Salina was having so much fun murdering that poor soul that she didn't notice me sprinting at her. I managed to get within arm's reach of her. I raised my staff, intent on bashing her head in and putting her down before she could kill anyone else -
My foot slipped in the mud.
Instead of killing Salina, I merely slammed into her, and we both went down in a heap in the mud. The staff fell from my fingers and flew out of reach, so I palmed one of my knives, got up, and turned to face her. She was already back up on her feet.
"You bitch!" she screamed. "You've ruined everything!"
I didn't respond - I was too busy throwing myself forward and trying to end her existence.
Salina might have presented herself as a sweet Southern belle, but she clearly knew how to fight. She punched me in the face, knocking me back, then lashed out with her hand and slapped my knife out of my fingers. I palmed another blade and threw myself at her again, but once again she was ready for the move and landed another punch, this time to my stomach, knocking my second knife away as well. But still I managed to latch onto her, and we fell to the ground. We rolled around and around in the mud for several seconds before getting up on our feet and turning toward each other again.
All around us, water continued to spray, but the panicked screams had faded as most of the guests had managed to get away from the fountains and onto the relative safety of the lawn. Even the giants who'd been standing guard had turned tail and run.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Gunshots sounded behind me, probably Finn, Bria, and Xavier dealing with the rest of Salina's men, but I didn't dare turn around to look. No, this moment was about me and her - nothing else.
We circled each other, going around and around in a silent dance, our feet sending up sprays of mud. The water continued to rain down around us. Salina's aquamarine dress was plastered to her skin, the crystals tinkling together like wind chimes, and even more water dripped out of the ends of her blond hair, making her look like an evil twin to the crazy grinning mermaid of the fountain beside us.
Her eyes narrowed as she glared at me, the color shifting from blue to green and back again, the orbs glowing with her water magic - along with more than a touch of madness. For the first time, I saw what Owen did when he looked at her - someone who needed help.
Salina might need help, but she wasn't going to get it from me.
Chapter 31
The water continued to rain down all around Salina and me, like the two of us were standing in the middle of a thunderstorm. We faced each other in the midst of the downpour. Her eyes flicked around, scanning the overturned tables, the broken dishes, the crushed chairs, the shattered Ice bars. Then, her gaze swung back to me, hurt and accusing.
"This is your fault," she muttered. "All your fault. You've ruined everything! Owen! My revenge! Everything!"
I grinned. "I have a way of doing that."
Salina smiled, baring her teeth at me. "Well, this is going to be the last thing you ever ruin, you assassin whore. And once you're gone, Owen will come back to me. I know he will."
I looked at her, wondering if she really believed that, if she really believed Owen would come back to her after everything that had happened, after everything that she'd done to the people he cared about. But her conviction filled her face, making her eyes burn that much brighter. For a moment, I almost felt sorry for her.
Then the bitch blasted me with her water magic, and I got over it.
Salina raised up her hands, and the water droplets that had been clinging to her skin began to move and writhe like kudzu vines sprouting and growing all around her. I realized we were in a different kind of garden now - a water garden in which Salina was the queen and I was just her unfortunate victim.
"You really should have drowned in the creek while you had the chance," she hissed. "Because now, I'm going to tear you limb from limb."
She waved her hands again, and the water vines shot out from her skin and slammed into mine. It was the same sensation I'd had when she'd tried to drown me in the creek - all of these tight, tiny vines wrapping around my whole body.
Only this time, instead of pulling me under the water, they were ripping me apart.
I watched in horror as the water vines began to sprout long, sharp, curved thorns. For a moment, the vines arced out away from my body before shooting forward, the thorns ripping into my skin. I screamed, but the thorns continued to burrow deeper and deeper into my body with every breath I took. It felt like my skin, my muscles, even my bones were on fire, and I could feel the blood gushing out of the hundreds of tiny pricks the thorns had made in me. I had no doubt Salina could do exactly what she claimed - she would tear my arms, legs, hell, even my head from my body. I wondered if she'd go that extra step and pop my eyes out of my skull like she'd done to Antonio. Either way, it would be a horrible, painful way to die.
I reached for my Stone magic, hardening my skin against the thorns' intrusion. But that only slowed the onslaught - it didn't stop it.
I stood there, pushing back against Salina's water magic with my Stone power. She let out a frustrated scream that I'd stalled her initial attack and she wasn't going to immediately kill me the way she wanted to.
"Fine," she snarled. "If I can't rip you to pieces, I'll just drown you like the rat you are."
Using her left hand, Salina grabbed the silverstone cuff bracelet on her right wrist and made a twisting motion, tapping into the power stored there. The water vines wrapped around me started pulling me over to the closest fountain, the one shaped like a mermaid. I dug my boot heels into the ground, but since it had turned to mud, it didn't slow down the vines - not even for a second.
I couldn't let go of my Stone magic or Salina would rip me apart with her water thorns, and I couldn't fight back against the vines that held me tight. The vines had trapped my arms by my sides, making it impossible for me to reach for one of the knives still left on me. So I skidded along in the mud, the mermaid fountain getting closer and closer with every second. I knew that if she got me in there I was dead. Salina would just keep pouring more and more water on top of me until I either drowned or was crushed, or she broke through my Stone magic and could tear me to pieces like she'd promised.
I only had one chance left - the staff.
My eyes landed on the weapon, which had slid over to the base of the mermaid fountain. It was covered with mud, like everything else was, but I could still see the long, distinctive shape of it. The staff was the only shot I had left to get out of this alive and turn the tables on Salina. It wasn't the weapon itself so much that mattered - it was the Ice magic it contained.