Page 7 of Truthfinder’s Promise

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Surrounding the building turned out to be impossible, because something else already had.

“Is that an actual moat?” Siren asked.

“Yep.” Meredith took out her phone and snapped a picture.

“Really, Mer?” Valkyrie said.

“What? It’s not every day you see an honest-to-goddess moat.” The moat in question stretched an impressive fifteen feet across in width. The surface of the water was about a ten foot drop, but the water itself was murky, making the depth impossible to guess.

“Marco, could we get a bridge?” Valkyrie prompted.

Marco, a tall man with light brown skin and short-cropped black hair, stepped up to the edge of the moat. Combat units typically came equipped with at least one Elemental, and Marco was Nova’s.

Two Battle Aspecters flanked him, taking over shielding for him as he sank his magic into the ground. Nothing happened. Seconds passed and sweat broke out along Marco’s forehead, far more Aspect pouring out of him than it should have taken an Elemental with a high earth affinity to build a dirt bridge.

“Marco?” Valkyrie asked.

“Encountering resistance,” he said through a mostly locked jaw.

Resistance? The only resistance that could stop him was another high earth user. And while Elementals could work from inside a building, it greatly reduced their range and capabilities. For one to combat Marco this effectively, they should need to be out here.

“Pull back,” Valkyrie ordered.

“I can. Take them,” he gritted out.

“Pull back, that’s an order.”

Marco’s Aspect vanished and he dropped to one knee, panting. The rest of their unit who weren’t shielding Marco were furiously scanning the landscape.

“Siren?” Meredith asked.

A soft wash of power swirled around the redhead, and she shook her head. “We’re the only ones out here. Everyone else is inside the building.”

On the other side of the moat, the home’s front door opened. No one emerged, but Meredith could just make out a shadowy figure within. They called out in a deep voice that sounded a little strained. “Leave now.”

“Come out so we can talk,” Valkyrie said.

“Leave,” the figure called back. “You have thirty seconds to decide.” After throwing Valkyrie’s earlier ultimatum back at her, the figure slammed the door shut.

Meredith started counting elapsed seconds again.

“So they’ve got a fancy Elemental,” Nova said. “They can’t have more than one. We can jump the moat, get in fast and take them out.” With a glance at Siren and Meredith Nova added, “Well, most of us can jump it.” She flashed them an apologetic grin. As the only two in the group who didn’t bear a Battle Aspect affinity, they were also the only two who couldn’t amp up their strength so they could somersault over a fifteen foot divide.

Ten seconds elapsed.

Valkyrie considered it and then shook her head. “I don’t like it. Something goes wrong mid-air we’re sitting ducks. We wait their thirty seconds. I want to call their bluff and see what happens.”

Twenty seconds.

“Come on,” Valkyrie murmured. “Show me what you got.”

Twenty-five seconds. The air shifted, teasing at the edges of Meredith’s hair.

Twenty-nine seconds.

The air shifted again and Meredith dropped flat to the ground, pulling Siren down with her a second before a gust of wind slammed into their party.