Before any of them had time to react, they’re all dead.
“Fuck.”Laurant’s tone is a fine mix of awe and disgust.
I’m with him on this.
Clearing my throat, I gesture to the blood-covered stairs. “Don’t slip.”
Stepping around bodies and over puddles of gore, we navigate to the second-floor landing where more chaos meets us. In my peripheral, there’s movement as a soldier takes aim. At Nyx.
I hiss, send a cone of fire his way, but he’s too far away.
Frustrated, I take a step forward, ready to throw the flames instead, when a hand is placed on my back. Immediately, my fire blast reaches the soldier, and he screams and hollers before falling to his knees in a blaze.
I look over my shoulder to find Laurant as he takes his hand back. “I…” He swallows. “My curse increased your range.”
“I noticed.”
With a narrowed gaze, I look from him to the struggle all around us. Students and soldiers fighting each other, bodies strewn all about. Thankfully, most of them are soldiers.
I grit my teeth and keep moving down the stairs behind Nyx when Arlowe retakes point.
If I hadn’t witnessed her move at a blink’s speed, I’d have told her to pull back and lead the way myself. But I had seen it, and now I know she’s a badass.
I also figured she’d just tell me to kiss her ass, anyway.
So, we all follow Arlowe down the stairs and into an absolute war zone.
Nyxeris
The entryway is entirely overrun.
The foot of the stairs and beyond are swimming with people I’ve never seen before, flowing in from the front door and spilling out the back. They’re all ages, none of them wearing the same thing, unlike the GBE soldiers they fight.
Curses flare, burst, and explode in a myriad of colors, leading to screams and blood.
Some of the soldiers who acted as security at the academy for years have torn the patches from their uniforms, or taken their jackets off completely, and they fire at the other Betas in the crowd alongside us Cursed.
The sight stops me midway down the last stretch of stairs, but I’m one of the only people to pause.
Years of oppression, abuse, being treated like sub-humans have boiled over into bloodthirsty rage.
Students I have taken classes with, trained with, murder armed soldiers with madness in their eyes.
Most of the bodies on the ground are Betas, but not all of them.
Regardless, this is an absolute slaughter.
A hand grips my shoulder, and instinctively, I know it’s Erich. I can nearly feel the concern pouring off his aura.
I place my hand atop his, squeeze his fingers one time, then follow Lowe to the ground floor, where she disappears in a puff of purple-black.
I turn wary eyes behind me on Erich, then Laurant. Erich’s jaw is set, his pale eyes glisten as he scans the room. Laurant’s brow is tight, as are his evergreen eyes. When our gazes meet, he swallows hard, tries to look strong.
A bullet whizzes past my ear, and I shriek at the same time Erich roars with fury, his clenched fists rising above his head, flames licking his fingers. I turn back to the foyer as columns of fire blaze from the floor, consuming a group of soldiers who I can only assume were the ones who fired at me.
Heart racing, lungs stuttering, anger quickly washes away my fear.
We have every right to live. Every right to exist. Every right to love.
