Read Modern Sorcery: A Jonathan Shade Novel for Free Online

semi truck barreled through the intersection, and the Escort screeched to a halt.   I started my car and gunned the engine.   The tires barked as I raced toward them in my Firebird.   The Escort started to make a left turn, but the warrior leaped onto the roof.   I kept racing toward them as I watched him raise the sword and drive it through the roof of the car into the pizza guy’s head.
     
    The car swerved wildly and bounced up over the curb, plowing through a wooden fence.   The warrior flew off the roof, leaving his sword stuck through the car and the pizza guy’s skull, and the car slammed into a tree.   Steam hissed out from under the crumpled hood.
     
    The warrior rose and started toward the Escort.   I gunned the engine, bounced over the curb and through the smashed section of fence, and plowed into the warrior.   His body flipped up like a rag doll and came down behind me.   I did a one-eighty and drove over him again.
     
    The passenger door swung open, and Naomi staggered out.   Blood dripped from her forehead.   I bolted from my car and helped her to the passenger side of the Firebird.
     
    “You’re going to be all right,” I said.   “I’ll get you to a hospital.”   I glanced at the pizza guy.   He was dead.
     
    I put Naomi into the passenger seat, and as I raced around to the driver’s side, I saw the warrior sit up.
     
    “You have got to be shitting me,” I said.
     
    I leaped into the car, threw it into reverse, and stomped on the accelerator.   Grass and dirt flew forward as we raced backward and over the warrior a third time.   I heard a satisfying thunk as the back of my car smacked into him.   I shifted to drive and bounced over the bastard a fourth time for good measure and aimed for the street.
     
    I heard sirens in the distance.
     
    When I looked into the rearview mirror, I saw the warrior sit up again, but by then, we were on the road.   The Firebird skidded a bit when it hit pavement, but the tires caught and we raced down the street.
     
    “Well,” I said.   “That was fun.”
     
    “Seems like old times,” Naomi said.
     
    “Nearest hospital is what, Porter?”
     
    She shook her head.   “I don’t need a hospital.   I’m just a bit shaken.”
     
    I rubbed my aching ribs and thought about the poor pizza guy.   There was nothing I could do for him, of course, but he gave his life to try to get Naomi to safety.   It felt wrong to just leave him there.   I forced myself to consider things I could control.   I glanced at Naomi, who stared out the window, holding one hand to her bleeding forehead.
     
    “So the Terminator back there was after some crystals?   Care to tell me about them?”
     
    “I don’t have them.”
     
    “That doesn’t help me,” I said.
     
    “I didn’t hire you to help with this,” Naomi said.   “I hired you to prove my father innocent.”
     
    “Seems to me this is a little bigger than that.   You’re going to need help.   That was a Sekutar warrior back there.”
     
    Naomi nodded.
     
    “So you need my help.   Talk to me.   Tell me about the crystals.”
     
    She hesitated.
     
    “Tell me,” I said.
     
    “Fine.   My father was the custodian of one of three crystals that were supposed to hold part of an ancient sorcerer’s soul, but there isn’t much to tell you now because they were destroyed.”
     
    “How and when?”
     
    She shrugged.   “I wouldn’t know.”
     
    “So for all you know, they weren’t destroyed.”
     
    I stopped at a red light and glanced in the rearview, half expecting to see the warrior.
     
    “They were destroyed,” Naomi said.   “Trust me on that.”
     
    “In that case, do you know who might want these crystals?   If we can nail that down, we might be able to figure out who sicced Captain Indestructible on us.”
     
    “Most wizards would want them if they knew they existed, but conventional wisdom is that they’re a myth.”
     
    In my experience, mythology