Nightshade Academy Episode 4: Den of Demons

by Kestra Pingree

  I squint again to bypass the trippy reflections. The blur exists inside of this room. Slow step after slow step, I make my way to the center. I think I see it. Yeah, it’s definitely there. It’s above my head, the size of my fist. It shimmers in the air when the ice fires’ light hits it just right. Sometimes it’s practically invisible.

  “What are you doing?” Kian asks.

  I reach up, pointer finger extended. I have to concentrate or I lose the shimmer’s location. As soon as my finger touches it, it’s like someone’s cut out a chunk of me, erased it from reality. Something tugs, asking for more than my finger.

  “Nova!” Kian grabs my shoulders and yanks me back against him. I stare at my finger. It was gone, all gone, but now it’s back.

  Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub. Kian’s heart attacks my back. It’s beating so fast.

  “Don’t scare me like that,” he says.

  “It’s not like I knew that was going to happen. I’m going to try it again.”

  Kian groans, but he lets me go.

  “Pull me back again if it looks like all of me is going to disappear.”

  “No pressure.”

  I reach up, touch the shimmering spot, and the same thing happens. My finger disappears. “I’m going to put my hand in,” I say.

  “Yeah, okay.” Kian shifts his weight from foot to foot.

  It eats more of me, up to my wrist. I don’t feel anything terrible. My brain says my hand is still attached. It has that pins-and-needles feeling you get when some part of your body falls asleep. I retract my hand and shake it out. It’s there, whole, and feels normal again within a couple seconds.

  “I can barely see it,” Kian says. “Whatever it is.”

  He steps up and pokes it. His finger does the same thing mine did. “This is suspiciously like a portal, isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, like what Helena was talking about before,” I say. “Should we try to go farther or something?”

  “No. If Helena wants it, it’s bad news. You want to mess around with demons and angels? You’ve seen what Ginzo can do. We’d be an easy lunch.”

  “Except Ginzo doesn’t seem to eat anything.”

  Kian shrugs. “That’s true, but we’re keeping this a secret, right?”

  “Right.” I don’t think we should give Helena anything we don’t have to. All we want to do is stop a fire and then get the hell out of here.

  The ice fires detach from the ceiling, an icicle breaking free. They untangle themselves before shattering on the ground and float around the room, a couple of fish in a bowl.

  “You can let us out now,” Kian says.

  They sing harmony parts, and the same wall as before recedes into the ground. They lead the way. Once Kian and I step out, the wall seals the room up again.

  “Are you going to help us cross this deathtrap rink, too?” Kian asks.

  The ice fires circle around us, once, twice. They gain speed with each rotation, and then they slam into our backs, shooting us across the ice.

  “Holy shit!” I shout and windmill my arms to keep myself upright. I manage to until the slippery ice ends, and the toe of my boot jams into a crack. I land face-first.

  Kian twirls at the last minute, catching himself before meeting the same fate, graceful as a ballerina. He offers me his hand. “You okay?”

  “Maybe.” Blood drips down on the ice, meaning I probably hit my nose. I take Kian’s hand.

  “Bloody nose, but it’s not bad. Stopped bleeding already.”

  What’s a little more blood to add to the stains we have everywhere already? I wipe away whatever got on my face with the back of my glove. It’d be nice to shower, though.

  I squeeze Kian’s hand and whisper, “Don’t let go.”

  “We’re in this together, Nova. I won’t let go.”

  CHAPTER 12

  The ice fires don’t lead us back to Helena’s lab. They circle above us with abandon. When Kian asks them to please help us, they don’t do anything different.

  “We’re going to be lost in here forever,” I say, once hours have definitely gone by.

  “No, I swear I remember this tunnel.” Kian stops and looks at his hand. “We have been at this for a while, though. The sun’s gone down. My finger’s finally mending itself. God, that feels much better.”

  “If you really recognize this tunnel, what exit do we take?”

  “That one.”

  We walk for another half hour, but Kian is confident in where we’re going, and he proves himself right when we finally arrive at the lab. Our two ice fires mingle with others already swimming just below the ceiling.

  I don’t see Helena or Ginzo. Archer is at one of the counters, staring at a glass jar. Her fingers curl around it, and she stares intently. The soul inside flickers. I shouldn’t be able to see it without holding the watermelon tourmaline or without touching Archer, but I do.

  Archer starts unscrewing the lid. Something glints in that same hand: the watermelon tourmaline.

  “Archer, wait,” I say.

  “Fuck off.”

  I slam my hand down on the jar’s lid while Kian wrenches Archer’s hand free and confiscates the crystal. The soul disappears, but it’s still in the jar. I hurriedly unscrew the lid to set it free. I shouldn’t. Helena will know I did, but I think about that after the fact.

  Archer struggles, uses her self-taught fighting moves combined with what she’s learned from the Crow to escape Kian’s grasp. She stomps on his foot. He stumbles back, hopping.

  “Shit,” he growls, but he holds fast to the crystal.

  “You’re lucky I didn’t kick you in the balls,” Archer says and holds out her hand. “Try that again and I will. Give me the crystal.”

  I step in front of Kian and say, “No.”

  Archer’s face goes red, really red. “What is wrong with you two? This is the only way out. Don’t you get it? You have to be the strongest to best all the fucking monsters. Otherwise they’ll take and do what they want and you’ll never have a say. What about your precious Nightshade?”

  “How would you eating souls help Nightshade? Helena’s just going to want to use you more. Maybe this triggers the fire.”

  “You keep saying that, but you don’t know what triggers it. You’re just trying to make stalemates everywhere you can, hoping that’ll be enough. Did you ever think all this cock-blocking could backfire? Because it could. Admit you don’t know.”

  “We don’t,” Kian agrees, “but we do know what’s right and what’s wrong. Helping Helena isn’t good for anyone. That much is obvious.”

  Archer holds out her hands. “It’d help me if you’d just let me do this one thing.”

  “You had plenty of time to try it while Nova and I were gone. Why’d you wait until now? Did you want us to stop you, or are you incapable of doing this without Nova?”

  Archer screams. She grabs my hair, fighting dirty. I grit my teeth and try to untangle her fingers, but it doesn’t work. She easily tackles me to the ground, wrenches my head by my hair, and raises her fist.

  I reflexively close my eyes, hold up my hands, and brace myself for impact. But it never comes. I blink and Kian’s grappling with Archer.

  “Nova!” He tosses the tourmaline my way. I catch it just as Archer gets Kian in a chokehold. He smacks her arms, steps around her. I think he only manages to break free because he’s taller. Archer doesn’t let that deter her, though. She bypasses him and goes for me.

  I run. I’m not that great at fighting, and I doubt I ever will be. But maybe I could overpower Archer. Sometimes her vampire strength doesn’t seem to be there. Sometimes she’s frail and weak.

  No, I’m not going to chance it. She’s gaining on me, and I’m running as fast as I can without the ice taking control. When I glimpse Kian again, his clothes are piled on the floor, and his silhouette changes shape. Chartreuse prickles like a cactus, and then Kian’s a big, pointy dog.

  I shouldn’t have looked. It was a momentary distraction, but distraction e
nough to give Archer her chance. She snatches the crystal, and I barely jump out of the way before Kian pins Archer to the ground. His growls reverberate, turning the lab into an almost unbearable echo chamber. The ice fires jitter and match his tone.

  Kian snaps at Archer’s hand, going for the crystal. He buries sharp teeth into her wrist, but she won’t let go. She claws at Kian’s short fur and pinches the loose bit of skin on his neck. Sky blue flares in her hands. At first, it has a greenish tint, but it turns bluer by the second. At the same time, Kian’s chartreuse fades.

  She’s draining his Color and converting it to her own Color. The tourmaline in her hand glows white-hot. Her fingers dig into his throat, cutting off Kian’s growl. He whines, squeals like a pig at the slaughterhouse. Blood drips down Archer’s hand, and she opens her mouth wide to take a bite out of the hellhound.

  I dive in, slide across the ice on my stomach, and squeeze Archer’s wrist. “Let him go,” I say.

  “Make me,” she says through gritted teeth.

  Kian’s fierce claws jam into Archer’s shoulders, making it impossible for her to get a bite out of him, drawing her blood the same way she’s drawing his.

  Ice fires swirl down around us, trapping us inside of an icy vortex where ice shards cut whatever they can find. The crystal gets hotter. It’s so hot I’m surprised Archer isn’t screaming. It radiates wave after wave of heat and melts ice shards before they can touch us. Sky blue and lotus pink burn where skin is visible, and then they combine, create lavender, and extend. Lavender pulses like a shockwave. The ice fires match its tone, the gong of a bell. Its rhythm is constant

  Lavender intensifies until the Color bleeds away into white. My eardrums rupture, stealing away the chaotic sounds and leaving only white.

  CHAPTER 13

  The blinding white pops like a bubble.

  Colors burst and disperse. Chartreuse rushes back to Kian, but sky blue and lotus pink continue their war. Lavender shows face here and there, until it’s overpowered by and converted to either sky blue or lotus pink. Physically, I’m frozen in place, and so is Archer. Kian backs off, freed because Archer’s and my hands are joined, fingers laced and clamped down. Our Colors are fish eating smaller fish until another bigger fish comes around.

  Snap, pop, BANG.

  Each time my Color is consumed, I feel it in my bones.

  Snap, pop, BANG.

  My bones respond by breaking down.

  I roll my tongue around in my mouth. I can’t make it do more; it won’t form words. I try again and again until I manage a weak, “Archer, we have to stop.”

  I don’t think she hears me. If she does, she doesn’t care.

  “We’re killing each other,” I say.

  If I could just let go of her hand, that might be enough to stop this. Maybe we’re bound together, no longer individuals, just two parts of the same sculpture.

  Chartreuse intrudes on sky blue and lotus pink. It eclipses our hands, and pain shoots through my body.

  Crunch.

  Teeth. Teeth and strong jaws are shattering my bones bit by bit. Archer and I scream at the same time, and our Colors respond. They’re sucked back inside of us, and Kian lets go. Archer drops the tourmaline, and one of the ice fires consumes it.

  Kian wedges his big body in between us, shoving Archer away to create more space. I grab my hand, cradle it against my chest, and curl up into a ball as if that’ll stop the pain. Kian noses my cheek, but I don’t respond. God, he didn’t hold back. He mangled my hand. I know it’s healing, there’s this subtle itch that isn’t coming from the wound, but it’s taking its damn sweet time.

  “I probably deserved it,” I say as Kian whimpers. “Payback for all the times I’ve hurt you, right? Help me up.”

  I can’t hold my hurt hand steady, but I try to keep it close to my chest so I don’t jostle it too much. I wrap my arm around Kian’s ridged neck as far as I can manage. He drags me to my feet when he lifts his head.

  “Archer, you okay?” I ask.

  She’s gasping, holding her hand out to the ice, pressing down on it to either stop the blood or in response to the pain. An ice fire floats down from the ceiling and taps her hand with its long tail. Her hand goes blue, but she isn’t clenching her teeth anymore. What she really needs is Ginzo’s blood. Her Color didn’t come out any better from our little Color fight. Looks like I won.

  I reclaim my arm from around Kian’s neck, but I keep my body pressed into him. I hold out my healthy hand to Archer, offering to help her to her feet.

  “Don’t touch me,” Archer hisses.

  I keep my hand extended. “I know it’s scary to trust someone, and being the most powerful would make things easier, but we’re not demons, Archer. You really think eating souls will make you powerful enough to best Ginzo?”

  “Maybe.”

  I step forward. “I think we’re better off if we have people we trust. Our power lies in numbers.”

  The familiar sound of Kian shifting floods into my ears, subtle cracks and snaps. Fabric rubbing against fabric means he’s quickly bundling up to get out of this cold. He joins me then and holds out his hand to Archer as well.

  “I used to be afraid of trusting, too,” I say. “I still am, but I feel better now that I’m at least trying to. It’s hard to be the only one you can count on. Sometimes we need a little help. That’s true for anyone. I’d probably be dead right now if Kian hadn’t taken pity on me and given me his blood.”

  “With an ulterior motive,” Archer says. She peeks up from her curled-up position, azure eyes piercing, accusing.

  “You can twist it however you want,” Kian replies, “but the truth is I care about Nova. Before, when I hardly knew her, I still cared. I wanted to help. Yes, there are a lot of assholes out there, but there are a lot of nice people, too.”

  “I heard you two talking that night. You’re only playing puppy-dog boyfriend because you’re afraid Nova starts the fire.”

  I could easily twist that around, too. Part of me won’t let go of it, like it’s this shard of glass wedged into my brain, not enough to stop me from functioning, but enough to make me second-guess myself, to feel the pain of it every now and then even if I refuse to pay it any mind.

  No. I know Kian cares about Nightshade. But he cares about me, too. I believe him. He would have become my friend regardless of his visions. If we had ever met.

  “None of that was a lie, Nova,” Kian says quietly, as if reading my mind. Chartreuse is soft and as vibrant as new grass.

  And I believe him.

  I think about what happened when we were trapped together on the ice. I’m new to kissing, but I’m pretty sure you don’t kiss like that unless you feel something. Then there were his words. Kian’s words make sense to me in a way no one’s ever have.

  I trust him. There’s still a possibility I’ll get burned, but I already made the decision. I don’t want the people in Nightshade hurt. I want to be able to go back there. For the first time in my life, I want a home to return to.

  “Archer, let us help you,” I say. “If you don’t, you’re going to fade away. Why is your Color so translucent? Something happened to you before arriving in Nightshade, so what is it?”

  Archer grimaces.

  “We want to help. Emery’s not here, but I’m sure she’d want to help, too. Maybe dating was a game to you, but it wasn’t to her.” I know I’ve sort of dismissed Emery this entire time, but it was mostly a self-defense mechanism. She’s nice. Genuinely nice, like Kian, Madeline, the Crow, maybe others.

  “Let’s save Nightshade together.” I strain my extended fingers as if the extra effort will be enough to get Archer to take my hand. Kian mirrors me.

  Archer’s face screws up. Her eyebrows dig down into deep creases. Her lips curl back, and she grinds her teeth together. But her eyes are glossy with tears. Sad, frustrated, angry. I think she might be all of those things.

  “You’re not alone, “I say, apparently taking lessons from Kian.


  Archer takes my hand. She reaches out for Kian’s too, but he grabs her forearm instead to try to keep the pain to a minimum.

  Clap, clap, clap.

  All of our heads turn at the same time, to the tunnel leading to the ice cavern’s entrance. Someone’s standing there. They’re bundled up a lot like we are, but the Color peeking out of the only uncovered part of their body is unfamiliar; it’s salmon.

  “Love what you’ve done to the place.” He’s male based on his voice and height. “It looks like a whirlwind whipped through.”

  “Who are you?” Kian growls.

  “A vampire from Eduardo Thorpe’s coven. I have a message.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Kian steps in front of me and Archer, arms spread out like a shield. “You can’t have them. I’ll tear you apart first.”

  The salmon vampire raises his hands, placating. “No need to get so defensive. I’m not here to fight, you know? I have a message to relay.”

  “We don’t care about your damn message,” Archer says, but her voice betrays her by quavering. I hold her hand tighter. She even squeezes back. “We’ve got a demon. He’ll pop your head off like a fucking dandelion.”

  “Big words for a shackled girl.”

  Archer’s already-pale skin goes a shade paler, or maybe it just loses its pinkish undertone in place of gray. She’s as white as a damn sheet.

  “How did you get in here?” she asks. “How did you find me?”

  Kian traps a sigh. We both knew something was going on with Archer. Kian even saw Eduardo in his vision of her, though he wasn’t sure what it meant. Now there’s no room to question if they had met before Archer’s arrival in Nightshade.

  The salmon vampire tsks. “Archer, Archer, Archer. How did we find you the first time you ran away? You thought you were so clever. The only reason you got anywhere was because Eduardo wanted you to. This time was no different.”

  “No.”

  “Yes. You’re powerless, but you clawed at the chance of freedom.” He chuckles. “Hope is the most dangerous thing in the world. Eduardo owns you, and there’s no escaping it.”