“I hate to break it to you, but we don’t have knives either,” Kade said.
“Sure we do.” Cole’s hands flashed red as he called up his fire magic, pooling it in front of him. When he moved his hands again, he was holding a knife.
With an encouraging nod, Cole passed the still-glowing knife to Kade. “It’s okay,” he reassured him. “It’s quite cool to the touch.”
Kade swallowed hard but accepted the knife, his eyes opening in surprise when he held up the blade. “What is this? It’s not metal.”
“No,” Cole agreed, repeating the process so he could create another weapon. This one he handed to me. “Think of it more like hardened dirt.”
“Lava,” I realized, staring hard at the blade. “You created this out of thin air.”
“Not exactly.” Cole flashed a cheeky smile, the sort that was bound to have Luke’s resolve weakening at some point. “I’m an elemental. My powers are tied to the earth. I used what I had available.” He tapped the ground with his shoe. “It’s not as difficult as you’re imagining.”
“This is all fascinating,” Kade hissed, “but can we talk about it later?”
Cole’s eyes lit with mirth. “Of course. Let’s kill the zombies first. Then we can talk about magic. You’re quite right.”
Kade and Cole took the lead as we slid between two tents. I didn’t realize what they’d done until we were already halfway through the narrow opening. They’d essentially used their broad shoulders to box me out, and it was infuriating.
“Hey.” I utilized my hips to muscle between them. “I’m in charge here.”
Kade extended his hand, as if he had slammed on the brakes and felt he had to keep me from hitting the dashboard. “We’ve got this.”
“I’m second in command,” I reminded him.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Cole commented, his hands igniting in fire as he stepped in front of us. “It seems there are plenty to go around.”
He wasn’t wrong. My mouth dropped open as he sent up small batches of fire magic to serve as illumination. It wasn’t enough to draw the attention of outsiders miles away, but it was sufficient to allow us to see what we were up against ... and it wasn’t pretty. “Oh, my ... .”
There had to be at least fifty of them. They lumbered from the beach, sightless eyes — when there were eyes even present — fixed on nothing. They didn’t hunt through anything other than instinct, and maybe smell.
“Here they come.” Luke flipped his knife in such a way that told me he’d been practicing. He slid easily to the side to avoid one of the attackers, slamming the knife into the nearest creature’s head. That was the signal. It was time to fight.
I called upon my magic with my left hand, conjuring a ball of magic and imbuing it with a human scent. I used Kade’s morning smell as inspiration and sent the magic out in front of me. The zombies went for it, allowing Luke and Kade to swoop in and take them out from behind.
“Nice,” Cole said, grinning as he sent barrage after barrage of fire magic into the lumbering forces. They burned where they stood, turning to ash in an instant.
“Your magic can kill them without the knives,” I noted, intrigued.
“Fire,” he explained with a shrug. “It’s a great equalizer.”
“I would say so.” I watched him build another wall of fire and send it forth. He had great control and it was a marvel to watch him work. “I think you’re going to be a great addition to the team.”
He grinned. “I love that your mind naturally goes there in the middle of a fight.”
I turned to my right, to where a zombie had managed to avoid the initial fire assault. I used the knife Cole had given me and slammed it into the creature’s forehead.
“You like to recruit,” Cole said, his hands moving so fast they were a blur. “You’re a cheerleader and like to make sure your team is as strong as it can be. I ... .” He trailed off, his eyes going so wide I thought they might pop out of his head.
“What?” I was instantly alert, my gaze following his. There, I found the cause of his concern, and it was massive. “Holy ... !”
There had to be at least one-hundred of them. They trudged out of the water en masse. Zombies, some of them nothing more than bones — which had me questioning the brain-stabbing solution I’d offered only minutes before — were heading in our direction.
“Back up!” Cole ordered. The fire he conjured with his hands grew. “I need help focusing, Poet.”
I nodded in understanding and grabbed his shoulder. We’d practiced this little maneuver before, with vampires. He needed an amplifier, and that’s where I came in.
I pressed my eyes shut and funneled my magic into the most potent wave I could muster.
Catching on, Cole essentially rode the wave, adding his magic as we built our assault. Once we reached the crescendo of what we were capable of building, Cole let the magic explode at the same moment he screamed, “Fire in the hole!”
Kade and Luke instinctively dropped simultaneously as the magic raced out in eighty different directions. Cole drew me to him and protected me with his body, absorbing the ambient heat and keeping the fire from touching me.
The smell of scorched flesh was overwhelming when I opened my eyes. Instinct had me swiveling to look over my shoulder. There was nothing there. Every zombie, even those only half out of the water, had been incinerated.
“Holy smokes!” Luke slapped his knee as he rolled to a crouching position. He looked ready for another assault, but his face was lit with joy. “Did you see that?”
Kade chuckled as he regained his footing and immediately looked for me. “It was pretty good.” His eyes locked with mine. There was a question there, but he didn’t ask it with words.
“I’m fine,” I reassured him, reaching for my hair. I wanted to make sure it hadn’t burned in the powerful fireball. “Cole made sure of that.”
“Poet made sure of that herself,” Cole countered, his expression fierce as he glanced toward Luke, as if reassuring himself that he was okay. “She’s strong.”
“I think we were strong together,” I corrected, my eyes going to the south side of the fairgrounds as the rest of our crew exploded through the opening. Apparently the magical bomb had been enough to draw their attention.
“Is everybody okay?” Max demanded, pushing to the forefront.
I nodded and straightened. “We’re fine. I think we got all of them.”
“What was that?” Raven asked, her eyes busily studying the small deposits of black ash that littered the beach. With the tide, even those would be gone by the morning. “What did you do?”
I hesitated and then held out my hands. “We combined magic and ... had a bit of fun.”
Max nodded and smiled, his eyes automatically landing on Cole. “What a tremendous addition you are to our team.”
Cole snorted. “Thanks for that … I think.” His attention turned back to Luke. “I’m not sure everybody agrees.”
Luke turned sheepish. “I agree.”
Cole cocked an eyebrow. “Does that mean you’re done being a baby?”