Page 63 of The Last Aether

Drue’s face twisted, but she didn’t let go of my hair. “Help me, damn it!”

There was a flash of movement and then a punch landed in my gut. I knew that punch.

I kicked out, landing a blow to Xena’s leg and she cried out, stumbling back a few steps.

Jamming my elbow back into Drue’s ribs, I felt a satisfying crunch. Her answering blow to my face came so fast I didn’t have a chance to block it. The punch landed across my cheekbone and had my vision blurring.

Xena used that opening to land a hook to my kidneys. My knees wavered, but I wasn’t going out like that. Not to these two bitches.

Drue swung for another face shot and I dropped low. She connected with Xena’s temple instead, knocking her out cold. Drue spat a slew of curses as I pushed to my feet.

“Look what you did.”

I arched a brow. “Me? Looks like you made your bestie go night-night. Some friend you are.”

She screamed some sort of feral battle cry and charged. I simply stepped to the side just as she was about to reach me. The self-defense classes Lainey and I had taken in middle school were coming back now. It had been a while since I’d gotten in a fight, but the muscle memory was still there.

Drue whirled on me. “You think you’re so special? You’re nothing. You didn’t grow up in this world and our people will never follow you.”

The corner of my mouth quirked up. “If you really believed that, you wouldn’t be chasing me like a crazy person.”

“I’m putting you in your place!” Drue punched out, her blow glancing off my shoulder. The one that was still healing from the assassin attack.

I cursed. She packed some power for someone who’d basically had life handed to her. I shot an uppercut into Drue’s ribs, and she hollered as she attempted some sort of kick that missed.

“I am going to kill you!” she shrieked.

Fire flamed to life in her hands and my heart stuttered. My reaction was pure instinct. Water shot from my palms like a flood. The force hit Drue like a physical blow, knocking her feet out from under her and sending her hurtling to the floor.

The fire snuffed out from Drue’s hands, and her face smacked against the tiled hallway. The sound that came out of her was nothing I’d ever heard before. Like some sort of dying hyena. She clutched her face as blood poured from between her fingers.

I called my water back and it came after only a handful of seconds, just as familiar voices yelled my name. Phoenix, Riven, Kai, and Atlas came charging around the corner, skidding to a halt at the scene in front of them.

“You broke my fucking nose!” Drue cried. Only her words were barely discernible around all the swelling.

Kai’s lips twitched as he looked from Drue to me. “Pip.”

I shrugged. “Told you I could handle myself.”

* * *

“Ow, ow, ow,” I cried.

Phoenix adjusted the ice pack on my cheek so there was a little less pressure. “The ice will help the swelling.”

Riven scowled as he rubbed my feet. “You’re lucky you didn’t break anything.”

“Don’t scowl at me,” I griped.

Kai chuckled. “He’s just pissed he wasn’t there to be the one to knock Drue out.”

“It’s better none of you were there.”

Atlas let out a growl as he continued running his fingers through my hair in soothing strokes. “They shouldn’t have had an opening.”

I sighed. Poor Egan and Carn had been reamed out for leaving me unprotected, even after I’d explained that I’d told them to go. Drue had gotten one of her minions to give that false report of an assassin on campus and then pounced.

“It really is for the best,” I said. “Now they know they can’t mess with me.”