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Whatever Eli saw in my gaze had him reaching towards me and crushing his mouth to mine, all the emotion from yesterday overflowing into our lips today as the discussion became a reality. I pulled away breathless, knowing we needed to go help.
“Let’s inflict some pain, yeah?” Eli murmured, his eyes darkening, and I knew none of us would be the same after this.
“Let’s go.”
Walking towards East and West Territory, the darkness was suffocating. The trees clouded the night sky, stifling the light from the moon and stars. It was impossible to see more than two feet in front of us.
“I’m going to shift into my wolf so I can see. Then I’ll start gathering students that can’t fight. If you need anything, check in with me.” Kalani tapped the side of her head, and I knew she meant speaking to her wolf. Stripping quickly, her wolf appeared and with a howl, she darted off towards the Ethos dorms.
Eli and I jogged along, but in the darkness, it was impossible to see others. Instead, we both followed the sounds of the screams. Thinking of Kalani’s remark, I focused on my power, channeling it towards Madden, hoping he was in his animal form. Relief spread through me when I heard his thoughts.
Fuck this shit. I’m going to tear each of these Hunters apart, limb from limb.
Madden, where are you? Eli and I are trying to find the fight. I figure I may as well try out that shielding.
Fuck, Halley, a little warning before you pop into someone’s head. The main fight is taking place in front of West Territory now that the Hunters can’t use their stealth. There’s a group of injured hiding out inside the building while the rest of us block it. Think you can heal?
May as well try. Go rip some Hunters apart.
My pleasure.
Cancelling the connection, I extinguished my power, knowing I couldn’t drain myself before I started healing.
“Madden said there’s a group of injured inside of West Territory. Unfortunately, the fighting is going on outside of West. Think you can manage to get us inside?” I questioned Eli, but before he could respond, a dark figure came sprinting towards us.
Instinctively, Eli stepped in front of me, while at the same time, I shielded both of us. However, both actions were unnecessary as Knox’s build appeared out of the darkness.
“I can get all of us to West Territory safely. Come on.”
Neither of us asked any questions, knowing it was clear that Knox hadseenus and the way into West already, simply following him, all of us breaking out into a sprint.
As we neared, the gunshots and screams became suffocating. It seemed as though I couldn’t hear anything else. Spotlights from the building shined down onto the fight as we passed, and I couldn’t stop the shiver that wracked through my body. Bodies were strewn across the ground, some mutilated beyond recognition and others with gunshot wounds causing blood to seep into the dirt. Large animals tore through the crowds of Hunters; wolves, tigers, lions, and bears ripping throats of the enemies. I couldn’t spot Madden, but I knew he was in there, doing the worst he could. Drax zipped through the crowd, almost too fast to spot and used their enhanced strength to injure and maim as many Hunters as they could. Even some Ethos and Seers stood on the outer ring of the fight, enhancing a Hunters pain until they were agony, or shouting out where a Hunter would strike next.
Every student in the area was putting up the fight of their life, but it was clear to see we were still losing. The Hunters outnumbered us at least two to one and with every injury we inflicted, multiple Divines limped away from the battlefield, bleeding profusely.
We wouldn’t win this war if our numbers kept decimating at this rate. Hurrying along into the building without being spotted by Hunters, as Knox had obviouslyseen, I was taken aback by the number of injured inside. No wonder the Hunters were kicking our ass out there, half our fighters were inside.
Looking around, I recognized some students from my classes, but my eyes were drawn to a white-haired creature, his dark eyes blacker than usual. A growl spilled from his lips as someone pressed a rag onto a bullet wound in his right shoulder. Clearly, other students were trying their best to help the injured, but what was a piece of gauze against a bullet wound?
With another glance around, I knew that healing this many Divines would take a lot of power. Which meant a lot of emotion. Knox had said anger would work, and with that thought I stormed over to where Wilder was cursing at the poor girl just trying to help.
Taking a deep breath for courage, I stood straight in front of Wilder and laughed. “And here I thought you were supposed to be the strongest Drax there was. You weren’t even fast enough to get out of the way of the bullet. And now all those other kids are being killed becauseyouweren’t strong enough.”
Wilder’s gaze darkened even further, and, in a flash, I was pressed against a wall, his fangs bared at me. I briefly heard Eli try to interject, but Knox held him back, and I hoped he realized my plan.
“Me? You thinkI’mnot strong enough? What the fuck are you doing? Sitting around and waiting for others to protect you because you’re the oh so special Enchantress? Well guess what,Enchantress, this whole war, yeah, it’s your fault.” His words hit their intended mark, anger rising inside of me already. “The Hunters knew that this was their last shot to take us out before the new Enchantress hid us again. So, they’re attacking. All those people dying, you say that’s my fault? Look in a mirror. It’s the same girl’s fault who got her mother killed.”
At the last word, my control snapped, and I felt the surge of my power come to the surface as I pushed against Wilder’s heaving chest, but I wasn’t strong enough compared to his size, and he didn’t budge. My power swirled around me in waves, expanding larger and larger than I had ever felt it, as anger over his words, anger over this war, anger over my mom, consumed me.
“Control it, Halley. Tell it what to do.” Knox whispered in my ear, and I remembered the reason for this anger. Channeling my power, I grabbed Wilder again, and he looked as though he was on the verge of ripping my throat out with his fangs, when he looked to his shoulder in confusion. I glanced there as well and saw that the bullet hole had mended, and he should have full range of motion.
“Go kill some Hunters, Wilder.”
Confusion, anger, and some other emotion crossed his eyes, but before I could decide what it was, he had zipped away, rejoining the fight.
Squaring my shoulders, I locked eyes with Eli and Knox, feeling the well of power continue to build inside of me until I was wrapped in a visible glow of sparking power. Both men looked taken aback, one with awe and one with wariness, as I strode towards the other injured students.
I was done running; it was time to fight back.
