Delayed Admission

by Heather Renee

  “Now?” Enzo asked, still on the phone.

  “Yes, we need to get the rest of the students off of school grounds.”

  “Did you hear that, Jules? Yes, do that, and we’ll meet you out front when we’re done here. We can’t wait on the council to send out the alerts this time.” Enzo turned to me when he hung up the phone. “Jules is going to start evacuating Hybrid Hall, Gemma is headed to the headmaster, and we need to clear out Elven Hall. We’ll meet them out front when we’re done.”

  “What about the witches, vampires, and shifters?” I asked rattled. We couldn’t leave anyone behind if we had the ability to save them from Malina’s ire.

  “I’m sending a message now to the teachers I know in those halls. They’ll take care of it. We need to go.” He grabbed my hand, and we raced from the bedroom, heading straight for the door. As it closed behind us, Lyssa and Drake appeared in front of us.

  “What’s happening?” Lyssa demanded.

  “Malina is coming, and everyone needs to leave now,” Enzo said, and I wondered if either of them would really understand the importance of what that meant.

  “Drake and I will take levels one through three if you two want to get the rest of the upper ones,” Lyssa offered, and I was more grateful than ever that we had come to some sort of truce all those months ago.

  “Thank you. Make sure they go outside the shield completely,” Enzo insisted. “It will be safer for them out there than it will be in here for the time being.”

  Before waiting for her response, Enzo zapped us to the level below his. Doors were on each side of the hallway. We had no idea who was still on campus and who wasn’t, so we just pounded on doors and kept moving.

  As elves began exiting their rooms, Enzo yelled instructions at each of them. Finally, when we were almost done with the floor, the school alarm sounded, meaning Gemma had arrived at Headmaster Stone’s office. Walls still shook around us, but nothing as bad as it had been for me in Enzo’s bed. Malina must have made me believe it was worse than it was while she was in my head.

  When we arrived on the fourth floor, students were already mostly gone. Most doors had been left open in their haste to escape the pandemonium.

  “Let’s go,” Enzo suggested. “With the alarms and the shaking getting worse, students would have to be stupid to stay indoors. We need to get out and make sure they know to go outside the school grounds.”

  “She’s not in my head anymore, Enzo. I don’t know how much time we have left.” Worry began to take over, and I hated that there was little chance we could stop Malina.

  “We just need to keep moving and do the best we can. I’m sure the council is already working on getting everyone out as well.”

  Focusing on his strength, I nodded before he teleported us downstairs. Headmaster Stone was on the front steps, directing students just like Enzo thought, and I breathed a little lighter at seeing things in motion.

  “We need to check on the dungeon,” I suggested. “What about the guards? I’ve met Ryn a few times and he doesn’t deserve to die if the council knows they can’t stop her.”

  “Ryn quit a few months ago, and I’m sure the others are fine. They know what to do,” Enzo said rather abruptly, causing me to wonder what he knew that I didn’t.

  Before I could question him further, arms wrapped around me from the back. “Oh, thank God you’re okay,” Jules said. “We got everyone out. It helped there was only half the number of students and they had just done this last week.”

  Turning around, I hugged her back. “Where’s Gemma?”

  “Right here,” she said, coming toward us from the commissary. “A few students went there since that was where they were directed last time, but they’re headed out the gates now.”

  Those I loved most were by my side, but we weren’t in the clear yet. Walls were cracking up the sides, and stones fell crashing to the ground as everything about the academy became weaker.

  “We can’t just watch it fall,” I said.

  “We won’t,” Headmaster Stone replied from behind us. “All of the students are outside the shield. I’ve told the guards to lift the bindings. We can’t lose this school. There is only so much repairing magic can do. We’re going to have to let her go and figure out a way to disable her later.”

  Shit, it was just as Enzo thought before. I didn’t like it, but it didn’t seem like anyone did and there were no other plans set in place, so I just had to deal with it and hope it was the right choice.

  Malina was just too damn powerful.

  “Where is the rest of the council?” Jules asked.

  “Around the academy. They’ll be here soon, but so will Malina. We have no idea what she’ll do once she’s free, so prepare yourself. Best-case scenario, she will simply flee, and we will hunt her down later.”

  My mouth opened to ask what he thought the worst-case scenario was, but I didn’t really want to know. Instead, I focused on drawing from my well of power and brought forth my magic. My hands buzzed with energy ready to be thrown in whatever direction it was needed.

  Headmaster Stone moved to my side. “If she tries to take you, use whatever means necessary to stop her, Raegan. I know your dragon side has been free ever since you broke the box when Enzo was in it, and even without proper training, your dragon is your greatest defense. Don’t forget that.”

  “I won’t.”

  He stepped away as Fiona and Bennett came racing toward us. They stayed just out of hearing range from us, but I didn’t care. My attention was on the school doors. Malina would walk through them at any moment, and I wouldn’t be caught off guard.

  Enzo’s hand wrapped around mine, and I worried my charged-up hands would harm him. Instead, the teal from my magic and the red from his made the same lavender glow we usually created whenever we had sex. It had happened every time since the first occasion, but I hadn’t thought much of it before. Though, right then I was wondering if we were somehow connected because of it or what it might mean. Shaking the thoughts from my head, I decided later on would be a better time to analyze my relationship with Enzo.

  “She’s coming,” he snarled as his grip tightened around mine.

  My face pinched, wondering how he knew that and what I was missing, but then it smacked me right in the face.

  The heavy oily feeling I remembered from my visits to the dungeon was flowing out of the academy in heavy waves.

  The doors slammed further open, wood splitting from the force used as she stepped out of the school. She was tall, close to six feet, with creamy white skin and slick, straight black hair that fell halfway down her back. Her hollow silver eyes moved across the line of us waiting for her, then stopped when they met mine.

  “Ah, my sweet Raegan. Look at how you’ve grown.” Her hands lifted the bottom of the billowing blood-red dress she wore as she came down the steps. “I see your father in you. Well, one of them, at least. It’s a pity you didn’t get more of my genes, but the end result is still the same.”

  My knees buckled, but Jules and Enzo each had a hold on me, keeping me upright. She said… No, she had to be lying. Everyone said she had been locked away for twenty years. I was only eighteen. The math didn’t add up. And multiple fathers? No, she was purely insane. That had to be it.

  “No, you’re not my mother. She was greater than you could ever dream of being,” I snapped back. Even if my parents weren’t my blood, I realized I no longer cared who gave birth to me. They would always be Mom and Dad.

  “Ah, your guardian was a powerful sorceress. It’s why it took so long to find you. They hid you from me, but they made a mistake in doubting my ambitions. I created you, and you belong to me. I wasn’t going to give you up that easily.”

  “You were locked away when she was born,” Jules cut in. “You can’t be her birth mother.”

  “Very observant, and also correct, but Raegan is special. She doesn’t have a birth mother or father. I created her, and another sorcerer I had taken under my wing made sure
she continued to grow until I needed her. That was, until he betrayed me and hid her from me. Then, I killed him and brought in Desmond to take his place on the council.”

  Holy fucking shit. I was… I didn’t know what I was, but I wasn’t even born.

  I was made.

  By the most evil supernatural being that I knew of, no less.

  “You killed Jakobi?” Headmaster Stone sneered at Malina before he turned toward Desmond. “And you’ve been helping her?”

  “I wasn’t the only one. She was going to get out with or without my help. I had to keep my family safe, Alistair,” Desmond hissed with little remorse, making me think his family had nothing to do with his decision to betray the council.

  Headmaster Stone was done speaking. His hands lifted, one directed at Malina, the other at Desmond. “You won’t get away with this.” Power slammed into Malina but did no damage that I could see. Then, he focused on Desmond, and the other council members turned on him as well.

  Jules and Gemma moved into action, putting up shields and preparing for Malina’s fight, but by the smirk on her face, she seemed to enjoy watching the council fall apart too much to do anything else just yet.

  As much as I wanted to fall apart from her revelations about who I was and where I came from, I knew I couldn’t. I needed to make sure none of my family was hurt and possibly even keep Malina locked away.

  Now that Desmond could no longer sabotage things, there was a slight chance we could best her, and I wouldn’t let the opportunity go without trying.

  Instead of putting up a shield, I called on my dragon and grunted as my wings ripped free from my shoulder blades, taking half of my shirt with them, but mostly just exposing my back. Scales covered my arms, and my vision increased as soon as the transformation was done.

  Being a dragon hybrid was fucking badass.

  Charging forward, I threw my most lethal magic at her, but she barely flinched.

  “Your raw strength is not enough to stop me, but if you come with me willingly, I will make you the second most powerful being in the world. If you force my hand, I will simply continue to syphon power from you like I’ve been doing since you arrived at the academy.”

  She took a step toward me and smirked.

  “I have one more secret. Would you like to know it? It might just help you make the right decision and prevent anyone from getting hurt.”

  Enzo moved in beside me, holding his hand out defensively, but not actually using his power. “We had an agreement, Malina.”

  “Oh, Lorynzo. You would say that, wouldn’t you? I think your betrayal hurt the most. I trusted you, and you left me. That makes our agreement null and void.”

  “I did everything that was required of me.”

  Her gaze moved back to me, ignoring Enzo’s pleas, which further confused me. “Did you know that elves are experts at deceit? They can change their appearance and hide their aura as if they didn’t even exist. Your Enzo over there? He’s a master at it, thanks to me.”

  My head swiveled between the two of them. I didn’t want to believe Enzo could have had anything to do with Malina, but he had basically already admitted to being in cahoots with her. The rigid set of his jaw told me just how much her words were infuriating him.

  “So what if you made him stronger? That doesn’t make Enzo a bad person,” I said, readying myself to attack her.

  “But would him also playing the part of my guard Ryn and bringing you back to the academy for me make him a bad person?” she taunted.

  The world froze around me as her words sunk in.

  My first thought was it couldn’t be true, but as I recalled each time I’d had an interaction with Ryn, I realized Enzo had never been on the school grounds.

  Enzo had also told me earlier that Ryn no longer worked as a guard.

  “Is it true?” I asked him, my words holding no emotion. I had given Enzo all of me, and if he had been lying to me this whole time, I wasn’t sure what I would do.

  “Raegan, you have to listen to me and not her. You don’t understand. I—”

  “No,” I snarled. “I don’t want to hear any more.”

  My wings spread, and I felt my body growing taller and wider. That had never happened before, but I didn’t take a moment to question what was happening. Instinct took over as my fingernails turned to talons and I charged for Malina.

  She had ruined my life, and I wanted her to pay for all of the agony I would be dealing with later. Much later when this was over.

  Wings flapped behind me, pushing me forward with a force I wasn’t sure could be stopped. Slamming into Malina, I knocked her on her ass and pressed my clawed hands to her chest. I had no idea what kind of magic I was using—witch, or elf, or even dragon. All that mattered was she hurt like I did.

  As my fists began to pound into Malina’s face, her shoulders started to shake with laughter. “You have come a long way, child, but you’re not strong enough to beat me. You never will be.”

  Power slammed into me, knocking me back at least ten feet onto the hard ground. Gemma stood above me, reaching a hand out to help me up, but I didn’t take it. I was afraid if I touched her, I would hurt her, and that was the last thing I wanted.

  Once I was back up, a gargoyle caught my attention, but its eyes were no longer pointed at me like I was used to. When I followed the almost-human glare, it was directed at Malina.

  When my eyes landed on her, she had her hand around Enzo’s neck, grinning at me. “Want me to kill him for you? He betrayed us both. I could do it so easily.”

  He wasn’t even fighting back. Maybe he felt bad enough for all he had done that he was ready to die, but could I really be the one to say yes? To give permission for his murder?

  No, I couldn’t. If he was suffering that badly, then he deserved to live with it.

  “Do whatever you want. He means nothing to me anymore,” I said, remaining nonchalant. I had a feeling if I told Malina not to kill him, she would do so just to spite me for fighting back. “Look at him. He’s broken anyway. Better to let him live with his agony than give him the freedom from his guilt.”

  She nodded at me. “I like the way that you think.” With more force than necessary, she tossed Enzo’s body to the side, and his head cracked against a fallen stone. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, are you ready to leave?”

  “She’s not going with you, Malina,” Headmaster Stone said from behind me.

  I turned toward him, my wings barely missing his face since I forgot they were still extended. His face was already bruised, but he was not beaten. The rest of the council stood behind him with Desmond restrained. Their fight was over; one traitor dealt with, at least.

  “Actually, I’ll decide for myself,” I stated loudly, “but not today. Malina, if you want any chance of me coming with you willingly, you need to leave. You need me, not the other way around. I have lost almost everything and everyone I care about. It doesn’t matter to me if you kill me, but I think it matters to you if I come willingly.”

  Her brow quirked, but she didn’t say anything.

  “Show me that I can work with you and give me time. Only then will I consider voluntarily going with you,” I finished.

  “You have some facts right, but that’s not how any of this works, Raegan. I don’t need you to come by choice. You’re still useful to me locked away where I have access to your abilities. You’re coming with me one way or another today.”

  Her gaze moved to Jules and Gemma, the only two people in my life I could still fully trust and refused to lose.

  “You won’t touch them,” I growled. “They have nothing to do with this.”

  “But they do. You need to stop caring so much, and there’s only one way to make that happen.” Malina’s hand twisted in the air as if she was trying to grasp something small. Then, Gemma’s strangled voice sounded from behind me.

  When my eyes landed on my best friend, she was kneeling on the ground, face turning red as she grabbed at her th
roat.

  “You would rather make me wrathful than uncaring?” I yelled, trying to break Malina’s attention on Gemma. “I’m a lot easier to deal with when I’m not pissed off.”

  Proving my point, fire heated within my hands, and once I could no longer handle the burn, I threw the ball of energy at Malina. The flame hit the center of her chest, and I finally got my point across as I heard Gemma take several gasps of air.

  Malina’s eyes narrowed at me, and I was certain she was going to fight back, but before she could make a move, the gargoyle I had noticed before seemed to extend its wings. He was still perched on the upper railing but caught the attention of everyone present.

  “No, it can’t be,” she murmured, her face turning ashen.

  “What’s wrong?” I taunted, glad to know the gargoyles hadn’t been watching me for her, but now equally curious about who had been powering the statues.

  “Nothing at all. I’ll be in touch. Soon.” With those final words and another glance at the gargoyle, she disappeared in a puff of red smoke. I turned to my aunt and best friend.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Gemma, who was standing again.

  “Yeah, I’m fine, but what about you?” she asked before her gaze glanced behind me, probably at Enzo. His betrayal would hurt more than just me.

  “I’m sorry, but I need time. I’m going to leave, and I don’t know when I’ll be back,” I said to both of them.

  “Be safe and keep in touch,” Aunt Jules said, holding on to Gemma, whose face crumpled in either pain or because of my statement. I couldn’t be certain which, but I trusted Jules to keep Gemma protected and tried not to feel guilty over my sudden departure.

  My wings flapped behind me as I prepared to leave, taking one last glance back. Headmaster Stone nodded, seeming to understand my desire to leave, but it was Enzo’s eyes that gave me pause.

  My heart still ached for him, but the deceptions were too deep. I couldn’t forgive him for any of it.

  “Raegan, I’m sorry,” he pleaded.

  “Sorry can’t fix this. Nothing can.”

  With those final words, I bent my knees and pushed into the sky, flapping my wings as hard as I could, ripping through the shield above the academy and reveling in the pain it provided.