More shadow magic comes flying our way. The ones who escaped the tower’s fall are climbing over the rubble, still intent on chasing us.
“Shit. There’s no time, Briony.”
And again, I take her arm and pull her onward.
Eventually, we reach the safety of Briony’s old room. I haven’t been here for days, weeks, months. It’s funny now to look at it. I think back to that moment, that time long ago, when I hadn’t yet confessed my feelings or given my heart to her, when I still couldn’t touch her, when we placed the stone in the fireplace and Blaze hatched from the egg.
I run to one of the long, slitted windows and peer down toward the rest of the academy.
The plan hasn’t worked. Not enough of the Empress’s army has followed us into the academy. Briony stands on her tiptoes and comes to look too, reaching the same conclusion as I have.
“It’s not worked.” She almost stamps her foot in frustration. “We need to get back down there and help them.”
“No,” I say. “You’re safe here, Briony. And we’re staying right here.”
“And leave the others to fend for themselves?” she says. “Our magic is stronger when it’s combined, Thorne. We can’t leave them like that.”
“They’d want you somewhere safe, Briony. Away from the fighting.”
“Safe?” she says. “While they fight to the death? No, Thorne. Because then what?”
I open my mouth to answer, but I have nothing – no words to give – because she’s right. The only way to defeat the Empress and her army is to work together. However, there’s no sign of the others, which means we have no choice, we have to go back down and we have to find them, wherever the hell they may be.
“Can you feel them?” I ask. “Can you feel where they are, Briony?”
She steps away from the window, closes her eyes, and lays her hands above her heart.
“They’re still out there, Thorne,” she whispers. “I can feel them.”
“Can you feel where they are?”
She frowns and shakes her head in frustration. “In different places.”
I turn back to the window. That thick morning mist still coats the ground, obscuring everything.
“Damn it,” I curse. “This mist is making everything harder. We can’t see who we’re fighting. We can’t see the others. It’s giving our enemies an advantage.”
“Maybe there’s a way…” she says, trailing off as she chews on her cheek.
“A way to what, Nini?” I ask her.
“Disperse this stupid fog.”
“Maybe a wind spell,” I mutter, scrunching up my forehead as I try to remember everything I’ve learned at the academy. But I needn’t bother. Nini is leaning toward the window, forcing her hand through the tight gap and then sending her light searing down toward the thick cloud of fog. The light pierces it like a pin through a balloon, and all that dank, dark moisture evaporates away into the air, vanishing in front of my eyes and exposing everything it was concealing.
Nini gasps.
It’s not pretty down there. The fog has lifted and revealed bodies everywhere. Lifeless forms of shadow weavers and other non-magical students too. There are many dead from their side, but there are more from ours.
It’s clear now that the fog has lifted: we’re losing this battle.
Briony takes an unsteady step away from the window. Her body is shaking, her hands trembling.
“What are we going to do, Thorne?” she says, suddenly sounding so unsure – the woman I know, the woman I love. “What are we going to do?”
I look at her, and I want to keep her safe at the top of this tower. I want to protect her with every cell of my body, with every drop of my blood.
But I can’t.
