Caleb shifted as he landed, sweeping one blade from his belt.
His gaze lifted immediately as he saw Keegan and me on the balcony before finishing the job as the shadows ascended into oblivion.
A soldier swung at Caleb’s back, but Bella appeared beneath its arm and slashed upward, and another lunged toward Bella.
Caleb caught it by the throat and drove it into the stone.
They reached the base of the tower within moments and looked up at us.
“Maeve!” Caleb shouted. “Don’t enter until we clear the stairwell.”
“Celeste is inside,” I shouted back.
“I know,” he yelled. “And so is the Priestess.”
And he was right. We watched Bella and Caleb move into the compound deeper with the pack behind him as Keegan stepped closer, his voice low enough that only I heard it over the chaos. “We go in together.”
Something in my chest loosened just slightly.
Together.
We could do it together.
The shield around us shuddered again as more blasts struck from below. Witches swooped down in formation, sending spells toward the masked fighters and forcing several of them to retreat beneath the broken archways in the shadows they already were.
Stella and Lady Limora circled the upper tower, their magic streaking through the air as they kept the winged creatures from diving at everyone again.
Nova’s voice rose through the dark in a language I didn’t know, but the power behind it wasn’t missed. Silver lines began appearing in the air above the compound, connecting broomsticks, lanterns, and the shimmering barriers the witches held.
Energy.
A web.
A net.
Protection was spreading between them all, between us.
The Academy had taught them well.
No… they had learned well.
I wished I had time to be proud of that, but the corridor beyond flickered again.
And for a brief second, I saw her.
Celeste.
She stood halfway down the hall in her favorite jacket, hair tangled around her face, and one hand pressed against the wall. Her eyes found mine, and my knees nearly buckled. They were wide and terrified, and her mouth moved around one word I didn’t need to hear to understand.
Mom.
But the hall shifted, and she vanished as I lunged forward before I could think.
Keegan caught my arm, not to stop me, but to keep me from stepping through the doorway blind.
“Maeve,” he said urgently. “Look.”
The floor just inside the doorway had already changed.
