Free The Frozen Witch Book One by Odette C. Bell Page B

shoulders loosened and my hands dropped limply to my
sides.
    Without a word, Megan led me into some kind
of armory. There were lots of people about. What was more, they
were doing magic.
    My gut reaction was to scream, turn, and run
the hell away. Instead, I stood there, wide eyes bulging as I
watched two men attack each other with what looked like magical
glowing swords.
    No matter how many times I blinked my eyes
and tried to rub them clear, every time I opened them the magic
remained.
    Megan walked me up to a wall and swiped her
hand to the left. A second earlier, it had been nothing more than a
simple, drab, grey concrete wall. Now weapons appeared – a massive,
long row of every weapon you could imagine, from guns to nunchucks
to a glowing samurai sword.
    As soon as I saw them, I took a nervous step
backwards, cramming a hand over my mouth.
    Megan looked thoughtful as she shifted
forward and grabbed a small handgun. She checked it, yanking out
the magazine and staring at the glowing bullets within. When she
was satisfied, she turned and shoved it against my chest.
    I did not grab it. Instead, I jerked back
with a gasp.
    “Take it,” she snapped. “We don’t have
much time. Well, you don’t have much time,” she clarified
primly.
    I stared at her then gathered the
gumption to bring up a shaking hand and grab the weapon. It was
strangely light. It didn’t tingle, either, didn’t send charges
along my fingers as if I’d just grasped lightning. It felt like
nothing more than a plastic gun.
    “You point, you shoot,” she said, and then
she turned to leave.
    “Really? That’s it? That’s my
introduction? I’ve never fired a weapon before. I was just a
waitress, for god’s sake. I have no idea how to track down a
magical hitman.”
    She turned sharply on her heel, the
pointed end scratching against the concrete floor. “You’ll learn.
Like I said before, either you reach forward and embrace your
responsibility, or you don’t and you die.” She walked
away.
    “Wait. Wait! Where the hell am I meant to
go? Where do I track down this John Lambert?”
    Megan flicked a hand behind me and
gestured to one of the other men in the armory. “Take her to a
waiting car.” With that, she was out of sight.
    Spinning. Freefall. My mind felt as if it
had been pushed into terminal velocity. Every belief, every
feeling, every thought – they were all spinning as if I’d been
thrown out of a plane.
    With one hand, I clutched the gun warily to
my chest. With the other, I covered my eyes.
    “Come with me,” the man said.
    I had no option but to follow, several steps
behind him. He led me down the corridor into a large elevator then
down into a basement.
    It was a carpark, but I could tell from one
glance it didn’t belong to the public. Nope, it had every kind of
vehicle you could imagine. There was even one of those submersible,
deep-range submarines they use on scientific expeditions.
    The only thing I could do to keep from
screaming that this was insane was to clamp my teeth together. My
jaw became so stiff I was sure I was going to strain a neck muscle
or crush one of my vertebra.
    The guy led me to a van. I hadn’t yet had
the opportunity to point out I couldn’t drive, but a second later,
I realized the van had a driver.
    “You get in. He’ll take you to the right
place. You find your man; you capture him. It’s that simple,” the
guard said as he turned sharply and didn’t even bother to nod. He
strode off.
    Get in, find my guy, and bag him. That
simple, ha? Sure, it was so simple I could cry.
    I didn’t get the opportunity to cry. The
driver grumbled at me, and I jumped into the van, sitting in the
back. The door closed of its own accord, and there I remained, a
magical gun pressed carefully into my lap, my eyes as wide as the
magical disc I’d seen Megan use before. Thoughts ran riot through
my mind. They felt like a mob tearing at my sense of self, undoing
every belief I’d ever had about reality.
    I