My throat closed up. If he wasn’t an aether-blessed fae, he would have no way at all to fight off the royals if they were lounging in the headmistress’ suite.
“I’ll go with him,” Flynn volunteered. “I’m aether-blessed.”
Sam raised her hand too, clearly not wanting to part with the white-haired elf who she’d taken a shine to. I was relieved by her offer. Flynn had insisted that he join the battle, and Alex had cleared his injuries, but I still wasn’t so sure he should be here.
“Thank you,” Diana said and then turned to face the door.
We filed inside, where people began to split into groups. Some immediately marched up the stairs to check out the upper levels.
Once everyone was inside, Diana shut the door and spoke the password again. The door disappeared before my eyes.
“Well, that’s handy.” Hunter shook his head as a look of amusement flashed across his handsome face.
“All the employees know about it,” Diana assured him. “Spellcasters has never been breached like this, but failsafe entrances and exits were created when they first converted the building into an academy. You know, in case of emergencies. Although we never imagined an attack would come from our own government, or that they’d be working with the devils.”
“Who could?” Eva asked seriously.
“We should get going,” Alex prompted.
He took the lead, and I fell into step beside him. Diana, Eva, and Hunter were right behind us, their steps light. We had done this many times before.
Too many times.It’s like we’re seasoned professionals, not students.
I banished the thought from my mind. It really didn’t matter what we were. Culling-year. Grind-year. Crucible-year. Witches with no affiliation to Spellcasters whatsoever. Tonight, we would throw everything we had into defeating the demons of Hell.
I would doanythingto see them cast out.
A lump rose in my throat, and emotion clouded my thoughts so thickly that I missed the ball of fire shot at me.
Hunter deflected it with a beam of magic, and we all twisted to find a tall, thin cambion, a human-demon hybrid, standing in the middle of the corridor. The tapestry next to him moved, hinting he’d been hiding behind it.
“About time you showed up,” the cambion growled as he pulled a blade from a scabbard he wore on his hip, and slit his own throat.
CHAPTERFORTY
Igasped as the demon fell to the floor. His blood dripped on the stone tiles, staining the ground red.
And sounding the alarm.
“Move!” Hunter yelled.
“Damn blood!” Eva yelled as we sprinted down the corridor, trying to place ourselves in a better position to fight, should more demons stray in our path. “Why is it always blood? They’re obsessed! Demons! Ghosts!”
“And vampires!” Francis flashed a bright, fangy smile as he and Simone sprinted around the corner to run next to me. “For a witch with such a strong scent, you’re difficult to find in this school. Is there a scent-cloaking spell in Spellcasters or something?”
“Why are you here?” I asked, blinking. They were supposed to be with their headmaster and the shifters.
“I need to be with you—” Francis trailed off, eyebrows knitting together as he worked through a thought. “I think that’s why we met. You don’t live as long as I have without realizing that fate is real. I believe that I’m meant to help you specifically. And I’m not the only one who feels that way.” He gestured behind him.
I shot a glance back just in time to see an attacking demon fling itself out of a room, straight into Dasha’s wolfish jaws. The massive alpha tore the creature in half, and loosed a howl that made my skin crawl.
“But your teams!”
Francis shook his head. Annoyingly, he wasn’t breathing hard at all, unlike me. “Headmaster Ezra agreed that we should find you. As did Alpha Conon.”
“But Headmistress Wake—!”
“As much as I respect your headmistress—” Francis paused to swipe at a door that was opening as we passed, slamming it shut and forcing whoever had been trying to come out, back inside. “I also respect her wishes for each side of the academy to be covered in our attack plan, but Idon’tanswer to her.”
