I pressed my lips together. It had to be whatever had been affecting her the last two months. But what would she want in the basement? Was it the dark grimoire I basically made her give back?
“It’s not safe down there.” I recalled the demon rats. “We need to get to her.”
“I know,” he agreed as we burst through the unlocked library doors.
We ran through the deserted library. Behind the checkout desk stood the large solid oak doors. I didn’t waste any time and ran behind the checkout desk, opening the doors with ease. Last time, these doors had been locked and Selene had used a stolen key from Mr. Hastings to open it.
“Why didn’t you go in after Selene?” I spared a glance at David, who stared at the entrance with unease. He could have easily followed her.
“I wanted to get help.” He swallowed, and I had to bite back my remark about him being spineless for not following her. At least it had led him to me.
We entered. A guard lay unconscious on the floor. A bitter, sharp tang hung in the air.
The doors slammed shut behind us.
I turned to them but was stopped by a crinkling sound, like crumpled tissue paper, coming from the walls. The symbols on the walls burned black, turning into ash.
I turned, assessing the walls. Dark magic was at play here.
“David. We need to keep—” I froze as cool metal clamped around my wrists, the tungsten of the magic-nullifying cuffs glowing green.
David stepped back, his eyes obsidian black and rimmed with red. I glowered at him with a cool, hard, assessing glare.
“You’re the traitor?”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Ender
Atfirst,apartof my brain tried to reconcile why David would cuff me, voiding me of magic, why his eyes would look like the devil’s, and why the symbols on the wall meant to ward off evil had turned to ash. The first theory was that he had been controlled, but my gut instincts said otherwise. I might not have been fond of David from the start, but that was how I was with everyone. He had become an acquaintance.
Ouch.
Had he made a deal with the dark mages to give him power?
“Is Selene really here?” I nodded toward the oak doors leading to the basement.
“No.” He tucked his hands behind his back. “She’s comfortable in her own bed. That is, until I tell her dark mages are attacking and you are lying on your deathbed.”
The thought of him being near her enraged me.
“Leave her alone.” I was going to paint his khakis and collared shirt with his own tainted blood.
“That would be foolish.” He waved his hand over his left palm as he said an enchantment. A black circle revealed itself.
“You did take a deal with the devil,” I ground out. “Your flesh will start to rot, and you’ll be a walking corpse—until I put you in a grave for doing this.”
His void expression turned malicious.
“I took that deal averylong time ago.” With a flick of his wrist, the doors leading to the library opened behind him. A figure in a black cloak walked through, their pale, black-veined hands poking out of their sleeves. They bowed to him before straightening. “I would take your power myself, but it will better serve both me and my consort once she is turned. Our reigning companionship will be built off your magic.”
My breathing quickened as realization struck. The other dark mage had bowed to David.Consort? Reign?David was the leader, and he wanted Selene by his side as a dark mage—a level five ether mage. I needed to get to her and needed to warn Headmaster John.
I strained my wrists against the cuffs, trying to break them, but it only caused them to bleed. David’s gaze flitted to my bloodied wrists, the black in his eyes pulsing as he licked his lips.
“You were a pleasant surprise—one I was happy to drain, until I learned of your bond with my consort.” The edges around David’s eyes hardened. “It slowed my own paradigm yet quickened its advances. I couldn’t let your bond strengthen over time, but it also needed to be handled delicately. Now, the dragon. That was unforeseen. However, it should be a small inconvenience.” He pulled out a dagger from an unseen sheath on his back, its black and grey swirled blade the length of a book. “It took a moment to mask my scent with a smokefragrance to deter the little nuisance. It’ll soon never be allowed to procreate.”
By that, I assumed he meant killing Chaos.
