The giants yelled and scrambled out of the way, but I was already lighting the next bottle of gin and tossing it down on top of them. This time, my aim was better, and I hit the giant by the bar square in the chest. The bottle shattered on impact, splashing gin all over him, and the alcohol ignited instantly. The giant screamed and screamed, slapping at the flames that danced all over his body, searing his skin, but it was no use. He crashed into a table, which splintered under his weight, and did a nosedive onto the floor. All around him, the pieces of wood began to smoke as they too started to catch fire.

Brody and the other two giants finally realized that I was on the balcony and raised their guns to fire at me. I lit my third and fourth Molotov c.o.c.ktails and tossed them down in quick succession, this time aiming for two separate tables, each one with a bottle of liquor sitting in the center of it.

Bull's-eye.

Both bottles landed exactly where I wanted them to, and that entire area exploded with flames, catching another of the giants by surprise. Once again, liquor splashed everywhere, and he too lit up like a Christmas tree. This giant did the smart thing and stopped, dropped, and rolled around on the floor, just like you were supposed to. But what he didn't realize was that he was rolling around in the growing fire that was spreading around the first giant that I'd hit. So instead of putting out the flames, all the second man did was spread them around the rest of the saloon. Red-hot sparks and embers flew everywhere, and small fires sprang up among all the old, weathered wood.

Through the smoke and flames, Brody and the fourth giant raised their guns again and finally started firing at me, but I took hold of the railing, swung my legs up and over it, and leaped off the balcony. On the way down, I grabbed hold of my Stone magic, turning my body into a hard, impenetrable-and heavy-sh.e.l.l.

Crash!

I did the perfect swan dive right on top of the two of them, sending all three of us crashing to the floor. Brody cursed and quickly scrambled up and back out of my reach, but the other man's head snapped against the floor, stunning him, and I took advantage, palming a knife and cutting his throat. He died with a b.l.o.o.d.y gurgle.

"You b.i.t.c.h!" Brody snarled.

He raised his gun and started firing at me again, even as he backed toward the doors. I kept my grip on my Stone magic, and the bullets harmlessly ping-ping-pinged off my body and rattled into the walls, wrecking even more of the saloon. I tightened my grip on my knife, got to my feet, and started forward, but Brody decided not to stick around to meet the same fate as his buddies. He fired off a few more shots, then ran out the double doors.

This time, I chased him.

At least, I tried to.

I headed for the saloon doors, but a blast of fire made me stop short. The saloon was more of a tinderbox than I'd thought, and the flames from my Molotov c.o.c.ktails had already spread throughout the first floor. Thick black smoke boiled up into the air, making it hard to breathe, and the heat licked at my skin, eager to burn right through all my Stone magic. I had to get out of here, or the smoke and flames would quickly overcome me.

Coughing all the while, I headed toward the saloon doors again, but another explosion ripped through that area, and the flames started burning there even brighter and hotter than before. Since I couldn't get out through the double doors now, and the flames had already blocked the rear ones behind me, I went for the only other exit. I used my Stone magic to make my skin even harder and dove headfirst through the plate-gla.s.s window that lined the front of the saloon.

Crash!

I flew through the gla.s.s, which busted with a roar, and hit the wooden sidewalk outside. My momentum propelled me forward, and I rolled off the sidewalk, hit one of the water troughs, bounced off it, and ended up sprawled at an awkward angle in the dirt street. To add insult to injury, I hit the trough hard enough to rock the water inside, making a wave of it spill out over the top and cascade all over me, soaking me to the bone. In an instant, I was bitterly cold, despite the growing heat from the saloon fire. The shocking chill also made me lose my grip on my Stone magic. Sputtering, I staggered up and onto my feet, my knife still in my hand, swiping the wet, loose strands of hair back from my face. Brody was still out here, and I wouldn't put it past him to double back and attack me if he thought that he finally had the advantage- The giant's fist cracked into the side of my face.

The blow sent me stumbling back, and I ended up sitting a.s.s-down in the water trough, just like all the cowboys so comically had during the park's high-noon show yesterday.

"f.u.c.k taking you alive," Brody growled, raising his gun.

Before he could pull the trigger, I whipped up my hand and sent a spray of Ice daggers shooting out at him. The giant growled and turned to the side, ducking most of the blast. For such a big guy, he was quick, much quicker than me, especially when I was so waterlogged.

I tried to climb out of the trough so that I could stab him with my knife, but Brody finally wised up and quit trying to shoot me. He dropped his gun and surged forward, wrapping his hands around my throat. Given his bigger frame and far heavier weight, he easily shoved me back down into the trough, well under the water. My wrist banged against the side of the wood, and my knife slipped from my fingers and disappeared into the water. Without a weapon in my hand, all he had to do was hold me under long enough for me to pa.s.s out. Then he could either fish me out and take me to Tucker or drown me like he really wanted to.

I was betting on that second option.

I kicked and bucked and thrashed and heaved, but I was no match for Brody's superior strength, and I was too far down in the water to fight back. The only part of him that I could even reach were his hands and arms, and I couldn't do enough damage to any of those to kill him before he suffocated me.

So I quit thrashing, since all that was doing was wasting precious air and energy, and thought about how I could escape from the giant. Or at least get out of the water long enough to take a breath.

My Stone magic might save me from bullets, but it wouldn't do me any good in this situation, so I focused on my Ice power. I'd used up most of it freezing the giants in the street earlier, but I still had the reserves stored in my spider rune ring and matching necklace. But just freezing the water in the trough wouldn't do me any good, since I would still suffocate without any air, so I focused on the only other thing I could do with my Ice magic.

Break the wood around me.

No wood meant no trough and no container to hold all the frigid water. So I dropped my hands from Brody's, no longer trying to pry his fingers off my neck. Instead, I held my hands out wide so that I was touching both sides of the trough at once, my spider rune scars mashed up against the cold, slimy wood. Then I let loose with my Ice magic.

Even with the magic stored in my ring and pendant, it was still hard, especially since more and more white, gray, and black spots began to swim in front of my eyes. But I focused and managed to blast the wood on either side of me. The second I thought that it was frozen enough, I sent out another blast of Ice magic, cracking away all those cold crystals.

Come on, I thought. Break, d.a.m.n you, break!

But the wood was old, tough, and weathered, and it didn't want to bend, much less break outright. But I kept blasting it with my Ice magic over and over, and I finally forced a few cracks into the boards. At least, I thought I did. I couldn't see what I was doing since Brody was still holding me underwater, choking the life out of me. But I reached and clawed and sc.r.a.ped up all the Ice magic in my spider rune ring and pendant, blasting it outward through my hands, forcing it into the wood over and over- Whoosh!

The wood finally broke apart, the trough split into pieces, and water gushed everywhere. I barely managed to suck down a breath before Brody slipped and fell down on top of me, driving the air right back out of my lungs again with his heavy weight.

He came up sputtering, but he didn't loosen his grip on my throat, not even for an instant. "You b.i.t.c.h!" he yelled. "Why won't you just die already!"

I didn't bother wasting precious breath to answer him.

My Ice magic was gone, and I couldn't get to my knives, given the way that his body was pinning me in place. But I could reach one other weapon-the spare gun holstered to Brody's belt.

So I shoved my hand down in between us, trying to get to the gun, but Brody was wearing one of those oversize belt buckles that Roxy was so fond of, and it kept getting in the way of my cold, numb grasping fingers.

"What are you doing now?" he sneered. "Trying to cop a feel?"

I ignored his taunt, shoved my hand past the belt buckle, curled my fingers around the gun, and yanked on it as hard as I could.

Brody frowned, realizing that I was, in fact, not trying to cop a feel. "What the-"

The gun slid free of the holster. I snapped up the weapon, pressed it against the side of his head, and pulled the trigger.

CRACK!.

The sound seemed as loud as a stick of dynamite exploding in my ear, and blood sprayed all over my face, stinging my skin with its shocking warmth. For a moment, Brody's eyes widened, then everything inside him just-stopped. Without a sound, his hands fell away from my throat, and he pitched forward on top of me. I waited several seconds, but he didn't so much as twitch, and I felt more and more of his blood dripping down my face and neck. The giant was dead.

I heaved and grunted and finally managed to shove him off me before slowly getting to my feet. I dropped his gun in the mud, bent down, and put my hands on my knees, just trying to get my breath back. Brody was lying on his side, his fingers stretched out in my direction, his sightless eyes fixed on me in a silent accusation that I knew all too well.

I held my hand up, as though I were tipping the brim of an imaginary cowboy hat at him. "The outlaw Gin Blanco wins again."

26.

Something exploded inside the saloon, causing more flames to shoot out the busted storefront window and driving me away from Brody's body. The fire also reminded me that I still had work to do tonight. Now that Brody and the giants were dead, I needed to get to the hotel to help Silvio and the others save the rest of our friends.

I held up my hand, squinting against the glare, and looked out over the muddy mess around the water trough, searching for the knife that I'd lost in my fight with Brody. There it was, lying in a puddle, the hilt just visible through the thick, sloppy mud. I started to bend down and reach for it- Crack!

A shot rang out, and I screamed as a bullet blasted through my left arm, close to where I'd already been shot earlier today. Once again, elemental Fire erupted in and around the wound, burning hotter than the flames still shooting out of the saloon. Roxy hadn't come into the park with Brody and the giants, but she was here now, and the b.i.t.c.h had shot me again with one of her Fire-coated bullets.

I pitched forward, right into the middle of the large puddle, with mud splashing all over me. But the thick, gloppy mud actually doused the Fire, although the magic continued to burn and burn in the wound itself. Curses and snarls spewed out of my lips, and I fought to get the pain under control. Even as I slopped around, I kept expecting another bullet to tear through my body at any second- "Well," a familiar, snide voice called out, "that was certainly dramatic."

I raised my head to find Roxy and Hugh Tucker standing in the middle of Main Street.

And they weren't alone.

Finn, Bria, and Owen were behind them, standing off to the far side of the street. Their hands were bound tightly in front of them with thick la.s.sos, while black bandannas had been stuffed into their mouths to keep them quiet. My friends all looked tense and angry, but no visible cuts or bruises dotted their faces. It didn't seem as though they'd been tortured, and they all nodded at me, silently telling me that they were more or less okay. Relief flooded me. Good. That was good.

What wasn't good was the half a dozen giant guards that flanked my friends. Tucker might have sent Brody and his outlaw gang into the theme park after me, but the vampire had realized that he would need more men, and he'd planned accordingly. Still, I'd put a bigger dent in their numbers than I'd expected, and the odds were far more even now than they had been before.

Especially since the rest of the Blanco gang was lurking around here somewhere.

I didn't glance around, but I knew that Silvio, Phillip, Lorelei, and Ira had to be nearby. They would have seen Tucker leaving the hotel with our friends, and they would have followed him down here.

Unless the four of them were already dead-killed trying to rescue our friends at the hotel. . . .

Dread filled me, washing away my relief, but I pushed the emotion aside. I wasn't going to let myself think like that. I couldn't. Not if I wanted to rescue Finn, Bria, and Owen. Silvio and the others were waiting for the right time to strike, just as I'd asked them to. I had to believe that, just like I had to believe that we were all going to get out of this cursed theme park alive-and that I wasn't going to die in the next minute or two.

Roxy stepped forward, her revolver pointed at my head. Her gaze flicked to Brody's body, and rage flashed in her pale green eyes. "Get up," she growled, focusing on me again. "Slowly. Any sudden moves, and I'll put another bullet through you."

I slowly raised my hands up out of the mud and staggered to my feet. I risked a glance down and realized that my knife was still sticking up out of the puddle. I stepped in front of it so that they wouldn't see it lying on the ground.

Tucker looked at me, then at Brody lying dead in the street, and finally at the still-burning saloon. "Well, you've certainly made a mess of things here."

I grinned. "What can I say? I just can't help myself."

"She killed Brody," Roxy snapped. "So cut the cute chitchat and let me shoot the b.i.t.c.h again already."

Tucker gave her a cold glare. "Not until I get what I came here for."

The vampire snapped his fingers, and the men guarding Finn, Bria, and Owen raised their weapons, shoving their guns up against my friends' sides.

"Give me the jewels or my men will kill your precious little friends right in front of you," Tucker hissed.

I knew that he meant it, so I didn't hesitate. "Okay, okay. Just take it easy. I'll give you what you want. They're in one of my vest pockets. So tell Annie Oakley there to hold off her sharpshooting."

Roxy growled, but I gave her a sweet smile in return. Tucker jerked his head at Roxy, who lowered her gun to her side, although she kept her finger curled around the trigger, ready to snap the weapon up and shoot me the second I did anything suspicious.

I held my hands out to my sides, then slowly brought them in to my chest. Then, just as slowly, I unzipped one of the pockets on my wet, muddy, b.l.o.o.d.y silverstone vest, drew out a black velvet bag, and held it up where Tucker and Roxy could see it.

"Here are your pretty little rocks. Every single one of them."

"Go get them," Tucker snapped at Roxy.

She pressed her lips together, clearly p.i.s.sed at being ordered around like a simple servant, but she walked down the street toward me, her gun still in her hand, clearly itching to shoot me again. I tensed, thinking about reaching for my Stone magic to harden my skin, but I'd exhausted almost all the reserves in my spider rune ring and necklace. I'd only be able to protect myself one more time from her bullets, and I didn't want to waste the few sc.r.a.ps of magic that I had left. Not yet.

So I stood there and waited, wondering if Roxy was going to be stupid enough to get within arm's reach of me.

But she was too smart for that, and she stopped about ten feet away. "Throw the bag over here. No tricks, or your friends die."

"No tricks from me."

I gently tossed the bag about five feet in front of me, so that it landed in between us in the middle of the street. Roxy kept her gaze on me and her gun at the ready as she sidled forward, bent down, and scooped up the bag, but I didn't make a move. I wouldn't risk my friends' lives like that.

While Roxy straightened up, I looked past her. Finn and Bria both had tense, worried looks on their faces, and they kept glancing at the men guarding them, hoping for an opportunity to try to take them down.

Finally, I stared at Owen. He looked back at me, his violet eyes steady on my gray ones, not the least bit afraid, completely confident that I would get him and the others out of this. When he was sure that no one but me was looking at him, he winked, then turned his bound hands so that his fingers were pointing off to my left. I didn't look in that direction, but I knew what he was trying to tell me-that Silvio, Phillip, Lorelei, and Ira were in position and ready to help. Owen must have spotted them at the hotel.

My heart lifted. We still had a chance to get out of this. As much as I wanted to wink back at him, I kept my face blank, not wanting to give Tucker, Roxy, or the guards any inkling as to what was going on.

Roxy stepped back and tossed the black velvet bag over to Tucker, who easily caught it. The vampire hefted the bag in his hand, opened the drawstrings, and tipped the contents into his palm. Diamonds, sapphires, and rubies flashed under the lights and the flames from the saloon fire, and I could hear the stones softly singing about their beauty.

Satisfied, Tucker nodded, dropped the jewels back into the bag, and closed it up tight before slipping it into the pocket of his black suit jacket. "Why, Gin, you surprised me. You actually gave me what I wanted. Just like that."

I shrugged. "You didn't give me much of a choice."

"No, I didn't," Tucker murmured. "And I believe that this concludes our business for the evening." He grinned, and I knew what was coming next. "Actually, this concludes our business forever. Kill her."

He gestured with his hand. He hadn't even finished the motion before Roxy grinned, whipped around, and shot me.

I'd realized that this little scenario only ended one way-with Roxy shooting me-and I could have reached for my Stone magic to protect myself. But I chose not to. Because Roxy was p.i.s.sed that I'd killed Brody, and I was betting that she'd want to make me suffer before she finally ended me.

And I was right.

This bullet just grazed my right arm, but I still screamed, especially as the elemental Fire exploded again, searing my skin with its hot intensity. I staggered back and slapped at my arm, using my mud-covered fingers to snuff out the Fire as best I could. My friends surged forward, trying to shout through the bandannas stuffed in their mouths, but the guards held them in place. Tucker crossed his arms over his chest, amused by the whole spectacle.

"I could use you for target practice," Roxy said, spinning her revolver around and around in her hand. "But that wouldn't be very sporting of me. We're in the Old West, so let's settle things the old-fashioned way. How about a showdown, Gin? Just you and me and our guns in the middle of Main Street. Winner take all."

She didn't wait for me to answer. Instead, she gestured at Brody's gun, which was still sitting in the middle of the mud where I'd dropped it before. "Pick it up."

I hesitated, wondering how I could twist this to my advantage- Crack!

This time, the bullet grazed my outer left thigh. More elemental Fire seared my skin, and the stench of my burned flesh filled my nose, making my stomach roil. I gritted my teeth, slapped out the Fire as best I could, and pushed the pain away, locking it down tight. I could handle a little pain, a little Fire, a little charred skin. As long as I got to dish out a whole lot of death in return.

"I said pick it up," Roxy snarled. "Right f.u.c.king now."

"Okay, okay," I said. "You want your high-noon showdown, Sheriff Roxy? Fine by me."

Keeping one eye on Roxy, I limped over to where the gun was and slowly bent down, trying to pick it up without collapsing to the ground. I stretched out my fingers toward the gun- Crack!

A bullet hit the b.u.t.t of the gun, making the weapon skitter out of my reach and elemental Fire explode under my fingertips. I snarled and slapped my hand against my thigh, once again snuffing out the flames, although not the continued searing burn they left behind.

Laughter rang out, sounding almost as loud as the gunshots, as Roxy, Tucker, and the guards yukked it up at my expense. I looked up. Roxy grinned, a cruel light flashing in her eyes, and gestured for me to try again.

So I sighed and limped forward, realizing that I had no choice but to play her sick game. The only good thing about it was that everyone was focused on me now, including the giants guarding Finn, Bria, and Owen, who'd lowered their weapons from my friends' sides. I hoped my suffering would give Silvio and the others a chance to finally make their move.

But right now, I had another round of torture to endure, so I gritted my teeth and stretched my hand out toward Brody's gun again, knowing what was coming next- Crack!

More Fire, more burns on my skin, more laughter from Roxy, Tucker, and all the guards.