I’d been keeping up with the news. There’d been a few protests since Elijah had eliminated all the social programs in the country, but they’d been small. This seemed to be the biggest one yet. Elijah had gained the favor of the few rich, but in doing so, he’d lost the support of the many poor.
There were no carriages in sight. We had to walk. The street Arthur was leading us down conjoined with Dolinska’s main square. Hundreds of people had congregated in the square, holding signs and screaming for justice.
The Arcanea Alliance bordered the protest. They stood at the ready, hands brimming with spells and ready to shoot.
One sorceress, who seemed like she was one of the leaders of the protest, stood on the edge of the great fountain in the middle of the square. She used her magic to project her voice as she screamed aloud.
“King Elijah treats his people with disgrace! We are sacrifices for his war, sacrifices for the greed of a king who only cares about himself. He discards the sick, the elderly, the poor, and anyone else who gets in his way of a vision of a perfect Malovia! Are we going to allow him to enslave the working class and take away our freedom to life?”
The crowd roared, and the police at the edge of the line began to move forward. My chest tightened. We had to get out of here.
I shifted immediately. “Emma, get on my back, now.The rest of you, leave if you can.”
The other shifters took my lead and changed. Stefan flew off. He was followed by Finlay, who was the only wolven among us with wings. The two of them got Delmare and Amantha to safety, while Arthur and I were left to guard Emma. Emma’s hands tightened on my fur, and Arthur moved in front of us, raising his lip in a growl.
The voice of the sorceress grew louder. “We demand justice! There are more of us than there are ofthem!” she shouted, pointing in the direction of the royal grounds. “Let’s join together and send a message to the king we will not stand for this!”
Noises of agreement rang out in the streets. The protestors came together, to hold hands and form a chain. They faced off against the police as Arthur and I began to run.
An officer’s voice boomed over the protest. “We have orders from the king!” he shouted. “Disperse, or face the consequences!”
He couldn’t legally order anyone to leave— protesting was legal in Malovia, at least for now. A couple of officers pushed a few protestors, but no one reacted. A chill quivered in my heart as the protestors began to sing— the Malovian national anthem. Their voices swelled against the cold night, and I heard another officer give a shout.
The protestors were being peaceful, but the Arcanea Alliance seemed determined to force the crowd into being violent. The police shot off spells into the crowd without warning— without being provoked.
Screams ignited, and smoke filled the air. The protestors scattered as the Arcanea Alliance moved in. So many spells lit up the night, it was like fireworks were going off in the square. I flattened myself to the ground as spells flew over our heads. I watched as a spell an officer cast hit a sorceress in the eye. Her eye exploded, making her blind and giving a huge gash to her head. She cried out and clutched at her face as the police moved in to arrest her.
One old man— who had to be pushing seventy— had a sign ripped out of his hands that said his pension was all he had to live on. The police surrounded him and began kicking. Blood trickled out of his head and ran down the cobblestones. The police stampeded over him as they moved on to their next target— a little girl clinging to her mother. She cried out as an officer tore her out of her mother’s arms. The sorceress reached out for her daughter, but was forced to the ground as an officer put a knee on her neck.
The protestors began fighting back with magic of their own. Shifters changed, battling the police with tooth and claw, while sorceresses flung back shields and battle magic.
I heard a hissing sound go through the air, and I looked up. My heart convulsed as I saw a canister spinning through the sky… noxite gas.
Noxite was the only thing that could take away a supernatural’s magic, and noxite gas was even more deadly. “Emma, hold your breath!”
Emma buried her face in my shoulder. I held my breath and closed my eyes as a gas canister burst beside us. We ran through a cloud of noxite gas that was beginning to bloom over the square. We were only in it for seconds, but already, I could feel the noxite wearing against my powers.
Arthur and I were both forced to change back, and Emma fell off of me. My magic had evaporated, and the noxite gas stung at my lungs. I gagged and coughed, though I was grateful Emma hadn’t inhaled any of it. Arthur tried casting a spell, but the magic flickered at his fingers and died. The noxite had made our powers useless.
We continued running as men, and I grabbed Emma’s hand to force her to keep up with me. We couldn’t stop. Along the way, we witnessed so many horrible things— people whose eyes were bleeding from the noxite gas, or on their hands and knees, suffocating as they grasped at their throats. The Arcanea Alliance, armed with gas masks and bodysuits, strolled in and began arresting the people who couldn’t breathe.
With the noxite gas, the protestors were quickly overwhelmed. Multiple people raised their hands in surrender, or tried to run. It didn’t matter. The Arcanea Alliance shot them in the face, or in the back. As spells took them down, the police put them in handcuffs and hauled them away.
I was so terrified. This wasn’t a protest. It was war. Elijah was waging a battle against his own people, and the Arcanea Alliance was completely compliant.
I had learned— had accepted— that I wasn’t responsible for the world. But this… it was madness. Would no one stop it?
Emma faltered. She was already tired today, and her body just couldn’t keep up, even if we were in danger. I gathered her into my arms and carried her, my instincts driving me on to get her to safety. People were running in every direction. Though my lungs burned, and Arthur heaved beside me, we couldn’t slow down. Sirens blared behind us, and the smell of the bitter noxite gas continued to permeate the air.
I nearly wept when I saw the sanctity of the university gates. A couple of teachers were closing them— Arthur cried out to keep them open, if only for a few more seconds. Dozens of students had gathered at the fence line of the campus, to watch the horrors that were taking place from afar.
“Wait!” Arthur coughed— he fell to his knees again, and Emma slid off my back. Both of us reached out to drag him as Lord Lucien held the gates open for us. They closed the minute we were inside campus.
Stefan, Delmare, Finlay and Amantha had made it— they stared at us in horror as we gaped for any small source of air we could find.
“Are you guys okay?” Stefan asked. He clapped me on the back, and my throat finally cleared.
“We made it,” Arthur rasped. “That’s what matters.”
