We spun like a torpedo above the fair. The farther I got her away, the less of a hold she had over Finn. She struggled against me, but it was pointless. I wasn’t letting her go. I wrapped my legs around her waist like a python as my wings continued to spiral us upward. I could no longer see anyone from below. Even the tents looked tiny from how high we were.
“Let me go,” she snarled.
I was bitter and angry for what she had done to Finn, Hannah, and so many countless others. The anger burned in me bright with a fire that was escaping me. Without even touching her with my palms, light poured out of me, lighting up the night sky. I pushed that light toward her.
“I am the judge, jury, and executioner. Your time here on earth is done.”
She let out a scream before she went limp.
I released her from my thighs then watched as she plummeted to the ground. Slowly descending between the buildings, I stopped to look at the headmistress lying there, bloody and broken on the ground. Her wings had turned to ash, and her lifeless eyes stared up into the night sky. Leaving her body there, I ran back to the carnival tent.
Slipping inside the side flap, I found Remy standing in front of the wendigo. She had backed him behind a light-up skull that was in the corner.
The humans were completely unaware that they weren’t alone while standing on a gravity-powered tipping floor in front of a dark corridor. The teenage boys laughed as the girls with them clung to their arms while screaming.
Quietly, I walked toward Finn, who took a step back.
I heard Remy whisper, “Easy, big guy.”
I held my hand to him. After a moment of hesitation, he took it. Then I led them out to the darkness outside.
“I think I can carry him.”
“But how?”
“My wings might not be as massive as the other fully blessed—at least not that I’ve seen—but I had no issue holding the headmistress up in the air.”
“Yeah, well, no offense, but the headmistress was a lot smaller than the commander. I can say past tense, right?”
I nodded. “You’ll be happy to know that her wings actually did turn to ash.”
Remy pumped her fist in the air. “Knew it.”
“We need to hurry before anyone finds the body.”
Once again, my wings came out as I put my arms around the wendigo’s waist. “Hold on to me.”
Finn obeyed as we shot up in the air.
It was definitely harder. My back muscles quickly began to ache, and sweat dripped from my brow. I barely made it outside of the town limits before I had to stop. As soon as my feet touched the ground in the woods, I released my hold on the wendigo. Then I took a few steps and landed on my knees. I barely had the energy to retract my wings.
Clammy hands wrapped around me, swinging me up into their arms. I stared up into the soulless eyes of the wendigo, knowing that Finn was in there somewhere. Without thought, I rested my head against his pale, veiny chest.
Remy appeared a few seconds later. “Hey, lost you guys.” She scanned us over. “This should be extremely creepy, but I’m enough of a weirdo that I can say, whatever floats your boat.”
I was exhausted. Besides the cat naps that consisted of a few minutes here and there over the last week, I had received very little sleep. My adrenaline had left me. So, now that I knew the headmistress could no longer control Finn, a deep sleep took me under. I would deal with the issues of the marked and the other wendigos when I woke.
Finn wore a come-hither smile, one that any woman over the age of eighteen and under seventy couldn’t ignore.
My feet carried me the short distance to him as I looked around at our scenery. We were under the night sky. Every star twinkled brightly as crickets made a musical symphony all around us. The grass lightly tickled my ankles.
“Did I dream walk to you?”
He nodded. “We’re close to the Empowered Academy. Remy insisted that we stop and take a break. The truth is that I think she is scared to show up with you unconscious in a wendigo’s arms, but she didn’t want to admit that. Neither one of us wanted to wake you up either. You haven’t been sleeping well, Maka.”
I rubbed a hand over my face. “Considering what has been going on, sleep had to take a backseat.”
“I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks.”
He reached out and took my hands in his. We both tilted our heads back and looked at the night sky. These rare moments of just quietness and togetherness were so far and few between that I wanted to stay here all night.
He looked down at me with a half-grin.
I raised my eyebrows. “What?”
“I can feel your happiness.”
“Can we just chill here for a while?”
He shook his head. “While I’m away from the Academy of Seraph, I’m leaving it vulnerable. And, while the headmistress’s death was a huge feat, it’s only the beginning of what we need to accomplish.”
I groaned as my head hit his chest. “Will it always be like this?”
With his warm hands, he rubbed my back. “Life is hard. Even if we take the easiest paths possible, life is hard. Might as well decide the paths we want to take from the beginning. Right now, you are saving hundreds of people from imprisonment. You are freeing the blessed from dark magic forms that they didn’t deserve or ask for. You’ve given the students and faculty of the Empowered Academy a new option—to join society or enroll at the Academy of Seraph. You are doing big things. Things that will help pave a path to fighting bigger adversaries than the headmistress.”
I sighed. “Thanks. I needed that pep talk.”
His chest rumbled. “Anytime, Maka, anytime. You ready to wake up and get back to work?”
“No, not really, but you’re right. Can you just hold me for a few more minutes?”
“There is nothing in this world that I’d rather do.”
I closed my eyes and rested against the man that I loved. I didn’t know what the remainder of tonight or tomorrow would bring, but knowing that the headmistress was one less thing I had to worry about had me relaxing.
I listened to Finn’s heartbeat and snuggled deeper into him. I couldn’t worry about the future. It was the right now that counted, and right now, was pretty damn awesome.
Remy gave me two hours of sleep before she was half on top of me, shaking me awake. Since she had made us a makeshift camp right outside of the academy, our journey forward wouldn’t be too long.
Walking back into the Empowered Academy with a huge-ass wendigo was comical. Some people ran, others took fighting stances, and a woman fainted. The animals patrolling the border growled at Finn.
Calling them to me, I commended them all for doing such an excellent job of protecting the academy. A snake slithered against my ankle, and I smiled as Remy screamed, “Voodoo shit!” before walking twenty feet ahead of me. I pet some deer and coyotes.
“Stay and eat or leave if you want.” My voice hummed with power. “Thank you so much for everything.” I smiled as a family of foxes ran down the mountain. I could just imagine them chasing each other in the lavender field.
I glanced beside me to see the wendigo with a stoic look on his face. Come to think about it, that was the only facial expression that they owned.
We entered the school entrance, where more students screamed or ran. Remy seemed to be taking a perverse satisfaction out of the startled students. I gave her a look as I closed the door behind us.
During all the commotion, Luna showed up. Her pink hair bounced around her in a cloud as she skipped every other step down the steps. She gave me a stiff wave as she eyed the wendigo looming over me. “Hi. So, I’m assuming this large creature is Finn.”
Remy snorted. “In the pale, veiny flesh.”
“Yep, and if we could get him out of view, that would be great.” I eyed a chunky kid to the side of us. His eyes were narrowed into slits as he stared at us. “I have a feeling we are not warmly accepted right now.”
Luna no
dded. “Of course. Let’s um … go to the gymnasium. Trev and Ezra are there with Hannah. She has been doing great, by the way. She turned back seven wendigos to their blessed form. So far, she has been able to turn more back than any of us without tiring, minus you, of course.”
“Really?” I asked as we followed behind Luna.
Students were getting out of our way in fear that the wendigo would get too close. Some more daring students gathered around on the stairwell. Their mouths were hung open, and they were in awe that the wendigo was following behind us.
“Yeah. I didn’t know your friend before she came here, but I can tell you that she is an amazing person. Resilient. She tries hard and has a great attitude. I’m glad that she is allowing me into her life. Friends, at least true friends, are rare to come by, and what I’ve seen so far from Hannah, she is a jewel in the midst of cubic zirconia.”
I smiled at her accurate description of my friend. Hannah was one of a kind.
Luna threw the golden doors open, and I stepped into the room with Remy and my wendigo trailing behind.
Ezra was covering a human up with a blanket when he noticed us. His movements stalled for a minute before he stood and fully took in the situation. “That’s one huge son of a—”
“Yep,” I interrupted. “This is Finn. Let’s all try to keep in mind that, while he is in this form, he must continually fight against his emotions.”
“A wendigo’s emotions are too kill or convert,” Ezra said.
I nodded. “Right, so we need to be mindful of how we talk around—”
Finn roared as he saw Trev approach the group.
Trev jumped back with his hands up in surrender. “What the hell is going on, guys?”
Finn was growing more and more agitated.
“Apparently, he has some unresolved issues with you kidnapping me. Right now is not the best time to work those out. I need to take him to my room.”
“That’s a bad idea,” Ezra said. “There are students here who will grow quite upset with a wendigo residing right next to them.”
I grabbed the wendigo’s arm. “I don’t care how upset people get.”
Trev had backed almost all the way out of the room, and Luna had stepped in front of him to try to get the wendigo’s attention off of him, but so far, it wasn’t working. At this point, Finn was having a hard time controlling his form. His black eyes were narrowed on Trev, and like a dog with a bone, he wasn’t letting go. He shrugged out of my grip way too easily and started stalking his prey.
“Just for now,” Remy started, “maybe we should take him to the cell that you were in.”
I cut my gaze to her.
“Just for now. Think about it. Everyone will feel safer, and if something happens like this”—she motioned to Trev and how there were four of us now between Finn and Trev, who was backed up to the golden door—“we won’t have to worry about him snapping.”
I put a hand on the wendigo’s chest. “Finn, I know that you are still in there. Back up.”
The wendigo didn’t look at me but continued to snarl at Trev.
“Trev, leave,” I barked.
We all shoved forward so Trev had enough room to open the door. As soon as he was gone, the wendigo quieted down, and we all breathed a little easier.
I patted the milky white flesh of the wendigo. “All right, big guy, let’s get you settled below.”
Remy gave me a nod. She knew that I didn’t want Finn stuck in a cell, but the truth was, while he was in this form, he was a wendigo. The man I loved might be fighting his natural desires while a wendigo, but at the end of the day, he was just that—a wendigo.
I started to pull Finn through the golden doors, but he wouldn’t budge. He threw my arm off and stalked toward the glass doors, where he paced in front of them.
“He doesn’t want to leave if he thinks we are going to convert more wendigos into the blessed,” I said to no one in particular. “He is convinced that I will die if he isn’t here to protect me.”
“Then he stays,” Hannah stated simply.
Trev opened the golden doors and barely poked his head in. “Why isn’t he coming out?”
“Change of plans, brother,” Ezra said. “The wendigo stays.”
I walked to the glass doors and pulled Finn to the side. “Can you sit here and not interfere unless you are needed?”
When the wendigo tilted his head, the veins on his neck were more pronounced through his pale skin. Black, soulless eyes that I was pretty sure were incapable of blinking stared at me for what seemed like forever. Finally, the wendigo went to the wall and crouched down.
I gave him a nod. “Make yourself comfortable. We will be here for a while.”
I walked back to the group by the golden doors. “Come in, Trev.”
Luna opened the door. “I suggest going nowhere near that wendigo.”
Trev shrugged like it wasn’t that big of a deal. “I have the Flaming Sword in me.”
“I wouldn’t be too overconfident. I believe that Finn is powerful enough that he could make the Flaming Sword combust inside of us.”
Luna looked over at the crouched wendigo that looked like a gargoyle ready to take flight at any minute and cleared her throat. “Do you think the dream you talked about … the one where it was predicted that a wendigo would almost be your undoing … do you think it’s him?”
Remy shook her head. “No way. If it were Finn in that prediction, he would have allowed Gabriella to turn him back into the blessed. I think he is going to be her saving grace.”
“All of our saving graces,” I said.
Ezra shuddered. “I really don’t like being saved, but if I must, I’d prefer it to be some hot woman, not … you know.” He looked over at the wendigo. “No offense, man.”
“Can he actually understand us?” Trev asked.
Remy sighed. “So hot when they aren’t talking.”
I couldn’t help the laughter that poured out of me. If humanity could see that this group of teenagers was in charge of saving the world, they would go ahead and call their priests to have their last rites said over them.
After a few minutes, we decided which pair was going to work on the wendigos first. It was agreed that, no matter what, I was to stay inside the gymnasium just in case I needed to calm Finn down.
We all worked tirelessly with one goal in mind—free the blessed and don’t get killed in the process. Each of us understood that Camaella was on her way to the Academy of Seraph. We had to hurry if we had any hopes of going up against her and her army of demons.
Day five started like the last four but took a turn for the worst. The academy understood that no one was allowed, other than the six of us, in the gymnasium, so when a young freshman burst through the doors, we were all startled.
The wendigo that Luna had been converting got around her in her distraction and was heading toward the doors. Ezra was running for the wendigo as I was throwing the startled freshman out of the way when the wendigo was tackled to the ground by a sandstorm of power. Finn snarled and punched the wendigo as if my life depended on it.
I tried to stop him. “Finn, let go. I’ve got this.”
After the fourth hit, I put my body between the wendigo and Finn’s fist. The air in the room changed when Finn punched the ground next to my head. I stared up into the massive wendigo’s black eyes as I watched it fight to get back in control.
“Finn, I know you are in there, and I need you to listen to me. Please. Thank you for helping us, but I need you to stop now. I can’t change the wendigo back into the blessed if you kill him, or her, first.” I watched as he took deep breaths. He was in there, and he was fighting. I reached up and laid a hand on the wendigo’s cheek. “Thank you for helping me, but I got this.”
The wendigo underneath me started fighting for control, causing Finn to struggle.
“Go over to your corner, Finn.” Not waiting to see if he did or not, I rolled over, basically laying on top of the wendigo. Ezra had one arm
pinned down with his boot heel, and Luna was kneeling on the other arm.
I placed my palm on the wendigo and waited for it to warm. Once the wendigo stopped struggling, I said, “Give it a blanket.”
When Luna jumped up to get one, I turned to the freshman who was white as a sheet. His hair stuck up every which way, and his too big clothes hung on his small frame. His dilated pupils, along with his irregular breathing, suggested that he was in shock, but I didn’t care.
“What the hell do you think you were doing?” I asked. “Did you not understand the first three times that we told everyone in this academy that they were not to come in this room?”
Ezra came up beside me. “You better have a damn good excuse as to why you are in here.”
We watched as the boy’s mouth opened and closed and his eyes went to the corner where Finn was pacing beside the glass doors.
Getting in his space, I said, “Eyes on me. You have three seconds to tell me why you are here.”
“I’m … I’m sorry,” he said. “I had a dream, and it was so real that I thought I should tell someone.”
I put my hands on my hips. “A dream?”
“Well, no, not really.”
Finn made a sound somewhere behind me that sounded like a roar.
“Which was it? A dream or not? Spit it out,” I said.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have come here,” the boy said.
“You think?” Ezra snapped. “What’s your name?”
“Kota.”
My patience was waning. We had so many more wendigos that needed to be changed and not enough time. “Kota, tell me about this dream of yours.”
He nodded. “Sometimes, I see things that are like flashes, but they aren’t really dreams. I don’t know how to describe them.” He was rambling.
Grabbing his arm, I closed my eyes as I tried to pick up on what he had seen. My power swirled around me then toward Kota as it gently attempted to pluck the information that I needed from him.
I saw him standing in the cafeteria line. He was making jokes with his only, and best, friend when the tray slipped from his hands. Visions of a beautiful fallen angel came into his mind. She had an army behind her as she visited with the Prince of Darkness. The meeting left her feeling desperate. She was running out of time. That was … until she found out about the wendigos that the headmistress had made. It seemed that, even in death, Mrs. Fields wasn’t done with her treachery.
Captured: Academy of the Seraph Page 18