“Every healer from the House of Light and Ether has the ability to sense someone’s energy signature, some more than others,” the teacher said.
I immediately thought of Avis and how she could not only sense someone’s life force energy but also see it.
“Take a deep breath in, centering yourself, and then allow your vision to go a bit hazy, almost as if you are lost in a stare after a long day,” she continued.
I inhaled, staring at Mrs. Reebus, and then tried to allow my eyes to relax. My mind kept wanting to see something, but there was nothing but clear air around her.
Then I gasped, as did a few others in class, the slightest subtle, pink glow coming off her appearing to me.
“I see it!” another student said.
“My partner is green!” another said.
Mrs. Reebus smiled and opened her mouth to speak when the sound of a blaring siren filled the space.
Her eyes widened, and she stood frozen for a moment as I reached up to cover my ears. There had never been a siren before.
“Everyone, follow me!” Mrs. Reebus shouted, seeming to jolt out of her trance as she beelined toward the door.
We all shared confused and frantic looks as we rushed to the doorway, causing a bottleneck. I stumbled backward, away from the crowd, to avoid getting touched, and then followed at the very back. We walked into the hallway with hundreds of other students, and I hissed as someone bumped up against me, but luckily no skin touched. Hugging the walls, I watched as hundreds of students and their teachers funneled into a door at the end of the hall.
“Fallon!” Eden screamed, and I spun to see my bestie bounding toward me. She was covered in soot and wearing battle gear, no doubt in the middle of a lesson on how to fight with her fire magic.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
She looked behind her as if checking for a teacher and swallowed hard. “I heard it’s a Nightling alarm.”
There are Nightlings on campus?
Rage washed over me, causing a heady rush to pulse between my temples. The thought of seeing Marissa again after she attempted to kill Ariyon actually excited me. I didn’t care if I was without my powers. I would kill her with my bare hands.
Eden must have seen the anger rising up inside me because she shook her head and grabbed my gloved hand. “We hide in the basement. That’s new protocol.”
“How do you know this?”
“I’m House of War and Bone. It’s my job to know how to protect.” She looked proud at that.
And now I was a healer out of the loop, I guess.
“Fallon!” Ayden’s panicked voice filled the space, and I turned to see him rushing toward me, wearing full battle armor and holding a sword.
“What’s going on?” I asked him, hoping he had more information.
“Get in the basement, both of you!” he hissed, and shepherded us that way.
It was amazing how efficient everyone was. The entire building had calmly rushed into the basement, Eden, Ayden, and I the last to go in. Ayden all but pushed us into the open doorway, and when I realized he wasn’t coming, my heart dropped in my stomach.
“Ayden. Is it Nightlings? Is it Marissa?” I asked as he stood in the doorway, peering down at me with the same face as the man I missed so much it hurt.
He swallowed hard and gave me a curt nod.
I pushed forward. “Then I’m coming too! She’s here for me. If anything happens to anyone—”
He gripped both of my covered arms harder than was polite and shoved me back through the doorway.
“Fallon, you have no powers to fight anymore. Stay down here. If anything happened to you…” A wild look crossed his face, like he might do anything to force me to stay put, and then his gaze fell to my lips.
What the…?
