He nodded. “Just a lot of output in a small amount of time. She’s a Dynokinetic. She can manipulate great amounts of energy, but it takes a toll on her in the short term.”
The teacher mumbled as if agreeing but didn’t bother to open her eyes.
I swallowed hard. “Can I help?”
Hayes looked at me then, and the seriousness of his gaze caught me a bit off guard. “Gather all the healer students in one corner. I’ll be there in a bit. We need to prepare to go out in teams once they let us out so that we can help with the aftermath.”
I gasped at his wording. “Aftermath?”
Again, he held my gaze. “The Nightlings are waging war on us, Fallon. There will be casualties, there will be injured. The queen’s healers are the best in the realm, but they might be…compromised as well. We just…need to prepare for the worst.”
Oh Light. How was this happening? I needed to get up there. Ayden! I should be fighting by his side or, at the very least, begging Marissa to stop this.
Why was she doing this? Before I’d shown up, most people in The Gilded City had thought she was dead. After so long, her appearance here had to be because of me. Ever since I had shown up here, Marissa had launched an attack almost monthly.
‘Nightlings need to feed, or they wither away,’Yanric shared, and I peered over at him.
‘What do you mean? I mean, why are you sharing that now?’I remembered reading about the Nightlings need to feed, but—
‘Maybe they are doing a big feeding, beefing up on all their powers so that they can be strong for something bigger.’
Chills ran down my arms at Yanric’s guess.
“Fallon,” Hayes called, pulling my attention back to the task at hand, and I shook myself.
“Sorry. I’ll go gather the others.”
We would have to figure out the reason for the attack later. I turned away from Hayes, squinting in the dim blue glowing light, and glanced around at the over two hundred students and staff huddled in the large open concrete gymnasium-esque space. There was no furniture, just a few milk crates and boxes in the corner.
As I looked at the gathered crowd, I realized not many teachers were down here. They were probably up there, fighting.
Master Clarke. Master Hart. They weren’t here. Dread tightened my gut, but I pushed it down and cleared my throat.
“House of Light and Ether healing students, with me!” I barked, and walked to a corner of the space that was less crowded.
Mrs. Reebus perked up and looked over at me, taking a few long strides my way.
I lowered my voice as she neared. “Hayes said we should prepare for…the aftermath. To help.”
The color drained from her face, making her look sickly in this light, but she nodded.
“Come on!” She clapped twice, and one by one, the healing students broke away from the groups they were with and moved to our corner of the room.
Master Knight, the lead Pyrotechnics instructor who had shown me how to use the Undying Fire, was gone too, which made me feel a little better because it meant she was fighting on Ayden’s side, hopefully keeping him safe. But Mr. Whitlock, the telekinesis teacher, was down here, and he seemed to notice what we were doing.
“House of War and Bone! Line up in rows of ten!” he barked like a drill sergeant. The students fell into line, seemingly liking that there was something to do. Then Mr. Whitlock came over to Mrs. Reebus and I.
“We should prepare for the worst,” he said. “The tele students can levitate bodies and get them to the healing tents.”
Mrs. Reebus nodded. “That will work.” She kept her voice calm, but I couldfeelthe fear emanating off her.
For the first time since I found out I had dark powers, I actually wanted them. I wanted to send a wave of purple fire into every single Nightling out there. But no. I was stuck with powers to heal, not harm.
I stroked the tops of my hands through my gloves, where Ariyon’s marks were, and my heart pinched, causing a giant cavern of grief to open inside my chest as I feared it would swallow me whole. It had been too long, and I was beginning to lose any hope of getting him back.
Forgive me,I thought, and then Yanric nuzzled against my neck.
“I want to be up there helping,” I told Mrs. Reebus as Mr. Whitlock walked away and began to give his students orders.
