"crap," shelton said. "they hit us with a tracker."

"isn't the car protected against them?" i asked.

"it was," he said. "i haven't used this car in ages. some of the wards must have worn off."

"are you sure this thing can hold up against more hits?" i glanced behind us.

he suddenly didn't look too sure. "i doubt they'll try anything with noms around." two black-and-white police cars roared from the garage about a hundred yards behind us. shelton looked in the rear-view mirror. "those bastards," he growled.

"where did the cops come from?" i hadn't seen them in the mall parking garage.

"it's darkwater," he said. "they're using illusions."

i watched as our pursuers gained. "can this heap go any faster?"

"i've got the pedal to the floor already."

"i can run faster than this," i said, patting my jacket pockets and realizing i hadn't grabbed another staff to replace the one destroyed in our first encounter with darkwater.

cars swerved out of the way of the fake police cruisers, clearing a path. shelton swung the steering wheel right and took us down a ramp onto a highway. the road ahead held only a smattering of traffic, but the small engine in shelton's car screamed like it was ready to give out while the darkwater cars gained on us effortlessly.

as if emboldened by the lack of traffic, a man in the black robe of the brotherhood leaned his upper body out of the passenger window, extending a wand our way. a beam of energy speared into the trunk. at first, the beam simply dispersed across the metal. another warning light on the car's dash blinked.

shelton swerved right. the beam speared into the road, gouging it.

"can you take the wheel?" he asked.

"right now?" i ducked as another death ray speared from the man's wand and dispersed across the rear window.

"i need to shoot back at them!" shelton said. "hold the wheel. i'm gonna slide out backwards." he leaned the seat all the way back and set the cruise control to whatever insane speed we were travelling.

i grabbed the wheel as he shimmied into the back seat, and slid over the center console into the driver's side, somehow managing not to jerk the wheel into a ninety-degree turn that would have flipped it like a blueberry pancake. my foot found the accelerator, and i discovered, much to my dismay, it really was pegged to the floor. the speedometer crept slowly but surely past a hundred.

shelton pulled out his staff. flicked it to full length. the ends smacked against the door panels. he cursed, rolling down the manual windows, arms pumping furiously. by the time he rolled a window down, the darkwater vehicles had pulled nearly even. he jerked on his staff, but it was too cumbersome to maneuver in the confines of the car, so he flicked it back to compact size, and withdrew his wand.

the man leaning from the passenger window of the fake cruiser to our left aimed his wand at shelton. i hit the brakes. tires screeched and the odor of burnt rubber hit my nose. shelton oofed. i felt his face smack into the back of my seat. a wicked ray of red light shot across the hood of the car and nailed the other darkwater sedan, splashing across it without damage.

"they have defensive charms on their cars, too," i said, eyes casting about for escape. my supernaturally quick reflexes examined the scene in an instant. time seemed to slow to a crawl as the pursuers hit their brakes to match our speed.

this was a controlled access freeway. no nearby exits for escape. a tall, concrete median blocked a u-turn. only a handful of other cars populated the road. a quick glance in the rearview mirror revealed traffic falling far behind to avoid the conflict.

we're so screwed.

time seemed to resume its normal flow.

"ouch," shelton said. i saw him shaking his head in the rear-view mirror.

a flicker of movement to my left caught my attention. "hang on!" i veered sharply, crashing the nose of the car into the rear quarter panel of the attacker's vehicle. the rear end lurched left. sparks sprayed as metal met the concrete divider. their car ground to a halt.

shelton grunted as he bounced off the door. "take it easy!" he said. "i don't exactly have a seatbelt on back here."

the car to our right swung away to avoid a slow-moving compact car in the center lane. i saw a blonde head poke over the roof of the car as a woman slid her torso out of the passenger window. hair billowing in the wind, she flicked open a full-length staff. a ball of brilliant yellow blurred from it, exploding into the road. i had no time to avoid the sudden pothole, and the car slammed into it, the shock absorbers bottoming out.

shelton cried out as his head hit the ceiling. cursing like a sailor as he aimed his wand, he fired a return shot at the other car. the beam narrowly missed the woman's head. he aimed it lower, tracing it down the side of the car. as before, the light seemed to refract, but within seconds, the energy overcame the protective spells, and left a ragged streak of scorched paint down the side.

the woman released another fireball. i anticipated it this time and veered to avoid it. my eyes flicked to the rear-view mirror and saw the other car racing to catch up. this terrain favored darkwater. we couldn't outrun them. we couldn't outfight them for long. i spotted an exit sign ahead. the other driver seemed to sense my intentions, and blocked access to the lane while the blonde woman shot fireballs into the road, trying to disable us. i had a feeling they didn't want to outright kill us. that privilege was probably reserved for their boss, kassus.

the car rattled. the wheels thumped as though one might already be going flat. i smelled the distinct odor of burning oil. i had a feeling this contraption wouldn't last much longer. the exit ramp loomed a hundred yards away. i had to make a move.

"we need to make the exit," i shouted. "get them out of the way."

he took another shot at the woman, but i could tell he wasn't trying to hit her, just scare her. she seemed to figure that out pretty fast. i saw the grin spread across her pretty face.

"hit their tires!" i said.

"i tried," he said. "i think they're made of diamond fiber."

i growled. diamond fiber was made to resist magic, and it was nearly indestructible. "i guess we'll do it the hard way." i jerked the wheel toward the ramp. the other car blocked. i slammed against them, but their tires were too solid, their car too heavy. the other car came up from behind, and slammed into our trunk. the car blocking the ramp pulled away to the right just enough to let me move over another few feet.

the minute, i did, i realized my mistake. a crash barrier with yellow drums lay right in my path. i tried to steer away, but white lines of energy from the woman's staff suddenly gripped the car, holding it on course. the car behind us crashed into the trunk again.

no way out.

chapter 15

i hit the brakes, desperate to avoid slamming into the barrier. metal screeched on metal as the brakes tried to stop our forward momentum. i could already see this rolling pile of junk wouldn't stop in time. colliding with the water-filled drums wouldn't kill us, but we'd be sitting ducks for the darkwater agents.

shelton roared like a wild beast. i saw him aim his staff out the right window. a white wave exploded from the end, slamming into the side of the blocking sedan, and shoving it sideways. tires screeched and smoked as the car jetted sideways even as momentum carried it forward at the same time. i twisted the steering wheel right. the car clipped a barrel. the front end sparked against the concrete barrier. and then we zoomed up the exit ramp. the car riding our tail slammed on the brakes too late. water exploded as it plowed into the crash barrels.

"yes!" shelton shouted as we whizzed past the car to our right. i took a right off the ramp since the light was red, and took the next left. i wasn't sure where we were, exactly, but kept going, checking the rear-view mirror for pursuit.

"we need to dump the car," shelton said. "the tracker."

i pulled down a road where a giant warehouse store had gone out of business and now stood empty and boarded. a loud pop preceded the thumping noise of a flat tire. i urged the car further. as if in answer, the tire made one last squealing noise before the metal rim rasped atop the asphalt.

i hit the brakes. the car slid a few feet and skidded to a halt sideways across the road. i got out while shelton wrestled with his staff as he slid out of the other side. a steep hill on the side of the road opposite the warehouse led to an apartment complex. since i didn't feel like hiding in an abandoned warehouse-sized building with angry arcanes after me, i scrambled toward the hill.

the screech of rubber on road caught my attention as the two poser police cars rounded the corner and roared toward us like dogs on the scent of a fox. shelton sent a meteor flying at the lead car. it swerved as the sphere cratered into the asphalt. the nose of the second car dived into the hole. the rear flipped up. the car teetered for a moment before toppling over onto its roof with a crunch.

i saw the driver of the lead car snarl. he hit the gas, and the sedan lurched forward. the blonde woman sat on the window sill firing blasts of energy at us. shelton and i dove behind the cover of his ruined car. he poked up his head and ducked as another crackling strand of lightning flickered past. another blast rocked the car. my teeth clenched tight and anger boiled through me. i've had enough of these clowns.

my demonic side surged through the cage door, flooding through my veins, swelling my muscles and causing my skin to strain against my clothes. i felt my tail punch through the back of my pants. i stopped the demon from taking over at the last second as a roar burst from my throat.

when i stood up, all seven feet of me, muscles bulging like some obscene steroid user, the blonde woman's eyes went wide. she aimed at me. i tore the rear passenger door off shelton's car and flung it like a frisbee at the sedan. the woman screamed. the door smashed into the hood, shattered the windshield, and bounced off the roof as the car veered out of control. the tire caught the curb and the car flipped, catapulting the woman from her perch.

i saw her body fly through the air, a scream trailing from her wide mouth as she sailed toward a future as a blood smear on the asphalt. i knew she would die. i knew she'd been trying to capture us so her leader could kill us. but a part of me couldn't take the guilt of seeing her splatter all over the road. i blurred, the scene slowing as my supernatural reflexes kicked in. i caught the woman, swinging my arms to lessen the impact.