An explosion rocked the party grounds, and Marcus grabbed my shoulders, spinning me behind him while he searched for an attack.Near the largest bonfire, I saw a kaleidoscope of lights followed by shouts as a fight broke out. “Shit.” Marcus shot me anapologetic grimace. “My friends are in there. I need to help them, but I’ll find you after, okay?”
“Go, help your friends,” I said with an encouraging smile. If my friends were here still, I’d have been right on his ass tohelp them. “I’ll catch you later.”
Marcus still hesitated, but as the fight grew louder, he shook his head and took off. Jostled by others, I was pushedfarther back in the crowd, until I stood at the edge of the forest again. Exhausted, I decided to catch up with Belle and Trevor. If I took the shortcut, I might catch them before the healers.
Walking along the side of the building, I stuck to the shadows, wondering what stupidity had made me take the darkest, eeriestpath. Not that I was worried about an attack, with everyone distracted by the fight.
As if those thoughts tempted the Fates themselves, when I turned the corner a roughly hewn bag was jerked over my head, cuttingoff my screams. It tightened around my neck, and I panicked and clawed at my throat, before I was cracked on the head, painexploding through my brain as everything went fuzzy.
Chapter 15
My attacker was an air elemental, using their energy to lift us both, and send us hurtling across the campus. The throbbingin my head worsened with each breath of air I tried to suck through the burlap bag. It stuck to my sweaty face, and I foughtnot to pass out again through sheer panic.
My attacker was bigger and stronger, and their hold was tight until they stopped suddenly and released me to slam againsta hard surface. Winded, my lungs ached along with my head as I gasped for breath, but that didn’t stop me from rolling tothe side and clawing at the ties at my throat.
The psycho warlock laughed, a deep chilling sound, as he wrapped his hands around my throat. Blindly swinging my arms, I triedto claw him, but he wasn’t strangling as I’d expected. He released the ties on the bag. When he yanked it off, my head slammedback with a crack against whatever I rested on, and I turned to find it was a headstone.
My attacker had brought us to the Weatherstone graveyard.
Tingles raced along my spine stronger than I’d ever felt—this warning system I’d developed the moment I stepped onto thesecollege grounds.Little too late this time.Scrambling to my feet, the back of my head felt warm, and I had a suspicion I was bleeding.
Which wasn’t the worst of my worries as the full mooncrested to the peak, washing its calming energy over the graves and illuminating my attacker:
Weasel.
Tilting his head to the side, he shot me a smile any serial killer would be proud of. “You’re a pain in my ass,” he said conversationally,sounding less deranged than he looked. “A distraction. An annoyance. And I’m sick of seeing your fucking face. Kingston willthank me for this.”
He twisted his right hand, and the air I’d been quite happily breathing was restricted in my lungs and throat. Choking, Iclawed at my neck, as flashbacks of drowning in the lake hit me hard and fast. Only this time, there was definitely a monsterattacking me, and since he was of the warlock variety, I could fight back.
Dropping to my knees, I fought through my panic, desperately searching for a weapon. My palm hit a rock, half-buried in thedirt, and I clawed it loose, pitching it as hard and fast as I could. I’d spent two summers playing baseball with the kidson my street, and I had a mean fastball when I wanted.
Weasel dodged it, but not the second one I shot at him just as fast. The tennis ball–sized stone slammed into his gut, andwhen he doubled over the elemental hold on my body ceased. Leaping to my feet, I didn’t stop or think, sprinting in the directionI hoped the gate was. I couldn’t see it from this angle.
Of course, a witch with no active magic against an asshole with control over the elements meant I was far outmatched. Airwrapped around my body, holding me in place, before he lifted me a few feet off the ground, and slammed me down face-firstonto the hard, rock-filled grass. Compacted dirt bit into my skin, scraping where my clothes didn’t protect. Weasel repeatedthis movement over and over, until I could taste blood, and my head was spinning and screaming at me.
When he stopped, he left me sprawled on the ground in abroken heap. “Are you planning on killing me?” I choked out, wiping blood from my lips. Little beams of light shone in my hands, but it was so far from an active power I might as well have been holding a firefly. “They’ll execute you.”
“Not if they can’t find your body,” he snarled as he slammed his foot on my back, pushing me until I tasted grass and moreblood. “You’re just an annoyance and a distraction, and I think the plan is much better this way.”
A strangled scream escaped me as I tried to push up against him, but I was hurt too badly to have any fight left. As it was,I could barely whimper.
“I’m going to enj—”
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Another whimper escaped me, as shouts rang out. Students had left the party, and judging by the chill of their energy, somenecromancers had decided to visit the graveyard on their way back to the dorms.
My face was pressed into the ground, so I couldn’t see who had arrived, and even when the weight of Weasel’s foot disappeared,I didn’t move. Didn’t or couldn’t, it was hard to tell through the blaring pain. Gentle hands touched me a few seconds later,and I flinched.
“It’s okay,” a witch said carefully, her voice pitched low and soothing. “We’re here to help you.”
I was lifted, and I couldn’t help my cries as the pain intensified. Tears burned my eyes, and I squeezed them shut and prayedto the goddess for a little relief.
“You need to hurry,” the witch said to whoever carried me. “She doesn’t look good.”
Excellent. At least I looked how I felt.
The warlock who held me—I could feel his hard chest—moved faster, jolting my broken body. I gritted my teeth and tried to be thankful I was alive. Feeling no pain would havemeant I was dead, and once again the reaper had kept its claws out of me.
