My heart lifted. I gave my friend a grateful nod before turning back to Professor Holiday.
He pulled his thin, cracked lips back in a grin, exposing yellowy teeth and gray gums missing chunks. “You see me, girl. You came because you know… because you found yourself in me.”
Pure panic clawed at me—his words mirrored my own thoughts—but my feet still carried me forward.
Joe darted forward, trying to cut me off. My Majekah rippled along my back with tangible need. “Please, Joe, move. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Magic swirled wildly around us. The buzzing sharpened, shifting from irritation to pain. I didn’t understand what I was feeling, but the ‘wrongness’ sank into my bones. The need to touch it clawed through me until it wasn’t thought, but pure instinct, gnawing and absolute.
Brit met my gaze and nodded before pulling the tank of an enforcer to the side.
With nothing between me and Professor Holiday, I stepped again, and a surge of confidence opened my mouth. “Actually. I bet your view of the castle is spectacular. Give a girl a lift?”
Professor Holiday laughed and beckoned me forward, and I took another step.
Brit glided to my backside, ready to grab me if anything went wrong.
“Ah, Sugar, Pumpkin…” Joe’s unease blended in with the background.
‘Quinn, no,’Ezra’s voice sounded in my head.
Xan, Cayden, and Rowan yelled from the doorway of The Great Hall, all trying to stop me. But I wouldn’t, I couldn’t, no, I didn’twantto stop.
The pressure in the air increased. Blood leaked from my ears as ringing swallowed every sound. One more step, and a little glide brought me to the monstrosity’s lumpy leg. I placed my hand on the cold surface as if it were delicate glass.
My Majekah rushed forward. Power ran down my arm, making my hand go numb, but I didn’t pull back. I didn’t even want to try. I needed to do this. Oil hissed where it splattered. Terror shook me.
‘Don’t do that,’my dad said in my head.
I took a deep breath. It was too late. I already did it. I was using my Majekah because it felt right.Do that.I couldn’t run from myself anymore. I needed to understand. I tilted my head up and opened my eyes wide to see everything.
Professor Holiday’s monster began to unravel under my touch. One foot at a time, its legs melted into piles of plastic, copper, threads, and materials I didn’t have names for. The torso sloughed apart, slabs of meat and strips of hide tumbled into wet heaps, tangled with gleaming metal.
“How are you doing this?” Professor Holiday still hadn’t moved off his creation's headless shoulder, frozen in shock. “Whatare you doing?”
I met his gaze and confidently said, “I don’t know.”
His face twisted. “You’re unmaking him! Years, lifetimes, gone! He was our salvation, girl. He was my key. Our key.” He held up both his hands, fury and terror making him shake. “I unlocked your magic. I can lock it back up.” Pink power wove between his fingers.
A ball of hard earth, glowing with heat, flew over my shoulder and hit Professor Holiday’s hand with a sickening crack. He screamed in pain and rage as he and his monster continued falling to pieces under my Majekah. The pile of materials that used to be the monstrosity rose into a small mountain, pieces spilling down. Cayden’s forest green threw a wad of something shiny to the side before it could hit me. A blast of wind at my back caught what looked like part of a bloody goat and flung it to the side. Ezra stepped out of my shadow.
Professor Holiday glared behind me, where I assumed all my friends now stood, before focusing back on me. His body dropped to almost eye level. The thick air eased along with the smell of roses. Gold sparkles swirled as if they were flurries of snow.
“You will pay for this.” He tried to step off his monster, but his feet didn’t move.
The cloth directly under him unraveled.
My racing heart thudded. “Move, Professor.”
“I’m trying, girl,” Professor Holiday said with a sneer.
Someone wrapped their arms around my stomach. For a moment, sheer terror made me panic.
“You’ve already touched me, relax,” Cayden said.
I didn’t relax, but my attention returned to Professor Holiday. Cayden tried to pull me away, only to be pulled against my back. My Majekah locked me in place.
Professor Holiday’s feet hit the ground, and his leather boots turned into scraps, followed by his white robe. I wasn’t sure what I was more afraid to see, his naked body or a pile of guts.
