From behind us comes the flutter of wings as Eugene and his five mates join us. Eugene comes to stand next to me, bending his head to press his face against Sabrina’s crown with his eyes closed.
With a tiny burst of power, Eugene shifts.
A skinny young man crouches before us, pulling off the bedazzled mask, now tiny in his hand. He has red hair, and freckles dust his chin. He pats Sabrina’s head awkwardly, as if remembering how to use human hands.
Eugene speaks slowly as he looks down at her, his mouth working hard to get the words out, but he manages it in the end. “She was a good friend.” Then he looks up at us, one by one, green eyes new but so familiar. “You all are.”
Chapter 120
Ghoul
“The fight is over,” I tell the children of Serpent Court as they huddle at the side of an overturned Jeep. “It’s time for everyone to go home.” And what a mess it is. Around us are the smoking carcasses of beasts and vehicles. It’s just a shame none of them is Mace. I may have been denied his corpse, but it is a small price to pay for what I have gained.
“General Ghoul, what do we do?” one of them cries, eyeing Savage, who stands beside me with his ridiculous jewelled goggles on his forehead. He looks like a mad pilot with that thing, and Eugene’s carrier still strapped on his chest just makes it worse. How this creature is my bond-brother is…well unfortunately I’ve come to realise that it makes a whole lot of sense.
“Don’t worry about him,” I say, gesturing to the wolf. “But don’t talk to him because he bites.” Savage makes a dramatic chomping sound in their direction, and one of the younger children whimpers.
I sigh heavily. “You should never have been ordered here. We’re going to get a bus and get you back into town. If you have living parents, they can pick you up.”
“My parents were enlisted,” says an older girl, looking out at the smoking chaos of the field with tears in her eyes.
“We’ll tally the dead and find you accommodation. Don’t worry.” The girl looks at me like I’m mad. And I agree. Someone else would be infinitely better at this than me.
Somehow, Savage takes it upon himself to step forward. “I’m sure you guys are hungry, right? I know I am! Did you know we have a gargoyle that spits hot chocolate in our dining room?” There are multiple gasps to which Savage nods seriously.
“Hey, I thought this was a jail for ferals?” one of the more discerning boys asks. “We’re not going in there!”
“It’s actually more of a boarding school for naughty people,” Savage says, taking off his goggles. “We have classes, and there’s ice cream all the time. And if you ask nicely, Bastien, who’s the gargoyle on the animus dorm, will tell you dirty jokes.”
“I need to pee,” a small child complains.
“Oh, you can’t do that on the floor; you’ll get in trouble,” Savage says, holding his hand out to the child. “I’ll show you where the toilets are. Everyone can go.”
“You hit me with a Nerf gun,” the child says accusingly.
“Yeah, and you’re not dead, are ya?” Savage responds proudly.
“I guess so.” She takes his hand, and they all walk toward the academy gate together. Lyle’s teacher’s sixth sense catches on, and he hurriedly joins Savage in herding the children inside. I follow them because the serpents are still my responsibility in my eyes, and I don’t trust Savage as far as he can be thrown. Lyle has them all in single file by the time they arrive at the toilets near the dining hall, and the children obediently take their turns under our supervision.
Once Lyle is satisfied that no one’s going to attack anyone, he turns to me. “I’m going to see about the food.” I’m disturbed by his need to tell me this as if I’m his staff, but he leaves, stalking towards the kitchen. I stare after him, frowning deeply.
My regina’s voice charges panicked in my head.“Where are you?”
“With Savage.”
“What?” she cries.“What are you doing?”
“Are you worried about what I’m doing to him?”I ask.“Or what he’s doing to me?”
Savage’s mental voice joins ours.“We’re all weeing together. Hey, is Ashy in the group chat now? I thought we’d at least give it a week, regina.”
“Weeingtogether?”Aurelia’s voice is incredulous.
“What Savage is trying to say,”I clarify,“is that we’ve brought the serpent children to relieve themselves in the bathroom. Savage and I are supervising from outside. I am not urinating with Savage, regina.”
Savage turns from his observation of the children to narrow his eyes at my unmasked face. “Where did you go to school? You use a lot of big words.”
I bare my fangs at the wolf. “Mace Naga liked his generals educated. We went to a boarding school like this actually.”
