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“Prove myself how?” I ask, and she finally stops nuzzling Greyson’s leg and turns to me, her grey eyes unblinking as she assesses me.
“Fail and you will lose them all, succeed and you may lose one.” Her warning sends an icy chill up my spine. “Please don’t fail. I’m starting to grow attached.”
And with that she blinks out of existence, leaving me frozen in shock.
“What did she say?” Greyson asks, his brows furrowed as he searches my face.
“You didn’t hear her?” I shudder as I replay the warning again.
“No.”
“It wasn’t anything good.” I gather myself, shaking off the icy fear that still clings to my skin. “I have to prove myself today, and if I don’t ...” I trail off, not wanting to complete that sentence.
“Aria,” Denver shouts, the terror in his voice snapping me from my thoughts. He appears at the edge of the trees and sprints towards us. I can’t help the sigh of relief that escapes me at the sight of him, reassuring me after the ominous omen my familiar just laid on me.
Denver’s arms encircle me in a tight embrace the moment he reaches me, desperately clutching me against his chest.
“I stayed down by the lake for a bit to give you two some privacy, but when I heard that scream ...” He heaves out a sigh of relief before he reluctantly lets me go.
A look passes between Denver and Greyson, and I’m sure they’ll butt heads eventually, but they both know the other is in my life, and I won’t give either of them up. I swear I even catch a hint of begrudging respect in Greyson’s eyes.
“It came from the front of the school,” I explain and quickly fill Denver in on the encounter with my familiar, keeping the full brunt of the omen to myself. They don’t need to know that if I fail I’ll lose them all, because there’s no way in hell I’m going to fail, and the only way that’ll happen is if I die along with them.
We don’t waste any more time and rush down the path, flinging open the door to the narrow hallway. It’s the fastest way to get to the front of the school where I’m sure there are already others gathered. My heart pounds in time with each step I take and we race through the hall and into the main entryway.
I skid to a stop as we reach the cafeteria, unable to maneuver that quickly around the throng of students gathered now. Hushed whispers come from the students, their heads bowed deep in conversation. But there’s no time to try to listen in. I need to get to the front to help with whatever I can to make sure we succeed.
Weaving through the groups of students, Denver and Greyson stay right on my tail. The closer we get to the front entrance the more students are trying to peer outside. A few even scowl back at me as I pass, but as soon as I bare my teeth and they register who I am, they quickly back down.
I scan the entrance for anyone I know who might be able to tell me what happened, but I don’t recognize a single face. Frustrated, I push through the doorway and out onto the stairs, where the crowd seems to thin, leaving my path clear to a group of students I actually know and a professor hunched over a woman’s body. My steps slow as I take stock of everything around me.
The woman is a student, her blonde hair splayed around her as she lies on the cobblestone pathway. It takes a moment to recognize her, but she’s one of the students in our class. I didn’t know her well, but she always seemed excited to be among the elite hunters, even after our first monster lesson. Blood pools around her lifeless form, soaking into her uniform and smearing across her body. But there’s no chance of saving her, not with the gaping hole where her heart used to be.
“Aria,” Carter exclaims, snapping me from my shock. I’ve seen dead bodies before but nothing like this, nothing that happened so recently that the metallic tinge of blood still permeates the air.
A sigh of relief escapes my lips as I take stock of everyone here. At the mention of my name, Harper turns to me from where she’d been arguing with Carter just moments before. The two of them close the distance in an instant, wrapping their arms around me and squeezing me way too tightly.
Landon’s eyes fly up to meet mine. He scans me quickly, as though he’s making sure that I’m okay before he gives me a pointed look, which seems to mirror all the relief and fear that I, too, feel.
“I thought—” Carter says, but stops himself short, realizing we can’t speak freely. He eases away from me, his frown deepening as he glances at the crowd of students waiting just beyond the doors. His train of thought shifts though as he catches sight of the two men accompanying me. “I’m sensing a story.”
“It can wait,” Greyson says pointedly, some unspoken conversation passing between them. “What the hell happened here?”
“It was horrible.” Harper shudders as she steps away. The blood drains from her face and Jakob strolls a few steps closer. I hadn’t even registered him waiting over on the other side of the path before, but Samuel and Luke make their way over too. “We were waiting for the rest of the class when an ogre appeared almost out of nowhere.”
“Stacy screamed, but it was already too late,” Samuel says, stepping in for Harper when it seems she can’t continue. “He just came up behind her and ...” Samuel trails off, not needing to continue when the evidence of what happened to her is pretty clear.
“We used our attack spells, but they only seemed to knock him off balance,” Luke explains, his expression grave as he pointedly avoids looking over to Stacy’s gruesome form. “Professor Pierce was able to entrap him before he got to anyone else though, but we were all freaking out because you were all missing,” Luke huffs, glaring at Denver incredulously.
“I hate to agree with a Prince lackey, but we thought something had happened to you,” Carter says with a note of accusation, while Luke grumbles something under his breath.
“At least you missed it,” Harper says, a shiver running over her as she clearly remembers what happened.
I go to reach for her, but Carter out of everyone is already there, his arm wrapped around her shoulder in a comforting gesture.
“I don’t think we’re that lucky,” Denver murmurs, giving me a pointed look. All eyes seem to turn to me and I take a deep breath knowing we need to prepare. If what my familiar said is true, that won’t be the last enemy we face today.
Landon makes his way over to us shortly, clearly having overheard Denver’s vague words. The group goes quiet as I recount what my familiar implied, still unwilling to reveal the omen word for word. There’s no way I’m speaking that into existence. Landon pulls his phone from his pocket, and I briefly glimpse his hands tinged with the student’s blood as he types out a message. My heart pangs for him, wishing I could check in and comfort him too, but that’s impossible—especially right now. He may be used to seeing death, but I can tell by his pained expression it never gets easier.
