The Soul Bond (Rite World: Blackthorn Hunters Academy Book 3)

by Juliana Haygert

  “The maze is filled with lesser demons,” Professor Graham said, his voice tight. I knew he hated me, and if he could, he would execute me right here, right now. So he barely looked in my direction, and when he did, it was full of disgust. “You and your team have to defeat them, while advancing through the maze. Once you get to the end of the maze, wait there until a professor escorts you out. Once all teams have gone through the maze, we’ll add the points and determine the winner. Right after, we’ll announce everyone’s grades in the midterm games. Is that clear?”

  We all replied yes, and he let us walk to the maze’s entrance. From there, the teams were allowed to enter the maze in intervals of fifteen minutes.

  Finally, it was our turn.

  “Fast,” Ava snarled once we stepped through the hedges. Since these games started, she had been obsessed with winning. She had always been the blond bitch, but now she was the commanding blond bitch.

  And there was a moment back there when I thought she could become my friend. But right now, I wanted these games done so I could get some distance from her.

  The first set of demons we faced were screinors. “Don’t let them scream,” I said. I summoned my Dawnblade, sure no one would see it here in the middle of the maze, and slashed a screinor’s throat as it opened its mouth to stun us.

  One screinor screamed right in Ava’s face. I plunged my sword in the demon’s back. It stopped screaming, and Ava fell back, dazed.

  Harvey helped her up. “Fight through it. Come on.”

  We continued down the maze. We took a few turns, which only irritated Ava, then we faced more demons: garrimps and muttmaugs.

  “I though Professor Graham said we would face lesser demons,” I complained as we trudged on. We had been in here for over an hour and fought three sets of demons. My legs were starting to scream at me. “Some of these were neutral demons, not lesser.”

  “I know,” Harvey said. He still held on to Ava. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  We kept going through the maze for another hour and bumped into other three groups of demons—muttmaugs and garrimps again, and darkelths. Because of our enchanted armor, they couldn’t really hurt us, unless they went for our heads, which weren't fully covered, but that didn’t mean their strikes didn’t hurt, or their magic didn’t have an effect over us.

  At some point, while we walked down a curved pathway, Ava glanced at me. “Care to explain how the hell you have that kind of Dawnblade?” I inhaled sharply. “Or do you think we are stupid and didn’t notice?”

  “I noticed,” Harvey said, paying attention to the way ahead of us. “I just thought it would be rude to ask directly.” He shot a glare at Ava before returning his gaze to the maze.

  “It’s not rude.” Ava shrugged. ”So, how did you get it?”

  “The blackthorn tree gave me a piece of the blade,” I told them.

  Ava almost tripped on her own feet. “What?”

  I explained how it all happened … Rey and I had been looking for the gems during a treasure hunt. When looking near the tree, we noticed the piece of the magical wooden blade neatly imbued with the tree’s trunk. Rey tried to get it, but couldn’t. But when I tried, the tree easily gave it to me. Then, Rey helped me forge the sword.

  The end.

  I didn’t tell them about our bonding moments while forging my Dawnblade, how we had imbued it with our magics, making it even more unique than it looked. That felt too intimate. Too raw.

  Too hurtful.

  “I think I see the end.” Harvey pointed to what looked like an archway at the end of a long corridor. “I think that’s it.”

  Glad to change subject and be done with this shit, I sighed in relief before we ran to the archway.

  We stepped through and froze.

  The end of the maze was actually the middle, where a bunch of pathways ended in a large round area, probably to confuse us more and throw us off course.

  But that wasn’t what made my blood chill.

  Right in the middle of the clearing, Tornar stood, his long hands around the neck of a student. He squeezed, until the student’s neck broke, and then he flung the body of the student to the side, along with his dead teammates.

  Somehow, Tornar had sneaked into the maze and had already killed three students.

  “Oh my gosh,” Ava breathed, her face paling.

  The demon turned his pitch black eyes to me. “I was looking for you.”

  My stomach dropped. Why were all the demons looking for me? “I thought you had been smart and fled.”

  The demon stalked to us, showing off his razor-sharp teeth. I remembered Tornar was tall, but not this tall. He was at least three heads taller than us, and a lot wider. He was massive, and from what I knew, his magic was powerful too.

  “You see, I can’t really escape until I kill the people who last summoned me.” His voice was scratchy and rough to my ears. “So I have to kill you and your boyfriend.”

  Tornar lunged at me.

  Holy shit …

  I spun out of the way and stepped back, trying to push through the panic that pressed against my chest and thinking of a strategy. If only I had paid attention to Rey’s classes …

  The demon turned around and groaned at me.

  I summoned my Dawnblade. “Harvey, Ava, you’ll have to help me.”

  My friends summoned their swords and stood by my side.

  “Any tips?” Ava asked.

  I shook my head. “I have never heard of this kind of demon before. I have no idea what it can do.”

  “One way to find out.” Harvey twirled his sword in his hand and charged the demon.

  I gasped as Tornar leaned back, avoiding Harvey’s blade, but then advanced fast, wrapping his hand around Harvey’s neck. He pulled up, until Harvey's feet were off the ground.

  “No!” Ava screamed before running at the demon. To Tornar, she was nothing but a fly. As she got close to him, the demon slapped her side with his big claws, pushing her aside and out of the way.

  Ava landed across the maze, her fall broken by the hedges.

  No, this demon wouldn’t defeat us. He couldn’t.

  I lowered my sword and took a few steps closer. “Tornar.” The demon looked at me. “It’s me you want. Let him go.”

  His black eyes twinkled and I held my breath, afraid he would do the same thing he did to that other student, to Harvey, but finally, he tossed Harvey away as if my friend was a crumpled piece of paper.

  “Let’s play,” the demon hissed.

  I didn’t dare take my eyes off the demon to check on Harvey. I would believe he was all right. I tightened my grip around the hilt of my sword. “It’s just you and me now.”

  Tornar’s lips curled into a wicked smile. “And what’s the fun in that?”

  The demon threw his claws forward and magic gushed out of them. A strong, bright magic raced toward me. I stepped back, but I wasn’t fast enough for it. I wasn’t strong enough.

  The magic, deceivingly white, encased me, pushing against my body, as if I was immersed in deep water. My chest screamed, my throat closed, my head felt like it would implode. I gasped for air, but there was only magic. Tornar’s hostile magic. It suffocated me.

  My Dawnblade disappeared from my hands as I tried to claw through this intangible magic. “C-coward,” I croaked.

  “Me, a coward?” Tornar asked, his rough voice full of sarcasm. “Why is a demon a coward when he plays with all the cards that were dealt to him?”

  Then, he turned from me.

  And stalked to my friends.

  I panted, trying to scream, to say something, to persuade the demon to focus on me. Only me.

  On the other side of the maze’s center, Ava helped Harvey to his feet. Both looked like they couldn’t take one more step before falling face-first and never getting up again.

  If they faced Tornar in this condition, they would be killed.

  I raked my fuzzy brain, fighting for my next breath as much as I battled for a
next thought, a new idea. Something, anything that would help my friends. Help me.

  My eyes scanned the area, but all I saw was the vast green maze’s center and the bodies of at least a dozen students who had arrived at the center before us.

  Bodies.

  My stomach twisted with the idea that came to mind, but I was running out of time.

  Opening my mouth and trying to inhale some air, I summoned my power. I called my magic—the dark one. Like my mother had taught me, I sent my magic to them and chanted the demonic words of the spell.

  At first, nothing happened and I thought I had done it wrong. Or that I didn’t have the power necessary to do this.

  But then, they moved. First their fingers, then their arms and heads. When I ordered them to stand up, they did. When I ordered them to march to Tornar and summon their Dawnblades, they did.

  My head swam; my vision darkened. This magic around me was too damn powerful. Through my thoughts, I ordered the dead bodies to attack fast.

  A moment later, the magic was gone and I fell to my knees on the ground, gasping for air and coughing. Forcing myself to get past it, I blinked and looked ahead. Right in the middle of the maze’s opening, Tornar fought with the dead bodies. He cut through them like they were plastic straws, but since they were already dead, they kept on going, they kept on attacking.

  Behind them, Ava and Harvey stood with their swords in their trembling hands. Eyes wide, they watched the scene.

  I swear, I felt the same, but there was only so much I could do right now.

  Pushing through the numbness and pain assaulting every cell of my body, I stood up and summoned my Dawnblade. After taking a deep breath, I ran to Tornar, who was busy fighting twelve dead bodies and didn’t see me coming.

  When I was right behind him, I said, “Look here, you ugly thing.”

  The demon turned.

  And I pierced my sword into its chest.

  Tornar’s dark eyes widened. “No!” he croaked as the magic in my sword spread through his body. His white skin turned gray and his eyes dulled.

  I pulled out my blade and his body fell at my feet.

  “What’s going on here?”

  I made my Dawnblade disappear before anyone saw it, and released the magic holding the dead bodies. They crumpled to the ground, like paper, all around Tornar’s dried carcass. Then I turned to the new voice.

  It was Professor Graham. He was in front of all other professors and school board members, including my mother and Rey. Both of them had similar looks on their faces—jaw set, and eyes wide, with a glint of desperation and fear in them.

  Ava and Harvey stood by my side, their Dawnblade still in their hands.

  “It was a higher demon, professor,” Harvey said. “It killed the students and attacked us.”

  “No, not that.” Professor Graham faced me. “What have you done with them?” He pointed to the bodies of the students a few feet from me.

  “It was necromancy,” Professor Wesley said. “I’ve seen it before. Erin used necromancy to reanimate the bodies of the fallen students.”

  Professor Genevieve gasped. “That’s the darkest of magic. Completely forbidden.”

  “Is that true, Erin?” Professor Graham asked. “Did you use necromancy just now?”

  Shit. I gulped and answered, “Yes.”

  The professors gasped. They turned to each other, and I heard words like “forbidden” again, and also “expelled.”

  That was it. I had been saved from being expelled way too many times. There was no way I could be saved now.

  Professor Graham pointed at me. “Erin Delman, you committed a grave sin inside this academy. That shall not be forgiven. You’ll be ex—”

  “It’s my fault,” my mother shouted, coming forward. She stood between Professor Graham and me. “It was my idea. Erin didn’t want anything to do with it. I taught her how to do necromancy.”

  “Martha,” Professor Genevieve uttered. “You did what?”

  “What the hell are you doing?” I asked her in a low voice. There was no way I would be forgiven for this, and now she was getting herself into this mess unnecessarily.

  “In fact, Erin had never attempted it during my lessons, because she didn’t agree with it,” my mother said, probably hoping she could sway the school board that it wasn’t really my fault. “When facing this higher demon, she might have felt she had no other choice. If she hadn’t used necromancy, Ava and Harvey would be dead now.”

  Professor Eleanor’s eyes bulged as she stared at her son. “Is that true?”

  Harvey nodded. “If she hadn’t done that, we would be dead right now.”

  “It’s true,” Ava added, a high pitch to her voice. “She saved our lives.”

  “That doesn’t change the fact that Erin used forbidden magic on school grounds,” Professor Graham insisted, his face turning red.

  “But she saved her team members.” The professors quieted down as the headmaster walked into the maze’s center, followed by a handful of guards. Standing tall, the headmaster turned to me. “It took guts to perform such a horrible magic to save your friends.”

  Professor Graham pointed his finger at the headmaster. “What? Are you siding with her?”

  “I think we can agree on giving Erin a punishment for using dark magic, but other than that, she killed a higher demon and saved her friends,” the headmaster said. A nervous pressure pushed against my chest. How many times would he save me from being expelled or killed? “Erin will remain at the academy.”

  Protests rose from all the professors, except from my mother and Rey.

  “That isn’t right!” Professor Graham shouted. “Professor Martha is also at fault here. How can a professor of this esteemed academy teach something so dark to a student?”

  The voice of the others joined his, all asking for a punishment for my mother too.

  The headmaster glanced at my mother, seemingly bored. “All right. Erin Delman will stay, but Martha Belmont will be fired as of this moment.” He threw out his hands. “Guards, escort her out of the school.”

  “What?” I asked, advancing to my mother. “That’s unfair.”

  “Stay quiet,” my mother snapped, her voice low. “It’s fine. I’m okay. Just stay here.”

  The guards halted beside her. One of the guards, Tavin, held his weapon, not pointing it at my mother, but letting her know it was there. “This way.” He gestured to one of the maze’s corridors.

  My mother gave me one last supplicant glance, then went with them. But two steps later, she paused and turned to Rey. “Forget what I told you. Just … just protect her.”

  What the hell was she talking about? I stared from her to Rey and saw as he dipped his chin at her.

  The guards pushed my mother, and she started walking again, until she disappeared inside the maze with them. I wanted to go after her, but Ava must have sensed my turmoil as she grabbed my arm and kept me by her side.

  “Just stay quiet or you’ll make things worse,” she whispered to me.

  The headmaster faced the professors. “Now that that’s resolved, I’ll let you take care of the student’s bodies.”

  I glanced around, realizing there were more people in the center of the maze than a minute ago. The third-year students and the half-demon army spilled from several maze corridors, forming a big circle around all of us. Among them, I spotted Claire and Harper.

  Shit. Had they seen all of this? Did everyone know what I could do now?

  The thought of reanimating dead bodies disgusted me, and actually doing it was even worse. I could only imagine how the others felt about it.

  Professor Crimson stepped forward. “It’s time.”

  The headmaster frowned. “Time for what?”

  The buzz of cell phones vibrating started low, but then some phones hadn’t been put on silent, and they rang through the maze. Several professors and students picked up the phones hidden in their pockets.

  I knew some of the students carried t
hem all the time despite being forbidden, but I didn’t think it was this many.

  Everyone stared at the screen in their hands, their eyes huge.

  “What is going on?” I asked, confused. Without a phone of our own, Harvey, Ava, and I approached the nearest student—Peter. He extended his arm so we could look at it.

  Instantly, my stomach dropped.

  I wasn’t ready for what I saw.

  26

  Rey

  The video came through just as I had programmed it.

  Earlier in the day, before the last midterm game, I had sneaked into the main office in the Aster building and hacked into the school system. I uploaded the video and programmed it to be sent to everyone’s cell phones as a message or an email at a certain time. I was sure a lot of the staff, professors, and students carried their phones with them, even though it was forbidden.

  Now, all of these people were having a look at the terrible ritual Randall performed every full moon.

  My phone pinged too, but I ignored it, not wanting to see the fucking ritual again.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” Professor Genevieve asked, holding on to her phone for dear life.

  Professor Graham stared at Randall with big, incredulous eyes. “Randall, is this true?”

  Randall lifted his chin, looking down at us as if we were mere bugs in his path. “What are you talking about?”

  Professor Graham snatched Professor Astrid’s phone from her hands and approached him, showing him the video.

  Randall inhaled a sharp breath, but didn’t seem bothered or nervous. Quite the contrary. Randall always had a regal air about him, with his tall figure and set posture, but now he squared his shoulders even more, looking like a fucking god.

  For a moment, I though he wouldn’t say anything, or deny it all. Instead, he said, “Yes, it’s true. I kill useless demons, worthless humans, and powerful witches, and absorb their powers.”

  “You … you drink their blood,” Professor Eleanor said, her face pale.

  Randall shrugged. “That too.”

  “Why?” Professor Adeline asked, her voice faint.