Page 19 of Slayer

“Are you okay?” the dark-skinned woman asked. She wore her hair in long black braids, and they fell around her shoulder as she knelt beside me and helped me up.

Her touch was steady. Solid. Real.

The man, however, was frantically searching the park as if looking for someone.

I pointed to my mouth, eyes wide, and the woman frowned, looking over my face with a scrutiny and confused expression.

“Oh, you can talk. The fire blast is a one-time thing. You’d need another wafer for that,” she told me.

Relief crashed through me so hard my knees nearly buckled.

“Oh, thank God,” I gasped. “Are you with—do you know Asher?”

Both of their heads swiveled to me. “You met Asher? Wait, what academy are you with?” the man asked.

“I feel like I know you from somewhere.” The woman sounded like she was dreaming as she scanned my face, head cocking to the side. She was looking at me intently now that we were close.

“She’s a lost-born.” Asher’s voice came from over my shoulder.

He spoke the words like a final verdict.

I spun to see him holding his sword aloft and tucking his arm to his chest like it was broken. His breathing looked shallow, his face pale beneath the grime and sweat. “She has to be. She was in the club, and the drainer didn’t affect her, but she doesn’t know anything about our world. I ran after her and missed the portal.”

“Asher!” The man ran over and inspected him, muttering something under his breath.

Asher looked smaller suddenly, like a kid who had been caught breaking something important.

“Sorry you had to come back for me, Professor Silex.” Asher lowered his head.

The professor didn’t look like any professor I had ever seen. He was wearing black leather and was covered in weapons. Knives, holsters, straps, metal glinting beneath the park lights. His arms were bulging with muscles, veins standing out like cables, the kind of man who looked like violence was simply another tool he carried.

“It’s okay, Asher. We came as soon as we could.” The professor reached out and squeezed Asher’s good shoulder.

The contact seemed to steady him.

“What’s your name?” the woman asked me, and I turned to see that she was watching me intensely, head cocked to the side like she was trying to figure out a puzzle.

Her gaze lingered on my face too long, as if she were cataloging features.

“Stella.”

“Last name?”

“Adams,” I answered, shifting on the balls of my feet.

Her brow furrowed, and Professor Silex seemed to notice. “What are you thinking?” he asked.

The woman looked haunted, like she’d seen a ghost. “She looks just like Molly did at that age.”

The night felt very still then.

The professor leaned in as if seeing me for the first time and then stumbled backward. “Oh,” he breathed.

Asher peered at me, confused, and then back to the two adults, his gaze flicking between us.

“We need to get back,” Professor Silex said then, shaking his head as if to clear the thoughts. “The kids aren’t safe here.”

The woman with the long braids just nodded, watching me with an eerie look on her face. She was beautiful, with ebony skin and dark red lips that were currently pursed tight with something close to fear.