by M Guida
Everything inside me turned gooey, gooier even than my cinnamon roll icing. I stepped away, trying to stay in control and not fall into his arms. “I’ve got to get my bags.”
He jerked his thumb. “The boys have already moved your bags to the platform.”
I looked nervously around. “We should get to the train.”
He stroked my arm with his long fingers, making me shiver. “Did you notice that whenever we get close, you pull away?”
My heart quickened, making my blood rush and my skin hot. “No, I don’t.”
He leaned close. “Yes, you do, especially when Bo is around.”
I lowered my head, and when I lifted it, he was gone. I met Bo’s gaze and saw the hurt reflected in his blue eyes. Shit, I was doing the very thing I swore I would never do. I was hurting Bo like my mom had hurt Ryker.
I threw my backpack and headed for the train, determined to sit with the girls and have a break from my churning feelings.
But when I finally boarded I was one of the last ones, thanks to my stupid bladder, and my luck went south. The only seat left was between Lucien and Bo. I swear they did this on purpose.
Bo grinned and patted the cushion. “We saved a seat for you.”
I cocked my eyebrow. “Yeah, I can see that.” I squeezed between them and put my backpack underneath the seat in front of me.
The train slowly pulled out of the station, and I clenched my armrests tightly.
Lucien put his hand over mine. “Nervous?”
“I just remember what happened last year. Those demons were right on my ass when I came here.”
Bo clasped my knee. “We’ll be fine. We set those dark demons packing last time and we can do it again.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t so sure. Ryker wouldn’t let something that could destroy his powers slip through his fingers.
Once again, the same uneasiness that gripped me last year brushed over me like a cold breeze, and I shivered. I wished Anton was on board the train, but once again, we were left to our own devices.
Lucien glanced out the window and frowned. “Damn.”
Outside the window, a black shadow moved a great speed, but it wasn’t a rain cloud. I immediately grabbed my book and wrapped my arms tightly around it. “They’re coming.”
“Stay calm.” Bo leaned across me. “They can’t get inside the train. Anton warded it.”
The black specter whizzed past the train.
SREEEEK SREEEEK SREEEEK
The train lurched forward. Students yelled. Suitcases and backpacks tumbled onto the passengers. Some bags flew into the aisle.
I jerked forward, and it was only my backpack that kept me from knocking my head on the seat in front of me.
Excited and scared voices broke out around us.
“What’s happening?”
“The Dark Demons! They’ve surrounded us.”
“Oh, my God. It’s Ari.”
“We’re under siege.” Lucien unbuckled his seat. “I have to go to talk with the train conductor.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “Raven, stay here. No matter what happens.” He looked at Bo. “Guard her.”
Bo clasped my arm. “With my life.”
Doubt flared in Lucien’s eyes, but he didn’t argue. He squeezed past us.
I glanced at the window, and my blood froze. I was expecting to see Ari, Faas, or a horde of shadow demons, but instead my eye caught the angry gaze of Ryker himself.
“Crap, it’s Ryker,” Bo said. He got out of his seat and sat where Lucien had been, as if to protect me.
All I could see was Ryker.
He towered over the demons behind him, and his blonde hair flared over his broad shoulders. Instead of the black hooded cape that I always thought he would wear, he had on a three-piece dark blue suit with a red tie. I remembered that a red tie meant power.
My stomach turned queasy, as if the cinnamon roll had been rancid. Acid rose in my throat and I couldn’t breathe. Evil radiated from him as if he were trying to weave a spell around me. He motioned with his finger as if beckoning me to come. It could have been meant for anyone, but I knew in my bones, it was intended for me.
Come to me. Come to me. Come to me.
His lips didn’t move, but I could hear a male voice in my mind as clear as the ones around me. Stinging tingles slid over me like the bites of a thousand red ants.
He wanted the book, and every fiber of my being told me he’d hold us hostage until he possessed it.
Chapter 4
Something like a compulsion came over me and I stood as if to leave the train. My eyes glazed over. Ryker’s image flashed in front of me.
His husky voice rang in my ears.
Come to me. Come to me. Come to me.
“Raven.” Bo came up next to me and clasped my chin. “Don’t look at him.”
I blinked. “What?”
He maneuvered his broad shoulders and blocked the window. “Don’t look at him.” He shook my shoulders gently. “Snap out of it. He’s using a command spell. Fight it. Do you hear me? Fight it.”
“I have to go,” I mumbled. My voice sounded so strange, as if it were dead.
Suddenly, someone kissed me hard. Something popped inside my head, and an angry loud hiss echoed in my ears.
“Raven, can you hear me? Say something.” Bo’s deep tone pierced the fog in my brain.
The concern in Bo’s eyes filled my vision as I blinked. “Bo?”
He grabbed me and hugged me. “Thank God!”
I put my hand on my sweating forehead. “I feel so strange.”
He took my arm. “I’ve got to get you away from this damn window.”
“My backpack––”
“I’ve got it. Come on, let’s go.”
Students crowded the aisle shoulder-to-shoulder.
I glanced over my shoulder. “Bo, there’s no room.”
He gritted his teeth. “I’ll make room.” He shoved into the aisle, knocking over Vivian and Eden, two of my fan club. They tumbled over each other and landed ungracefully on the seats, arms and limbs flying into the air.
“Hey,” Eden protested. A Fae, she picked up her crown of roses that had fallen on the floor. She was never without a crown, as if she were practicing to be Queen of the Fae.
Vivian was a dragon and always had hoped to dig her talons into Bo and become his mate. She pushed herself off the seat and shoved her blond hair out of her eyes. She straightened her skirt and folded her arms as she glared at me. “Watch it.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Are you both okay?”
“No thanks to you,” Vivian mumbled.
“Look, Viv,” Bo said. “It’s not her fault. Ryker’s out there and we have to keep Raven away from the window.”
“Really?” Eden’s face paled and fear flickered in her blue eyes. She stood on her tippy-toes. “Have you seen Rhys?”
They’d been an item for the last two years, and like Vivian with Bo, she wanted to be his queen.
“I suspect he, Xavier, and Dante are with Lucien.” Bo looked up and down the aisle. “Stay here. I’ve got to go check it out.”
I wasn’t going to be a wallflower. I unzipped my backpack and pulled out my crossbow and some arrows.
Vivian frowned. “What do you think you’re doing? Going to take on the dark demon single-handedly?”
“No. But I’m not going to stand here with my thumb up my ass, either.” I closed my backpack up and thrust it over my arm. “And Ryker’s not getting this book, either.”
Eden fixed the crown on her head. “What book?”
“Nothing. Never mind.” I shouldn’t have told them.
Bo was right. I needed to stay away from Ryker, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t take out some shadow demons if need be.
“Raven, Raven.” I recognized the voice and turned to see my roommate for the last two years, Mina Dankin, trying to maneuver through the throngs of students in the aisle. Like me, she was a dragon and her past was similarly shady. Her purple and white streaked hair stood
out, but she kept getting lost within the panicking students. This was total mayhem.
“Hey, listen to me.” Lucien stood on a seat up front, his booming voice silencing the noise.
No one went up against him.
He raised his arms. “Okay, we’ve got a serious problem.” He tilted his head. “The dark demons have disabled the tracks and the conductor is out cold.”
“What are we going to do?” Eden whispered. “They’ll kill us.”
“Stay calm,” I said. Hopefully I sounded braver than my shaking insides.
“We’ve got a plan.” Lucien said, his gaze meeting mine. “We need to draw them off.”
“I don’t like where he’s going with this,” Vivian said.
“Neither do I.” Eden looked out the window and turned around. “It’s because of you, isn’t it? Why don’t you just leave, and then they’ll follow you?” Her eyes were wide, and she put a hand on her chest. “Then the rest us of would be safe.”
“Spoken like a true coward.” A crisp voice gave me a chill.
Rhys, another Fae, heir to the Starlight Kingdom and one of the Defenders, looked less than pleased with Eden. His usual smile was gone, and disgust reflected in his blue eyes.
“Rhys.” She threw her arms around him. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Get a grip on yourself.” Rhys pulled her off. “This isn’t the time to panic.”
A fireball slammed into the side of the train.
Eden and some of the girls screamed.
A tall bearded blonde man walked toward the train.
“Faas,” I whispered. He was the Enforcer of the Dark Demons. Fireballs burned in both of his hands. He had the power to draw on fire and throw it.
I loaded my crossbow with an arrow. “What’s Lucien’s plan?”
“Someone has to get word to Anton at Legacy Academy,” he said. “Some of us are going to draw Faas off. Make him think we have what he wants so the rest of you can escape.”
“Rhys, there’s a horde of Dark Demons out there.” Eden grabbed his arm and tears glistened in her eyes. “You can’t do this. It would be suicide.”
Ka-Boom Ka-Boom Ka-Boom
A white light illuminated outside, brighter than the sun. Screams erupted in the train. Students covered their eyes. Others dove behind empty seats.
“Ah.” I shielded my eyes with my arm even as horrible shrieks assailed my ears.
The train shook as if something rocked it back and forth.
Bam Bam Bam
I peeked underneath my arm and scrambled to one of the windows. The blinding light was gone. Not only was it gone, there wasn’t a single dark demon outside, including Ryker or Faas. My heart stopped. A jolt of icy chills slid down my spine and a severe case of déjà vu rolled over me. A tall dark man stood in the shadows of the trees and then disappeared just as suddenly, as if by magic.
It couldn’t be. I had to be imagining it. That had to be Ryker––but Ryker had golden eyes that glowed.
“They’re gone,” I muttered.
Rhys came up next to me. “What the hell happened?”
I shook my head in confusion. “I don’t know.”
Abrupt conversations broke out all around us, but I couldn’t concentrate. I kept staring at where the mysterious man had been, and the memory of a similar day replayed in my mind. My gut instinct told me they were related. Was this some new dark demon even more powerful than Ryker?
Another thought scared the skin off me. What if that wasn’t a dark demon at all? What if it was the Archangel Azrael?
Rhys put his arm around me. “Come on. We should go find Lucien and see what the plan is.”
I nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
He held me close. “Are you okay? You’re trembling.”
Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead. “No, actually. I’m not. I think I’d better sit down for a minute.”
He helped me sit in the window seat. “All right, stay here. Don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t,” I mumbled.
Students returned to their seats, but I couldn’t take my eyes off where the man had been standing.
“Hey.” Mina slipped next to me. “Rhys just told me you were really pale, and he’s right.” She held my hand. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“Or an angel.” I moistened my lips.
“What are you talking about? Those weren’t angels out there. They were dark demons. You probably saw Ryker, Ari, or Faas. They were all here. Evil. Mean. Scary.”
“I’m sure you’re right. It must have been one of them.”
But deep down, I knew it hadn’t been. I’d seen all of those demons up close before, knew their build, the color of their eyes, everything… and none of them looked like the stranger. Yet I didn’t want to talk about it with her, because I wasn’t sure. Actually, I didn’t want to be sure.
Lucien came over to where we were sitting and sat next to Mina. “Hey, I just wanted you to know that we fixed the radio, and Anton and the professors are on their way.”
“Did you see what happened?” Mina asked.
“Yeah, I did.” Something in his voice made my gut tightened.
I held his gaze. “And?”
“I never thought I would see them, but I believe it was the Freedom Fighters.”
Okay, that was a new one to me. “The who?”
Mina gave me a strange look and lowered her voice. “You’ve never heard of them?”
“I’m surprised you know of them, Mina,” Lucien said.
She stiffened. “My dad was a dragon guard. Remember?”
“Yeah, sorry. I forgot,” he said.
I glanced between them. “Guys. Will one of you please tell me who the Freedom Fighters are?”
Lucien leaned closer. “My dad told me not to talk about it. But they are a secret army led by the Golden Phoenix.” His voice was barely above a whisper, and I had to strain to hear him.
I ran my shaking hand through my hair. “Golden Phoenix? I don’t understand.”
“No one knows who he is. We don’t even know what type of supernatural is. He could be a dragon, Golden Demon, wolf, or even a Fae. We’re not sure. We don’t even know who the Freedom Fighters are. They could be anyone.”
This was rocking my world. “If it’s such a secret, then how do these guys get recruited?”
Lucien shrugged. “Who knows. My dad suspects they come to you and ask you to swear allegiance to the Phoenix. Not even the Kings have any idea who they are. The only thing we know for sure is that they’ve been keeping Ryker on his toes. They’ve saved the Kingdoms, and I suspect Legacy, more than once.”
“And tonight, they saved our butts.” Mina put her hand on her chest as she exhaled slowly. “I’m glad they were here. Otherwise, I think we would have been goners.”
“Maybe yes and maybe no,” Lucien said.
I scowled. “What do you mean?”
He pointed to my backpack. “What if the Golden Phoenix and the Freedom Fighters wanted that book?”
Mina frowned. “What book?”
“I’ll tell you later.” I grabbed my backpack and unloaded my crossbow. I put the weapons back in the bag and hugged it close to my chest. “I’ll be glad when we get to Legacy.”
I prayed Anton and the other professors were travelling at warp speed to get here.
Chapter 5
Anton and the professors finally arrived. It was probably only about half an hour before they arrived, but to me, it felt like hours.
The Headmaster came on board, looking mysterious as always with his long black hair and robe. He was a very ancient and powerful vampire that had saved us more than once.
Claps and cheers at his arrival erupted on the train.
He stretched out his arms. “Good morning, students. You need to stay calm. We need to return to the station and it’s a five-mile walk. Buses will be waiting for us there. I want the shifters to remain in humanoid form. The Dark Demons may still lurk around, and we n
eed to remain in tight groups.”
At his grave tone, a hush rolled over the student body.
“We will go out quietly. You will receive the rest of your belongings soon. For now, just grab the essentials.”
I held on tight to my backpack. They would have to pry it off my dead body to get the silver dragon book.
Anton motioned for me to come over. “Raven, you and the Defenders will be with me.” He gripped my shoulder. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him get the book.”
I gasped. “How did you know?”
“Lucien and Bo filled me in. We need to get back to the academy as soon as possible.”
Anton stood on a large rock. “I want the Fae to go with Professor Tia Soto, and the vampires to go with Dr. Greenwood. The dragons will be with Heath Read.”
My stomach tightened at Heath’s name. He was a dragon knight, and he was still as arrogant as I remember him–tall, muscular, and handsome. He had never been my biggest fan, and I still didn’t trust him. Last year, Bo’s father had sent him to get me kicked out of Legacy and sent to the Hollows.
Anton motioned. “The wolves with Professor Griffith, and last, the gold demons will go Professor Gorwin Elfiel. The Defenders will be with me.”
As students went to their assigned groups, I couldn’t believe what happened to the railroad tracks. It looked like Superman ripped up the metal rails and twisted them into knots. I didn’t know the Dark Demons possessed such a strength to do such a thing. It would take days to repair.
“Raven,” Anton said. “I need you to stay with your group. You don’t know what’s lurking around.” His grave tone sent my nerves on edge.
I hurried back to the group. “Sorry.”
Lucien and Bo were on either side of me. We walked back to the station. Nothing much happened, but I couldn’t shake the feeling we were being watched.
Not a cloud was in the sky. The trees were thick on either side of the tracks and anything could hide in the forest, especially any supernatural being that didn’t want to be seen.
I sighed in relief when I saw the buses waiting for us at the station. I forced myself not to run.
Anton pointed. “Get on the first bus. I will be there in a few minutes.”
