Borderlands by Skye Melki-Wegner Page B

rocky bottom even from here. The water froths and churns as if it’s boiling, spitting up bubbles against the rocks.
    I have to distract the hunters, split them up. If I can dart between boulders, draw them out into the river, they might leave my friends behind on the shore. Then I can hide myself in an illusion, double back and –
    With a jolt, I remember Maisy’s words about the borderlands: ‘ The result of magic gone wrong .’ If this place has been scarred by magic, the normal rules don’t apply. That water might really be scalding hot – or it might just fizz with some alchemical oddity. And I won’t know until I stick my foot into its depths. Is that why the hunters haven’t crossed yet?
    There’s no time to devise a better plan. With every second that passes, Maisy could be growing weaker. I pause for only a moment, to dump my magnets in the foliage. I don’t need the weight in my pockets – or the risk that loose magnets, jumbled so close to my flesh, might interfere with my magic. I take a deep breath.
    And I dash towards the water.
    The bullets come a moment later. I hurl myself forward and it feels like I’m falling in slow motion. Gunshots blast behind my head. The river churns, boiling and writhing as my body falls to meet it.
    I hit the water with a splash. For a moment I imagine my skin is burning, falling away in clumps. But it’s just the fear and the impact and the swoosh of water into my lungs. The water isn’t boiling, despite its appearance. It’s freezing cold, like just-melted snow in the mountains.
    I clamp my mouth shut and throw up an illusion. Water , I think, mind reeling. Water, water . . .
    The familiar jolt of an illusion curls around me, and I know I’m hidden. Still, I have only seconds before the magic falters. I leap behind the nearest boulder, just as my illusion fades.
    â€˜Where is she?’ Sharr is screaming, somewhere back on the shore. ‘That was Glynn! Get her, you idiots – she’s the one who –’
    I plunge below the surface. Sharr’s screams turn to churns: a distorted sort of yowl, as meaningless as the froth and bubbles that blast around my face.
    I summon another illusion and sprint for the next boulder. The fizzing water disguises the sploshing as I run. ‘Hey, over here!’
    Sharr doesn’t scream this time. She seems to have regained self-control after the initial shock, which isn’t good. I’ll take ‘crazed with fury’ Sharr over ‘cold and calculating’ Sharr any day. She whips around and points her gun at me. I throw myself behind the rock moments before a bullet whizzes over my head. The sound is so raw, so startling, that I almost forget to create the next illusion. My own vulnerability suddenly hits me. One bullet in my head, one flame in my chest, and I’m gone.
    I grit my teeth. Focus, Danika .
    I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and summon the illusion. It’s harder this time – like yanking a wobbly tooth with part of my gum still attached. Perhaps it’s the fear, or maybe I’ve summoned too many illusions. Whatever the reason, it takes five long seconds to feel that ‘pop’ of magic across my skin.
    As soon as the magic settles, though, I’m up and running. I lunge behind a rock and peer around its side. Sharr and the others are in the water now, searching for my hiding place. They prowl with pistols outstretched, ready to fire.
    I can’t keep this up forever. I need a new plan. And then it hits me.
    The soldiers.
    These hunters are fugitives now – just like I am. They allowed King Morrigan’s airbase to be destroyed, and fled to escape punishment for their failure. I bet the soldiers have been given pictures of Sharr and her cronies, and been told to look out for fugitives in the area. Maybe that’s why they’ve started going on patrols, like Silver said.
    Last time I saw