Thread of Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

that lucky—especially not me.
    I stepped forward and reached for my magic. But not my Stone power. No, this time, I grabbed hold of my Ice magic. For a moment I smiled, relishing the feel of the cool power flowing through my veins; then I pushed the magic outward. A cold silver light flickered on my palm, centered in the middle of the spider rune scar there. I leaned forward, placed my hand against the rough bark of the tree trunk, and let loose with my power.
    Ice crystals spread out from my palm, climbing higher and higher into the maple, zipping from one branch, one leaf, to the next. If I wanted to, I could have frozen the entire tree in a matter of seconds with my elemental Ice, but that would have just been showing off, something I didn’t need or even want to do. So I focused on the branches closest to the sniper, forcing the Ice crystals in that direction—and then out onto the boards the dwarf had nailed to the tree.
    The sniper let out a surprised shout and backed up, trying to get away from the encroaching crystals, but there was no escaping them—or how slippery they were. The dwarf’s boots skidded this way and that on the elemental Ice, and he held on to the rifle, his arms twirling around like he was a figure skater, but he couldn’t stop the inevitable. One foot slipped over the side of the platform, then the other.
    The dwarf screamed all the way down to the ground.
    I let go of my magic, dropped my hand from the tree trunk, and stepped to one side. The sniper hit the ground with a satisfying thump. I had no illusions he was dead, though. The shooter’s body didn’t look as thick and strong as Sophia’s, but he was still a dwarf, which meant that he could take a lot of damage before he was down for the count. A thirty-foot fall probably wouldn’t even break any of the bastard’s bones.
    The drop stunned the dwarf for a second, but he recovered quickly. I’d just started to reach for him when he rolled over onto his side away from me and scrambled to his feet. His eyes dropped to the sniper rifle, which lay between us, and I could see him wondering whether it was worth it to try to lunge for the weapon and shoot me at point-blankrange.
    The dwarf made the right decision and decided not to go for the weapon. Instead, he bared his teeth at me, turned, and ran to the left, hurrying across the cemetery lawn as fast as he could. I sighed, hating the thought of having to chase after him. Why did they always have to run—
    Crack!
    Crack! Crack! Crack!
    Crack! Crack!
    Shot after shot rang out, until it seemed like the whole cemetery had erupted in gunfire. I clapped my hands over my ears and turned around. Apparently, the giants and other bodyguards had decided to earn their keep today, because many of them had gotten to their feet, pulled out their guns from their suit jackets, and opened fire on the running dwarf. Earlier, I’d been right when I thought that Kincaid had a gun, because he’d joined the ranks of the bodyguards, firing shot after shot from a silver revolver.
    The dwarf was quick—but not quite quick enough. A bullet clipped him in the shoulder, spinning him around so that he was facing the crowd and letting the bodyguards get a bead on him.
    Crack!
    Crack! Crack! Crack!
    Crack! Crack!
    Bullet after bullet thumped into the dwarf’s chest, arms, and legs. Dwarves were tough, but this one never had a chance—not with so many people firing so much lead at him. His body vibrated back and forth from the force of the dozens of bullets slamming into him, until finally his legs went out from under him and he dropped to the grass. The bodyguards lowered their weapons, and the cemetery was silent once more, except for the overlapping echoes of all the gunshots rattling up the ridge above. The smell of burned gunpowder filled the air, overpowering the earthy scent of the grass and trees.
    When I was sure that everyone had lowered their guns and no one was going to turn their weapons in my