“Get out of the way, Norah,” he said, voice harsh and full of furious emotion. “That’s the last Redcap here. It needs to bekilled.”
“No,” I said, more quietly now. “This isn’t a Redcap. It’s Bree, my oldest friend from home. She doesn’t deserve todie.”
Griff shook his head, letting out a harsh laugh as he gestured at the carnage in the hallway. “She helped kill all those guards, Norah. I get that you think she’s still the human girl you knew back home, but she isn’t. She’s a monster now, one who attacked us. Now, move out of theway.”
“No. She didn’t do this.” My heartbeat was so loud in my ears that I could barely hear my own voice. “The Autumn fae are controlling her, just like Alwyn said. She would never attack anyone. Not on herown.”
“You’re talking about a Redcap, Norah.ARedcap.”
With tears in my eyes, I turned my back on Griff to look up into my friend’s beastly face. Those eyes. They were so sad, so tortured. She was in there, somewhere deep inside the Redcap’s monstrous body. She didn’t want to be doing this, and I knew exactly how I could make this allokay.
“I’ve got a plant that can heal you, Bree,” I whispered to her, reaching up to press my shaking hands against her rough fur. “You don’t have to be like this anymore. Just...turn back into your real form so that they can see what you really are.Human.”
“Norah,” Kael said quietly as he inched up behind me. “I don’t think you’re going to get through to her, not when she’s likethis.”
But I could only ignore him. “Bree? Come on, I know you can do it. I’ve seen you change back before.Remember?”
Tension filled the room as I faced off against the beast. We stood in the center of the gymnasium, her sorrow-filled eyes locked on my face. She shuddered underneath my hand, and for a moment, I thought I’d made her realize what she needed todo.
But then her body stiffened, and she jerked her head toward a distant sound that none of us could hear but her. And then she was off, charging down the hallway. Griff let out an exclamation of surprise. He rose his sword and took off behindher.
“No!” I screamed, but it was too late. More changelings joined him in the chase. At least a dozen of them took off to hunt down myfriend.
With a heavy sigh, I fell to my knees and pressed my hands flat on the cold floor. Bree was in there somewhere. I knew it. Even after everything that had happened, I couldn’t give up on her. She’d certainly never given up on me. But I didn’t know how to get to her. Not when the Autumn fae were controlling her mind, and not when my fellow changelings were desperate to shove their swords into herthroat.
There was nothing I could do now. As hard as I’d tried, I’dlost.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The electricity popped out next.As we dragged ourselves back to our apartments, the entire Academy was plunged into darkness. Several of the instructors had taken off to track down Griff and the others. They’d likely chased Bree out into the storm, and no one should be running around in the thunder and lightning, least of all right now when the threat of the Autumn Court was so fresh and soreal.
And me? Well, all I wanted to was plop face-first onto my bed and stay there for hours. I’d been trying so desperately hard to undo what had happened to Bree that horrible night in Manhattan. The attack on her had been my fault. I’d attracted the Redcap, and it had turned its ferocity on Bree because ofthat.
But it felt as if I’d only made things worse. I’d brought Bree to the attention of the Autumn fae, and they’d sought her out. To control her, to make her do things Bree would neverdo.
I would never get a chance to heal her now. Her mind and soul would be lost to thebeast.
There was a soft knock on my bedroom door, and I merely groaned in response, my face still smashed onto my pillow. I didn’t need to look up to see who it was. When the fae eased onto the bed beside me, the scent of frost and mist filled my nose. A delicious scent, but one that reminded me of what I’d been trying todo.
“Bree was still in there, Norah,” Kael said quietly. “I could senseit.”
“So could I,” I muttered into the pillow. “That’s why I tried to stop Griff from attackingher.”
“He won’t get to her,” he said. “She’s far too fast forthat.”
With a sigh, I rolled over to stare up into Kael’s darkly handsome face. “I know. But that doesn’t change anything. It’s impossible to get to her now. She’s gone. Right back into the hands of the AutumnCourt.”
Kael reached out and traced a soft thumb against the curve of my neck. Despite everything that had happened, despite the sorrow that was building up inside of me, his touch soothed me in away that nothing else could. Fire sparked in my gut, and everything within me sighed, breathing in the wintry scent ofhim.
“There’s one thing I know about you, Norah,” he said, voice gruff. “And it’s that you’re a fighter. I’ve said it from the beginning, and it’s why I thought you might turn out to be a Summer fae. You have a fire within you. Don’t let what’s happened to Bree douse that in any way. Instead, let it feed yourflames.”
With a sigh, I reached up and weaved my fingers through his. “I don’t see how that can changeanything.”
“Don’t you?” He arched his eyebrows. “Here’s a little training lesson for you. Suppose there is an enemy, one who has decided his mission is destroy your home and everyone within it. He keeps launching attacks, and he has taken something of great value to you. What do you do inresponse?”
“Honestly? I don’t know.” I shook my head and glanced around the room, spinning through the various possibilities in my head. But I wasn’t a strategy genius. I didn’t know about fights, about wars, about battles. All I knew was my despair, my anger, and my desperation to save my friend. “Punch him in theface?”
A slight smile ghosted across Kael’s face. “And what else would youdo?”
