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Instead, I concentrated on her people After all, if they were putting all their power into shielding Phaedra, they couldn’t be shielding themselves very well

I let rip a e balls buckle Kaya and Kaori’s weakened shields, and then felt theic back into their own shields at the expense of Phaedra’s In response, the little Alfar’s blood-red eyes greide, and Blondie responded with an even fiercer barrage I kept the pressure on the harpies, which did weaken Phaedra But the two bird-women were too experienced and were still able to send some power to Phaedra Plus, Graeenerator

Strategizing as I stepped closer to Blondie, I kept lobbing e balls at the harpies, even as I switched the majority of my firepower to Graeme Because I was no match for the incubus yet, offensively, that shouldn’t have et to Graeht she’d do, Kaya (or Kaori--I still had no idea which hich) went all squishy at the sight of her boyfriend getting attacked and threw soth at Graeme That meant Phaedra was one minion down And when I turned all my force away froth, I soon felt Graeirlfriend further decrease her own shields I kept blasting at Graeotten about her and her sister in favor of bigger prey, until she dropped her shields entirely Leaving her easy pickings

Keeping ser e ball behind me, I waited till Kaya (or Kaori) took a sy--even the edges of her sister’s shields--she fell like a nerd for a hot chick dressed as Harlequin when e ball hit Her sister cried out while her lovable beau barely even cast a glance in her direction

Why do women date assholes? I wondered, as the ambulant harpy withdrew all of her shields from Phaedra in order to beef up her own Then she retreated to kneel next to her sister, healing her as she did so

Not wanting either harpy back in the game quickly, I transferred all my firepower back to them As some of my shots were either deflected or ide, they lit up the back wall of the cavern That’s when I saw it On the far side from us, about twenty paces behind where Phaedra’s people weretheir stand, there hat looked like the entrance to a very small tunnel

"I see a tunnel!" I shouted at Blondie, above the din of our ics

"Where?" she asked

"Other side of the cave Behind the bad guys"

"Of course," she replied, doing a very fancyat the harpies, Phaedra, and Graeet over there!" I said, as I thought up ways to get Phaedra and her group to reverse their position

"Nope, you need to get over there," was the Original’s only response, as she blocked a wave of fire hich Phaedra was trying to incinerate us

"Huh?" I inquired, stupidly

"There’s sohed

This can’t be good

CHAPTER NINETEEN

You kno you asked ?" Blondie asked My skin prickled at her words, but Phaedra had moved a few steps closer in the seconds Blondie and I had talked The Original went back to pu the Alfar, a fierce look on her face, and I waited patiently for her to drop whatever bo random missiles at Graeme, just to keep him on his toes

And then I felt my ass buzz I had no idea what it was, till I realized I’d stashedAnyan’s

How the hell is it still working? I thought,at thee balls with the other It was Ryu He’d left a voicehis "cryptic casual" tone I kneell fro up on that issue you calledfro deeper Found a very old contact--someone who’s been around forever She told me she never knew your subject personally, but that she knew of her She didn’t have toothat irl has a nickname It’s ‘Oathbreaker’ " At Ryu’s words,away from Blondie carefully

"So I’d watch ruously friendly voice "Be in touch if you need anything I’ll keep asking around"

I inal, carefully erecting my shields between us Meanwhile, Blondie had pushed Phaedra back to her starting point, when Blondie turned just a little bit towardone eye on our enemies

"Like I said," she started, and then realized I’d backed away and put up my shields "Jane?"