Raising Innocence: A Rylee Adamson Novel(14)

There was even a computer at the desk, which meant that there were humans here.
We made it all the way to the third floor before I put Giselle down and pulled my two blades out of their sheaths. There was only a single door between us and Milly, and my heart pounded. I could do this; I had to.
My hands were slick with sweat, my muscles trembled, and it wasn’t the climb of the stairs that was doing it.
Giselle reached over and put a hand on my forearm.“Steady, Rylee. This must be done. Much as we hate it.”
A sharp nod was all I managed. One breath in, I lifted my right leg and slammed the heel of my boot into the door, banging it open.
Milly wore the same skin tight green dress she’d had on the previous day, and had her back to us. Four other people in the room faced us, hands raised. Shit, four witches against the two of us. The odds were definitely not in our favour.
The witches facing us wove spells, and based on the cannonballs rapidly headed in my direction, they knew to choose spells that wouldn’t directly attack me, instead opting to hurt me with other things. Big nasty things that would smash my brains in if I wasn’t careful. Shit, shit, shit! Milly had told them.
“They know!” Was all I managed before spinning to dodge the cannonball that came spinning toward my head.
Giselle threw the two bottles of salt water, one right after the other, but only doused a single witch. Not enough.
Milly had set the trap, and we’d walked right into it.
“Giselle, get out of here!” I yelled, knowing that she wouldn’t leave, but I had to try.
Milly moved away from me as I dodged and ducked the cantaloupe-sized iron balls. It looked like they were throwing two or three each, six balls zinging around the room at a speed I could only just keep ahead of. I tried to keep track of Milly while I dodged the balls, but it was impossible to do both. Dodging the balls became my main focus.
I hit the ground, rolling toward the closest witch, a man who stood about my height with short blond hair. That was all I registered before I grabbed his ankle and jerked him off his feet. He hit the ground with a grunt, two cannonballs dropping with him, and I moved on to the next witch. If I could disrupt their spells enough, we had a chance.
Not a good chance, but a chance nonetheless.
“Rylee, left,” Giselle yelled.
I jerked my body to the left, three cannonballs slicing through the air where I’d been. I flipped up to my feet and ran at the one closest to me, my right sword slicing through the air, taking off her arm at the elbow. She screamed, her face a blur to me as I spun.
One of the cannonballs caught me, slamming into my lower back with a force that knocked the wind out of me and sent me sailing across the room. I hit the far wall, stars dancing in front of my eyes as the pain in my back spread. My fingers and toes tingled, and I could move them, but not fast enough.
The cannonballs caught me then. As they hit me the spells diffused, but that wasn’t enough to stop the impacts, although apparently it was enough to let the witch turn her attention to the cannonballs her fellows had dropped.
Bones crunched. I felt them snap and twist. I slumped, unable to dodge what was coming at me. Pain flared but disappeared as the next ball hit me, leaving a new impression. Fast and hard, I couldn’t see them pinned face-first against the wall, but I sure as shit on a Troll could feel them.
I was so fucked.
“Enough!” Giselle’s voice rose above the sound of my body being shattered, the grunts of air as they escaped me. I could do nothing to stop the slide of my body down the wall, barely catching myself with my left arm. The right was shattered at the elbow; I barely remembered it happening. What shocked me was the fact that they stopped at Giselle’s command, and then the pain rolled over me, and for a moment I blacked out.
As I came to, voices floated around me.
“You have been misled. As have we. I see that she even left a stunt double.”
Daughter of a whore, did that mean that Milly wasn’t here? A part of me was glad, and the other part was just fucking pissed.#p#分页标题#e#
“She said you’d claim that.”
“Convenient,” Giselle said, her voice dry. There was the rustle of someone’s clothes, then, “The least you could do is ease her pain since you attacked us first. You do have the proper herbs, don’t you?”
There was a sputter of disbelief, and then a pair of hands went around my neck. I opened my eyes to look up into the face of a freaking angel. She was stunning, the lines of her face reminiscent of the classic beauties, feminine and soft, full lips, huge blue-green eyes framed with dark lashes and a button nose.
Her voice was high-pitched, yet easy on the ears. “Milly told us you could hold back your Immunity on your hands? Do it and I will heal you.”