“Let’s do it together. I’m stronger in air magick, but you’ve already bonded with the Sword of Breath and Blade. We can use both.”
I unsheathe the Sword, holding it out like a divining rod. Kirin grabs my free hand, his magick heating up my skin, making my nerves tingle. At his nod, I draw his magick into me, and speak the first words that come to mind:
Paths obscured and paths unknown
The road bends left and right
Show us the way that leads us home
From darkness into light
All at once, the mist surrounding us condenses, settling into a thicker, whiter path at our feet that stretches ahead and curves around to the left. The Sword glows bright in my hand.
“That’s our way.” Releasing Kirin’s hand and clasping Doc’s instead, I lead us along the path of the white mist, winding deeper into the caves before taking a sharp curve through another chamber. It’s a good thirty or forty minutes of walking through the darkness, my glowing Sword our only light. My eyes are so used to its silvery glow that I almost don’t recognize what’s right ahead.
“There’s light,” Doc says, pointing toward a wedge of sunlight illuminating the black rock ahead. It’s the first natural light we’ve seen since we entered these deplorable caves.
The sight of it brings tears to my eyes.
“Our spell worked!” I gasp.
“Was there any doubt?” Doc teases, squeezing my hand.
“Only a little. You know how it is—first time escaping an ancient druid’s evil lair and all.”
“I told you, Miss Milan. You’re magick.” He leans in for another kiss, and together, my mages and I step out into the light.
Directly into an ambush.
Seventeen
STEVIE
I have no idea where we are.
The mist is gone, and the sun-dappled meadow before us is a beautiful spring day come to life. Trees bloom in shades of white and pale pink. A brook runs along one side, murmuring softly over the rocks. Overhead, birds flutter and sing, chasing one another through the warm, floral-scented breeze.
It would almost be perfect.
Almost… if not for the several dozen dark mages standing in formation, hoods drawn low, hands crackling with magick as malicious as their false grins.
From the front of the line, one of the mages steps forward and lowers his hood.
William Eastman.
My heart drops right into my stomach.
If he’s here, who’s back on campus? Does his presence at the caves mean Casey and the others were able to sneak into the Academy undetected? Or did he catch them and—
“Playtime is over, little Arcana slaves,” he sneers. “Hand over the Star and the artifacts and we’ll grant the rest of you a quick death.”
All three of my mages step in front of me.
“Or,” Baz says, “we’ll keep herandthe artifacts, torture you for sport, and leave you for the buzzards.”
“You forgot the skull-bashing, pissing-on-the-bones part,” Kirin mutters to Baz, just loud enough for Eastman to hear.
“Either way, they’re going to suffer,” Baz says.
