Teeth and Thorns
Instead, Francis’s large, calloused hand gently cupped the back of Noah's neck, forcing him to duck down just as a sharp, ozone-scented pop echoed through the room.
Above their heads, near the ceiling beams, the air warped like heat rising off asphalt. A faint, web-like grid of pale silver light shivered in the air for a fraction of a second, hummed with a high-pitched, agonizing frequency, and then shattered with a sound like snapping glass.
Sparks of dead static fell through the air, melting into nothingness before they touched the floor.
Noah gasped, staring up at the empty air where the light had been. The skin on his arms pricked up in goosebumps. "What... what was that?"