Free Dreamer by Ann Mayburn Page A

in the
breeze that surrounded him and the creature. Bits of debris from the destroyed
stands swirled around them in an increasingly tight circle. The creature
shrieked as a piece of timber embedded itself into its thick hide.
    The wind reached out to where they were, and a soft gust
tugged at her shirt. Pulling harder, Shan tried to use her feet to push herself
up the steps. Hands grabbed her, but she was unable to hear what they said
above the scream of the wind, as loud as the roar of a jet engine. A woman
dressed in a velour magenta jogging suit and an older man in a robe and tunic
grabbed the guard and pulled her up the steps.
    Shan was dragged backward and went limp in their hands at
the sight before her. A small tornado of shimmering white light now spun where
her jewelry stand had been. At the center, a small blue glow burned bright
enough to make her see spots.
    “What is it?” she yelled over the roar. No wind reached the
steps where they were, and the woman in the jogging suit helped Shan to her
feet.
    “Holy fire,” the woman yelled into her ear over the howl of
the wind.
    They reached the top of the steps, and Shan stumbled over to
a column and slung off her backpack while she struggled to regain her breath.
She found herself standing next to the small woman who had been with Devon.
They exchanged a quick glance then turned back to where the demon was barely
visible beyond the vortex of light.
    Tighter and tighter the spiral spun, shrinking down to the
center of the blinding glow. As it shrank, it pulled the demon with it,
compressing the creature in a manner her mind found hard to comprehend.
Terrible pressure built in the air, and everyone grabbed his or her heads. It
hurt too much to do anything but moan, and Shan thought her eardrums were going
to burst.
    With a loud bang of air rushing into empty space, the
pressure and pain stopped. Panting, wiping the sweat from her eyes with her
wounded hand, Shan stared at the now empty square.
    Where her stand used to be was now a perfectly cleared
circle, as if someone had taken a giant cookie cutter and stamped out that
section of the Temple Square, leaving behind a circle of dirt where there had
once been paving stones. The demon and the man were gone.

Chapter Five
     
     
    Pulling the Corvette into an empty spot at the rear of a
grocery store parking lot, Shan leaned her head against the wheel and wept. The
shock that had kept her somewhat functioning was receding, and her teeth
chattered as she shivered. The smell of blood from the female Temple Guard
she’d helped was still on her hands despite scrubbing them down with
antibacterial hand wash. Behind her closed lids, the terror and chaos of the
aftermath of the attack ran on a never-ending loop.
    She had slipped out of the Temple District in the confusion
that followed the assault and made it out before the street was shut down. The
shakes had started before she’d driven more than a few blocks, and she’d pulled
off into the parking lot before she got into an accident. Another violent chill
ripped through her, and her head ached.
    Grabbing a handful of napkins out of the glovebox, she blew
her nose and tried to wipe her face clean as her sobs tapered down to hiccups.
The sight of her reflection in the vanity mirror acted like a cold splash of
water. All of her makeup streaked down her face in blue and black smears, and
her eyes were red and glassy. Her bruised hand began to throb again as she
scrubbed the makeup off, leaving her face bare and raw-looking. She needed some
ice for her hand, and some aspirin, and a bottle of vodka.
    As she stared at her fingers, noting the dried blood still
clinging to her cuticle beds, her mind just kind of drifted, unable to deal
with the horrible events of both last night and now at the bazaar. She had no
idea how long she’d been sitting there before she registered the vibrations of
her cell phone in her pocket as anything more than a background annoyance.
Seeing her