I huff through my nose. “You forget one crucial thing, Clawson.”
“And what is that?”
I lean forwards in my seat. “Those powers. That serpent who raised me taught me a thing or two before he cast me out. I don’t need you.”
Tiberius sighs and gestures to Titus. “We thought it might come to this.”
The brute becomes excited, his movements quick and eager as he opens the laptop before him, presses a few buttons, and swings it around so I can see the screen.
Ice trickles down my spine as I register a grid of camera feeds. I recognise the location immediately. “At least Xander was good for a couple of things when he switched sides,” Titus remarks. “Got us a live feed from inside Animus Academy. But look here—” He clicks on one of the smaller feeds, enlarging it so I get a night vision view of what looks like one of the caverns under the premises. Two males—lion students I recognise—are standing by large pipes, looking at their phones, the screens lighting up their faces. Titus gets out his own phone and dials. We watch the taller lion answer.
“Do it,” Titus barks before hanging up.
The animus on the camera feed sticks his phone in his pocket before getting out a screwdriver.
“What are you doing?” I snap.
“Tampering with the academy water supply,” Titus says smugly.
The lion drops his screwdriver and holds his hand out to the other, who gives him a bottle of something he proceeds to squirt into the plumbing.
“Old fashioned toxin,” Tiberius says. “Just like you, we learned from the best.”
They mean my father. Poison has always been the serpent’s weapon of choice. I shake my head in disbelief. “The school is dragon-made. It won’t allow you to?—”
“It won’t be able to purify the water in time,” Tiberius says. “Not with how much we’re dumping into its system. Oh! Look, dinner service is running.”
Titus cuts the camera to one in the dining hall where students are lining up at the buffet and several of them are in line for the cordial that Theresa is filling at the tap. Stacey is at the head of the line, with Gertie and Henry on her shoulders and Eugene tucked under one arm. She takes a cup of cordial and drinks. I suck in a breath. Nothing happens. Stacey walks towards our usual table and sits down. “Any minute now,” Titus drawls.
And it does take a mere minute for other students to collect their jugs and drink from their glasses. I can only watch as Stacey goes rigid in her seat, reaching for her throat. She sways, the ever-watchful males from the surrounding tables frowning. Stacey collapses to the floor at the same time as another student behind her. Minnie makes a choked sound from behind me.
I leap to my feet at the same time Titus does. But he’s snarling in Minnie’s direction. “Piggy!”
Chapter 10
Aurelia
“MINNIE!”I scream into her head, exploding out of my seat and sprinting for the door.
“Let’s go!” Minnie shouts, and I feel my friend’s telekinetic power surrounding me and hurling the both of us out of Clawson House. Beak and Marduk shout out behind me, but there’s no time. I tear off my jacket and shift with powerful force. My phoenix form beats her powerful wings, carrying me into the sky as I gather my power behind me like a rumbling storm. Small but strong hands grab my ankles just as I release my power and, like a lightning bolt, shoot us through the ether.
The sonic boom resounds through the air in our wake as my world turns dark, my feathers plastered against my skin as I scream through the air at the speed of sound towards Animus Academy. Seconds later, the dragon magic of the property puffs at my skin, and I screech to a halt before I overshoot. Minnie sobs loudly as I release the shield around her and she decompresses.
“THE WATER IS POISONED!”I broadcast into the school, nosediving towards the dining hall. As we reach seven feet,Minnie lets go and levitates herself to the ground, allowing me to shift into cheetah form and land lightly on four paws. I sprint into the dining hall after Minnie, ready to locate the poisoned bodies.
We are met with chaos.
My ears fill with shouting. Some students have shifted and are howling or screeching. Tables have been knocked over, and there is food and cordial spilled everywhere. I shift back into human form. Guards run towards me from the outside. “It’s the water!” I shout. “Bring the healers, quickly!” Someone shoves an orange jumpsuit at me. It’s tossed to the ground just as quickly as I survey the number of people lying unconscious on the floor.
There’s about twenty, some already with an avian shifter over them. Theresa has a hand over two students. Minnie passes me my phone. I must have dropped it when I shifted, and she used her power to bring it with us. On it is a text message from “Unknown.”
Welcome to our world. You are just one whore in it.
Heated blood surges through my veins.
Minnie rushes towards our table, where Sabrina is sobbing next to Stacey. A magpie from third year is sweating over her, hands over her stomach as she concentrates. I hobble over to them and shove the girl aside. “Tend to someone else.”
The girl mutters an expletive but does as I ask. My power surges into Stacey as Minnie strokes our lionesses’ ombre hair. My healing power registers her blood and the poison, and it takes concentration to block out the chaos around me. Poisoning is the most difficult thing for avian healing powers to deal with. There’s no onething—no wound to knit together or bacteria to eliminate.
