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“She’ll be fine,” Creed murmurs, and I nod in agreement. “Where would Figgins be coming from?”
“Uhm, I don’t know. Maybe we should head toward her classroom?” I suggest, and the five of us take off in that direction, walking against the flow of students all heading in the opposite direction.
We don’t even make it halfway before she comes barreling around the corner, almost walking right into us.
“Oh, you’re here. Raven, I’m sorry to—”
“Lead the way,” I interject. There’s no need for her to get all worked up over-explaining when we’re already aware and ready to go.
“Oh, perfect,” she mutters, spinning on her heels and turning back in the direction she came from. Wordlessly, Zane takes a step back and I follow beside her as she moves through the halls. Eldon, however, keeps his arm firmly secured around my shoulders. “You don’t seem surprised to see me. I’m guessing that’s because your magic has grown enough for you to communicate with Ari,” she states, tapping her temple.
“Some of the time, but in this case, yeah. Ari reached out, he just didn’t explain what for.”
She hums in understanding. “It took a while with my familiar too. It’ll get there,” she says encouragingly, and a question I’ve been thinking about for a while blurts from my lips.
“Where is your familiar?”
Her gaze drops to the floor, pain flashing in her eyes as she exhales slowly and glances back at me. “I managed to get her through the gateways the night…” Her words trail off, but I know what she means. The night Erikel declared his intentions and rendered us all trapped here.
“How are you holding up without her?” I ask, instantly feeling the pain in my gut. It’s hard enough for me right now with Ari, to not be accessible at all is something else entirely. Sheoffers me a wobbly smile, unable to find the words she needs, and I find myself being the comforting one for a change. “You did what you thought was best for her.”
“Did I?”
“Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s all that matters.” I try to recall what her familiar is, but if she’s told me, I can’t remember, and now it feels awkward to ask. So, instead, I change the subject, hoping it will stick. “What are we doing now?”
Figgins clears her throat as we step into her classroom and head straight for the door at the back where her office is. “I heard some of the institute students say they were going to find their familiars in the compound.”
“Fuck,” I blurt.Are the creatures Erikel brought familiars with some of his men?
“Yeah. I don’t think it’s going to end well when they confirm that some of them are dead, but I also want to see how they’re getting in and out of the ward surrounding it. Once I have an understanding of that, then I may be able to adapt it for us too.”
My eyes widen in surprise. She really is taking this as seriously as I need her to, and it’s a fucking relief to have someone on academy grounds on our side. My heart feels so warm I almost want to let her in on the Monarchy secret, but I keep my mouth shut. Enough people know already, I don’t need to add to that list. Besides, being here with her doesn’t mean that I trust her, and that’s paramount. Not when Erikel’s control spreads wider than I would have ever believed.
Instead, I focus on the familiar part again. “If some of those creatures are familiars with the students from Shadowgrim Institute, would they be aware of the… damage Ari has done?” My lips twist nervously as I try to use the right words. Damageprobably isn’t it, but slaughtering sounded way more sinister than I would prefer.
Figgins tilts her head in my direction, but her eyes aren’t settled on me as she thinks. Eldon squeezes my shoulder tentatively in support, but no one utters a word as we wait for her answer.
“I feel like if it was my familiar I would know. Do you?”
I nod. How I feel inside about Ari, the connection of emotions and feelings must run deep enough to know if someone is lost or their life is taken.
“Then let's assume that they do. Although, their tone didn’t suggest so, and there’s no telling that their familiar actually is a Drake.” I offer her another nod in agreement, and she deems the conversation complete as she spins to face the back of her office again. “We’ll go through a gateway from here,” she explains, and a moment later I hear the click of her office door locking behind us.
She generates a gateway with her hands, but as soon as it appears, it disappears before our eyes. She frowns, as do the rest of us, before she tries to do it again and comes up just as short.
“What’s wrong?” Brax asks, moving to her side, watching her do it a third time with no luck before giving it a try himself. “I don’t know what’s going on with that,” he states, turning to me as Figgins shakes her head in disbelief.
“What—”
Her wonder is cut off by a siren blaring through the room, spiking panic in my veins as adrenaline courses through me.
“What’s going on?” I ask, covering my ears. When I see that no one else is, I get even more worried until Zane taps my ear and the cry of the siren dulls. It’s still present, but nowhere near as deafening as it had been only moments ago.
You have magic, Raven. Learn to fucking use it.
