"This is a terrible idea," Stone Stone said.
He was standing by the window, arms crossed, looking distinctly uncomfortable in our living room. He was still in uniform, which made him look like a narc at a house party. But his face... his face was pale. Shaken.
"It's a brilliant idea," Ivy countered. She was sitting on the back of the couch, dangling her legs. She was wearing a t-shirt that said REBEL SCUM and eating a slice of pepperoni pizza. "We're basically the Avengers. But hotter. And with more fur."
"We are not the Avengers," Stone grunted. "We are a collection of felons and students plotting treason against the Dean."
"To be fair," Jax drawled from the shadows in the corner, "treason is my middle name. Actually, it's Vladimir, but 'Treason' has a better ring to it."
The vampire stepped into the light. He looked effortlessly cool, sipping a mug of something red that I hoped was tomato juice (but knew wasn't).
"The girl is right, Stone," Jax said. "Marrow is bad for business. He eats magic. Do you know what happens to theeconomy when the customers get eaten? It crashes. I have a vested interest in keeping the student body alive."
"And you?" Stone turned to the third recruit.
Professor Rook was floating—literally floating—cross-legged three feet above the coffee table. He was juggling three balls of blue fire.
"Oh, I'm just here for the drama," Rook smiled, his teal eyes sparkling. "And because Marrow called my syllabus 'frivolous'. Do you know what I saw today, Officer Stone? In the sublevels?"
Stone stiffened. "What did you see?"
Rook caught the fireballs, extinguishing them in his fist. "I saw a freshman named Timothy being carried out on a stretcher. Drained dry. By something... hungry."
Stone flinched. He looked away, staring out the window at the dark campus.
"I carried him," Stone admitted quietly. "I took him to the clinic. But they couldn't fix him. Because it wasn't an accident."
He turned back to us, and the conflict in his eyes was gone. Replaced by a cold, hard resolve.
"Marrow didn't just punish him," Stone said. "He fed on him. Like a leech."
"He's a Siphon," I whispered, the realization hitting me. "A Dark Siphon. He doesn't just channel magic. He consumes it."
"That's why I'm here," Stone said. He looked at Ivy, then at the rest of us. "The law is supposed to protect people. Marrow... he's a predator. And I take predators down."
I looked around the room.
This was it. The Resistance.
We had the Triad (The Power).
We had Ivy (The Chaos).
We had Jax (The Underworld).
We had Stone (The Law—reluctantly).
We had Rook (The Wild Card).
And, arriving late but making an entrance, we had our Intel.
The door opened, and Amelia Vance walked in. Followed closely by Arthur.
Amelia looked around the room, her nose wrinkling at the pizza boxes and the eclectic mix of people.
"You live like animals," she announced.
"Nice to see you too, Amelia," I said. "Did you bring the files?"
