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"Inside!" I slam the door. "AWAY FROM WINDOWS!" Everyone moves. Training. Finally.

Theryn's tail hits the outer wall. Stone explodes inward. I cover my head. Someone screams. Glass. Dust. Blood. When I look up, Joss is on the floor.

"Joss!" He moves. Good. Just cut. Good.

The ward anchor fails. Lena stares. "No."

"Secondary."

"There isn't—"

"Portable." Right. She grabs it. Hands shaking.

Activates. Nothing. Again. Light. Weak. Good enough.

"Everyone south exit." Professor Halven says. Finally.

We move. No perfect lines anymore. No neat response teams. Just people trying not to die.

The south corridor is worse. Smoke so thick I can't see the end. We use the wall. Exactly like Lena practiced. "Left hand on stone!" I shout. "Stay connected!" People do. One hand to wall. One hand to partner. Buddy system. Stupid. Simple. Working.

A Hollowborn comes through the smoke. White-eyed student. I know her. Fuck. I trained beside her. Not my group. Second-year fae. Name— Meral.

"Meral!" Her head turns. For half a second I think— No. Her hand rises. Magic. I move first. Dagger. She blocks. Fast. Too fast. Magic catches my right arm. Numb. Shit. Non-dominant. We trained this.

Left. I switch. She attacks. I step inside. Blade beneath ribs. Up.

Her body jerks. Eyes still white. Then not. For half a second. Blue. Her actual eyes. She looks at me. Maybe sees me. Maybe not. Then she falls.

"Meral." No response. Blood spreads beneath her.

I stare. Twenty feet away, another student dies.

Not dramatically. A Hollowborn blade through the chest. One movement. Down. I don't even know his name. Someone shouts it. I can't hear.

I want to stop.

Can't.

"MOVE!" My voice doesn't sound like mine anymore.

We move.

A scream behind us. I turn. Wrong. Shouldn't.

Do anyway. One of my first-years is down. Toren.

No. He is alive. A white-eyed man has him by the throat. Blood Echo opens before I decide. Everything becomes red. Pulse. Blood. Movement. Target.

I reach. Not for all of it. Enough. Disrupt.

The man's arm spasms. Grip opens. Toren falls.

Lena drags him. I throw. Dagger through eye. Down.

Blood Echo surges. More. Take more. No. Choice.

I close enough of it to think. Keep enough to read.