“Now!” I roared, and Leslie leapt back.
Doors opened behind me.
“What’s happening?” Sam’s voice rang out. “Odette? Are you okay?”
“No. Something’s happened to Alex. I need to get to him.” I held up my talisman and whirled around.
A soft gasp left me. Every single champion was standing in the hallway in various states of dress and disarray. I gulped, realizing that I was about to spill some more secrets—ones I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell everyone. But the alternative of wasting time in saving Alex was too much to bear.
“This burns if he’s in danger. I need to find Headmistress Wakenow.”
“Who do you think took Alex?” Simone asked.
Although she was dressed in a short,verysexy silky nightgown, she didn’t seem to be embarrassed. If anything, she appeared genuinely curious and even a little worried. It seemed that our dinner discussion had sunk in.
My talisman burned again, hotter and more urgent this time.Screw it. If I’m in, I’m going all-in.
“Ishtar. Lucifer. The Furies. Xaphan.” I spat out the names with vehemence. With each one, the expressions on the other champions’ faces transformed from looks of surprise to fear.
“Wait a minute. You only said you were demon-touched and could find demons and those stones because of it.” Francis the Flashy waved his hands in front of his face. “Now you’re telling me that the royal demons are after you?”
“Yes. They think that we have the power to open the Hellgate—even before I was demon-touched, they thought that.” I turned back to Leslie. “Now can you please tell me where my headmistress is staying? I need to tell her that something is wrong at Spellcasters.”
“Follow me,” Leslie said, her face about ten shades paler than when I’d busted out of my bedroom. She started speedwalking, and I fell into step behind her.
Footsteps followed, and I twisted to find the champions trailing behind us. I wasn’t surprised to see the witches, but the rest . . .
“You guys don’t have to—”
“No way,” Sana said. “We might not know everything that’s happening, but if there’s a royal demon threat, I want to be in on stopping it.”
“Absolutely. No one messes with my friends,” Dasha growled so strongly that I sensed her wolf aspect was simmering just below the surface.
My eyes shot to the vampires. Simone smiled a sly smile. “I too am interested in this royal demon threat. Tell us more.”
And so, as we wound down the hallways, I did. I told them about everything except Amethyst’s possession. I talked so much that by the time we stopped before a door that I was fairly sure ended in a tower, I was out of breath.
“Holy crap,” Howley, the nerdy shifter, breathed.
“No shit.” Anton ran a massive hand through his blond hair. “I’ve lived a century and have not heard a story that wild.”
“Well, now you have.” I directed my attention to Leslie. “Is this her room?”
Leslie nodded. “This tower is divided into suites, and each head of house has one. They wanted to be close to discuss business, I guess.”
I sidestepped her and pounded on the door. Footsteps came from the other side, and an older woman dressed in a dark blue uniform of sorts and holding a used tea set answered.
“May I help you?” Her eyes darted behind me to latch onto Dasha.
“Tins, this is an emergency.” Dasha came to stand next to me. Her solid presence was welcome when it felt like everything was crashing down around me. “Can you wake the Spellcasters headmistress—and Alpha Conon too, while you’re at it?”
Tins’ eyebrows pulled together, and she shook her head. “I wish I could Dasha, but none of the headmasters or headmistresses are in right now.”
“What?” Gregor stepped up next to his mate. “Where did they go?”
Tins shrugged, and the simple gesture stopped my heart. “To do something related to the event tomorrow. I believe half are in the woods, and the other half in the cave system. We can—”
“No. Nevermind. I’ll figure it out myself,” I cut her off, unwilling to wait a second longer to find Alex.
