Johnnie was going to give me up.

  It was hard to feel too betrayed. We were outnumbered, and they had already beaten Mei. If they were that strong, then the three of us didn’t have much of a chance.

  I braced myself as two thugs ran towards me. I didn’t know if I should fight or not. I had no doubt that I was going to be killed eventually; I just wasn’t sure which death would be better.

  I remembered why I was here. If I was dead, then I couldn’t get Billy out in one piece. I gritted my teeth and reached for my sword. I wasn’t going to go quietly.

  Except my sword wasn’t on my hip. It was tucked into Johnnie’s belt. I took a deep breath and made a fist with my left hand. My right still hurt too much, but I was going to fight with what I had.

  The thugs had just made it past Johnnie when he grabbed his shirt and ripped it off. His body was covered in tattoos. That I had seen before. It was the runes that I hadn’t.

  Mei had told me once that just having a rune was mentally draining. She only kept a dozen or so on her arms at any one time. There had to be almost a hundred runs covering Johnnie’s body.

  “Now!” Johnnie screamed.

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  He grabbed a rune off of each shoulder. It turned into an icicle as he pulled it off. Tiny spears that he stabbed into the two thugs.

  Michael moved in front of me and began launching arrows at the men closest to Mei. In the street, everyone was exposed; there was nowhere for them to hide from the deadly projectiles.

  The air got so cold that I could see my breath as Johnnie continued to throw ice around. For a moment I thought we might have a chance.

  I felt the ground rumble and saw Mouse had jammed three totems into the ground. The arrows and ice were shattering off of an invisible barrier between them.

  The glint in the shaman’s eye promised a slow and painful death. “You should have surrendered…” he hissed.

  “And miss the chance to kick your ugly butt?” Johnnie threw two more icicles at the force field, “Nah.”

  Mouse pointed at Johnnie and then touched a rune on the back of his hand. Fire shot out of his finger, melting the ice and washing over Johnnie.

  Johnnie crossed his arms to block the flames. The fire engulfed him.

  “No!” I screamed. I wanted to do something to help, but Johnnie had my sword, and my hand was broken. All I could do was watch from behind Michael.

  The flames died down and I expected to see a charred corpse. Instead, Johnnie was smiling from behind a shield of ice.

  “Is that the best you’ve got?” He taunted.

  Mouse turned his hand to Mei, “Are you fast enough to protect her?”

  Johnnie ran towards Mei as the flames left the protective circle. I closed my eyes. There was no way he was going to make it in time.

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