I would take her word for it. Spellcasters was eerily dark, and the wilds of Maine were thick as molasses, making it difficult to see.
We’d gone a dozen more yards when Diana twisted back around to check that we were still following close behind. I watched as her blue eyes tried to count and then stopped, probably realizing it was pointless. We’d divided up, but the groups were still large as there were only so many entry points into the academy. And unlike our usual missions, in which staying together was paramount, we all knew that once we were inside, it would be a free-for-all.
And as long as I stayed with my best friends and Diana, I was fine with that.
“We should’ve formed even smaller groups,” Diana muttered, twisting to catch my eyes before she let out a yelp and tripped over something. She fell to the ground, her hands catching her just before she face-planted.
I scurried forward to help her up, and caught sight of the thing she’d fallen over.
No, not a thing—a person. Registering the blood, my gaze shot up. I focused on the face and bile climbed up my throat. Trying to be strong, I swallowed, forcing it back down as I yanked Diana to her feet.
People gathered around, all staring in horror at the body laying sprawled out before us. Even Diana, usually stoic, trembled with emotion. The corpse’s torso was split open from neck to navel, innards spilling out. The vision would’ve been disgusting and horrific enough, but to make it worse, I recognized the girl.
“Jasmine,” my voice wobbled. “No!”
A hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Were you close to her?” Sana’s voice was calming, trying to bring me back down from what could easily turn into a total meltdown.
I shook my head. “No. Not really. But she was in my year.”
Jasmine Sahni had been among the many students who had disliked me for the majority of last year. But near the end of term, before I’d traveled back in time, she’d apologized. I wondered if she was dead because she stood up for us.
Hopefully, she had just tried to escape.
I couldn’t bear the idea that someone had died to stand up for me.
“I’m sorry.” Ayla came up along my other side. “But be prepared. We will see more death tonight.”
My throat closed up, but I nodded as stoically as possible. Of course we would see death. I’d known that. I just hadn’t expected the first body to be someone I knew. Or that it would happen out here, in the peaceful woods.
The demons left her out here on purpose.
The thought struck me cruelly, but I knew deep in my soul I was right.
We pulled ourselves together and continued to trudge toward the academy. Soon enough, I realized that finding Jasmine’s body was just the beginning of what would turn out to be a horror-filled walk in the woods. The closer we got to the academy, the more corpses littered the forest. Each one seemed relatively fresh, as if put there just for us. They were from every class, and the demons didn’t seem to discriminate by any measure I could determine. They hated all Spellcasters students.
By the time a few flickering lights from inside the school came into view, we could no longer walk without checking the ground every few feet so we didn’t step on a corpse.
When we reached the stone walls of the academy, Diana pulled back a curtain of lush ivy to expose the door.
“Here we are,” she announced, her tone tight with rage that I understood all too well.
I was shaking, ready to murder the first demon I came across.
She spoke a few words, which I barely heard through the blood pounding in my ears, and a hidden door swung open.
She twisted to face the rest of us, her expression grave. “This part of Spellcasters is where the professors live. My mother and father lived—livehere too.” She looked uncomfortable at her slip, the assumption that they didn’t live there any longer, that her father might not be among the living atall.
I prayed that assumption was wrong.
“That being said, it’s the nicer part of the academy. This might be where the royals have claimed their rooms . . . it’s where I would live, if I were them.”
Diana’s eyes blazed. I could tell she was imagining one of the royals in her family home.
“The staircase will lead you to various levels of staff. At the bottom are the housekeepers and kitchen workers. The farther up you go, the more senior the professors.”
She swallowed heavily. “My family suite is at the top. If anyone wants to go up there and check it out, I’d appreciate it.”
“I will!” a fae called out near the back. “I’m not aether-blessed, but I am a good soldier.”
