“Colm! Colm wake the fuck up!”

I shuddered awake, incredibly confused. How had Alice gotten into my hotel room? I blinked blearily at her and realized that we were not in my hotel room. I was also dressed. I sleep in my undies so that was weird. It was also the middle of the day. What the fuck is going on?

“What the fuck is going—“ I began, but an automatic weapon went off next to me and I recoiled into a ball before casting a glance over my shoulder to see the hottest thing ever.

Ida crouched next to me. We were in what looked like a mall food court, hiding behind a… terrarium? What do you call those things in malls that have a bunch of plants and a few trees? Anyway, we were hiding behind one of those things and Ida was leaning out with my MP5, firing off ten to fifteen rounds before returning to cover. She was wearing a loose teal tank top that showed off her impressively muscled arms and her black sports bra. Her black capri pockets were bulging with the extra magazines from my trunk. She glanced back at me.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

“What the fuck is happening!?” I yelled, scrambling for my waist. My hands thankfully found my Webley where it was supposed to be and I yanked it free.

“Their leader cast some mental spell and you took it on by yourself,” Alice said, raising behind cover with her chain in hand and sending a lightning bolt at our unseen adversaries. “Which was really fucking stupid because I’m a mind mage you fucking idiot.”

I was panicking. “The last thing I remember was going to bed after searching Conner’s apartment.”

Alice’s reply was cut off as a hail of bullets tore into our cover, and we all (except for me, because I was already there) flattened ourselves to the floor. Once the gunfire died down she shot me a look. “You don’t remember anything since then?”

“Not a thing!” I said, raising up a little bit and stealing a glance at who was shooting at us.

I dropped down and gave Alice an incredulous look.

“I’m just as confused as you are,” she said.

The people attacking us were wearing robes with kris daggers hanging from their waists. They were all holding some form of firearm, aside from their apparent leader. He had been behind cover so the only thing I could see of him was an impressive headdress and what looked like a scepter.

We were being attacked by cultists. Cultists right out of a D&D campaign.

“Was the prick with the hat the one that cast the spell?” I asked.

“Oui,” Ida said, pulling a new magazine from her pocket and replacing the spent one in her gun. “At least, he was the one waving his arms around and shouting right before it happened.” Alice nodded.

“How the hell did you get a submachine gun in a food court?” I asked after a beat.

“Is that really important right now—“ Alice began.

“I said I missed having one when we were in that bar with the pinball machines, and you gave me the one you had in your trunk in a magic gym bag,” Ida said, pulling the cocking lever on the gun. I finally noticed the empty bag on the ground by her feet. She leaned forward and gave me a kiss on my cheek. “It was very sweet.”

Then she leaned out and fired off three quick bursts, which were effective if the accompanying cries of pain were anything to go by.

Fuck yeah, Past Colm.

My emotions were a maelstrom, the primary one being confusion. Rising right up next to it was anger. I harnessed my magic into a pane of force in front of me. I made it thick and slightly porous. Just behind that pane I made a solid wall of force and stood from behind cover. Ida swore and tried to drag me down but I wasn’t going to be stopped. I lifted the Webley, sighted on the planter the headdress asshole was hiding behind, and pulled the trigger.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

A scream from a nightmare combined with the roar of a lion, with the volume of a jet engine exploded from the end of my gun. A fist-sized red line of pure malice cut through the intervening space between me and the planter and slammed into it. The planter shattered and burst like it had been shot by a tank. A small tank, but still, tank. I felt defensive magics enact and then fail as the concussive force buffeted the cultist and sent him flying into a bunch of chairs and tables.

The cultists stared in shock for a heartbeat before orienting on me and opening fire.

Have you ever been shot at? Have you ever been shot at and knew you were not behind cover and there was a high probability you were about to be shot? If you have, you know what a fucking terror-filled moment that is. If you haven’t you can probably imagine. It’s a very unique experience I wouldn’t wish on most people.

The bullets slammed into my telekinesis and traveled for an inch or two before shattering. The pieces hung in the air in front of me, each bullet blooming into a pattern about an inch or two wide as they struck the second pane, before being arrested by the first porous pane I had erected.

Fuck you, assholes. I’m Neo.

I trained my gun on another cultist. He seemed to get the message and instantly turned and ran. The morale of the squad shattered and they all broke cover and started running en masse. I lowered my gun and carefully put it back in its holster. I kept the shield up long enough to make sure none of the cultists would decide to die fighting or take a few shots while they ran away.

“Holy shit, Colm,” Alice said.

I glanced at her, seeing a slightly troubled expression on her face. Get over it, Alice. I was done with half measures. A glance at Ida revealed an impressed expression.

“So that is the gun you were talking about,” she said.

I let the shields drop and rubbed my temple with my left hand. While Circe’s method protected me from the typical feedback one gets from “wild” casting, it still produces it’s own form via mental strain. Far less dangerous and debilitating, but still troublesome if you go overboard.

“What day is it?” I asked, still in the middle of my own little memory crisis. “Please tell me I didn’t lose years.”

“It’s Wednesday,” Alice said.

We went to the party, to the doctor, to Conner’s apartment on Saturday. I had lost three days.

I started breathing heavily. I felt my pulse skyrocket.

Ida sidled up to me and squeezed my wrist, before moving her hand down and lacing her fingers between my own. “It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll help you.”

“Yes, we will,” Alice said. “But we should probably scarper before the cops show up.”

“That reminds me,” I began. “Where are all the people?” This was a food court; there should be people.

“That’s what tipped us off about the attack,” Alice said. “I should have noticed it, but you two being all lovey-dovey was distracting as hell. Ida noticed it first.”

Ida nodded. “I noticed that people were leaving quickly in groups,” she said, glancing around. “When I noticed the staff doing the same, I pointed it out to you, and you said there was an attention something happening.”

“Attention ward,” Alice said. “And then we sensed a big spell about to go off and you jumped in front of it like a fucking moron.”

I nodded in understanding but latched onto one part of the story. “Lovey-dovey?” I mouthed.

Her expression fell. “Ah,” she said, softly. “You do not remember.”

She began to remove her hand from mine but I held on. “No, no,” I said. “I can catch up. This is a lovely development.”

She beamed a smile at me, before really attempting to let go. “We really should get moving though,” she said.

I nodded enthusiastically and let her hand go, gathering my magic again. I hardened it into a point and began etching symbols and lines into the floor. “Go see if any of those guys survived,” I said. “We can interrogate them with Alice’s mind mojo.”

Alice nodded and ran off to the other end of the food court. Ida started gathering her spent brass and tossing it into her bag. “What are you doing?” She asked.

I split my attention and swept the area with my TK, gathering all the brass into one spot for her (along with a bunch of cracked tiles, dirt, and plant matter from the beat-up terrarium thing). “A hex that’ll wipe all electronic data in the area clean in a few minutes. I don’t want to set it off right now and have us all get new phones, but I don’t want the cops to get a look at us on the CCTV.”

Ida frowned, no doubt trying to reconcile the necessity with her old profession. She scooped up the final bits of brass into the bag and dumped her gun into it. She then went around and wiped down everything we might have touched while I finished up the ward. Just then Alice came jogging back. “Uh, soooo,” she began.

I turned and raised an eyebrow.

“They, kinda—“she made a vague gesture with her hands. “Melted?”

“What?” Ida and I said in unison.

“They just melted,” she said. “There were robes, guns and knives, and puddles of brackish liquid. Does your gun fucking melt people?”

“Just a lot of kinetic force,” I said. “Though this was my first time shooting it at a person. Didn’t liquefy the deer I shot.”

I started the hex and waved everyone after me, then paused. “I hope you ladies remembered where we parked,” I said. I tried to have a humorous delivery but it came out more strained than I had intended.

Ida took my hand again and squeezed. Alice nodded and took the lead, heading for the stairs. We could hear sirens in the distance.

“Also,” I said after a tense silence. “Since when do you say ‘scarper?’”

“What?!” Alice said, defensively. “It’s a fun word! I’ve been watching a lot of British crime dramas.”