Simone heaved a sigh. “You’re right. We’re too isolated and in a bad battle position. Not that the fae academy isn’t in the middle of nowhere, but at least they’re better warded.” She clicked her tongue in thought. “Sooner or later, we will have to leave and reconvene in one spot. And then coordinate an attack.”
An attack . . . on Spellcasters. It was the only reasonable solution.
The demons had made my academy their seat of power in the human world. I was sure that they’d chosen it to frustrate and infuriate us. Spellcasters was isolated, in the middle of the Maine wilderness. Only one long road went past it, and the nearest small town was miles away. Really, the academy’s location was terrible, a poor choice for a seat of power.
Unless it had been selected to hurt specific people—or lure them in.
I sighed. “We can cover that when the others get here.”
Subconsciously, we had been walking toward the library. I hadn’t been inside it the first time I’d visited Nightdwellers, but while we’d been waiting for the healers, I had needed to retrieve a few books. Tomes on how to help those who were dying. Books that showed me how to heal wounds, or taught me how to reintroduce foods to someone who had been starved for weeks on end. I’d even had to read up on how to deal with an aether-blessed fae, because their power over the fifth element could make healing tricky—and painful if done incorrectly.
The magicals who hadn’t been helping to heal the ex-prisoners or keeping lookout for enemies had congregated in the library. After what we’d witnessed at the Dulce Base prison most of them wanted to be together. That, and many wished to avoid wandering the castle alone. The questionable decor, heavy on blood reverence, meant Nightdwellers was creepy as hell.
The moment we entered the massive gothic-inspired library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, I caught sight of Dasha waving.
“Hey,” I greeted her. “Have you seen Hunter and Eva? Or Diana?”
Dasha shook her head, but Gregor, the burliest of her mates, pointed to the right corner of the room. “I saw them when I was looking for a book. They’re in the very back, looked to be settled in too.”
“Thanks. I really need to talk to them, but let’s chat later,” I said, and went to find my friends.
At my approach, Eva’s gaze shot up from the book she’d been reading. Her eyes widened. “Are they back?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Thank goodness.”
I’d been up since yesterday, performing tasks that I wasn’t great at, and fearing failure every step of the way. To say I was exhausted was the understatement of the year. Once they brought me up to speed on the happenings around the castle, I was going to take a nap.
“What are you guys researching?” I gestured to the books.
“Battle tactics,” Diana answered, her lips curled up smugly.
“So what did you find? I can tell it’s good.”
It seemed that, whatever it was, she had just found it, because both Hunter and Eva shut their books to listen.
Diana’s proud expression only grew as she twisted the book around to face us. “Who knows if it’s true, I haven’t encountered it in any of the other books, but that doesn’t mean anything. It only has to be correct—”
“Can youpleasejust spit it out, Wake?” Hunter said, his tone tight.Clearly, someone else needed a nap too.
Diana shot him an annoyed glare before continuing. “Anyway,this book claims that if someone can kill a royal demon,” her intense gaze lifted to latch with mine, sending a shiver down my spine, “those sworn to that specific royal will also perish.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX
“How’s everyone getting to Wandstown?” I asked as I led Hunter, Eva, and Diana outside, into the fresh mountain air that would help me stay awake. I still wanted a nap, but after Diana dropped the bomb that we might only need to kill the six royal demons rather than a thousand peons, my brain was abuzz.
“The recruits that Headmaster Ezra and Headmistress Cristala gathered are already flying into Maine,” Hunter replied. Since we’d turned up at Nightdwellers Academy, he had been largely in charge of developing a battle strategy—a task that suited his skill set. “They’re arriving in small batches so as not to attract unwanted attention. The airport isn’t that large. From there, they’ll trickle into the town.”
“Through the woods, not via the road,” Eva clarified for me.
“Yup.” Hunter slid his arm around his lady. “Townspeople are waiting at checkpoints with ATVs to transport them.”
I nodded. If they used the road, they would drive straight past Spellcasters. And if they tried that, who knew if they’d even make it to Wandstown?
“Great. Numbers?”
“Six-fifty when we returned from Faerie.” Hunter shrugged. “More people join every hour. We’ll only know the exact numbers when we get there.”
“Wandstown is so small . . .” I trailed off. “Was there resistance to this plan? Have the people who live there been safe? Any demon visitors to the town since they took the academy?”
