by Lan Chan
Without the yoke to weigh it down, the thing stood upright. Aside from the cloak, it wore nothing else. I tried to avoid glancing down at its groin area.
But what really got my attention was the blade it carried. A gleaming thing twice the size of the blade Bradley had. Its edges weren’t smooth but flowed like waves. It was the kind of weapon that cut and then was fashioned to twist and cause as much internal damage as possible. The lick of red and silver flames along its edge promised pain and death.
And it was marching straight towards me.
33
“Adam! We need help!”
He inched towards the demons, his jaw clamped shut. I could almost feel the cogs in his brain working. “You can’t do this alone. Go!”
Every muscle in his body stretched taut. The demon’s bovine lips pulled back. I gaped at the sharpened teeth dripping with black ooze.
“I said go!” I screamed. For a second I thought he might charge, but then his wings unfurled and he shot up into the sky. Higher and higher he flew. I had to stop watching him when he became a speck that was barely visible. Why he didn’t teleport was beyond me. Something about the fact that the adults were all unconscious had me thinking magic was involved.
Some of the kids began to cry in earnest. We’d just lost our last protector. I heard Maddison’s distinct whimper.
In my periphery, I saw the prone body of Charles’s dad. Next to the six-legged demon, even he looked small. As much as he wanted to run to his father, Charles remained with us. He had Cassie in his arms, a soothing rumble in his chest.
The demon advanced. I blocked out everything else from my mind.
“I see you, little witch,” the demon said. Its thick lips smiled.
“Go back to hell!”
Its teeth snapped, and I regretted being a smart ass. I really wanted to stay away from those teeth. My mind whirred. What the hell did I do now? Wait it out. I had to wait this out as long as I possibly could. Hopefully Adam would bring back help. Until then, all I needed to do was keep the circles intact.
It was like it had read my mind. No sooner had I entertained the thought did the six-legged, or should I say fifty-legged demon, strike. Instead of trying to crush the circles of power I had erected around the kids, it latched on and sucked.
I cried out at the same time the kids did. They screamed in fear. I whimpered in pain. The sensation crawled along the skin on my arms and ripped at my chest. My textbooks told me the circles I produced were a part of my soul. They obeyed me based on the well of my power. The demon was feasting on that power.
My legs gave out. A shout erupted from behind me. Cassie was by my side, her small hands grabbing at me. Luther’s head appeared under my arm, propping me up.
“Just a little longer,” he said.
But we’d run out of time. Pain smashed into the side of my head as the circle around Maddison gave way. She screamed. The demon latched on to her waist. I lurched forward. With the last of my strength, I reinforced the shield around her and gave up the one around myself. The new shield sliced through the demon’s tentacle. She was free.
I fell to my knees. Black dots danced across my vision. Outside of the circle, the air was putrid. I sucked in a breath only to succumb to a fit of coughing. It was so cold I couldn’t feel my hands.
The bovine demon reached me. Its cloven foot came to a stop in front of where I was kneeling. Little hands reached out to grab my clothing and keep me with them. But when the demon gripped my shoulder, I was wrenched away. I felt myself being lifted five feet into the air. I gagged at the stench that wafted off the demon. I’d never been anywhere but the city. The only cattle I’d ever smelt were the ones in shrink wrap on the shelves of the supermarket. But man, this thing stank like death. It exuded blood, sweat, shit and fear. Not the demons own fear but the fear of the souls it had devoured to open the portal.
I trembled as it brought me up to meet its eyes. Frantically I searched both my body and mind for something to fight it off with. My mind was dizzy from the sapping of my energy by the other demon. I fought to remain conscious and hold on to the circles.
My jeans were the same ones I’d been wearing last night. My insomnia was playing up again. Basil and I hadn’t gone to sleep until almost dawn. One pocket of my jeans was empty. The other was rough with stray grains of salt. There was a small handful in there from where one of the cafeteria packets had burst open.
The demon’s mouth opened wide. I think it was smiling again. “So small,” it said. “So small to be His. But he will want to see you. Come.”
It started walking us back to the portal. Oh hell no! It was going to take me through to the Hell dimension. The kids screamed. I tried to kick the demon in the balls but my foot landed against steel.
The pain was so acute it helped to clear my head. So did the sight of a streak of green against the horizon. For some reason I smiled. He wouldn’t get here to save me. But the kids would be okay.
Something boomed against the darkened skies. The green light spun so quickly I could barely track it. It wasn’t until the multi-legged demon convulsed, a sheath of green embedded in its chest, that I realised Kai had thrown his sword. All around us, pockets of the darkness burst forth with light.
I sagged. The demon saw its window closing. It stepped one foot into the blackness of the abyss. Then a shoulder disappeared. It dragged half my body with it. If it had been cold in the Earth dimension, it was glacial on the other side. Half my body gave up the struggle. It just didn’t feel worth it anymore.
Something crashed into us. Kai latched on to my ankle. The demon lashed out with its sword. My breath came out in a dense cloud of condensation. When the demon struck, the air sizzled with heat. Red and silver radiated from its blade.
“Blue!”
Time was up.
The demon was mostly through the portal. The only thing left on this side was half of me and the hand it used to wield the sword. That’s when I started to sprinkle the salt. I raised my sweaty hand to my mouth and blew grains into the demon’s face.
It bellowed as each grain touched its skin. Closing my eyes, I imagined the circle that would seal the portal. The salt amplified my negligent strength until section by section; the circle stitched the portal closed.
Kai tugged at my shoulder. I jammed my salt-crusted fingers into the demon’s eye. It roared and lost its hold on me. Kai wrenched me back into the Earth dimension just in time for me to watch the portal disappear.
Kai swore. He crushed me to his chest. He said something, but I didn’t hear. Darkness stole the light from my world and I fell unconscious.
I woke up screaming. Not a scream of pain. But one of utter rage.
“Jesus!” Sophie cried, jumping clear of my bed.
I opened my eyes only to squint at the brightness of the light. “Urgh. Not again.”
Doctor Thorne blinked from above me. “I think she’s in good health.”
“How long this time?”
“Three days.”
I missed the dress vendor extravaganza. Silver linings, I suppose. The earth rumbled around me. For a second I thought I was still suffering from the disorientation of being between dimensions. It happened again.
“Is that an earthquake?” I asked. Sophie helped me sit up.
“I wish,” she said.
The doctor shook his head. “He was the same last time. Only worse. It went on for weeks.”
“Seriously, what’s going on?”
“Kai’s in the illusion training room. He’s been at it for days. He’s draining the Ley line power grid.”
“Why?”
Sophie shrugged. “Not sure. We only know he’s pissed. Apparently he tried to strangle Adam after you passed out. He only stopped when Cassie started crying.”
“Why doesn’t someone make him stop?”
“He punched Professor Mortimer in the face when he even suggested it. They can’t get him to heal Bradley either. He refuses and says that Bradley can stop be
ing a wimp.”
What the hell?
Her face became a quivering mirage as another quake hit us. “Okay, that’s it.”
I flung my legs over the side of the bed. I was so tired. But there was no way I was going to get any rest with this racket. My legs were slightly tender, but I found I could walk well enough. Sophie went back to the dorms to get me a change of clothes. And then I marched from the infirmary, past the lawns and into the training sector.
I could tell I was getting closer and closer because the flux in power was making the Fae lights blink. It was seizure-inducing. There was a crowd gathered around the entrance of the training hall.
“Just great,” a cutting voice snapped. I gave Brigid my most withering death stare. To my surprise, she took a step back. A body crashed into me. Cassie flung her arms around me. Something twice as painful collided with my hip.
“You’re not dead,” Charles said. “I thought for sure you were a goner.”
I massaged my hip where he’d rammed his hard head into me. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Cassie let go and sniffed. Her eyes were red-rimmed. “Why is he doing this?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. But I think it’s my fault.” She sobbed into her hands. Charles rubbed her back. I could feel my jaw clenching.
That was the face I had on when I approached the door. Max reached out to grab my sleeve. “Don’t do it,” he said. “He’s in a mood. He’ll probably bite your head off.”
“It’s nothing I haven’t gotten used to.”
“Seriously. He’s not reasonable right now.”
“So we’re just going to let him bring the whole Academy toppling down?”
I pushed the door open and let it slam shut behind me. The last time I’d been in here it was with Professor Eldridge. She was teaching us to shoot arrows at moving targets. Things had been neater back then.
This illusion was ungodly. It was dark enough that I had to squint to try and pick my way through the obstacles on the ground. It wasn’t until I almost tripped on one that I realised it was malleable beneath my feet. And that it was oozing black blood. Limbs. They weren’t obstacles. They were severed limbs.
The illusion was so realistic I had to cover my mouth and nose to stop from inhaling the fetid stench of decay. A ferocious growl rumbled from my left. I glanced up in time to see a demon on all four legs running towards me. Just as it was about to leap, something grabbed at its tail. My jaw dropped as Kai yanked the thing back. The demon struggled in his hold but it wasn’t strong enough to evade. Inch by inch, he drew it towards him. When the head was within reach, he latched on to it and squeezed. It popped like a zit.
My temper snapped.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I said through clenched teeth.
When he stepped into the light, the ferocity died in my throat. Shirtless. He stood there in just a pair of grey sweatpants. Mist cloaked his shoulders. It turned opaque where his tattoo, a pair of wings encased by a magic circle, branded him. The mist condensed into droplets of water against his heated chest. My eyes tracked a single bead that licked its way down his pecs to the arrow of muscle on his narrow hips.
I could hear Sophie’s voice in my head. If you don’t catalogue everything to tell me later, I’ll kill you. I was trying my darndest to oblige.
I cleared my throat. He simply stood there. The pulse in his neck stood out in stark relief. His green eyes felt like they were feathering over me. Suddenly, I remembered the heat of him around me when he’d pulled me away from the Hell dimension. All of that intensity crashed into a wave of raw fury. To hell with tiptoeing around this jackass. I didn’t care how hot he was. Or how badly I wanted to trace the line of that bead of sweat.
“When are you going to be done with feeling sorry for yourself?” I said. “Because I feel like I’ve been run over by a Mack truck and I can’t get any sleep with this commotion.”
He took a step forward. “I’m not feeling sorry for myself.”
“Whatever. I don’t care what this psycho brand of therapy is. We get it, your family died. I’m sorry it happened. But the family you have left is outside freaking out because she thinks you blame her. Now, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt because even you can’t be that much of an asshole. But my head is pounding, my feet are throbbing, and I’m so insanely hungry I could chew a demon’s leg off. So just stop it.”
Another step forward.“You think I’m an asshole?”
“Everybody thinks you’re an asshole. They’re just too scared to tell you to your face.”
“But you’re not scared of me.”
He kept walking towards me like he was the hunter and I was prey. So I started forward until we were standing head to head. Or head to chest really. “I don’t know if you noticed,” I said. “But I just survived two demons. I’m the badass now.”
That was the precise moment when my energy gave out. The Hell dimension illusion disappeared as he caught me. We were back in the training hall again.
“You’ve got such terrible timing, Blue.”
My head rested against his shoulder. “Just give me a few days. Then I’ll kick your ass.”
His laughter made my head rattle. But I didn’t want him to stop holding on.
“You need to sleep.”
His muscles tensed. I knew he was going to teleport us. “Not the infirmary.”
The pain and pleasure tore through me. Basil cried out as we materialised in my dorm room. “What did you do to her?”
“Not so loud, Basil. My head hurts.”
Kai laid me down on my bed. A light pulsed.
“Can somebody turn the lights out?”
They both just stood there staring at the floor. “Hello?”
“It’s not the light, Blue.”
When I turned over to look at what they were staring at, I saw the circles glowing beneath me. Hundred of circles that I had traced in my mind every night since I’d been here. I smiled and rolled onto my back. A second later I was fast asleep.
34
“I can barely see her hands moving,” Sasha said. I would have given him the middle finger but I was too busy shovelling food into my mouth. It was the day of the ball. I’d woken up the evening before and basically spent the rest of the time eating.
Jacqueline came to see me and told me Kai finally gave in and healed Bradley. Apparently, the demons had gotten hold of a magical explosive. That was the flash of light I’d seen before every one of the adults had passed out. The only thing that had saved me and the kids from the same fate was the protection of the circles. The portal had been sealed over properly by the mages of the Dominion.
That was days ago. Meanwhile, we were getting a half-day to prepare for the party. I was still excused from my classes, but I was feeling well enough to brave the dining hall.
“Describe it again,” Diana said. It was in reference to Kai’s chest. I was fuzzy about everything else but that image was burned into my brain.
I hadn’t seen him since he’d come into my room. Rumour had it that he was serving detention in the swamps for his stunt in the illusion room.
It was nice to know even princes got detention.
“I need more food.”
“How is that possible?” Roland said. “You’re the size of a doll.”
Sophie came with me. We were standing in line when somebody tapped me on the shoulder. I turned my head to find Adam smiling at me. It hit me then that he’d asked me to the ball and I had said yes. With everything else that had happened, it had totally skipped my mind.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hey.”
“I haven’t heard from you. Are we still on for tonight?”
I could feel Sophie shaking with curiosity. “Ah…sure. It might have to be short, though. I’m still not completely recovered.”
“Of course. I’ll come by and get you beforehand.”
We turned back around. Thankfully he’d only com
e by to talk to me and wasn’t waiting in line behind us. Sophie’s grip on me was so hard she almost snapped my wrist. “He asked you to the ball.”
“Yeah. With everything else happening I kind of forgot about it.”
“He asked you to the ball.”
After the third time she said it, I had to block it out. It wasn’t until we got back to our seats and she told Diana that it occurred to me she wasn’t smiling.
“Is there a problem?”
Thankfully the boys had left. “Do you like him?” Diana asked. She too had a disapproving face on.
“He’s okay.” I expected them to lay into me about Adam being angel-blooded but instead they just got really quiet. “What?”
“Does Kai know you’re going with Adam?”
“What does Kai have to do with anything?”
But just the mention of that jackass had the burger turning to ash in my mouth. “Thanks a lot. Now I’ve lost my appetite.”
That seemed to cheer them up a little. On the other hand, my mood spiralled. I’d missed out on the vendors. Now that the rules had been relaxed, I didn’t have enough time to buy something new. And all of my whining about not wanting to go had finally convinced Sophie and Diana not to buy a spare dress for me.
Go figure.
To make matters worse, my clothes didn’t really fit me too well anymore. Diana was right. I’d gained quite a bit of weight since moving to the Academy. Five months of this and I could barely get my jeans to zip up.
“Can I raid your closet?”
Sophie bit her lip. “Sure. But I don’t know if you’re going to find anything short enough in there.”
We rifled through clothes together. “How formal is this thing?”
“Think Met Gala.”
I choked. “Are you serious? It’s supposed to be a celebration of the winter solstice. As a hedge witch, I feel like the appropriate dress code should be none. And we should be dancing around a fire!”