And then it happened. The front doors exploded inward.
Wind rushed violently through the entrance hall while darkness flooded across the threshold in thick waves.
The Priestess’ gaze landed directly on me as she stood outside in the courtyard with hair whipping around her face, and shadows spiraled behind her like a living storm.
The Academy reacted instantly as shadows inside surged upward between us before I even had time to think. They rose in twisting columns across the entrance while the lanterns brightened so fiercely that the entire hall glowed gold and white.
The Priestess stopped abruptly, and Barlen eyed me.
For the first time since meeting her, genuine shock crossed her face.
“No,” she whispered.
The shadows surrounding her hesitated.
Actually hesitated.
The Academy floor pulsed beneath my feet again, and one of the staircases shifted loudly somewhere behind us. Walls groaned softly while magic rolled through the structure in steady waves, and the shadows inside the Academy gathered tighter around me instead of the Priestess.
Protection.
The realization hit me hard enough that I physically stepped backward.
Barlen looked equally horrified. “They’re choosing.”
The Priestess took another step, and the shadows immediately surged higher between us.
A crack split across the stone courtyard beneath her feet.
Her expression darkened instantly as she looked beyond the shadows and directly at me. “You do not understand what you’re doing.”
“Truer words couldn’t have been spoken,” I muttered.
The Academy practically vibrated around us as the warmth flowed through the walls.
The shadows drifting near me no longer carried the same harsh danger from earlier. They moved carefully now, brushing across the floor and pillars in slow circles.
The Priestess stared at them in disbelief. “They belong to Shadowick.”
Another pulse rolled through the Academy.
The shadows nearest me immediately shifted closer, and suddenly I understood the problem.
They did belong to Shadowick.
Just not her version of it…just not to her.
The realization seemed to strike the Priestess at the exact same moment because her face changed instantly. Fury twisted across her features while the shadows outside behind her whipped violently through the courtyard.
“You opened it,” she hissed.
I swallowed hard and glanced around the glowing entrance hall with its waking magic and shifting staircases.
“No,” I said quietly.
The Academy lights brightened another shade around me.
“I think it opened itself.”
