A short distance away, students are assembled in a large group, staring at the battle in the sky, their agitated animali watching from beside them. A few students spot me and Galen, and I make a point to move away from my mate, running over to where I spot Kenzie with her neck craned to the sky.
“Shade!” she cries, rushing over to me when she sees me coming. She wraps her arms around me in a bear hug, then quickly pulls back and grabs my shoulders, assessing me. “Oh my god, are you hurt? Please tell me you’re not hurt.”
“I’m fine,” I say quickly, turning my head back to the sky. “But I can’t speak for everyone.”
She follows my line of sight. “What happened up there? We were in the middle of the lesson, when Professor Thane startedbarking orders at us about staying within the academy walls, and then he just left.” She tilts her head to where Professor Lankin is now speaking to Galen. “Professor Lankin appeared shortly after, saying something about an attack. Girl, I was so worried.”
“They came from nowhere,” I murmur.
With my guys and the other originals, Ambrose, Germain, and Virelle, fighting as a unit, I’m relieved to see the Xalgrith are falling from the sky. Every so often, another student lands, practically collapsing onto the earth, heaving. A few of the students are wounded, and Professor Lankin moves away from Galen, rushing over to them and using her shadow powers to heal what she can.
Kenzie squints at the sky. “They’re Xalgrith warriors, aren’t they? It’s too hard to make out all the details, but who else would they be?”
I’m about to answer when what looks like an abnormally large wild dog with wings nudges the underside of Kenzie’s arm, and she grins.
I point at the creature. “Uh, what is that?”
The biggest grin stretches across Kenzie’s face. “This would be, Nellie. My, uh… animali.”
My eyebrows shoot to my hairline. “Wait, what? What do you mean your animali?” I’m momentarily distracted from the battle as I stare at my friend.
“Exactly what I said,” she says, still grinning. “My animali.”
The large wild dog stares up at me with huge red eyes. “Nellie meet Shade. Shade, Nellie.” I simply stare at her, and she goes on. “I had a dog once named, Nellie, and she had a similar coloring, so it seemed fitting.”
“How?” I finally manage.
Kenzie strokes her hand down Nellie’s back. “Well, Professor Thane had us all practicing combat on the sands of the training arena. Of course, I was practically defenseless while the othershad their creatures, and when Tobin’s boar tried to take a piece out of me, well, Nellie just seemed to appear out of nowhere.” Kenzie scratches under her animali’s jaw. “She saved me.”
Nellie rubs her head against Kenzie as my friend dotes on her, and I smile warmly. “Well, hey Nellie. Nice to have you around.”
“You have no idea how relieved I am,” Kenzie blurts. “For a minute there, I thought I was going to have to enter the games without an animali. I thought I would have to—” Her words cut off, her eyes going wide as she realizes what she’s said. “God, sorry Shade. I didn’t mean to?—”
I wave her off, still smiling. “I’m happy you found your animali, Kenzie. Really.” Do I wish I had my own badass animali to help me? Well, yeah. But this is still amazing news for my friend. It’s bad enough that I have to worry about keeping myself alive, but at least now, I have someone who will help me take care of Kenzie. I give Nellie a look to that effect, channeling aTake care of her, buddy,into my expression, and I’m sure I’m imagining it, but I swear the large dog nods its head like it’s agreeing. Which is…weird, but stranger things have happened.
I’m pulled from my thoughts when the remainder of the students make it to the academy grounds, followed by Thane, Knox, and Raith. The ground shakes when their massive animali land, and my heartrate increases when they jump from their beasts, covered in blood, and looking like they’ve just walked through hell. I want to go to them. To check on them, but I know better than that.
The students all stare at them like they’re expecting the professors to say something reassuring that’s going to make this whole situation better. Instead, we simply get Knox’s scowl as he cleans his blade on his pants and sheaths it. His gaze sweeps over the area, taking in the wounded students and their animali, and everyone else who’s assembled. “If you need help gettingpatched up, remain here and one of the professors will see to you. If you’re unharmed, you can send your animali away for now and report for lunch. Classes will resume after that.”
And that’s it. No speech to calm our nerves and tell us we’re all safe within the academy walls. I lift my gaze to the now empty gray sky, and the clouds seem to darken as if a storm is rolling in.
Kenzie hesitates, staring at Nellie reluctantly before she whispers something to her animali, and the wild dog disappears into the trees. Across the grass, the rest of the animali do the same, and students begin trailing into the academy building, muttering and whispering to one another.
It all seems too…normal.
I peer at my mates. Each of them spares me a look, careful not to let their gazes linger for too long. Well, they all do except for Knox, that is. Raith and Galen look like they want to steal me away, but they don’t.
“We need to see to this mess,”Thane’s gruff voice whispers against my ears.“Are you unharmed, mate?”
My lips form a weak smile.“That depends, are we talking mentally or physically? Because Raith just dropped me while we were in the sky, and for a minute there, I’d thought I was going to die. So yeah, I’d say I’m a little rattled.”
“But Galen was there to catch you,”Thane replies with confusion like he sees no issue with the situation.
I roll my eyes. I mean, it did all end well, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about being tossed around while we’re who knows how high in the sky.
“I’m fine, daddy,”I sigh, knowing there’s no point trying to explain myself further.
Thane’s dark brows lower, but before he can utter another word, I stride toward the academy with Kenzie walking by my side.
