Free Mythical (The Mystical Series Book 2) by Michael Weekly Page B

toward me. Donovan happens to always come running right when I’m about to kill one on my own. I’m glad we’re stuck together like this, so he can’t read my face as these thoughts race in my head.
    A vibration buzzes within our grasp, like the sound of a firecracker exploding.
    “Fine,” he sighs as we part. “I don’t know what happened, and I don’t care. Let’s go.”
    “Don’t freak out,” I say, placing my palm on the bark again. He steps back a bit, seeing the color rise. “Don’t say anything. Let the forest speak to you.”
    “Are you kidding me?”
    “Shut up and listen.” I wave my free hand at him. Emily isn’t running, but within the slightest sound hidden in the many natural noises I hear her exhale. I drop my hand, breaking the connection with the tree.
    “I’ll go this way.” I gesture to my left. “You go that way.” I nod my head to the direction in front of us. Donovan’s looking at me, puzzled again. “I know it’s weird. I can’t explain. Just do it.
    “I’ll meet you around and see what happens,” I say, walking to my left.
    “Hey.” He grabs my arm, pulling back in front of him. “You might need this. I forgot to give it back when we were in that forbidden forest.” He hands me my broomstick.
    “Thanks.”
    “How will I know where you are if we get lost?”
    “You shouldn’t have a problem with that. You always end up finding me anyway.”
    Donovan lifts up his thumb, wishing me good luck. He clicks on his broomstick and cuts the plants out of his way.
    The freezing sensation brushes under my right arm again, and the light vibration is soothing. I splay out my fingers, then clench them back into a fist. The birds around me become silent, and the squirrels are still. I hear a slight crackle of twigs on the ground crunch behind me.
    I know where Emily is.
     
    ***
     
    I jab my left elbow behind me and miss. Emily easily dodges my attack and throws a punch, aiming toward my face.
    Instinct, Liza, my mother snaps in my head.
    I tilt my neck to the side, glaring at my opponent. Emily spins around, swinging her right leg to kick me. I grab her ankle, but before I can throw her away from me her left leg plows into my neck, smashing me against a tree. She executed a perfect aerial.
    Emily darts toward me, twirls around, and prepares to smash the side of her elbow into my neck. I block her arm, slithering underneath her and twisting her wrist. A loud crack erupts, and she curses.
    I smirk, but that’s a bad thing to do, because Emily slams my chest into the tree in front of us.
    “You’ll lose,” she says. “Always acting cocky.”
    “How’s that wrist?” I taunt, spitting dirt from my mouth.
    Donovan appears behind her, and as soon as I dart my eyes away from her face, she knows he’s here. He sprints toward Emily, grabbing her neck, but she’s too quick. She wraps her slim hands around his thick arms, slamming him down against me with a grunt.
    “Get her before she runs,” I say dryly.
     
    ***
     
    Donovan whirls around, and I dash to the side, both of us blocking Emily from running away. Emily stands still, panting from the little fight we had, holding onto her wrist.
    “So it’s like that, huh? You’re ganging up on little ole me?” she whimpers with fake panic.
    “Cut the crap. It’s over, Emily. We win.”
    “Not yet.” Emily grins, grabs hold of a tree limb, and leaps up, landing on a long branch. Her hazel green eyes glare down at us as she proceeds to run above, jumping on scattered branches before her.
    “I get what you mean now about elves in the forest,” I murmur to Donovan.
    “We lost, Rose,” he says. “There’s no way you can catch her up there.”
    Christian said not to chase after her once she climbed a tree. I place my palm on the bark before me; it glows. I look down at my leafy tattoos. I want to get Emily and end her silly game. If my reflexes could have been a bit more responsive when we fought, the game would have been