“Our orders are to fall back.”
Retreating sucked, and I wasn’t alone in my dismay. A few other students grumbled under their breath.
Minutes ticked by, and it seemed like we’d barely set up our defensive position when Simon and Sebastian rejoined us. The latter’s left eye was swollen shut, but I didn’t see any blood or scratches.
“We have everyone?” Simon asked.
“Yes,” Gabe replied. “What happened out there?”
“He got away,” Sebastian said tersely while Simon tended to his swollen eye.
I swallowed, stomach churning. So many sentinels, and this guy had still managed to escape.
“Last thing we saw was the illusion he cast,” I ventured, hoping for more details.
Sebastian snorted. “It was fancy spelllwork. He made some of us look like him. That’s how I got this pretty face. Petrov punched me good.”
I winced.
Eventually the SBA regained control of the park, but looking at the bodies strewing the ground made me sick. I didn’t see any friends, just a few familiar faces, and way too many civilians. This Plague Doctor, whoever they were, didn’t care about innocent casualties. They’d gone for maximum damage and destruction.
Simon left our group and started barking out orders to everyone around us. A few sentinels were sent back to campus ahead of the rest to deliver bodies to the research team. Anyone injured, even a scratch, was sent to a quarantine zone set up on the field.
“What’s our assignment?” I asked Gabriel once he flew down to my side and took his human shape.
“Containment. Now that the immediate danger is past, the media is going to descend like a wake of vultures. We can’t hide this, not really, but we can make damn sure no plucky reporter sneaks past to get a close-up scoop.”
Somewhere close to 2 a.m., Gabe and I were finally dismissed from the scene, but instead of taking a quick portal back, we received the illustrious duty of returning a campus car to the university. Not that I minded. In fact, I actually looked forward to the hour of unwinding.
Especially since Sam had returned Gabe’s call an hour after everything went down. He and Ashley hadn’t even gone to the festival, deciding to kick back at her place instead for Netflix and Chill.
Basically, he’d turned his phone off to bone his girl and had no idea Gabriel was overwrought with fear for him.
Gabe reached across the center console and squeezed my leg. “You did good today. Dain will be proud.”
“I need to get some more lessons from him using the wind. If it wasn’t for Holly helping me control it, I might have made things worse.”
“Well, at least you have the wisdom to admit as much. You wouldn’t have made the attempt if you thought you’d mess it up. That’s growth right there, babe.”
“Growth, huh? Are you saying I mindlessly charge into danger?”
He shot me a knowing glance and I couldn’t help but laugh, though I ducked my head. Truth was, charging ahead without thinking was my fatal flaw.
“I’m trying to do better.”
“I know you are,” he said. “And—”
Both our phones trilled with an incoming alert. My stomach lurched as I fumbled mine from my pocket with one hand.
“Please tell me it’s not another attack.”
“It’s…” I swallowed back the sour taste rising in my throat and read the message a second time. “Oh no.”
“What?”
“A raven caught the virus and went berserk,” I relayed.
“What?” Gabe glanced sideways at me, eyes wide. “Who?”
“I don’t know. That’s all it says. They’re putting the school on full lockdown.”
His lips thinned and he pressed his foot to the gas pedal. Our speed picked up, going from sixty to seventy, then to eighty. I tightened my glamour around the car so we could speed through without getting caught. If any fae police caught on to us this time, we’d at least have a valid excuse to ignore them.
A sentinel passed us through at the campus gate. It was a rare sight to see them closed, and watching them shut behind us formed a cold knot of dread in the pit of my stomach. Gabe hadn’t said a word since the alert, his features tight with worry. He pulled into the staff lot behind the sentinel office and we both hurried from the car.
With only a student on watch in the office manning the desk, Gabe and I headed to the next best place to get information. He walked across campus at a quick pace, forcing me to almost jog to keep up with his longer strides, but I didn’t complain. I shared the same fear. The same worries.
Someone we knew had been infected.
An eerie silence hung over the campus quad. Normally there were students out at all hours, but not tonight. One thing I did notice was that every light in the Magical Sciences building was on.
No one stopped us at the front doors. No one even crossed our path in the hallway. We didn’t meet any resistance until we stepped through a set of double doors into the alchemy lab, where a woman in a lab coat blocked our way.
“You can’t be here. This is a quarantine zone.”
Behind her, the large room had been sectioned off with transparent walls I didn’t recall being there before. People in full hazmat suits worked over vials in one area.
“It’s okay, Leslie, I’ll show them out,” Ben said as he stepped over.
“I’m not going anywhere until I know what the hell happened.”
Ben stood firm in the face of Gabriel’s angry frustration. “Chill, man. I’ll tell you what I know.” He looked over his shoulder at the mage staring us down. “C’mon, let’s get some air.”
I didn’t have to drag Gabe, not when Ben was willing to spill the beans about the clusterfuck that had the school on hard lockdown. No one spoke until we stepped out into the inner courtyard. Ben stepped over to one of the picnic benches and took a seat on the table.
“We were going over the samples the first team brought back from Millennium Park when the alarm went off,” Ben began. “It was crazy. One of the sentinels went feral and attacked a freshman before we managed to pull him off her.”
The blood in my veins felt like it had turned to ice water. “But we vaccinated everyone. You guys said you had a cure.”
“Well, whatever this is, it’s a new variant of the virus we saw before.”
Gabe face went pale. “A new strain. Then anyone who was injured during that assault is at risk.”
“Exactly. In fact, the only reason you two weren’t hustled into quarantine is because Simon already vouched that you both escaped unscathed, but a few others still on-site are under observation.”
“God.” I sat on a bench and tried to think back, to recall if anyone we knew had been hurt.
“There’s more,” Ben added, the solemn tone of his voice making my gaze snap to his face. “It’s infecting vampires now, too. The girl’s blood already shows signs of producing a tremendous number of antibodies to the virus. The problem is, they replicate too quickly and are overwhelming her immune system. You see, usually when a shifter contracts an illness, you develop antibodies like any human, but at an accelerated speed. No big deal, right? That’s happening here, but the viral bodies are reproducing even faster because they’re attaching to shifter T-cells. Think of it like HIV on magical steroids with the ability to turn you into a mindless beast.”
“Fuck,” Gabe said.
“Yeah. It’s a designer virus engineered to take out shifters and vampires, using your regenerative abilities against you. Holly had a theory and we put the girl in the MRI for a look at her salivary glands, and they’re about 25% larger.”
“He’s using their magical traits against them,” I said, horrified. Something about that plucked at my thoughts, like an epiphany waiting to be born.
Ben nodded. “Yeah. This guy, he knows what he’s doing. He’s brilliant, really. I mean, we already said that, but the Kostas are dumbfounded. This is a completely different strain. It still doesn’t affect magical blood
, but the viral replication is about ten times faster. We haven’t even started on the exploding bodies yet.”
“And the raven? Gabe asked, his voice short and clipped. “Is it— Is he—?”
“Heavily sedated and deteriorating fast,” Ben replied, his voice subdued. “Tabatha doesn’t think he’ll survive the night. Alessandro hasn’t said much, but I’m pretty sure he agrees. They’re both in there doing everything they can.”
Gabe’s breath hitched. His hands clenched at his side and I laid my hand against his arm, then turned to Ben and asked the question my mate couldn’t bear to ask himself. “It’s Stark, isn’t it?”
“Huh?” Ben blinked, then understanding dawned in his eyes. He quickly waved both hands. “Oh fuck, dude, no. It’s not Stark. Crap, sorry, I should have led with that.”
Relief flooded Gabriel’s face. His shoulders sagged and his eyes closed. “Thank you. I haven’t been able to get ahold of him and I know he was in that first group back.”
“He’s being seen, but he’s fine. Just a goose egg on his head and a nice shiner.”
I didn’t think Gabriel could handle losing another friend. All of his buddies were dropping like flies. When I stepped in and hugged him tight, he returned my embrace with one of his own, burying his face against my hair. He breathed quietly, calming himself. “Thanks, Sky.”
“Stark’s gonna be okay,” I told him again. “But if not Stark, then who?”
“One of the ravens who came in from Rockford earlier this week to help out. Robert Casey.”
“Who was the student he attacked?”
“Billie Gilroy. Riordan is with her parents right now.”
The poor girl. I couldn’t begin to imagine what her family was about to go through. “Is there anything we can do? Do you guys need anything? Food? Anything? I think Gabe and I can dart over to pick up takeout.”
Ben shook his head. “They keep us stocked up on snacks. Best thing you can do for us right now, really, is to keep people calm and aware of the danger.”
“Thanks, Ben,” I said.
“Yeah, thanks. I’m sorry for how I barged in.”
“Don’t worry about it, man, I understand. I’d have been freaked out too if I thought one of my friends had been infected. But I should get back inside. We’re going to have to start all over again to create a new vaccine for this stuff.”
A new vaccine for a new strain. I rubbed my face. “Of course. We’ll get—wait. I got it!”
“Got what?” Ben asked, brows knitting close together.
“The Plague Doctor is working with Tricia, right? At least, that’s what the current suspicion has become. That means he has ample supply of vampire mage blood for his experiments.”
Ben stared at me. “Yeah. We kind of figured as much. Well, Holly did anyway.”
“Oh.” I should have realized my brainiac friends would have already come to that conclusion.
“She makes me feel like an idiot when it comes to the lab. But right now, they’re running some trials on a cure using Holly’s blood since she’s the only vampire mage on campus right now.”
“Does that mean Billie has a chance?”
“A slight one. Don’t mention that though. If the Plague Doctor is part of the Hidden Court, we don’t want sympathizers taking the news back to him.”
We split ways, Ben heading back to the lab while Gabe and I flew off to his apartment. Ama chirped angrily at us from her cage, but we were both too tired to give her the attention she deserved.
I let her out to fly around and graze from our plants on her own. If I was a stepmother, I was a shitty one. Gabe only sighed and dropped onto the sofa.
He flipped on the television and together, we watched the governor declare martial law. Not even the vampire and ghoul attacks my freshman year had caused this much of a reaction among the humans, leading me to wonder just what the hell was going to happen next.
20
Magical Creatures, the Endangered Species
The gang and I camped out in the main courtyard and watched the people in power coming and going. Thanks to Pilar’s pedigreed upbringing, she recognized members of the school board and a couple of mages belonging to the Council of Sages.
Then a gleaming white SUV pulled up, and the three hulking figures who stepped out immediately drew the attention of everyone around. Two men and a woman, all of them tall and fit as elite Hollywood physical trainers. One of them could have been a brown Thanos, only instead of snapping, he’d just crush you under his thumb.
“Holy shit.” Anji’s eyes rounded, large as saucers. “That’s the Great Fenrir.”
“Seriously?” Holly’s head swiveled around. “Whoa. That is a huge dude.”
“He’s a polar bear,” Anji whispered. “They’re rare.”
“Wait, if he’s here then that means…” As if my thoughts cued him, Rodrigo stepped from the driver’s side of the vehicle. He hadn’t changed much since the summer, except for the addition of a beard. Too bad it wasn’t the appropriate time to go say hello.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, he’s headed this way,” Anji whispered in a panic.
Regretfully, I didn’t know much about shifter rules and culture. Did we need to bow? Avert our gazes in a show of submission? Crap, why hadn’t I asked Gabe these sorts of things?
Because I had no idea the Great Fenrir himself would be on our campus.
The shifter entourage drew closer, and as a group we apparently arrived at a mutual decision to “stare in awed silence.” Except for Anji. She murmured a quiet greeting and dipped her head.
The shifters stopped.
“Good evening,” the shifter leader said, his accent unfamiliar but not so thick that we couldn’t understand him.
Anji leapt to her feet so fast I thought her pants had caught fire. “Good evening, sir. Something I—we can help you with? I can show you to the provost’s office if you like.”
The Great Fenrir smiled, his teeth bright in his sun-weathered face. “I have someone to show me the way, but thank you. I wished to ask how you were all holding up. Times are dark and fear is like a foul smoke the air.”
“You stumbled across a tough bunch,” Rodrigo said, stepping forward. “I doubt they’re half as scared as they should be. How’s it going, short stuff?”
“Hey, big guy.” I grinned and stood, but my gaze flicked from my friend to his boss. The Great Fenrir studied me and I didn’t miss the way his nostrils flared. He had my scent, which meant he also had Gabriel’s since bonded mates smelled similar no matter how long they were apart.
“Nanoq, please allow me to introduce Skylar, Pilar, Liadan, Anji, Ben, and Holly.”
“Ah, I know these names.”
“All our names?” Ben squeaked.
Nanoq smiled again. Then he took a seat, right there on the ground, and was still taller than the rest of us sitting on the bench. The two other shifters with him moved off a few paces, but Rodrigo scooted in between me and Pilar. She didn’t make her usual disgusted sound.
“Rodrigo has spoken of you all, but your names are also known to me because you have all helped with this plague in one way or another.”
Pilar shifted uncomfortably. “Not all of us.”
“Untrue, young miss,” the massive bear disagreed. “Now, more than ever, the fae need to bring hope. Your people serve on your own battlefield.” Then his gaze swept to me and settled there. “And you serve in ours. Interesting.”
“Sky is an oddity, but she’s our oddity,” Rodrigo said as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
“Yes, I am told celebrations are in order. Once the city is safe.” His nostrils flared again. “Where is your mate?”
“Yeah, where is Gabe?”
I hesitated to answer, but Anji gave me a nudge and spoke up without batting a lash. “He went to make a beer run with two other sentinels across state lines into Indiana. Simon’s babysitting him and Sebastian since Chief Powers and Governor Kline decided licensed sentinels need to travel
in groups of three or more.”
Rodrigo snorted out a laugh. “I’m not at all surprised that those two are thinking about their beer guts at a time like this. Shit, maybe I should text in a request.” He pulled out his phone and swiped out a message to Gabriel.
To my surprise, Nanoq only smiled. “After everything that happened, I think some drinks are deserved.”
“Can’t disagree with you there.”
Nanoq rose, towering over us. “Please ask him to save one for me as well. For now, I should meet with the provost. I see your king has already arrived.”
Either King Oberon had dampened down his usual majestic and magical entrance, or I’d been too distracted by the Great Fenrir to notice. Our faerie liege and his usual two attendants, Dain and Eldan, crossed the courtyard on the northern side.
“We will speak again, Skylar.”
Classes may as well have been cancelled the next day, because no one could focus on studies. None of us knew if Billie the vampire had survived, and the campus admin wouldn’t talk about it, telling us to wait until the assembly for answers.
By the time my friends and I arrived at the auditorium, almost every seat had been filled, making it hard to find spots all together. The atmosphere inside was a chaotic mix of excitement, anticipation, and apprehension. Not many people had the opportunity to see our great leaders gathered in one place. Events like that were reserved for the upper crust of our community.
Provost Riordan stepped up to the mic set at center stage. Silence fell over the chamber.
“I will keep this brief,” she began, her powerful voice expanding to fill the open space without a microphone. “You are all aware of the attacks perpetrated by this…Plague Doctor. The threat endangers us all, human and supernatural alike. We have all spoken at length. The university shall, for the moment, remain operational.”
A few murmurs arose from the crowd. Behind me, I overheard a few people whispering about how their parents wanted them to transfer to the academy in Shangri-La.
“Now, more than ever, it is imperative that we teach you all how to control your powers. To help your talents blossom. I ask you all to continue your hard work and perform admirably.”
The Plague Doctor (The Paranormal University Files: Skylar Book 4) Page 17