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When I shoved open the massive double doors at the entrance, relief and fresh worry washed over me simultaneously.
The interior of the school was far from a ghost town.
Instead, it was utter chaos.
People were rushing down the hallways, voices raised in anger and alarm. I noticed students nursing injuries, and several who looked like they could barely stand. Along one wall of the large entryway, I noticed several unmoving forms lying under sheets.
“Oh, fuck,” Trace breathed, coming to stand beside me just inside the front doors.
This was the aftermath of the Gods’ Challenge.
The entire school had been forced to compete, and even though we had “won” in the end, it wasn’t without grave consequences. The images Omari had shown me of my men and I attacking our fellow students? Even if those doppelgängers weren’t really us, the damage they had done was viscerally real.
As if his low murmur had been a shout, several people in the hall looked up at us quickly. Their faces contorted with anger, and one man whose name I thought was Justin strode toward us, his eyes flashing.
“There you are! You honestly have the guts to come back here after what you did?”
His rage was so hot and so unexpected that I was knocked off balance for a second. Of course I should’ve expected this. These people had been attacked by creatures that looked just like me and my men. Of course they would hate and distrust us.
“No, it’s not what you—” I began, but my words were cut off as another student began stalking toward us, fury in his features.
“Stop!”
The clear voice rang out in the large entryway, and before I knew what was happening, Eden had thrown her body in front of mine.
“What are you doing?” Justin growled.
“She didn’t attack you. I know she didn’t!” Eden was a small girl, but she seemed to have grown six inches as she faced down the angry students who surrounded us. “She and these guys were the ones who grabbed the gem. The reason we all got sent back home when we did, before we could lose anyone else.”
“It’s true.” Nadia’s voice was breathy and ragged, and when I looked toward the sound, I saw that she was in rough shape. She’d been part of the group that had found the gem, and she’d helped fight off the four gods who protected it, keeping them distracted so the guys and I could snag the prize.
She stepped toward us, limping slightly. “I don’t know who it was that attacked you guys, but I know it wasn’t Aria. She helped us. She saved me.”
Justin still looked unconvinced, his suspicious gaze darting back and forth between Nadia, Eden, and me.
For fuck’s sake. We don’t have time for this.
“I didn’t attack anyone,” I said loudly, meeting Justin’s gaze but lifting my voice to address the whole room. “Except those motherfucking gods who were trying to stand in our way. And speaking of motherfucking gods, we need to be ready to defend ourselves. Because even though we won the game, they’re not done with us. Omari, their leader, wants to wipe out everyone at this school.”
A chorus of gasps and yells followed my pronouncement. Justin’s eyes went wide, and his mouth fell open a little. But before he could say anything, Dean Frost stormed into the entry hall.
“What is going on here?” she demanded, her voice imperious.
My hands clenched into fists, and I turned away from the still-gaping Justin to address the dean instead. “What’s going on is that your precious gods have declared an all-out war on wild magic users. Guess they got sick of killing us piecemeal like they used to—sick of picking off the ones you sent to compete in the Gods’ Challenges.”
Frost’s face went blank for a moment, and I could tell she was trying to cover her surprise. She was a good actor, but I could see through her facade well enough to see the gears turning in her brain.
Then she snapped her fingers suddenly, summoning two school staff members to her side. One was Miss Avery, the woman who had greeted me on my first day at Magic Blessed, and the other was a professor named Margo Pfeiffer. Both of them were looking at me with much the same expression as Dean Frost wore, and I could see malice glinting in their eyes.
“You have clearly turned traitor to your school and your fellow students,” Dean Frost bit out. “We’ve all seen the footage of you attacking with no provocation. You’ll have to be restrained, delivered to the gods for whatever punishment they see fit.”
Oh, hell no. I just got out of that fucking place—there’s no way I’m going back.
As Miss Avery and Professor Pfeiffer stepped forward, I raised my hands.
And chaos broke loose.
They both attacked at the same time, and the magic I shot back at them was joined by blasts from my men as well. More screams and shouts echoed in the large room as students leapt into action, choosing sides in the blink of an eye. To my shock, more than half of the room’s occupants seemed to have sided with the men and me, restrainin
