by KC Kingmaker
Chapter 38
Coralia
“I WISH I COULD JOIN you,” Charli said, a sad frown screwing up her face. “It’s so boring here sometimes. I feel like a sidekick. I want to go on adventures too!”
She reminded me of Marlow. On the bed across from her, I strapped on my boots and chuckled. “Believe me, Char, I’d rather be the sidekick if it meant my sister was safe and not missing.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “I know. I’m just being silly.” A languid purr brought my attention to her running her hand over Bruce’s arched back. “At least I have you, Brucey.”
I smiled. “You two seem to have been getting close. You’ve turned Brucey from a hardened killer into a mild, lazy housecat.”
Her cheeks flushed. “Nuh uh! He just needed a reason to mellow out.”
I still didn’t know whether something more was going on between my freaking cat and my fox shifter bestie, but I never pried and I really didn’t want to know. It was so far out of my wheelhouse, it was practically another country.
If Brucey was content here, I was happy. And Charli had proven to be a phenomenal friend. She helped me discover my spellweaving powers, train my shadowcasting, and, most recently, get over the heartbreak of Venn’s treachery.
It had been three days since we’d returned from Asberald City. The second half of the semester was in full bloom, with everyone back in class. While students studied, I prepared for a covert war. Hudson’s Glove had to put the Shadowball season on the backburner, though we were told we wouldn’t have to forfeit the season.
I looked forward to learning more about the sport once we all returned. I couldn’t bring myself to think about the alternative—if all of us didn’t return.
It was clearly a dangerous mission we were going on.
Truth was, we couldn’t have continued Shadowball anyway, in our current state, because we were down a player.
Over the past three days, I couldn’t stop thinking about what abhorrent things those demon fuckers might have been doing to Genevieve Jade. Those bastards had looked like the personification of evil, spawned from Hell itself. The possibility she was already dead struck me the hardest, but I refused to say it out loud for fear of making it a reality.
My thoughts kept spiraling: Why did they capture her? What do they want with her? What terrible things are they doing to her, if not killing her outright?
It couldn’t have been a coincidence Myria and Vivi had both gone through that freaking portal. One had gone willingly, according to Vivi, while Vivi herself had been snatched right out from under us.
It shouldn’t have affected me as much as it did. I couldn’t help it. Sure, Vivi Jade was a bully of the worst sort—a master manipulator and a bitch—and we got along like oil and water. Yet no one deserved to get kidnapped by vicious, winged hellfolk.
My empathy was on full display during those three days, as well as my sadness over Venn, and Charli helped me through all of it.
The first night I was filled with pure fury.
The second day, I mellowed out a little. My rage morphed into profound sadness. That night was the hardest, as I cried in Charli’s arms more than once.
Between those two days, it felt like I wanted to write a scathing Yelp review about Venn. Charli convinced me to sleep on it rather than do something I’d regret, so I did, and the next day, sure enough, I didn’t want to write the review anymore. I just wanted to disappear.
By the third day, I had to forget about Venn for the time being. Our group was scheduled to venture into Asberald City tomorrow and I needed to be mentally prepared. I couldn’t let petty squabbles and romances distract me, because in this case it could lead to disaster and death.
I had to participate with Venn, just like I had to participate with Dax and Sunny. I would be a team player and do the best I could.
Admittedly, after three days, I longed to see their faces. Even Venn’s. I thought my anger would have driven me for at least a week, but that wasn’t the case. Because the fact was, Venn had done some things right.
First and foremost, he had told me about his mission—he could have kept it a secret forever. He then apologized profusely. He also said something smooth: that even if our relationship had been built on a lie, it had transformed into truth. Or something like that. He had told me that what we shared in the forest that fateful evening was real. It was true.
I hoped he was right. Even after everything, I still felt like there was a part of him inside me I’d always hold onto. It was difficult to articulate—the concept that a sliver of Venn’s soul would always rest in my heart.
I stood up from the bed, stretching my arms above my head. After groaning, I said, “Take care of Brucey while I’m gone, Char?”
“Always, Cor Cor.” She continued to pet the purring kitty, whose eyes were tiny slivers of enjoyment.
I HURRIED DOWN THE hall toward the conference room of Fort Nocturnus. I was late. In my haste, I accidentally bumped into a woman in a gray cloak on the way, and yelled, “Sorry, I’m late!” as I breezed past her.
I’d been coming to the castle entirely too much for my liking recently. Jace Hudson had required my presence this evening, because the “expert” he’d alluded to earlier was supposed to speak with us about our upcoming mission.
Inside, Sunny, Dax, and Venn sat around the long table. Professor Hudson paced in front of them, looking a bit nervous. Their heads all swung my way as I made my fashionably late entrance.
“My bad,” I said, waving my hands. “I got caught up talking to my cat.”
Jace frowned. “I only hope you’re not tardy for the mission tomorrow, Miss Hargrave.”
“Of course not.” I scanned the room. “Though I don’t see any experts here, so I guess I’m not too late, am I?”
He scoffed at my testy remark.
Just as I sat down, the door opened and I twisted in my seat. In walked the same woman I had bumped shoulders with moments before. My cheeks flamed and I tried to make myself smaller.
I got a better look at the new arrival now that she was standing before us. Her wraparound gray cloak was buttoned at the front, hiding her figure. Long, chocolate hair trailed over her shoulders. She was of medium height.
To me, the woman seemed unremarkable. Beautiful, sure, but unremarkable nonetheless. In fact, she reminded me a bit of . . . me. For all intents and purposes, she appeared to be human.
“Ah, Miss Rose,” Jace said, an endearing lilt to his voice. He bowed low, which made me lurch in my seat in confusion. “Thank you for coming on such short notice.”
“It’s not a problem, Professor Hudson.” The woman spoke with measured calm. She unbuttoned the clasps of her cloak, revealing a tight black suit underneath that accentuated her curves, similar to the fae-tech gear of our dojo at Shadowblade.
Jace swept his arm out. “Glove, may I introduce you to Dawn Rose. You may have heard of her.”
Everyone sat up straighter in their seats, eyes widening.
Sunny, with his usual unimpressed tone, said, “Everyone’s heard of the Absolver.”
It was true. Even I had. I started fangirling, remembering when Charli had brought her up at the start of the semester. And back when Myria attended Briarwitch Academy, before joining the secretive cult here at Shadowblade, she used to rave on and on about Dawn Rose, who had only been a few years above her at school. Myria had admired her, and she was how I knew anything about the great Absolver.
Dawn Rose was like the Luke Skywalker of the supernatural community. She had come out of nowhere, bursting onto the scene like a phoenix, and was considered the greatest weapon against the Turned scourge plaguing our world. The mindless Turned, which sounded like classic zombies to me, still haunted the world, but their numbers had been greatly diminished since Dawn had come along.
Now she studied us, eyes roving from face to face. When they landed on mine, I shrank. With a smirk and a quizzical tilt to her head, she analyzed me.
“S-Sorry for ru
nning into you in the hallway,” I squeaked, feeling smaller than I ever had before.
“It’s not a problem.” To Jace, she said, “This is the team?”
“It is, Miss Rose.”
“And how many demonspawn are you dealing with?”
“At least three.”
She took on a pensive expression, eyes narrowing. “I take it you all can fight like bats out of hell, if you’re attending Shadowblade Academy. One of my mates is an alumnus, and if you’re anything like him . . .”
As she trailed off, Sunny spoke up again. “Yes, ma’am, Ezekiel Caffrey is just as much of a legend here as you are.”
She smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I take it you consider yourself the leader of this group?”
Sunny was taken aback. “Huh?”
Dawn shrugged. “Well, you keep speaking up for everyone, so I just assumed.”
“Well, not exactly . . .”
I nearly burst out laughing when Sunny shrank in his seat, embarrassment clouding his face. Served him right to be put in his place like that.
“Right. Let’s get on with it.” She moved to the table and took off her cloak completely. When she placed it on the table in front of us, it landed with a heavy, metallic clank. Something was wrapped inside the cloak, and it drew all of our eyes.
“I wish I could stay longer, or could help you with this mission, but I have pressing business of my own,” she said as she stepped away from the table.
“It’s not a problem, Miss Rose,” Jace said. “This is a Shadowblade Academy matter. As you know, we take care of our own problems.”
She nodded deeply. “And these monsters, they have taken two students?”
“At least.”
“One was my sister,” I said, not sure why I was speaking up. Dawn Rose emitted a sort of calmness about her that put me at ease, making it easy to talk to her despite her powerful presence. The unremarkable feeling I’d first gotten about her had immediately fled once she’d opened her mouth.
I pointed down the table to Sunny. “And the other is his girlfriend.”
Sunny bared his teeth, cheeks reddening again. “She’s not my girlfriend, dammit.”
“Enough,” Jace boomed. He motioned politely to the Absolver. “Please, Miss Rose. Continue.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “We call these monsters Leatherwings, for lack of a better term. We are not sure where they come from, but they are entirely different than Turned. Where Turned are mindless and inept, Leatherwings are mindful and soulless. They’re both savage, though Leatherwings are clearly the more dangerous of the two.”
Dax said, “When you say ‘mindful,’ ma’am . . .”
“Contrary to popular belief, Turned are not undead. Their minds and bodies have simply been corrupted. That very fact is what enables me to worm my way into their being and clear the disease. To purge and heal them.
“Leatherwings, however, are reanimated from the dead. As far as we understand, they have been brought back by some malignant power—a malignancy I am still trying to locate to this day—and made into powerful, winged creatures. I cannot Absolve them. Only a life-giving source, such as that of the dragoness leader Levia Sunfall, can revive them.
“Since Levia Sunfall is currently on her homeplane of Caan, we have had to eradicate the Leatherwings whenever they pop up. In fact, there is a theory that says the Leatherwings come from Caan and were brought here once the Planar Rift opened. I’m not sure that timeline adds up. Either way, I’m babbling. Killing them is a difficult thing to do.”
When Dawn stopped talking, we were all on the edges of our seats. She certainly spoke as an expert on the subject—someone who had slogged through the shit and seen the other side. I didn’t know half of what she was talking about, yet I was astonished all the same.
My estimation of her went up tenfold.
Her face seemed to fall a little when she spoke about her inability to heal the Leatherwings, and the need to kill them.
This was a woman who preferred restitution rather than execution. It was why she was called the Absolver, I reckoned.
“To that end, I have brought you some gifts.” She meandered up to the table and opened up her cloak. A bevy of shining steel swords glinted underneath, lit up by the chandelier hanging over the table. “These swords are crafted from Oblyx Steel, a rare mineral found only on the dragon plane of Caan. Levia Sunfall gifted them to me. Typically, Oblyx is used to craft armor for dragonkind, and it’s also used as currency. We have made these Oblyx Sheets into weapons.
“Their properties are highly efficient against Leatherwings. The demonspawn are practically invulnerable to fire and many other spells, so you might have to get in the trenches with them. Can you do that?”
We all nodded profusely, at a loss for words.
“This gift is greatly appreciated,” Jace said, moving into my line of sight, “but my troop is not yet trained in fighting with weapons such as these.”
“Swords?”
Jace nodded.
Dawn furrowed her brow. “I don’t understand. You’re called shadowblades, Professor Hudson. I’ve seen Ezekiel use his slender steel better than any man in my life. It’s astounding what he can do with it.”
“Yes, well, these are cadets. Phantoms and Ghosts. Ezekiel Caffrey was an anomaly, as well as becoming a full-fledged shadowblade.”
“Perhaps this team is not suited to the task then?” Dawn asked, drawing a few gritted teeth and clamped jaws from those of us sitting at the table.
“It is their assignment,” Jace said with a solemn nod. “The women missing are from their Glove. Their friends. Headmaster Cane has deemed it necessary.”
“Hm. Well. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”
“We can do it,” Sunny growled.
“We won’t fail the Academy,” Dax added, nodding in solidarity with the sullen vampire.
“I’ve cooked up a batch of poisons that are sure to fuck these things up,” Venn said.
Dawn turned to him and raised a brow. “Have you? I’d be interested to learn if your poisons have any effect on the corpse-like bodies of the Leatherwings. Please report to me your findings, Mister . . .”
“Gable, ma’am,” he said. “Donovenn Gable.”
A tight smile tugged her lips. “Ah. Gable. The Caffreys and Gables aren’t exactly—”
“I know, ma’am. Seelie and Unseelie. You know how it is.”
She chuckled. “Quite. All right, enough about all that. If I lend you these swords, will you use them?”
We all nodded decisively, determination on our faces. Hell, I had never used a sword in my life and I was practically itching to get one in my grasp. I just wished I had more time to prepare with one. I hoped combining the steel with my spells would be enough.
“Say what you will,” Jace said, pride gleaming on his face, “but my Glove’s resolve cannot be questioned.”
“Yes, you’re a steadfast bunch. That gives me confidence.” Dawn closed her eyes and seemed to get lost for a moment. “I wish I could stay and get to know each of you better, but alas, I must go. There’s an infliction near this Academy that needs to be put out.”
“Very well, Miss Rose. I appreciate you coming.” Jace bowed to the Absolver. “Headmaster Cane sends his regards.”
“Of course, Professor Hudson. We are all united in this fight against evil.” With a flick of her wrist, she opened a portal. My eyes bulged, shocked it came so easy to her. The air rippled, tearing through on a jag, and turned into a murky doorway mingled with blue and purple.
Before stepping through, Dawn took her cloak, plopping the swords on the table, and wrapped it around her person. She nodded to each of us then put a hand on my shoulder. “Keep an eye on this one, Professor.”
“Pardon?” Jace asked, head tilting.
My heart thumped. “Excuse me, ma’am?”
“What is your name, young lady?” she asked, staring down at me.
“Coralia Hargr
ave, ma’am.”
“Coralia Hargrave.” She rolled the words in her mouth then winked at me with a sly smile. “Yes, there’s something special about you. I can sense it. I daresay we’ll meet again, Miss Hargrave.”
With that, Dawn Rose stepped through the portal and was gone.
Chapter 39
Coralia
I DID A LITTLE BIT of sparring with the guys that night to get a feel for the Oblyx swords. We practiced at the dojo, while Jace pored over his shadowmap, designing strategy. Unsurprisingly, the guys were better with the swords than I was.
“They’re perfectly balanced,” Sunny said, examining his glinting blade. “Expert craftsmanship. Whoever made these knew what they were doing.”
“Oh? And what makes you such an expert on swords, Sunny?” His constant sarcastic and snarky attitude made me respond in kind, even when he wasn’t being snarky.
He smirked at me, his typical arrogance showing on his smooth face. “I’ve been alive a lot longer than any of you. I’ve seen my fair share of hand-to-hand weapons.”
I rolled my eyes. “You make it sound like you were around in the Middle Ages.”
He chuckled. Then his eyes flashed and he charged me, forcing me to shut up and raise my sword to defend.
After Sunny worked me over a little, Dax reminded me I had my magic to draw on. “If you never get close enough to use the sword, all the better,” he said. “Try to use the concepts you’ve learned from Physical Intent.”
“Who taught me those concepts, again? Because I remember a certain shifter disappearing when he was supposed to tutor me . . .”
Sunny barked another laugh at my barb. I was feeling a bit snippy and antsy.
Dax sighed. “I’ll never live it down, will I?”
“Nope,” I said with a smile.
“She can hold a grudge better than her sister,” Sunny snorted.
I stuck my tongue out at him. “That’s damn right. So you’d better not get on my bad side.” With that, I lunged at him and the clang of steel on steel rang out. It continued well into the night.