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Apollo sighs and shakes his head. “That’s asking a lot after almost killing someone.” He continues to stare at the vampire. He’s young, just a boy really. “It’s something I will consider. Now go.”
The sister walks over to Cyrus and grabs his arm. “Come on, darling brother. We are overstaying our welcome.”
Apollo breathes out a relieved breath as the vampires finally leave. He steps over to the unconscious necromancer.What a mess.But he thinks he can spin a story about Octavia without bringing the Draculs into this. He’ll just have to pretend that the crypts are still sealed. It’s by no means a good idea to lie to the council, but he isn’t sure he has a choice.
The girl, though… She knows everything.
He places a hand over her head, knowing he’s partially to blame. He went too hard on her, giving Octavia an opportunity to pounce, and now he needs to fix his mistake. He needs to make this right.
He breathes in and out, trying to centre himself. The life Kira poured into him gives his magic an extra boost. He feels confident in what he’s about to do. “Oblivio mentis.”
He removes his hand and looks at the girl. Behind her, Cooper McCoy is starting to get up. He considers the boy for a moment. How long has he been unconscious? Did he see the vampires? Then the healer hurries onto the beach, distracting him from that train of thought.
“Elysia, come quickly!” Apollo raises his hand to direct her.
The short, dark-haired woman gasps at the scene. Then she gets to work immediately, whispering her healing spells.
“Octavia is dead,” Apollo says.
“What?” The healer’s ruby mouth opens in shock.
“Octavia did all this,” Apollo says, gesturing to the two injured students. “Octavia attacked the school.”
“On her own?” Elysia asks. She kneels down next to Kira and places her palms on the girl’s back.
“Yes,” Apollo says firmly. “All on her own.”
CHAPTER 52
Epilogue
I’min a dark room that smells like moss, and I can hear soft voices drifting through the wall. Whatever it is they’re talking about, it’s private, and I sense that I’m not supposed to hear. I tell myself to back quietly out of the room and close the door. When I do this, the voices fade away.
I lay my head down on the stone floor, exhausted. In the distance, someone utters my name, but I’m too tired to open my eyes. Silence engulfs me. There’s a sense of letting go, of forgetting.
When I wake, the lights are too bright. I wince away from them, turning my head. The surface beneath my head is soft, not stone. I’m in a regular bed with a soft pillow. But I’m definitely not inmybed, the one in my dad’s house in Manchester.
No,I think.I’m at the academy now. I’m an aura.
It comes flooding back to me like a fast tide rushing in from the ocean, reordering the pebbles on the beach. Memories flood my mind.I vomited blood, I met Cooper McCoy, I came to Aura Academy, I metOctavia—
Oh. Octavia is dead because… I killed her? Or was it Cooper?
She… she wanted to become a vampire, so she’d been drinking blood.Then we fought.
Somehow, Octavia died, but I can’t remember that part. It’s fuzzy.
“How are you feeling?”
The voice comes from a woman striding into the room. She’s smiling, and her dark hair is plaited and piled atop her head. The skin crinkles sweetly at the corners of her eyes.
“Try not to panic,” she says. “A magical draining can make you feel disorientated at first.” She places a glass of water on the table by the bed. “My name is Elysia. I’m the healer here.”
I’m parched, but I sip the water carefully. I don’t want to gulp it down and feel sick. “What happened? Was it… Was it Octavia Pax? Did I do something to her?”
“You might need to speak to Apollo about that. He was there and saw everything. We know that, sadly, Octavia had lost her mind, and we know she attacked you.”
“So I’m not in any trouble?”
