Every breath felt like he was fighting to drag in enough air. With all the running and fighting and marching before he’d fled for his life from the witch, Noah had none to spare.
Still, it didn't stop him.
He turned, thinking to wave frantically at Christina. The problem was that he wasn’t certain that even she could see him, and then he remembered the comms. “Christina, let her see me!”
“What? No, get back, we've got this.”
“Trust me.”
He felt it the moment the illusion disappeared. Though it was petrifying to know he was wide open, it was good to be trusted.
Alesse turned on him immediately. She seemed to already know exactly where he was. Then again, maybe she was just shocked at the magic she was up against.
Though Noah knew it wasn't magic, he did know it was all they had—and he played it for all he was worth.
He jumped up and moved in an exaggerated fashion. The gesture was far too painful for him, but he had to be sure he was the one who caught her attention.
Her arm came away from where it had been wrapped around her middle, and Noah had no doubt that she'd managed to heal the deep slice already. Whatever they managed to do would probably only keep her down for a little while. They needed to stop her long enough to get safe.
She’d seen him, all right.
They were close to the edge of the farm and he was praying there was some kind of inherent magic at the de Gottardi/Little property line. He could only hope.
Turning away, and giving Alesse his back again, he ran further. His chest ached with the movement, sharp pains hitting him and spreading around the entire left side of his ribs. This made no sense, as he'd been hit squarely in the back, but this wasn't the time to evaluate it. Noah was just grateful that his spinal cord appeared to be intact.
He ran flat out, ignoring the pain as his legs pumped. He kept his left arm down at his side, as he’d discovered that pumping that arm only made the pain worse.
He’d been counting down since he’d waved his arm. He knew now how long it took her to gear up and gather her power, or whatever she did. So he knew another hit was coming.
Noah dropped to the ground as fast as he could. Still, he felt the massive wave roll over him as it crushed the grass around him and flattened him into the dirt.
She would still be coming for him.
Though he was ready to pop back up and do it again, it occurred to him that maybe the best bait was staying down.
Waiting was hard. Maybe harder than running. His body was still fighting for air and his deep-seated sense of self-preservation desperately wanted him to pop up and flee. But the grass was tall enough that she couldn't see that he was still alive and relatively sound.
“I've got this” he heard Walter say through the piece in his ear.
“To the left,” Christina replied, though not to him.
Noah listened as Alesse cried out in anger. Maybe Christina and Walter figured out a way to distract the woman.
He recognized suddenly that splitting her distraction would only help. So he popped up one more time. Jumping to his feet as quickly as the pain in his ribs would allow, he turned to check that she’d seen him.
Alesse, whose hand was out toward Christina, shifted her attention to him.
Good.
She screeched again and he imagined it echoed the sound of an ancient quetzal rising from the ashes to destroy the city. But even as he watched her turn on him, he also saw Walter appear behind her.
Christina turned to the woman as though surprised by her, though Noah was confident it was just another bait move. She yelled back, pulled her weapon, and aimed as though she were going to shoot.
For a moment, Noah wondered if that's what Alesse saw. Because she laughed as though Christina's bullets could do nothing to her. One, she was correct. And, two, Christina was smart enough not to waste bullets on an attack that wouldn’t work. But as he watched, Walter slipped into place, just behind the tall woman's shoulder.
He didn’t see what Walter did, but Alesse’s body jerked forward, red blooming from a gaping wound on her left side. Her gleeful laugh turned quickly to stunned shock as her eyes went wide and dark.
She whirled around, ready to face Walter. It was a stunning move. She should have swayed and dropped dead in that moment, given the gap that Walter had left in her chest.
But it wasn’t enough, and Alesse was still standing and now aimed at Walter, who was much too close.