Page 59 of Mage Massacres

Stone caught him, setting him gently on his feet on the ground, and the shapeshifter bolted away from us. He fell to his knees in front of a nearby bush to throw up. Then he groaned, his chest heaving as he leaned back to rest his ass on his heels.

“That was way worse than riding on your wyvern, Jo.”

Joyner laughed. “I bet it was. Maybe that’ll be a lesson in keeping your mouth shut.”

“Right,” he agreed. “I won’t play games with the Devils anymore.”

“I’d say I’m sorry for that, but I wouldn’t mean it,” I told the shapeshifter. “I do feel the tiniest bit bad for coming across like a bully, though.”

“Is he okay?” Hyde asked from the other end of the yard.

Her voice was soft. If I hadn’t been listening for her, then I wouldn’t have noticed that she’d spoken aloud.

“He’s fine. He’s just battling some motion sickness.”

“Lo, I’ve met them before,” she whispered into my mind.

She and Arwen were making their way closer, so I turned to look at her as I inquired, “When? Is there something I should know? Do I need to kill them?”

“No. It’s nothing like that.” Hyde stopped, facing Arwen as she spoke to me. “I just didn’t expect to ever see them again, not that I wanted to, anyway.”

I snorted mentally so that she could hear it. I knew her better than that.

“Whatever do you mean?” I questioned sarcastically.

“They were part of a small class from the Devil’s Academy who came to the Underworld for a tour. Sam asked me to be their guide and show them around Stars and Hell. Jo and Bishop go to the academy’s college. They’re majoring in demonic politics and law.”

“Interesting,” I replied as she and Arwen began walking again.

Two years ago, I had nearly begged Papi to broaden the acceptance of the Devil’s Academy College. My initial reasoning was to have ambassadors around each of the realms who understood the demonic ways.

Papi mentioned that the expansion had been working out well, so he decided to pitch the idea to the other leaders. He wanted to send demons to the other four realms to learn and reinforce the knowledge on Earth and the Underworld.

“Arwen says he’s seen them around, though he hasn’t taught them yet,” she informed me.

Joyner squinted his eyes as Hyde joined the group. “Aren’t you Hyland Drake? You showed us around—”

She cut him off quickly. “Nope. Not her.”

“Have you relaxed any? Or are you still—” Bishop’s mouth continued to move, but no words came out.

“Thanks, Murph.” The wyvern glanced at Palmer’s brother, but Murphy shrugged in return.

“I muted him,” Miller admitted as she exchanged glares with Bishop. “Glower at me all you want. You can’t say anything that’ll get you killed if you can’t talk. I’m doing this for your own good.”

“Thank you, Mills,” Joyner amended. “He was going to say something stupid.”

Bishop coughed when Miller unmuted him. “I was going to say uptight.”

“Of course, you were.” Joyner rolled his eyes.

“If you say anything rude, I’ll ask Palmer to mute you,” Millie warned. “Remember how long you had to wait the last time he did it?”

“I had my reasons for being uptight,” Hyde quietly snapped, her eyes falling on me. “They had nothing to do with showing students around the Underworld.”

Her whispered confession floated into my mind. “The tour was the day before Blue took me. I’m pretty sure that’s how he found our house.”

“So. You’re dating a professor? How rebellious of you.” The shapeshifter smirked, oblivious to the weight Hyland was feeling.