I released my shield over the human, and dragged her dead weight closer to Diana.
As soon as they were close enough for me to grip each with one hand, I called the warphole using the bracelet. A speck of blackness to my right popped into existence and ballooned. When it was large enough to walk through, I pulled both women forward.
The blackness encompassed us, but it was only temporary, and soon enough, the sound of a screaming audience met my ears.
Headmistress Wake joined us in an instant, her arms folding around her daughter’s body as she tried to revive the unconscious Diana. Others joined her and called for stretchers for the human.
But a larger crowd surrounded the other warphole—Alex and Hunter’s—and it looked like they were confused and arguing about something.
Unease coiled in my gut as the night of Samhain came rushing back. This was familiar, but more intense. Something felt very off.
Then a blood-curdling scream ripped through the amphitheater.
The switch flipped, and unlike the night of Samhain when everyone had simply gaped and stared, the crowds in the stands stood simultaneously and charged toward the exits. A handful, probably seasoned spies and a couple of professors, rushed forward.
I searched the crowd and saw that my parents were among those surging toward me, terror in their eyes.
My heart clenched, and everything in my body grew cold. I rushed to the other warphole and shoved myself past the professors and spymasters on duty. Was it another greater demon? But chances of that happening twice was ridiculously low, right?
“Bow before me, witchlings,” a voice boomed out of the warphole, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge. “Forsaken by my subjects, I have returned! I am your new ruler, the Queen of Darkness, Ishtar.”
A spymaster shrieked and bolted the other way, and my body felt like it would collapse. A queen of darkness? An actual lord of Hell was in there with Alex and Hunter?
“Why isn’t anyone helping them?” Tears pricked in my eyes as those in charge scurried about, their fear and indecision plain.
“No witch in living memory has survived an altercation against the the royal demons of Hell. I’m closing the warphole,” Professor Tittelbaum said, his thin face lined with effort and his glasses nearly falling off his nose. Without waiting for an okay from anyone, the black vortex began to shrink.
“You can’t!” I screamed, but Tittelbaum didn’t listen, he didn’t even look my way.
So instead of arguing, I dove through the blackness to help my friends.
Chapter Forty-Three
My shoulder hit marble, and I rolled to minimize the impact. I leapt up and found an actual beast before me.
Ishtar, Queen of Hell and wife to Lucifer, was at least five times the size of a normal man. Her blue horns curled toward her forehead, and her tasseled tail flicked as she caught sight of me.
“Ah!” Her red eyes glowed with delight. “Are you the one we’ve been searching for?”
Alex’s head whipped around, and terror filled his eyes. “Odie! Get out of here!”
Laughter boomed from Ishtar. “The idiot girl can’t. The warphole is gone. Whether you’re who I seek or not, you three aremine.” She lunged toward Hunter, hands the size of sheet pans grasping for him.
Hunter leapt out of the way just in time and shot a beam of green magic at her. The power hit Ishtar’s right horn and reflected off without even causing a scratch.
What the hell were we going to do? I’d never heard of anyone battling any of the six royals of Hell. In fact, I wasn’t sure that anyone knew how to beat them. They’d been banished for far too long.
“How many magicals and demons did you have to kill to come here?” Alex screamed, as a stream of magic left his hands and seared Ishtar from her thigh all the way to her breast.
A gaping hole opened, revealing black muscles for a second before healing.
Ishtar grinned, not at all bothered by Alex’s display of power. “Smarter than the average witchling, I see. Someone’s taught you the ways of Hell. Could it be that you are the one I seek? The blood of Merlin?”
Ishtar opened her palm, and tendrils of onyx flooded forth and whirled around Alex, lifting him high into the air.
The indecision that had gripped me only moments before vanished, and I dashed forward, releasing every iota of power I possessed to break the chain of Ishtar’s magic so Alex could squirm out of her grasp. It worked, and Ishtar’s gaze shot to me.
“Or is it you whom I seek?” Her massive hand moved to grasp me, but I was ready, an incantation on the tip of my tongue.
