“I— I—” I tried to get my jaw to respond, but I was pretty sure it was broken.
“Refusing to tell me, are ya?” Erlik leaned back, anger bleeding into his brows. “Laughing at me, are ya?”
What?
“Calling me a stupid, ignorant chump who can’t tame a hellhound like a slow, worthless worm like you can?!” he bellowed, rage rising.
No!
“How dare you!” he roared. Erlik shook me like a rag doll. “You wanted to make an enemy out of me, boy? Well, you succeeded! To the dorms with you, insolent worm!” He tossed me bodily over his shoulder. “Now!”
Sabrina slithered over to me as hisclomp-clomp-clompsfaded in the distance. She took in my broken, bleeding body and the tear tracks cutting through my grimy face. “Well?” she snapped. “You heard him. Pick me up and take me to my room.”
IT WAS AN HOUR BEFOREI was able to fulfill that order, which was miraculous in and of itself. I wasn’t premed like my sister planned to be, but I knew enough about the human body to know no one walks away from an attack like that after only an hour. The blood loss alone should’ve kept me out of the game for days.
“My lord’s doing,” Sabrina mentioned. “He’d have boosted your natural healing ability. You should thank him by surrendering your soul to him now. He has already overpaid for it.”
“That’s an insane statement, and you know it,” I mumbled as I stumbled toward the entrance. “I’m not surrendering anything until Dora is safe at home.”
She hissed. “Stubbornnesssss is the plague of the elderly.”
“Who needs venom when your words are poison.”
Sabrina laughed that strange, hissing laugh. “That was humorous, human. Good,” she said. “It doesn’t do to be ugly and unfunny.”
I blew a hard breath out my nose. “And to think I was glad for a minute there that the crows didn’t carry you away.”
“What?”
“Ugh,” I cried, rolling my eyes. “Who am I kidding? I’m still glad. I was really scared for you, Sabrina.” I reached the short staircase to the main doors. “Are you okay?”
“What?” she snapped louder.
“Are you hurt?” I repeated. The crows ripped my shirt and pants off, so I had no trouble talking to her face to reptilian face. “You look okay, but do you need anything? I can—”
“Stop that,” she hissed. “Stop talking nonsense, human, and take me to my room!”
I blinked. I had no idea what I said to piss her off, but it was very effective. Dropping it, I pushed inside the academy—
—and froze.
I don’t know what I was expecting of an academy in hell. So far, everything I’d been subjected to in this world was as horrifying and traumatizing as you would expect of a place centuries of humans feared—and I’d only been here for a few hours. But this...
Skeleton chandeliers clung to the high, arched ceiling beams. The bones were its canopies and columns, the ribs were its arms, and candles rested on skulls—wax dripping from their eyes like ivory tears.
Not a single window claimed the entryway, allowing the oppressive darkness to win its battle with the thin, flickering candles. Portraits looked down from where windows would be—painted with artistry so impeccable, I felt every stare and shuddered from each crafted snarl. Scarlet and ebony damask wallpaper covered the walls—beautiful if not for the slash marks and spray-painted profanity as far as the eye could see. Cobwebs covered everything in thick silky ropes, and little feet scurried through the darkness.
It was horrible... and beautiful.
I don’t know why both words came to my mind—side by side and equal in how they gripped me—but being here I knew, I was standing within something old and beautiful. Too old and beautiful to be ruined by webs and graffiti. Abaddon Academy would enchant all who stepped through their doors. Enchant them to awe. Enchant them to envy. Enchant them to ruin. But it would have a piece of you—whether you liked it or not.
I tossed my head, blinking. “Uh... rooms. How do I find mine?”
“In front of you.”
Squinting at the spot where she pointed, I made out a small crate of keys resting against the wall.
“Wait. This is how we’re assigned our rooms? We just pick a key from an abandoned box in the hallway?”
