathan Garrett,” I told her, hoping that she might give me something to work with in return.
    “Is that meant to mean something?” she asked after I’d paused for a second.
    Apparently not, which was probably for the best. It meant she wasn’t with Avalon, nor any of the major players who worked with them. “No, I was just hoping you’d return the courtesy. My friend and I were here