focus vs fear

My own heart was beating a lot faster than it had been a moment ago. Ghouls were no joke. And a close, confined space like this was the worst possible situation in which a wizard could take them on. My spell-armored duster wouldn’t be of much help when one of them was chewing on my head. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve faced danger. When your life is under threat and you know it, you’re scared, end of story.
Fear—real, silvery, adrenaline-charged fear—rocketed through me.
“Um,” I said, not panicking. “We . . .”
I was going to say “back up.” I really was. But Tessa was staring at me with a smug, gloating expression on her face, and I was suddenly infuriated. Tessa was special. The last time I’d seen her, she’d put a good man in the hospital for months and left him permanently maimed. It was a miracle, literally, that he’d lived at all.
She hurt my friend.
The Winter surged up inside me in time with my rage, and I suddenly put a much higher priority on the fact that I still owed her for that.
“Get behind me and stay close,” I growled instead.
“What?” Harvey blurted.
I had the satisfaction of seeing Tessa’s gloating expression falter for a fraction of a second, tipped off by something in my face, maybe, before I dropped my shield, extended my staff in my right hand, called upon Winter, and snarled, “Infriga!”


Skin Game Chapter 18, Page 128