The dull ache turned into a painful throb, and that was enough to send me into the woods. My actions were rash. I should have gotten Viv far away from whatever threat was in the woods—but my gut instinct tugged me forward. It didn’t feel right, and whatever it was, I needed to get ahead of it.
“Stay close,” I ordered, Viv running right behind me.
I sprinted through the woods, ignoring the brush scraping against my arms. Five minutes later, I heard a commotion as I reached a thinned-out area before the base of a mountain. Ivy stood in front of Gwen, who lay unconscious on the ground, her strawberry-blonde hair covering her own face. A thick old book lay open next to her, and before them stood three large rock creatures, their boulder heads almost reaching the top of the pines.
The creatures were conglomerated jagged rocks that ground against each other as they moved. One was about to crush Ivy with an arm that looked like an asymmetrical, monster-sized chakra keychain.
The flutter of magic thrummed along my spine as heat pricked at my hand. I called on my magic, and it flowed from my hand with ease. It merged with a nearby tree like an invisible tentacle and I closed my hand, my magic wrapping around its trunk and embedding itself—compliments of my earth magic. With a little more push of magic, the roots ripped from the ground and the tree crashed into the rock creature. The creature fell, causing the ground to shake. That probably got the academy guards’ attention.
Ivy turned to me, eyes wide with shock and her umber skin a ghostly pale. Blood soaked through a hole in her leather pants, and she shifted her weight to her uninjured leg. Behind her, the other two rock creatures were advancing, and I kicked into action.
“Viv. Grab Gwen and get them out of here.” I picked up the book and tossed it at Ivy. “Go warn the headmaster.”
“What?” Viv clamored. “I’m not leaving. They can take themselves.”
“Vivian!”
She knew Ivy couldn’t carry Gwen with a bum leg.
“Fine.” Viv rolled her eyes and went over to Gwen, picking her up and throwing her over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry with a humph. She glanced at Ivy. “Come on.”
They disappeared into the woods and I turned to face the two oncoming threats as the third stirred on the ground.
Nowthiswas my kind of party.
Chapter Seven
Ender
“Takeher!”Vivianshoutedat me. Gwen was slung over her shoulders like a heavy rag doll.
“Where’s Selene?” I slowed but didn’t completely stop as I scanned the three of them for injuries. Ivy clutched a book in her hands, her face alarmingly pale as she hobbled next to Vivian. Gwen’s sides slowly rose and fell, indicating she was alive. Other than that, they seemed fine. My gaze briefly fell back to the rough, brown leather-bound book with gold calligraphy. Its title easily identified it as a forbidden book of creature summoning spells, and it was supposed to be locked in the library basement.
“I need to go help her.” Vivian took a step toward me, clearly indicating for me to take Gwen from her. Instead, I started in the direction they had come from.
“Hey, wait!” Vivian called after me. “Prick!”
I couldn’t help a small smile as I ran. Besides a match or hidden scowls, no one vilified me to my face or held my glare. The Thomas sisters weren’t afraid to.
The ground shook again and I pressed harder, uneasiness settling in my gut. I’d never seen Ivy so quiet or pale; she was always up for a challenge. Up ahead through the trees, I could make out Selene. When I reached her, her arms were stretched in front of her, aimed at a giant pile of rocks underneath a tree. The pile started to shake, and off to the side, another heap of boulders shuddered underneath a nearby fallen tree, slowly getting taller as it formed into a sentient being and stood.
Rock creatures.Someone powerful had to have summoned them because not only were there two, but there was a third behind them. And neither Ivy nor Gwen was an earth mage nor powerful enough to summon creatures like this.
“What are you doing here?” Selene gritted through her teeth, her chest barely rising faster than a normal rate.
“I should be asking you whatyouare doing?” I examined her and then the rock beasts—the trees hadn’t been knocked down by them. Ivy was strong, but not strong enough to uproot a tree of that size with her air magic, let alone do it twice. There was no sign of Gwen’s water magic, and Vivian was only a level two water mage.
The rock creature behind the others made its way toward us, its empty orbital sockets somehow managing to still devour us like prey. Selene sent boulders flying into its head, slowly causing it to step backward. Because these were made with earth elements, it would be easier to destroy them by controlling them with earth magic. Unfortunately, if you didn’t create them, your magic wouldn’t work to manipulate them—unless the creature was weak.
I twisted my hands, circling them in small motions as the cold touch of my magic singed the insides of my fingertips. A smalltornado formed and grew as my motions became wider until it was the size of the creature. It acted as a small distraction but did not stop it.
The creature was too heavy for the tornado, so I changed tactics and sent whips of air against its stony body, slowly crumbling its exterior. The air slashed through its arm like a sword, cutting it off and making it crumble to the ground. Selene uprooted another tree—much smaller than the first two—and sent it crashing into the creature. It fell to one knee and braced itself with its only remaining arm. The rocks and pebbles from its chopped arm moved, piling on each other and sticking together like magnets. After the creature’s arm reformed, it reattached itself so it was whole again.
We continued our attacks. Once we would take one down, we focused on the next one closest to us. They were slow, and we used that to our advantage. But despite our best efforts, they continued to get back up again. My magic left my blood flowing like a river of ice as I sent strike after strike. At one point, I focused on pressurizing the air around the approaching rock creature with enough force that should’ve crushed the majority of it but only impacted a single boulder on the edge of its body.
“We need a different strategy,” I shouted to Selene and glanced at her. Her breathing was now quick. She was getting tired, and so was I. Magic used endurance and was similar to running or lifting weights.
Selene held my gaze and nodded before looking back at the creatures. Her brows set, determination spreading across her face, and somehow, I knew she understood the creatures would wreak havoc on the academy if they made it past us.
