“I already tried talking to her, and she won’t budge.” I yank my wrist from Maxon’s hold. “If you won’t come with, then fine. I’ll do it myself. I’m not losing one of my best friends.”
22
My heart pounds as I run down the hall. Maxon might be too much of a coward to risk his neck for Kaia, but that doesn’t mean I’m out of options. There’s still one person I can go to for help.
“Professor Dal” I pound on his office door, desperate. “Professor Dal, please, it’s Addy! I need your help!”
“He’s not there. I already looked.”
I whirl around at the sound of Cass’s voice to see her floating behind me, a textbook in her hand. “Where is he?” I ask, tears of panic stinging my eyes. Professor Dal has been my rock ever since arriving here—my personal cheerleader, my guardian angel, always looking out for me. How can I possibly do this without him?
“I don’t know. I looked all over and I can’t find him.” Cass scowls. “It’s a bit suspicious, honestly, him running off at a time like this.”
“Then what do I do?”
“You take this, and get going.”
I blink as Cass shoves the textbook into my hand. “What’s this?” I ask, turning over the cover to read the title.Demonology: An Advanced Approach.
“I filched it from the restricted section in the library. I thought maybe there’d be something useful in it.” Cass bites her lip, hesitating before she speaks again. “You don’t have to do this, Addy.”
I look up into her eyes, and my heart clenches at the worry I see in them. But Cass’s fear for my safety is nothing compared to the fear Kaia must be feeling now. How can I stay behind, knowing that she’s suffering, knowing that no one is coming for her?
“No, I can’t,” I say gently. “I have to do this. And you have to go.”
“Like hell!” Cass says, firing up immediately. “I’m not letting you run off—”
“Impedia!” I shout, shooting my hand out. My palm flares with light, and Cass is blasted across the room by a magical force. Before she can recover, I draw the portal sigil on the wall and slap my hand against it. Immediately, the swirling vortex appears.
“Sorry Cass,” I shout, and leap into the vortex before she can stop me. I almost lost her to demons once—I’ll be damned if I let her anywhere near them again.
* * *
After what seemslike an interminable amount of time and an instant all at once, the portal spits me back out again. My feet hit the pavement and a shock of dizziness swirls around me. I close my eyes and hold my breath, waiting for it to pass. It lasts only a few seconds this time.
The world is dark and foggy, just like before. I’m standing in the middle of the highway, and a truck rumbles down the road. I jump back out of the way just in time.
I’m at the site of the accident, and a lot of it has been cleaned up by now. The blood has been washed off the pavement. The bodies taken away. A tow truck slowly pulls one of the overturned cars over. I turn, watching the men work for a few seconds. They don’t seem to be in immediate danger.
The demon won’t be lurking here, waiting. Gripping my scythe tight in my right hand, I conjure a rune and hold it up, watching the little symbol glowing green in the night. It’s the same type of enchanted rune Maxon used earlier to detect demonic energy, which further proves his point that a demon getting into the academy is damn near impossible.
But I’m still not convinced a demon isn’t behind the students disappearing.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” I whisper to the night. I circle the entire site and find no trace of the demon. I put the rune back in my pocket, trading it for the page I tore out of the demonology book. Squinting in the dark, I riffle through the text, looking for a locator spell I can use. I find one, and mutter it under my breath a few times for practice before saying it loud and clear while focusing my intention, just like Professor Balbina taught us.
“Tenebris revelare. Ostende mihi viam. Reperio dæmonio liberarem!” A whoosh goes through the air, and I spin, looking for the glowing red scar in the Earth’s energy, left behind when the demon tore through this plane. If it’s not here, then it’s been too long.
And I have no way of finding the demon that took Kaia.
My heart sinks as I spin in a complete circle and see nothing. Tears start to bite at the corners of my eyes. This can’t be it, there has to be—
“Yes!”
I see it glowing through the thicket of trees on the other side of the road. I fold and re-pocket the paper. Then I swing my scythe out in front of me, activating the magic. It glows bright in my hand, and I run and jump across the highway, floating high above the car. I start to sink down and land with one foot on the top of a semi-truck. I push off and sail to the other side, landing soundlessly in the tall grass.
The scar is flickering, about to go out. I quickly summon up energy to draw another sigil, using the scar to guide the portal. A bright white light splits from a line in the air in front of me. It crackles and pops and then widens. Red and black lights swirl inside at a dizzying rate.
With a sharp intake of breath, I step inside, and feel my body twisted and spun all around. I brace myself, not fighting against the movements but going right along with them.
