Mage Catalyst Read Online Free PDF Page B

I had to follow her. I had to have an answer. I wasn’t sure if it was love, lust or a simple need to understand what was happening to me, but I was desperate for an answer from her. I couldn’t just let her get away. I needed some answers about this! I’d just about written off my condition as delusion and now here was someone else with the same effect. It couldn’t be just a coincidence.
The next band had started playing as she stormed off and I was quickly blocked by dozens of people heading towards the stage. I saw her run past the crowd and slip out the side exit. It took me a little longer, and by the time I’d made my way through and out into the street she was almost at the end of the alley.
“Wait,” I shouted. “I need to talk to you!”
“Leave me alone!” she snarled, turning to face me. I could see her eyes glittering from the light above her. Her irises were wide and threatening and her face was twisted into an indecisive grimace.
I started towards her; I couldn’t let it end like this. She had to tell me what was going on – she simply had to!
“Please!” I began, but I was interrupted before I could finish.
With precision the girl tensed up her body and lashed out her hand in my direction in a sweeping motion. I saw with clarity the blue lights in her chest dance down her arms and flick out from her wrist. With startling accuracy a whip cord of blue particles burst from her outstretched hand and hit me on my right side with stunning force.
The impact sent me reeling, knocking me into the air in a spin. I hit the wall behind me, and promptly dropped onto the dumpster below it with a dull thud. My whole body went numb from the impact. I didn’t feel any pain but knew with certainty that I was more hurt than I felt.
I looked up with disbelief – she still stood about ten metres away. She hadn’t moved since she’d attacked me. She’d made no move to run. She was simply looking down at me with a strange expression on her face. I couldn’t get a read on what the expression meant. There was definite fury there, contempt too, but there was definitely something else as well.
“I told you to Leave. Me. Alone!” she declared finally, biting off each word.
    I gasped for breath. I was pretty sure I had cracked some ribs, as every time I inhaled pain lanced across my chest. I made it to my knees as black spots began dancing across my vision. Each breath I took was a harsh lesson in further pain.
“What’s happening to me?” I moaned as I collapsed back to the ground. My vision was going blurry and I felt like I was going to throw up.
“Shit,” I heard her say as the darkness set in.
    * * * *
    When I came around my chest still hurt and each breath felt like I was breathing fire. My wrist was throbbing painfully too; I must have sprained it in the fall. It took me several seconds as it all came flooding back – the woman, the lights in her chest, the alley, the flick of her wrist, the pain. And now here we were, seated together back in the club.
“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she murmured. “I thought you might have a concussion.”
I couldn’t find a suitable response. She looked even more beautiful than before and my eyes were dazzled, although that may have been the concussion’s influence.
“…How?” I simply mumbled.
”Well, doctors say that when you hit your head…” she began dryly.
“No, not how do you get a concussion. How did you do that to me?”
“You really don’t know?” she asked, her expression going from guilty to horrified and then back to irritated. Her eyes bore into me imperiously. “Look, I’m sorry I hit you so hard. I thought you’d be able to defend yourself.”
“How do you defend yourself against that?” I grunted, remembering the particle whip lashing against me and lifting me into the air. She didn’t answer my question.
“If it’s any consolation it probably saved your life. The build-up of energy you were displaying