Magic Resistant Read Online Free PDF Page A

dismissed from its summons
and its essence would flow back into the ring.
    Jackson knew he couldn’t continue to fight.
The last bit of his energy had gone into creating the portal. They
needed to leave now or die here.
    Rushing to her side, he picked up the slight
woman and slung her over his shoulder fireman style and hurried
through the narrow opening. He disregarded the burning in his arm,
the pain negligible. The familiar queasy sensation caused by the
interplanar travel rapidly disappeared. However, the aches and
weariness from the battle did not. He didn’t know when he'd ever
felt so worn down. It’d been too long since he rested properly, a
full night sleep without waking up in a panic.
    With a flick of his wrist, he closed the
doorway and jogged to the nearest parked car. The woman bounced on
his shoulder, her head flopping against his back. She’d need a
healing spell once she woke up.
    Halting next to the car, he opened the door
and pushed her into the back. She slumped down with a little sigh,
fell over sideways onto the seat and remained still. A twinge of
guilt, his need to protect, protested over not buckling her in
safe, but dismissed it. A stupid move, staying in one spot. The Fae
opened the portals between planes with ease and while several were
banned from this world, many could cross the threshold.
    Humid and sticky, the night air was
oppressive with heat. His shirt clung to him with sweat. The ripe,
cloying smell of decay and car exhaust filled his nose.
    Overhead, tall buildings and streetlights
obscured the night sky, impossible to see any stars. The only
sounds were cats yowling and an occasion car driving on nearby
streets. In this part of the city, most people were in bed, good
little civilians unaware or uncaring of the dangers outside their
homes.
    He glanced down the dimly lit alley. Garbage
littered the ground and the walls were so close he could reach out
and touch both without stretching. Not that he wanted to since the
walls were pretty slimy looking. Water dripped down, the brick worn
in several spots.
    He'd scouted out the alley earlier yesterday,
knowing a portal to Fay existed here. Distance and time worked
differently in Fay than it did on Earth. While the portals were a
ten minute hike apart on the other side, he was now about a thirty
minute car ride away from the downtown office building. It was also
no longer early morning, but late evening.
    If things went badly (which they had!), he
required an escape plan, a way to evade the Enforcers. He'd spent
weeks searching for portals which was why he’d been in the office
building in the first place. The rundown junker of a car he’d left
here for his getaway, knowing no one would steal it, and then
stashed all the necessities, including weapons, food, change of
clothes and extra cash in it.
    He hadn’t counted on having a passenger with
him though. She was a huge complication to his plans.
    Opening the driver’s side door, he slid into
the seat. Grabbing the seat belt, he buckled himself in while
starting the engine. A low-level hum of energy alerted him to the
activation of the portal. Wasting no time, he pulled onto the
street and headed south. As crazy as it sounded, his destination
was downtown Toronto. He knew they would track him to this spot and
he hoped they’d assume he took Highway 401 out of the city. Two
major city blocks south, it was a logical conclusion.
    Traffic was insignificant at this hour, so
his sole frustration was all the red lights. On the other hand at
least they kept him from speeding and drawing attention to himself.
Impatient to get back to the hostel, he wanted to hole up and
figure out his next move, especially since he needed to decide what
to do with this woman. He glanced over his shoulder to check on
her.
    Still unconscious and more or less on the
seat. A few rough stops had caused her to move closer to the edge.
Guess he better ease up on the breaks or she'd wake up with one
hell of a