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I exhale, trying to breathe out my rising frustration. “Why have they never told us this?”
“Probably because ‘Hey, darkling magic is hella poisonous for humans,’ isn’t good for morale. That and the antidote is incredibly rare and expensive. They only keep one vial in the infirmary, and Jace said they only stocked it recently, to look good in front of the Council for the Mistreatment of Humans.”
Just when I thought I couldn’t despise the Fae any more. “They could at least educate us in class about the deadly side effect of a darkling bite.”
“What, and scare all their ignorant human shields away?” She shakes her head in disgust. “Most humans never survive the attack, so it’s easy for the academy to downplay the risk. And the poison has to enter a major artery to take hold.”
I rub my head. “Wait. Was anyone else poisoned?”
“Not poisoned but . . . five students were killed, their necks all neatly broken, like . . .”
“Like they were more interested in something else,” I finish.
“We think the students tried to fight them or simply got in their way.” She pauses, her gaze dropping to the cloud-white duvet cover. “Kyler was one of them.” o;Flower. Flower. Star.” She grunts in frustration, beating and tearing at her skull with her crooked fingers. “Star. Star. Bloody star.”
“Evelyn, I . . . I’m trying to understand.”
Her head stops jerking and when she meets my stare, my heart breaks at the very human pain in her eyes. The brief flash of sentience. Evelyn is still in there. Trapped.
“Blood . . . star,” she moans. “Bloodstar!” As soon as she utters the word, she shrieks, leaping over the others as she flees. The darklings rush after her.
It takes less than two seconds for both Evelyn and the darklings to disappear from the chamber, leaving us shaking and in shock.
“How are we still alive?” Richard asks. He’s cradling his right arm. “We should be dead. So dead. Painfully dead and in pieces.”
“You don’t have to describe it for us,” Mack snaps, sagging against me.
Ruby hovers in front of my face. One of her wings doesn’t seem to be working properly.
Her eyes widen in alarm as she takes me in. “Kid, you’re hurt!”
“What?” I glance over at my shoulder, surprised to see my sleeve is covered in blood. Mack jerks from her stupor and drags down the hem of my onesie.
“This cut is really deep,” I hear Mack say, only from far away. When did she move? Her face, too, is vignetting around the edges.
“I’ve seen this before,” Ruby says. “The darkling’s magic got into her bloodstream from the cut. We have to get her to the infirmary, now!”
“I’m fine,” I insist, growing woozy as I try to both breathe and talk, which is growing harder for some reason. “I don’t feel a . . . thing.”
Jace limps over to me, frowning. “Should we carry her?”
“No. You’re all injured.” I try to argue more, but my body is shutting down. Cold seeping into my limbs. As soon as I try to take a step, my world careens dangerously.
A growl fills the air. “Crap,” I murmur. “They came back. Just leave me.”
“No one’s leaving you, Princess.” Valerian’s voice drags my eyes open in time to see him scoop me into his arms.
“Oh, hi,” I say, as if I’m not low-key probably dying. “We couldn’t get the weapons, but I kicked one in the face.”
“Stay with me, do you understand, Summer? I order you to keep your eyes open.”
“Always so dang bossy,” I murmur.
And then a tidal wave of darkness crashes over me.
29
My dreams are strange, surreal. I’m watching myself sleep in a small cot, in a hospital, I think. My ashy-blonde hair spills over the white pillow. Red streaks one half of my head where a nasty gash has mostly healed near my temple. I’m still wearing that hideous cat burrito onesie.
