by Demi Dumond
My dragon had managed to knock the creature to the earth. Unable to help myself, I turned. It was getting back up, and it looked mad. With frightening speed and agility for a monster that size, it sprang to its feet and sprinted forward, swiping with a claw and opening up a gash down Tor’s breast.
Thick green fluid gushed out and Tor whined in pain, backing up. He sent more fire in all directions. One of the blasts hit another part of the academy, starting another plume of smoke and flame rising into the night air.
A blast of magic hit me out of nowhere. After hitting the ground, I looked up to see that the Headmaster had bested both Rafe and Ian. And he was standing there in his true form now, the form I had seen in the kill room.
I heard Malachai gasp at the sight. I reached out with my magic. Rafe and Ian were alive, but barely. There had to be something I could do.
Between all of us dropping like flies, the Headmaster, the monsters, Smythe, and that damn behemoth from hell, we were out of time and out of options.
I let the rage get the better of me, jumping up and assuming my magic stance. I still felt the fire of the spell and my dark magic within was ready to strike. The Headmaster felt it too, and he jumped out of the way.
The action hit me like a ton of bricks. For the briefest of moments, he looked scared. Afraid. Of me.
He rolled out of the way and then looked up at me, clearly wondering why I had not released any magic. I raised a hand, threatening him again. Again, he dodged. Huh.
All of a sudden, I didn’t want to kill him anymore. Well, that wasn’t true, I really did. But even more than that, I wanted to beat him. I got an idea.
While the Headmaster was still in a defensive posture, I grabbed the book.
Malachai smiled hopefully, then he saw the look on my face.
“Hey, whatever it is that you’re about to do, don’t.”
“I love you,” I said and hit the ground running. Straight for the cursed, overflowing liquid lake of the destroyed water fountain.
41
Keira
I ran as fast as I could. Right toward the hell behemoth, as it turned out. Maybe it was the fact that I was glowing due to the amount of dark magic I was using or maybe the creature could simply sense the amount of dark magic in me and pegged me as a threat. But for whatever reason, it halted its advance on the injured Tor.
“Keira, no!”
The new less than encouraging advice came from Professor Kiln who was standing over the very obviously lifeless Professor Smythe. Good for her.
A part of me wondered whether she was telling me not to attack the behemoth battling Tor or if she had figured out what it was that I was really intending to do.
“I can’t pull you out, Keira. You’ll never make it back!”
Okay, that answers that question, I thought as I ran. She thinks I shouldn’t do exactly what I’m about to. Even if it killed me, I still felt like it was the right thing to do.
All I remember from being in there the first time was quiet, peace, and power. It was the only way I’d be able to finish the spell.
“Keira!” It was Malachai’s voice and it was coming from behind me and it wasn’t followed by don’t do it, so I stopped and turned. Just in time for the Headmaster’s powerful blast of magic to rush past me. My heart raced. That blast would have undoubtedly killed me. And that amount of magic output would leave him vulnerable for a time.
Already, I heard Professor Kiln rallying people to move in while he was weak. It was a big risk for him to take. And I couldn’t help but believe that meant this could work.
Quickly taking off my shoes, I turned back toward the fountain now that the way was clear and ran right into the standing water.
42
Keira
The moment my feet hit the water, everything changed. I looked around and could still see everything going on in the courtyard around me.
Tor was battling the behemoth, Professor Kiln and my mates were fighting the Headmaster, and monsters were still scattered around here and there chasing students who weren’t paying attention.
I could see it all as if through a muted glass, and I could hear what was going on barely, but inside everything was quiet, just as I remembered.
Dark magic surged through me. Dark magic was everywhere in here. I could feel it entering me through the water, and the air was thick with it. A sense of peace washed over me with the power. It was so strong that I almost forgot why I was in here in the first place.
Hopefully for the last time, I opened the book. It opened to the correct page by itself and I found my place easily. The words came faster and stronger in here. The water below was now glowing from my own light, stretching from my bare feet outward.
The magic didn’t drain me or stress me, it filled my body and soul all the way up so that the words felt as natural as breathing.
The body parts the Headmaster had hidden around the academy began to tremble in the bag, their magic being undone. I flipped to the very last page of the spell. I was on the verge of weeping at the end of it, emotion spilling out of me.
I came to the last sentence but was interrupted by a noise. I turned to see a creature standing next to me. It was all white with coal black eyes that pierced through all of my peace and calm and made my insides shake.
It reeked of death and malice. Somehow it communicated that it wasn’t here for me. It pointed a sickle in its hand out at the courtyard. It was here for the Headmaster.
Then I understood. Professor Kiln had said this place was a portal in and of itself. But It wanted me to open a portal out into the time bubble and then back in. If I broke the time bubble before he did his job, the Headmaster would walk away free.
The spell wanted me to finish it. I dropped to my knees into the water from the exertion of resisting the spell, but I still wanted to cooperate with the creature. It felt like it wanted to right the horrible wrongs. No, it didn’t, it wanted soul ripping, violent revenge. The concept seemed familiar somehow. Then I remembered.
It was a Death Angel. The conversation I had with Malachai came back to me. If anything, Malachai had undersold how terrifying the creatures were.
My resolve to the spell was weakening and I cried out in pain. I did as the Death Angel asked and made the portal. It popped up in front of me, but forming it caused agonizing pain.
The Death Angel went through, and the portal immediately dematerialized. I watched as it glided into the courtyard.
As soon as the ghostly white figure appeared under the moonlit courtyard, everybody within sight of it fell to the ground. Some crawled away, others were too frightened to even move. The monsters backed into the forest or fled back inside the building.
The Headmaster started screaming. It was a high-pitched wailing so piteous that even I felt sorry for him. He turned and tried to run, but the Death Angel caught him easily. Then it cocked its face to one side and dragged a jagged finger down the Headmaster’s face. The cut was deep, exposing bone. I knew that the creature had marked the Headmaster, and that the mark was immortal.
The Headmaster’s squealing got worse. It was unintelligible and yet completely clear. It was the sound every animal made when the predator pounced, teeth and claws out. That moment when the prey knew it was all over.
I covered my ears trying to block out the awful noise that I knew I’d hear in my nightmares forever. If I ever got out of this water.
I felt the Death Angel approach, dragging the screaming Headmaster with it.
I focused every ounce of energy I had left into another portal. As soon as the Death Angel came through, I instinctively covered my eyes to avoid its wrath. I knew I wouldn’t be able to even breathe until it was gone.
“Keira! Save me! Help me, Keira. Please!” The Headmaster begged and screamed and cried and I kept my eyes closed. The seconds seemed like hours and then everything went quiet.
I felt myself collapse face forward into the water. Then I woke up, soaked and sputtering, but still breathing
. I had no idea how long I was out; I just knew I didn’t have a lot of time to lose. The spell was fading away. If I didn’t finish it now, it would be too late.
I fished the soggy book out of the standing water and flipped to the page. The book itself was ruined, most of it was unreadable.
This was the last gasp of magic for the ancient tome. The last sentence of the spell was still there, and I spat out the words. Then everything went dark again.
43
Keira
When I awoke, I was sure I was in the afterlife. The sun was out. I blinked into the blinding light. I saw grass and heard a bird sing. I smelled smoke.
After a moment, my eyes adjusted. Although I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing.
It looked like the zombie apocalypse, even in the daylight. Malachai, Rafe, and Ian came limping toward me.
Wait, I thought. If they’re injured, and the building’s on fire, maybe this wasn’t a dream. Maybe I’m not dead.
I turned behind me to see that Blood Moon Academy had in fact, nearly burned to the ground. I stared at the smoldering ashes and wondered how long I was unconscious. Then I wondered where the monsters were. And the behemoth. I looked around nervously, prepared to run if needed.
“You did it, Keira.”
The voice was Professor Kiln’s. I stared up at her. “You look like hell.”
That brought a round of laughter. Ian helped me up. I threw my arms around him. And then Malachai, and then Rafe, and then Ivy. I even threw my arms around Professor Kiln.
Then I couldn’t hold my question in any longer. “Where are the monsters?”
“That’s what I meant, Keira,” Professor Kiln said. “You did it. You popped the time bubble. Although, in most of my calculations, Julius would have gotten away and his monsters too. It was his power keeping them real. The minute he was gone, they ceased to be.”
I could see the question on Professor Kiln’s face, about the Death Angel.
I shook my head. “If you’re going to ask me how I got a Death Angel to take the Headmaster away, the answer is I didn’t. I feel like I barely survived as it was. I simply got out of the way.”
I felt something, a ripple in my magic. I looked to the tree line, where a shaken looking human Tor emerged.
I got up and sprinted to him, putting my arm around his shoulder and helping him walk back. Okay, I limped more than I sprinted, but there was no dimming the smile on my face.
“It looks good like that,” Tor said, pointing to the ash and embers that used to be Blood Moon Academy.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
That’s when I heard them. Sirens. The real, outside world. To be honest, I didn’t believe it for sure until I saw a group of people break through the front gate and come through to us.
The group embraced Rafe and Ivy. They were his pack. And if they had gotten through, and the fire trucks were on their way, that meant that we were free.
We were really, truly walking out of here and back to reality free.
Tor and I joined the others and smiled until the paramedics and firemen took us away to get checked out at the local hospital. We rode together.
“So, what’s next?” Malachai asked.
“Ice cream,” I said.
There was another round of laughter. “I know just the place,” Rafe said.
Epilogue
Keira
I crossed the floor and turned the closed sign to open. It felt like a milestone and I couldn’t contain my excitement.
I walked out onto the sidewalk so I could look up at the sign. My own ice cream shop, I couldn’t believe it.
A dark blue sign with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a glass bowl hung above the door with the name Love Ice Cream Shop.
“You did it,” Ivy said, smiling.
“We did it,” I corrected.
Then the two of us went inside to wait for customers. I did use a little bit of magic to make things easier on myself. I thought of it as my own secret ingredient.
Ivy and I wore the short white shorts and a blue navy summer top that we picked out together.
Before long we were engrossed in conversation when the door opened, ringing the bell. When I looked up, I couldn’t believe who our first customer was.
“Professor Kiln!” Ivy and I said in unison. Gone was the long black skirt and slouchy hat. She wore capri slacks and a summer tank. Her hair was in a ponytail that suited her.
“Please,” she said with a smile, “call me Sylvania.”
Ivy and I looked at each other. “Okay, Sylvania it is. What’ll it be?”
Professor Kiln, or Sylvania, looked over the dozen choices of ice cream and then ordered a scoop of peanut butter. I jumped into action.
“It suits you,” Sylvania said, looking me over.
“Ice cream?” I asked.
“Happiness. And I wish both of you girls loads of happiness.”
“Thanks, you too,” I said.
“Oh, and tell those hunks of men of yours hi, Keira,” she told me with a wink as I handed her the ice cream.
“Will do.”
“See you tomorrow, then.” She sauntered out without looking back.
Ivy and I couldn’t stop smiling.
Later that night, when I burst through the door of my new home, I couldn’t wait to tell Rafe, Ian, Malachai and Tor. They all chose jobs in the magical community.
Malachai swept me off my feet the minute I walked in and carried me into the kitchen where Rafe and Ian were arguing over a pot of spaghetti sauce that smelled like heaven. Tor came in from the bedroom and gave me a kiss.
“Congratulations, Love Ice Cream,” Malachai said. “How did your first day go?”
“Fantastic,” I said. “You guys will never in a million years guess who our very first customer was.”
“Don’t keep us waiting, love,” Ian said. “Who was it?”
“Professor Kiln.”
“No way,” Tor said. “That was nice. What’s she like outside the academy?”
“Nice. She made me and Ivy call her Sylvania. Said she’d be back tomorrow.”
Malachai put me down and Rafe let me taste the sauce. I looked around at my mates in our home and had to admit, my happily ever was better than I ever expected.
About the Author
Demi Dumond writes steamy adorable happily ever afters. She lives with her real life Prince Charming in the Rocky Mountains. Her stories are good for heating things up on cold winter nights. Connect with Demi below.