Free Elementally Priceless by Shannon Mayer Page B

slammed to a stop. Not because I wanted to. But because there was a wall blocking my path. Dead. Fucking. End.
    No choice now but to face what was coming my way.
    “Rylee, you’ve got to get out of there!” Red screeched.
    “And where would you like me to go?” I snapped. I was cornered and we both knew it.
    I spun as the Minotaur came barreling around the corner. “Come on, bitch!” I yelled and he didn’t slow down, just dropped his chin and ran straight for me.
    His breath was rank with old meat and overly fermented wine, and hot on my skin when I dropped to my belly. By some miracle he didn’t step on me. He slammed into the wall behind, me, his horns cracking under the pressure.
    Groaning, he slid to his knees, dazed by the hit. Better though, was the break he put in the wall. I scrambled to my feet, hopped over his slumped body and slammed my shoulder into the wall. The marble crumbled and fell. The hole was just big enough for me to squeeze through.
    Yee-freaking-haw.
    A hand clamped around my ankle as I slid through. Covered in tawny fur, the fingers tightened, grinding my anklebones against one another. He held me so I hung from the wall, unable to use the ground as leverage. I twisted and brought the sword up. If I missed, I’d be taking my own foot with the Minotaur’s hand. But there was no choice. I had no one to save me.
    Gritting my teeth, I sat up and drove the tip of the sword forward through the Minotaur’s wrist. His fingers popped open and I fell to the ground for the third time. “This is getting ridiculous,” I groaned, stumbled to my feet and looked back. The Minotaur was looking at me through the hole. Fury kindled in his big dark eyes, as snot dripped from his nose. He snorted, blowing chunks all over me.
    “Fucking disgusting.”
    Much as I wanted to cut into him, I had no time. I took a step, winced at the pain shooting from my squashed ankle and forced myself into a hobbling run.
    Jonathan was so close, and I followed his threads, right up to the final archway where I saw him sitting at a desk, his head bowed and hands flying as he wrote.
    Yet the archway made me pause, and I heeded Lark’s earlier advice to mention when things didn’t feel right. Something about it twanged my shit detector. “Red, what’s with this place?”
    Before he answered, the ground rumbled, shaking hard enough to turn me around thinking I had a whole herd of Minotaurs on my ass. But there was no one behind us.
    “Red, is that Lark?”
    “Yes. She’s finally angry. I wouldn’t want to be the Shadow Walker.” Red swooped down and landed on my shoulder.
    “So we ignore what she’s doing and keep going.”
    “Probably best.”
    Still, that didn’t help with the archway in front of me. Then again, I was an Immune so if there was a spell, I should be able to walk right through with no problem. Should.
    “Red, I’ve got to do this on my own, I think the archway is protected by a spell.” In fact, I was sure of it, and didn’t want Red to fly through. For all I knew, the spell went up and over the walls too.
    “Not a good idea.”
    I glanced at him, frowning. “You want to be fried chicken because you don’t believe I can do this on my own?”
    He leapt into the air, the tips of his wings brushing my face. “Fine. But you better tell Lark this was your choice, not mine.”
    I strode forward, paused at the archway, and then stepped across the threshold. The tingle of a spell slid over my skin, cooling my temperature to the point I thought I’d been wrong. Maybe I wasn’t going to be Immune to this spell. But the sensation faded and I breathed evenly.
    Jonathan turned and slowly looked up at me, his crossed eyes distant, his whole body shaking with whatever affected him.
    “Your name is Rylee.”
    Surprised, I nodded and walked toward him. “Yes, that’s me. I’ve come to take you home to your parents.”
    He shook his head. “They don’t want me. I scare them. But you are in danger.”
    I