AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m still up for taking her magic and us doing it,” the thief said.
“I’ve waited too long for this,” Professor Halifax said. “The last time you tried to open it you just made a time bubble. I told you, killing her isn’t enough any more.”
“So that’s what that was,” I said.
“If she’s not strong enough to do it after stealing my parent’s magic, I won’t be strong enough. Just let me go,” I said.
“You weren’t strong enough,” she said. “Not until you completed that bond with all of your mates.”
“Seriously?” I shook my head. “That’s what this was all about? That’s why you moved up the trials and pushed us toward the magic meld? So I could open some stupid portal for you?”
“Stupid portal!” The thief was on her feet now, moving toward me. “What do you know about being trapped in a realm that’s not your own?”
Professor Halifax intercepted, stopping the thief from moving closer to me. “Sit down, Leanna.”
“That’s what this is all about?” Sympathy tugged at my insides. I didn’t want to feel bad for her, but I understood wanting to go home. Honestly, I would be more sympathetic if she hadn’t tried to kill me.
“You just want to go back to Faerie?”
“And you’re going to make it happen,” the thief said.
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I might barely stay awake in Magical Theory, but I know enough to know that opening portals is bad news. I haven’t even been using magic for a year!”
“You’ll do it,” Professor Halifax said. “And you’ll do it correctly.”
“Right, cause you threatening me is going to make me do it better.”
“It will when you know the stakes,” she said.
My brow furrowed. “If you’re talking about me dying if I do it wrong, I’m pretty sure that’s the same result if I don’t do it at all with your little trigger happy sidekick over there.”
“I’m not talking about your death, though that is a possibility,” she said.
My chest felt tight and I tried to hide that it suddenly felt more difficult to breathe. I already knew what she was going to say but I didn’t want to hear the words.
“Your mates are trapped in a room with a malacoda. Go ahead and turn me down. I’ll let her kill you, then I’ll command the malacoda to eat your mates. As it is, I’m sure it’s feeling frustrated that I won’t let it attack.”
I didn’t know what a malacoda was but based on the sounds it made in the gym, I knew it was bad. I didn’t have any doubts that it could eat my mates.
“Choice is yours,” Professor Halifax said. “But if she loses the time bubble before you decide, I’ll make the choice for you.”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to hold it for too much longer, you might want to decide quickly,” Leanna said.
“What happens after I open the portal?” I asked.
“We go through and you can close it after us,” she said.
“Then you’re gone?” I asked.
“You’ll never see us again,” she said.
“What about my mates and the monster?” I asked.
“You open the portal and I’ll give you the flute I used to command it. You play each note in order and you can send it back to hell.”
It sounded too good to be true. She’d be gone, the thief would be gone, the monster would be gone, and my mates would be safe.
I shook my head. “Not good enough.”
