Rebecca Ethington [Ethington - The Gauntlet

Ebook ISBN - 978-1-949725-29-2

Print ISBN - 978-1-949725-32-2

Printed in USA

This Edition, July 2019

For My Kids

Never Give Up

Bombs weren't usually made up of fiery green and lavender blasts. Unless they were made of magic.

Magical blasts of brilliant colors that broke through the walls of banks, jewelry stores, and the occasional clothing store. Whatever we wanted. Today it was a supermarket, one of the fancy ones that the Chosen claimed had healthier food. Healthy, expensive food that they charged twice as much for, while my people, the Undermortals that lived underground, starved.

We may be nothing more than the dirty Drains that they screamed were destroying their perfect world, but I didnt see any reason why that meant we couldn't have the better, more expensive food, too.

Or why we couldnt take it all away from the Chosen and their Golden spawn.

It was just there, inside the darkened store, tucked into a complex that had closed for the night. Waiting for us.

I could nearly taste the fresh veg and liquid milk. Cream even. They were all luxuries that would have come from an animal and not from some chemical plant like the rations they would throw at us every week. I had every intention of soaking a bun in the deliciously real, frothy goodness when we got back to the tunnels.

Ready babe? Adrian whispered, pressing his chest against my back as his lips tugged at the line of piercings that encircled my ear. His fingers tickled around the black lines of the tattoo that danced around my hip, the heavy ink exposed thanks to a rip in my shirt from the bank heist of last week.

Adrian was forever distracting. It would be so easy to push him back down into the sewer, leave him and his wandering fingers in the dark while I had all the fun. But I needed him, so I would have to deal with the awkward tickling.

Touch was never my favorite, but at least the impending implosion made it more palatable. I could put up with him as long as I got to blow something up.

Lets make their world burn. A regrettable dimple popped in my smirk as ivy green flame dripped from my fingers, heavy lines of magic splattering over the printed asphalt and eating into it. Boiling it.

Lifting my hand, the magic shot from my palm, fire breaking through the night in a smear of paint against the stars. The blast ripped the doors from the building, breaking the brick and turning it into a shower of rubble the rained over us, filling the last of the night with dust and smoke.

I didnt need the debris to clear in order to know the explosion had worked.

Go! I hollered to the clutch of a makeshift army behind me, not like they needed to be told. My people were already running into the building, flashlights blazing, canvas bags opened in preparation.

Eddy, one of the few people I actually trusted, stood by the front door, helping everyone in before he too disappeared through the gnarled fissure of glass and stone. A few of the children who had tagged along were already spray painting our mantra on the debris strewn ground. It was the same scene no matter what we hit, what we stole. Magic, mayhem, and a message. I wasnt even focusing on them anymore. I was already stumbling back into Adrian's waiting arms. The thick corded muscles of his glistening ebony arms wrapped around me, giving me enough support that I wouldnt collapse.

I may have magic, but it was poisoned and illegal and every time I used it, I might as well have been hit by the old train we kept in the tunnels. The old thing was only used as our emergency escape for when the Chosen and their Tarn armies, the CCC, raided the tunnels to exterminate us. Now, I could have sworn the blasted thing was sitting on my chest.

Being the only magic-infected Undermortal may have benefits, destruction and fresh milk above all, but this was not one. Every muscle and bone twisted as though it was going to break, my legs shaking as they attempted to collapse underneath me. Goddamnit. I was better than this, stronger than this. I sure as hell wasnt going to let this pathetic weakness show.

"You okay, Gem?" Adrian tried to hold me closer before he instantly set me back on my feet. He must have heard my teeth grind together, the first sign of the coming bitch-pocalypse.

"Ya." He knew me well enough not to fight me.

Pushing myself away from him, I tried to ignore the ache that was still pulsing through my knees and threatening to pull me to the ground.

I was almost done. One more blast. It would be worth it.

My bad-ass army was now running from the building, laden with bags of food and supplies that they dropped into the sewer drain before vanishing themselves, plunging into the dark that we called home.

"Hurry!" I yelled to the few stragglers in the store, forcing my magic to my fingertips again. The tainted power coursed through my veins, draining what little energy I had left. Adrian's hand was already against my back, helping me to stand, ready for my next collapse. I should probably be more careful with how much power I used, but I didn't care. I wanted them to know we were here.

I wanted them to be afraid.

I wanted them to know what was coming for them.

The bigger the blasts, the brighter the colors. The more they knew.

"I'm the last, Gemma," Eddy yelled as he passed me, his arms absolutely full of flour and yeast. He never got the fluffy white bagged loaves that everyone else did, nor had he wasted too much space on sugary jams that needed refrigeration. Wheat and yeast. Cut and dry. Things we could use for months. Even at eighteen, Eddy was the wisest among us. It was probably why I relied on him so much. We may be nothing more than a few teenage revolutionaries, but between my magic and his logic we were golden. Add in Adrians brute strength and no one could topple us. I had a few months on the two of them, but even without my magic neither of them would last long if they started treating me like some weak baby.