Page 112 of A Shade of Myself
Aces, hearts, diamonds, even a bunch of grapes spun through the three windows.
A star dropped into the first window, and I let out the breath I’d been holding.
The other two windows continued to cycle symbols.
The middle window stopped. Another star.
“Yes!”
Laurent gave a yip and pulled free.
I brushed off the wolf hair I’d accidentally tugged out and patted his head. “Sorry.”
The third window just kept cycling.
“Come to Mama,” I crooned.
A heart.
A heart.
A diamond.
The symbols finally started to slow down.
I leaned in.
A crescent of light flared up beside the slot machine and my instincts kicked in.
Of course there would be an ohr flare right when I needed to know something. I needed answers but I also couldn’t let these shifters die.
So I did the only thing I could.
There were too many potential targets among the ravens to pick one to protect so I threw my cloaking over the ohr like a firefighter’s blanket to smother it. The black mesh swelled up to insane proportions, crowding the wolf and me to one of the raven walls.
Grimacing against the feel of the breathing feathery barrier against my back, I gritted my teeth, dizzily fighting the supernatural life force that powered Ohrist magic, come now to consume one of the unlucky. While Laurent, the birds, and I were outside the cloaking, the ohr’s blinding light filled my vision and I tilted forward.
The ohr fought back, seeking to drag me in.
I skidded in the dirt.
The ohr’s light hummed around me at a painful frequency. I fell to my knees, bowed double and twisted in the outside of my mesh, struggling like a drowning victim, gasping for breath.
My magic slipped, threatening to let the ohr spill out, but I held on to it by my fingertips until bit by painful bit, the ohr was nothing more than a spark that I crushed.
I couldn’t move, blinking hard because I was blinded by the afterimage of that light.
A furry, heavy body flew into me and I fell backward in a tangle of limbs and wolf. The jolt of adrenaline cleared my vision and I stared at the empty woods, the birds now gone. “Did the ohr get them?” I asked in a hoarse voice.
“No.” Poe stepped out of the deepening shadows. “You saved us and protected the Casino from this attack.”
Laurent jumped in front of me, growling softly, and Poe stopped, their hands held up to show they meant no harm. The wolf fell silent but didn’t allow Poe to come closer.
“Attack?” I sat up, checking myself for injury. “Don’t Ohrists just draw upon ohr? They can manipulate it to flare up as well?”
“A rare few possess that ability. One of those sought to keep you from inquiring about the Ascendant.”
“The new player from the blackjack game?
