“Lucky isn’t exactly how I feel, but I’m really fucking glad you showed up when you did.”
Rowan kicks the door open with black, chunky-heeled boots with silver skulls, steadying me as we stumble into the common room. The door to Wylder’s room flies open, and he emerges in flannel pajama pants, his long dark hair hanging loose over his bare shoulders. “What the hell happened?”
“Someone attacked her.” Rowan guides me to one of the couches along the side wall. “I heard her screaming and found her getting shredded by shadow magic.”
“Outside?” Wylder’s voice rises, sharp with anger. “Do you have any idea how reckless that was? What were you thinking going outside alone at night?”
“I wasn’t—” I start, but he cuts me off.
“No, you clearly weren’t. Dammit, after everything that’s happened, you thought you’d just take a wander outside in the middle of the night? What did you expect to happen? You’re likely the most hated person on this campus right now.”
The words sting more than the cuts covering my skin. I open my mouth to defend myself, but tears prick at my eyes instead.
Wylder runs a hand through his hair, pacing. “You could have been seriously hurt.”
“Sheishurt, dipshit,” Rowan shouts. “If you take your head out of your ass long enough to stop your rant, you might notice the burns welting up on every inch of her skin.”
Wylder stops, and his face goes pale as he truly looks at me for the first time.
The scratches cover my arms, my neck, disappearing beneath the collar of my shirt. Some are oozing sluggishly, while others have welted into angry purple lines.
“Shit.” He drops to his knees in front of me, hands hovering over my injuries. “Okay, I’m sorry. Let me see... Okay, just hold still.”
He lifts my wrist to have a look at the damage, and I hiss at the sharp bite of pain caused by the touch.
“Sorry, I’m trying to be gentle, honestly. Give me a second and I’ll fix everything.”
Something warm spreads in my chest, my rapid heart rate suddenly having nothing to do with being scratched to hell by attacking shadows. I swallow and pull a deep breath into my lungs. “Thank you.”
He blinks up at me from beneath his long, loose hair, and though I can’t see his face completely, I’m pretty sure he looks shocked.
“What? I can be nice if people are nice to me.”
He doesn’t say anything. He just drops his gaze and goes back to assessing my injuries.
Soon enough, the burning sting eases as his magical healing takes hold. The familiar scent of pine and earth fills my senses as he works. Bit by bit, the welts fade, replaced by a gentle tingling as my skin knits back together.
“Start from the beginning,” he says quietly, focused on the healing. “Tell me what happened.”
Another bedroom door opens and Orion steps out, his icy, silver-blue gaze sharp despite the late hour. He takes one look at the scene and leans against the doorframe, arms crossed.
I take a shaky breath. “I couldn’t sleep. My cells have been buzzing since my morning session. I thought walking might help, so I decided to explore the corridors and work off some energy.”
“The corridors?” Wylder’s voice has a soft, coaxing tone I’m not used to. “How did you end up outside?”
I meet the shining emerald of his eyes and shrug. “I honestly don’t know. I had no intention of going outside. The thought of getting impaled by one of those Guardians had me convinced I may never see the night sky again.”
“But?” Rowan asks.
I try to remember what was going through my head, but the memory feels fuzzy around the edges. “I honestly can’t remember. One minute I was fine. The next, I was lost in the maze of hallways, and the only way I could think of to find my way back was to go outside and orient myself. Then, the next thing I remember is lying on the grass, practicing the calming sigil. I felt a bit more myself, so I did it again.”
Wylder frowns. “And the sigil helped?”
“Yeah. My thoughts got clearer at that point, and I remember wondering why I was outside. I got up to come back, but I couldn’t see the buildings. Everything was pitch black, and I didn’t know which way to go. That’s when something attacked me.”
“Did you see who or what it was?” Orion asks.
“It was shadows. I was lost in the dark, like I’d been transported somewhere else, but Rowan says the academy was right there the whole time.”
