Read Online Mercy's Magic by P. J. Day - Free Book Online

had nothing to lose by that point, she dabbed some on her temples, her heart and wrists.
    “I think it’s going to take more than this, though,” she mumbled.
    “What? I didn’t catch that.”
    “Nothing. Listen, Joe, I have to go.”
    “Wait,” Joe pleaded. “Mercy, I don’t want you to do something crazy. This is big.”
    “Yes, and you guys don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. I’m the one that tipped you, remember.”
    “Right, but...”
    “Gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
    Mercy hung up and grabbed her purse.
     
    Chapter Nineteen
     
    Early morning, after the wakeup call from Joe, Mercedes Cruz pulled into an empty lot belonging to a dentistry two blocks away from the print shop. She quietly got out of her car and snuck through the newly established, and much larger perimeter, like a skilled cat burglar. She’d taken Terra over to Lily’s. Lily wanted to accompany her friend, but someone had to watch Terra at the last minute, and they certainly couldn’t wake up a five year old in the early morning and drag her out to a cordoned off, federally established crime scene.
    The police were too busy directing traffic away from the perimeter, which Mercy took advantage of as she made her way to the printing press using the darkened and shadowed walls of the surrounding buildings that faced away from the moonlight.
    Mercy approached the building’s back garage lift and was surprised to find it opened as well as finding the immediate area behind the printing press completely deserted. She grabbed her flashlight and took two steps into the dark interior of the building but ceased her next step. She needed more protection. Mercy thought of her Aunt Itzy and closed her eyes.
    First, she placed her legs together and planted her feet firmly on the cement ground. She let go of all tension, let the energy she’d learned to use long ago, as a child, flow down, out of her hands and feet. She took a few cleansing breaths, slowing her heart rate down.
    Next, Mercy summoned strength from the earth below the concrete, allowing it to rejuvenate her senses. She drew an imaginary circle around her, and inhaled deeply. Mercy carried a pouch with her this time, with contents from Lilly’s shop, and drew from it, placing some of her favorite scents into the circle; orange peels, eucalyptus leaves. At the last moment she tried something new. In her mind she’d imagined a spherical shape, rather than a plain two dimensional circle—a large ethereal bubble—and commanded it to move with her every step. “And so it is,” she said. Then Mercy crossed into the echoing factory floor, flashlight in hand.
    It was indeed completely empty of all machinery. The dirty floors were completely bare. They probably left the door open to get rid of the smell, Mercy surmised. She looked to the stairway up to the second floor and froze. The place was empty of material things, but Mercy’s spine tingled, she wasn’t alone.
    “Who are you?” Mercy’s voice was strong, confident. “Show yourself. I’m not afraid of you!”
    A light chuckle rang out from the darkness above. “You’re not afraid?” The man’s voice was dark and rich and had a slight accent Mercy couldn’t place. “After all you’ve seen and felt?”
    “No. All I wanted to do was find someone and get him home, safe. I haven’t done anything wrong. And I’m not afraid of you.” But she did take a couple of steps back toward the wall not far from the opening to the train tracks outside.
    “Then you’re a fool, Mercedes Cruz. You’re a fool to think you will ever find your friend. They are all dead. And you’re an even greater fool to not be frightened.”
    Mercy drew in a sharp breath upon hearing his words. But that’s exactly what he wanted. Suddenly an arrow of red flame hurling towards her from above. Without so much as a split second to think, Mercy, utilizing just pure old fashioned adrenaline, dove aside just in time.
    Mercy thankfully