“The Mareki Gem,” we gasped in unison.
My astonishment cut short as a new glow flared behind my sister.
“Scarlet,” I pointed, urgency sharpening my voice.
She spun, scanning until her eyes found her pack. The light poured from within.
Her breath hitched as she unbuckled the leather flap, allowing the light to spill out and fill the room with a fierce radiance. My eyes burned from the intensity of it, and for a moment, everything around us seemed to pulse in rhythm with the glow.
“Scarlet?” I shouted, dread curling in my gut.
Without answering, she pulled out a leather tome, its edges glowing with the same ethereal light that had been emanating from her pack. She opened it slowly, and the moment the cover cracked, the room seemed to tremble. The glow around us dimmed just slightly, but what followed sent a chill down my spine.
The glow from the tome began to bleed onto the pages, its light flickering in jagged bursts, like sparks from a flame. It was as though the pages themselves were absorbing the energy, the magical essence seeping into the leather binding, sinking deeper and deeper with each passing second.
I stepped closer, my heart racing, unsure of what I was witnessing.
“Ailis gave this to me the night before we left,” Scarlet said, flipping through as her eyes darted line to line. “It was completely blank. I thought it was just a journal. But she said this story has already been written. I didn’t understand—then she whispered a line from the prophecy. I was so stunned I didn’tnotice her slip away. But now…” She held the tome open, glow reflecting in her wide eyes. “Now every page is filled with handwriting.”
Her head snapped up. She slammed the journal shut and slid it back into her pack. “We have to go. Lakota says Nash and Rhodes are almost at the bookshelf.”
We sprinted down the hidden corridor and leapt through the barrier, landing in the dusty hall where Nash and Rhodes were waiting—with two hooded cadets beside them, faces lost in shadow.
Chapter 28
Without thinking, I unsheathed two daggers in one smooth motion. Before I could speak, the two cloaked figures lunged. I sidestepped one, knocking them off balance, but the second shoved me back. Her hood slipped.
Tatum Sinclair. One of Scarlet’s roommates.
She shot me a glare before brushing past and throwing her arms around Scarlet. The second figure pulled back their hood too—Cleo. The two of them swarmed my sister, wrapping her in a tight embrace. Scarlet froze for a beat, her arms hovering before slowly wrapping around them. Her eyes glossed over, a storm of questions brewing as she tried to understand how they’d found us.
“Tatum? Cleo?” her voice cracked. “What—how?”
Tatum pulled back just enough to meet her gaze. “Professor Wylder found us.” She glanced over her shoulder at Rhodes and winked.
“We brought you these,” Cleo said, pulling out a matching set of daggers.
The dark steel blades gleamed even in the dim hallway light. Intricate runes ran down the center of each blade, etched with expert precision. At the pommels, small gems—a soft sage green—nestled in the metal, matching the dyed leather wrapping the handles.
Scarlet’s eyes widened. Her hands trembled as she took the weapons from Cleo. “How did you—why would you?” she stammered.
“We found them stashed in your drawer after the ball and figured they were hidden for a reason,” Tatum said, trailing off. “After the news of…” She hesitated. “We assumed the leadership shouldn’t find them. So we kept them safe for you.”
My sister sniffled, slid the daggers into their sheaths, then looked at Rhodes, who watched with a grin playing on his face.
The sound of pounding footsteps echoed around the corner.
“We can talk later—we need to go now!” Rhodes snapped.
We took off in the opposite direction from the incoming guards. This wasn’t the way we’d come in, so we’d need an alternate route back to the abandoned terrace.
“You didn’t think you’d leave without me, did ya?” a voice called from behind.
Rhodes skidded to a stop and spun around. Scarlet and her friends followed.
They were going to get us fucking killed.
I turned just in time to see the taller figure toss back his hood with a cocky grin.
