I raced back into the Academy and toward the hallway where I’d found the fallen instructor. As soon as I flew inside, my breath ragged, Alwyn glanced up from where she knelt beside the puddle of blood. She narrowed her eyes and sniffed in mydirection.
“Alwyn,I—”
“I am sorry, Norah, but I do not have time for any of this right now. I must focus on what has happened here this night. I will speak to you later. After things have calmeddown.”
“Yeah, but things aren’t going to calm down. I’ve just been outside. Redcaps are headed thisway.”
For a moment, stark fear flickered in her eyes before she regained her composure. Changelings started crying. One girl began to scream. We’d all been through a Redcap attack once before. It had been a nightmare scenario, being trapped behind doors that wouldn’t hold. We’d felt helpless. Backed into a corner. And we’d felt as if we wouldn’t escape alive. It was the kind of thing I never wanted to experience again, and I knew every changeling in this room felt thesame.
“We have plenty of guards patrolling the grounds,” Alwyn said as a hush fell across the gathered changelings. “They will take care of the Redcaps. There is nothing to be concernedabout.”
“The guards are running.” I clenched my hands into fists. “They’re fleeing likecowards.”
Alwyn’s jaw rippled as she clenched her teeth. For a moment, the entire hallway fell into brutal silence. The nightmare was returning to the Academy, and I had to do something to stop it. Our Head Instructor, the powerful female fae tasked with keeping us safe, just stood there, her feet frozen to the floor. Was she going to do anything at all but stare atme?
“We need to get everyone into the lower floors,” she saidweakly.
“No.” My body trembled from the adrenaline pouring through my veins, but I held my head high. “We aren’t doing that again. We will not back ourselves into a corner like lasttime.”
Alwyn’s face merelypaled.
I whirled toward the nearest changeling, a third year male I recognized from the dining hall. “Go tell everyone in your year to get their best weapon they can find and then gather in the lobby ready to fight. We won’t take this attack sitting down. And if you see any of my instructors on the way, tell them to comehere.”
The changeling gave a nod as his eyes sparked with fire, and then he disappeared down the hallway to warn the others. I turned to the next changeling, and my heart clenched when I saw who it was. Lila, one of the girls who had come from New York along with me, Sophia, and…Sam. My stomach tumbled over on itself. Sam had been killed in the last Redcap attack. One of the beasts had slashed her to pieces in a fit of rage. The memory made my head spin. I couldn’t let any more changelings fall to those viciousclaws.
My voice went softer as I met the eyes of my fellow first year. “Lila, if you want to go somewhere safe, maybe youshould—”
“No,” she said, golden eyes burning bright with unshed tears. “I want to fight. I want to help. I refuse to cower in a corner from these things. They killed Sam. They killed Boyd. We can’t let them kill anyoneelse.”
I gave a nod, a ghost of a smile flickering across my lips. “Then, can you go and tell all the first years what’s happened? I realize not all of them are ready to fight these kinds of battles, but some are. If any of them wants to fight, they can meet us in the lobby. And if anyone wants to hide…then I suggest going down into the dungeons, getting into a cell, and locking the gate. Even a Redcap can’t get through thosebars.”
Lila’s face paled, but she gave a nod. “What about the secondyears?”
“Can you go with her and warn them?” I asked the changeling who stood beside Lila, a female with long dark flowing hair. I’d seen her around the Academy, but I didn’t know her name, what year she was, or which court she belonged to. I’d been so involved in my own mess, so sucked in to the battle with Queen Viola, and so focused on everythingoutsideof the Academy rather than within. I hadn’t taken the time to get to know the other changelings here. I’d separated myself, even without meaningto.
She blinked, her eyes welling with tears. “I can warn them, but what’s the use? Do you really think we can beatthem?”
“The Redcaps?” I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Sorry, what’s your name? My mind is going blank with all thechaos.”
“Ciara.”
“Ciara.” I smiled. “Well, we’ve beaten them before. We can do it again. But it’s important that we all worktogether.”
Ciara took a deep breath and gave a nod. “I’ll go tell the secondyears.”
Ciara disappeared down the hallway, and the rest of the changelings followed close behind her. They still look petrified, but they also looked as though they had a glimmer of hope and determination taking shape deep within their guts. Now that they had gone to fetch the others, I was alone in the bloodied hallway with Alwyn. And she was staring at me with the kind of expression that was impossible toread.
She brushed her long golden strands away from her pale face and strode across the hall to stand before me. “This is a terrible idea, Norah. You said there were six of them. These changelings cannot fight that many Redcaps atonce.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and lifted my chin. “And what would you have them do instead? Hole up and wait to be killed like last time? The only way we got through that attack was by going on the offensive and fighting thebeasts.”
“They are untrained. They aren’tready.”
“They’re as ready as they can be,” I said. “Look, if we had any other choice, I’d agree with you. But we don’t. The more of us who join the fight, the more likely we are to win. We can have the advantage here, but only if we have thenumbers.”
“Us. We.” A strange half-smile flickered across her face. “You forget you are not one of them, Norah. You are not a true changeling, and they are not Greater Fae. They do not have your powers. They do not have the same strength ofmagic.”
“You underestimate them,” I simply said. “They have strength. It’s just a different kind than what Ihave.”
