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Kingston roared overhead, and the dark cave was suddenly illuminated by his flame. His roar changed to one of pain, and I looked up, my heart leaping into my throat. A dozen bat-like creatures were tearing at his wings.
Come on, persuasion, work for me this time.
It’d been weak and unreliable for the entire first part of the school year, but ever since Kai and I had kissed in his dorm room, my magic had felt much steadier. Stronger.
I hoped like hell it would work now.
“Sleep!” I ordered the little monsters, raising my voice as much as I could without undoing the effects of my persuasive magic. “Go to sleep!”
One by one, they fell out of the air, plummeting to the ground with sickening splats.
“Nice one.” Kai glanced at me, a sort of feral pride in his expression.
I grinned back. His approval shouldn’t have mattered in that moment, but it gave me a warm feeling down to my toes.
“Watch your back!” Hannah shouted as she spun around, building an energy ball up between her hands. I ducked out of the way as she fired at the horde on our heels. I risked a glance behind me, and immediately wished I hadn’t.
Oh my fuck.
The monsters who lived in our school were weak sauce compared to these abominations. A massive spider whose abdomen rose up into the head, arms, and torso of a humanoid demon was leading the pack. Behind him, naked women with eagle talons and wings, gaping black mouths, and burning yellow eyes flew through the air, talons outstretched to rip us apart.
A poisonous-looking salamander as big as a tour bus crawled along the ground, knocking boulders loose and shattering stalag…whatevers. It didn’t even bother to climb over the wall that bordered the castle courtyard, smashing right through the heavy stone as if it were tissue paper. There were more behind it, so many more, but I could only hear them. Their screams were like death and despair. Tears streaked down my face, and I realized that something in the pack was evoking and feeding off of our emotions.
“Keep it together!” I shouted, to no one in particular. “Block them out.”
We finally skidded to a stop at the door, and I took a quick head count as we pushed through it. Oh, shit, no. Jayce was missing. I turned around to call for him, but Xero yanked me inside and slammed the door shut, then barred it.
“No! Jayce!” I wailed.
“What?”
The blond man’s voice from behind me made me jump, and I spun around to find Jayce leading a pack of teachers and advanced students toward us.
“I told you, I’m faster here.” He shot me a lopsided grin, though his features remained tense. “I told them already.”
I wanted to smack him for scaring me, but there wasn’t time for nonsense. I’d make him pay for it later by fucking him until neither of us could walk. Right now, an army of fallen were at the door, and we were not prepared.
“The wards?” Hannah asked Toland, her voice high and thready.
He shook his head. “Hope they hold and be ready to fight.”
My whole body tensed up as the first monster slammed against the door with a booming thud, making the heavy wood shudder. “Shit.”
I grabbed my guys, one after the other, and pressed my lips to theirs, fueling up on the spark that ignited between us even now. They all gave willingly, charging me up like a battery. And if I kissed them a little harder and deeper because I was terrified one or all of us might die, well, no one had to know.
“Headmaster!” Lena Shen, the applied magic teacher, flew around the corner behind us, out of breath and frantic. “We have to protect the wards!”
“The wards are intended to protect us, Lena,” he said gravely.
“They can’t withstand a direct attack of this magnitude. If they break through the wards, nowhere in the castle will be safe.” She wrung her hands, almost sobbing. “We have to stop them!”
Silence fell over the hall as the implication of her words settled in. We couldn’t just hunker down and defend our territory. We were going to have to go out there and meet the threat.
Damn it. Of course.
Toland faced off against the tall woman, his mustache quivering as he shook his head. “I won’t tell them to go out there.”
“You won’t have to,” Kingston said, stepping forward. “Hey, Hannah, you want to go for a ride?”
