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"We're trying." Not good enough.

Something explodes outside. The windows shake.

Someone screams. Then every dragon in Varethia starts roaring. All at once. The sound is so violent I feel it through the floor. Professor Neris turns toward the western windows. Her expression changes.

"Inside."

We're already inside. Then I understand. She isn't speaking to us. She's speaking to everyone in the courtyard.

"INSIDE!"

Her voice tears through the corridor. Chaos answers.

Students move. Wrong direction. Too many. Everyone. All at once. I hear Mara shouting from downstairs. Someone yells that the eastern gate is breached. Another voice screams that it isn't. An alarm begins over the horn. Then another. Too many sounds. I can't identify any of them anymore.

First-Year Response. Right. "Lena!" She appears near the stairs. Eyes wide. "Here."

"Toren."

"Here."

"Mira!"

"Here!"

"Joss?" Nothing. Fuck. "JOSS!"

"Here!" Behind me. Good.

"Seventeen." I say.

Toren counts. Fast. "Sixteen."

No. "Again."

"Sixteen."

"Who."

He looks around. "Lena."

"Here."

"Mira."

"Here."

Names. Names. Then— "Tavia." No answer. "Tavia!"

"She went to infirmary." Someone answers.

When? Doesn't matter. "Mark her medical. Sixteen with us." Good. Move.

Mara reaches the bottom of the stairs. "Western courtyard compromised!"

"By what?"

"No fucking idea." Excellent.