Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 29

Chapter 29

The instant Lyra dropped onto the pavilion ridge, a tile under her foot came loose.

Clack.

Down below, three Wraiths’ ears shot straight up. Wait-weren’t their ears supposed to be off?

No time to think. Lyra flattened herself against the ridge, fingers jammed into the gaps between tiles.

A hook-scythe came down.

The first blow slammed into the pavilion’s east pillar and blasted splinters into the air.

The second sheared off a corner of the flying eave; tiles cracked and tumbled down.

The third one hit somewhere she couldn’t see. With a sharp crack, the whole pavilion lurched to the right.

Lyra didn’t move. She bit down on the card, fingers locked into the tile seams, Another wave of attacks came through, smashing apart everything around the pavilion that could be smashed.

Then it stopped.

The Wraiths circled below for a moment, then all moved off together in the same direction.

The pavilion was still swaying. The left pillar had snapped through, the right one was cracked halfway, and the whole roof had sagged a little, the gaps between the tiles widening.

Barely holding together-but still standing.

Lyra counted out twenty seconds. Once she was sure every Wraith was far away, she pulled the card out of her mouth.

“Sss-

The moment she let her guard down, the pain hit her all at once.

There was a wound on her back from the hook-scythe’s pressure wave. The cloth had stuck to her skin, and pulling it free started the bleeding again.

Her waist was burning too.

She glanced down-her clothes were torn open, blood seeping down through the fabric.

“Tch.”

She ignored the wounds and flipped the card over to read it.

[Weapon Enhancement Card]

[Effect: Enhance a weapon to grant it a special property.]

[Uses: 1]

[Note: Only effective on weapon-type items.]

Lyra stared at the words “weapon-type items,” her mouth twitching. She rummaged through her clothes-rag doll, two pebbles, Transform Card, compass. The Veilmist had already absorbed into her body.

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Chapter 29

A weapon? She didn’t have one.

She pulled out the rag doll and held it up to her face. “Do you count as a weapon?” The doll’s black button eyes stared back No answer.

“Let’s try.” Lyra pressed the Weapon Enhancement Card against the rag doll. Nothing. She tried again, pushing down harder. Still nothing.

“Fine. You’re not a weapon.” She stuffed the doll back into her shirt and pulled out the Transform Card. Pressed it on. No

reaction.

The compass. Nothing. She closed her eyes and tried enhancing the Veilmist ability inside her. Still nothing.

“What a picky little card.”

Lyra tucked the Enhancement Card away and sat on the roof ridge, thinking. She didn’t have a weapon-but the Wraiths did.

Her eyes narrowed. She fished out the Transform Card and checked the remaining uses. Nine.

“When I transform, the hook-scythe comes with the form,” she murmured. “So does the transformed scythe count as my weapon? And if I can enhance it…”

The more she thought about it, the more workable it sounded. Lyra rolled onto her back on the ridge and stared up at the clouds.

“Doing it.” She held up the card. “Transform Card. Activate.”

Red light bloomed from the card and washed over her. Skin gray, nails long, eyes gone, ears flaring open. A hook-scythe appeared in her hand.

Lyra gripped the handle-heavy, the iron blade rust-streaked. She drew a deep breath and pressed the Weapon Enhancement Card against it.

This time the card finally lit up. Light poured from it into the scythe, layer after layer of brilliance flowing across the blade. The handle shuddered. Her palm went hot, as if something were sliding through her skin and into her body.

“Hummmm-

The hook-scythe changed. It shrank a full size, lost most of its weight, and the blade turned cold silver. The tip narrowed, far sharper than before.

Lyra held it up. The scythe spun in her hand-ridiculously natural. There was a strange link between her and the weapon. like an invisible thread running from her palm to the blade.

She willed it to shrink. The scythe contracted to dagger size. She willed it bigger. It snapped back to its original length.

Bigger. Bigger. Bigger…

“Whoa.” Staring at the 130-foot blade in her hand, Lyra couldn’t help but marvel.

[Ding] A System Panel popped up.

[Weapon Name: (Pending)]

[Sharpness: B]

[Durability: A]

Chapter 29

[Special Properties: Variable size, upgradable]

Lyra stared at the word “Pending” and tapped her fingers twice against the handle.

“What should I call you?”

She thought for a beat. “Easy peasy, whatever I please… Wraithslayer it is.”

[Weapon Named: Wraithslayer]

Lyra shrank Wraithslayer down to palm-size and tucked it into her waistband.

She turned to look across the garden. Ten Wraiths were moving east, fast and in tight formation, steps in perfect lockstop.

Exactly like the last round-like they’d just locked onto a player’s position and were all converging on it.

Lyra pulled out the compass. Sure enough, the needle pointed the same direction the Wraiths were heading. Not that she had time to test the compass right now.

“Time to move.” She sat up on the ridge and glanced down at the bloodstains on her clothes. The fabric clung to the wound -painful to peel. Whatever.

She drew Wraithslayer from her waistband, let it grow back to full scythe size, and hefted it. Light. Smooth.

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