by Rain Oxford
“Yes.” She rolled her eyes and held out her wrists. “Uncuff me and I’ll call off the storm.”
“Yeah, right.”
“You can’t leave these on me forever.”
“I purified you to break Krechea’s control over you. That doesn’t mean I trust you.”
She sighed and her hands slumped into her lap. “You broke his control over me. I’m free of him now; that’s all I ever wanted. The last thing I want now is that monster taking over Earth and making it just as bad as Dothra. If he is summoned here, he’ll soon control everyone like he did me.”
“And we’ll stop him. First we have to free his sacrifices. How do we stop the storm without bloodshed?”
“Since you killed Gale, the Shadow Master hasn’t had the strength to bond with another familiar. Instead, he’s gaining power through the manipulation of powerful kids. He sent me here to convince Grayson to summon him. Controlling the sylphs takes a combination of magic from me, the Shadow Master, and Grayson. The first step you’ve already taken; cutting the Shadow Master’s connection to me. You can’t, however, cut all his connections— he has too many.”
“So what’s the next step?”
“There are five crystals buried in a circle around each of the schools that are binding our magic to the sylphs. If you can disrupt them, you’ll break his control over them. They’re in the path of the storm, though. The easier way out would be to stop Grayson from completing the ritual. If the ritual is incomplete, the sylphs will break away without help in a few days.”
“And the students?”
“Well, their energy will be drawn into the crystals until they die. But I highly doubt you can break the circle.”
“I know how we can do it,” Vincent said. “I met a friend a few years back who can make it through that storm without a scratch.”
I sensed Henry pushing the rarely-used link between us open. Since he wasn’t as good at it as Darwin, I felt a flood of emotions instead of words. I sensed self-loathing, panic, and anger. If it hadn’t been so serious, I would have congratulated him on his range of emotion outside the full moon. “What’s wrong?” I asked him instead.
“I couldn’t get to him in time.”
Darwin.
“I thought they were going after you each time, but it was him.”
“I’ll be right there,” I assured him. “Vincent, we need to go. They got Darwin.” Darkness swarmed around us, for Vincent wasn’t playing around. In seconds, the shadows consumed us and relented, leaving us in the field between the university and dormitory. Vincent was breathing heavy, as if the process had taken a lot of his energy.
Several students gasped in shock. The majority of the student body and staff surrounded us, all preparing for the battle. Henry found me quickly. “We’ll get him back. Felicity and Grayson were going to sacrifice them, but they can’t do it now. The sylphs are going to try to take one more.”
“Do you know how to stop it?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“We’re too late,” Vincent said, his voice weird. He sounded afraid. Before I could even turn to him, the darkness surrounded him and he vanished.
“Shit. Not again. Why can’t I have a fucking reliable relative?”
“What did he mean by too late?”
“Nothing. He’s wrong. It’s up to us now.” I drew my sword from its harness and raised the blade into the air. When my instincts fired back up, I swung the blade and buried it into the ground. The ground instantly began rumbling and a deep cracking sound emanated from the sword. I tried to pull the blade out, but it had turned to stone again and was stuck firmly.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Henry said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from it.
“I haven’t a clue.” I pushed my power into everyone around me. I wasn’t trying to control them, so I didn’t face any resistance except from several teachers who naturally blocked their minds. “Everyone, move away,” I said, still not controlling them. Mostly out of shock, everyone obeyed.
That kind of authority could become addictive.
My heart started speeding up, but I ignored it when the ground started squirming. It was obvious what was happening; something was rising from the dirt.
“Jackson was right! Zombies are attacking!” one of the students screamed.
But this wasn’t zombies. The creatures were slow to emerge from the ground, so it was a very sinister and exaggerated moment, which was somewhat called for because they actually were pretty strange. Gnomes, the elementals of earth, were much creepier than the ceramic ones found in gardens. My only experience with them was the one time one of them helped me, and I was pretty sure the elemental would have preferred to eat me and be done with it.
There were about thirty gnomes by the time the ground settled down, and every damn one of them looked pissed. “You dare summon us, Devon Sanders,” the one closest to me asked.
It took me a moment to respond because I was a little focused on the fact that they were all male, despite earth being a female element. “This storm is caused by the sylphs, who are being controlled by dark magic. There are five crystals underground, inside each of the tornadoes. We can’t get them because the storm is too strong. If you take the crystals, it’ll break the spell.”
“Why should we care?” another gnome sneered.
“People are going to die if you don’t and you don’t want the sylphs to be harmed.”
“We care nothing for sylphs.”
“What happens to the balance if they keep this up? Just do it.”
“Do not presume to command us, mortal!”
“Fine, you clay-brained bastards. Do it, or I’ll kill every fucking sylph that gets in my way and your precious balance be damned.”
The sneer weakened on a few of the masculine, bearded little faces for a moment before all of them collectively scowled harder. “We might be willing to make a deal,” another said.
“What do you want?”
“The crystals you speak of will contain powerful magic. We will keep them for ourselves.”
I sighed, knowing Darwin was going to call me an idiot when we got him back, but since he wasn’t here to explain the consequences to me, I wasn’t going to dwell on it. “Fine. Okay, just do it fast before anyone else gets taken.” All of them started digging and returned to the ground. “I guess that meant they’d do it.”
“Where is Hunt?” Henry asked.
“No clue.” I glanced around the field of startled students and teachers alike. “Alpha Flagstone, Vincent, and Langril are all missing, too.” I almost missed the furious, gorgeous Remy approaching, but nobody else did; everyone got out of her way fast.
“You’d better have an explanation,” she growled.
“Well, you see, there’s this tornado.”
“Not that, idiot! Where is Rosin?” she interrupted, short-tempered as always.
“How the hell would I know? He’s your boyfriend, not mine.”
“He was looking for you! He overheard a damn conversation between my father and your uncle, and apparently it was bad enough that he would betray my father to tell you.”
“When did he overhear this conversation?”
“Half an hour ago.”
A chill ran down my spine. “That’s not possible. Vincent was with me until fifteen minutes ago.”
Fear added to the anger in her eyes, but before she could argue, the atmosphere changed. The wind started to settle and the lightning stopped lighting the sky. Fortunately, it was dusk, because the vampires would have been in big trouble otherwise. It only took about five minutes for the tornado to completely subside. It left a thousand-foot thick ring of damage around the campus, including a new clearing in our forest.
And on the other side of that path was the wizard council, who had no idea what we just went through. Darwin, Misty, and two others appeared in a circle around the sword. Henry pulled it from the ground and smacked Darwin in t
he back of the head. “If you ever worry me like that again, I will lock you in the dungeon until you graduate.”
“How can I graduate if I can’t go to class?”
“Shut up and agree,” the jaguar snarled.
“Did I miss something?” Remy asked.
Amelia found us at that moment and, obviously knowing Darwin had been missing, was too relieved to see him to stop herself. She hugged him and hid her face in his neck. Since he was facing me, I saw the shock on his face before Henry pulled her away from him.
“I’m sorry!” she gasped.
Darwin’s eyes were huge with shock and he touched his throat gingerly. Then he checked his fingers, probably looking for blood.
“Darwin?” I asked.
He reached out, slowly, and touched her cheek very softly with his bare hand. “It doesn’t hurt,” he whispered. He moved his hand and reached for Henry, but the jaguar stepped back. Amelia took his hand instead and threaded her fingers through his. It didn’t look like he was physically capable of saying anything at the moment.
A shout made me turn my attention to the oncoming battle. Once again, I let out my magic. “Distance attackers, prepare to fire!”
It only took a couple of seconds for the students to get over the shock of hearing my voice in their heads. All of the students and teachers got into position, some of them with bows and arrows. Everyone who preferred defense and close range battle moved behind the long-range fighters. It was mostly shifters and vampires behind the wizards and fae.
It occurred to me for the first time that our teachers weren’t crazy at all. Most of our classes involved using magic for battle and survival against opponents and nature itself. We had defense classes, martial arts, and classes that actually required strategic thinking. For this reason, everyone came together naturally, even the C-One newbies.
This was the paranormal community. This was four factions of magical people who came together for common peace. Some of them were barely eighteen, while some of the professors probably didn’t even remember when they were born. It wasn’t an army and not everyone wanted to fight. In fact, I knew many people standing in the sidelines were waiting to heal anyone who was injured. There were those who were just here for support, those who were here to help, and those who were prepared to fight for our freedom and safety. Vampires were prepared to risk their lives for wizards, and vice versa. There was no prejudice now; everyone here was a part of the university.
Quintessence was exactly what our world needed.
I just wished the headmaster was here.
I changed my focus from the minds of my fellow students and the staff to single out the council members. It was easier than I had expected. “You’re not welcome here. Back down while you have a chance.” I felt their surprise before they put up their defenses to push me out of their minds. I could have fought them, but that wouldn’t have accomplished anything because my power wasn’t infinite.
The university could be, however.
There were only eight members of the council who faced us, since Grayson was missing. I would have to keep an eye out for him. Four of them created a waved of fire, which was easily countered by a wall of water from our lake. There went our water supply.
The other four wizards created extremely bright spheres of light between their hands. I had a moment to wonder what the hell they were trying to do before every vampire panicked, dived to the ground, and tried to cover their faces. Sunlight. Bastards. “Long-range, fire!”
Arrows, fireballs, lightning, and even hail filled the air, all creating a spectacular display. Unfortunately, they were met with energy shields. The last attempt of the long-range attacks was a miniature tornado, which was a minute behind the other attacks. It was enough; the spheres of sunlight were extinguished and two of the council members were thrown a good twenty feet. One was tossed away from the campus while the other landed in the path that the storm had cleared.
That was enough to set the shifters off, as most of them shifted and prepared to attack. Big cats, wolves, and other predators all working together and focused on their prey was an impressive force. Even more so was Professor Nightshade. Nobody had seen her shift, but in her dragon form, nobody could miss her.
Henry looked at me and I nodded, giving him the cue to shift. Darwin fidgeted. “I don’t know if I should shift. What if I attack another student?”
“Trust your wolf. If he wants to attack other students, don’t shift. If he wants to join the pack, we could use his help.”
He nodded and took off his hoodie before shifting into his lithe wolf form. Dominance emanated from him easily, but he sat on his haunches and studied me expectantly. Henry and I had spent many, many hours in the company of Darwin’s wolf, but the beast was still unpredictable. After being repressed for more than twenty years, I couldn’t really blame him.
Amelia kneeled in front of the wolf and hugged him. “Don’t get hurt, Darwin.”
The wolf melted. His eyes closed and he nuzzled his muzzle into her neck, making her giggle. Then he licked her ear, stood, and joined Henry. Whereas Henry was still, poised, and solemn, Darwin wiggled excitedly, obviously looking forward to the upcoming activity. It was very likely a game to the wolf.
The long-range fighters were still using their attacks, and the council was tiring of it. Three of them unleashed another blast of fire, two created sunlight spheres, and Kale raised his hands unto the air dramatically and directed lightning over the students. At least a dozen of us were injured by the lightning alone while everyone on defense was focused on stopping the fire.
“Don’t cross the storm path no matter what they do! They have traps on their side!” I said to the students and teachers. The attack began in earnest as the council crossed over to our side of the path. One of the council members stepped on one of our traps and collapsed into a deep pit. Four of the wolves converged on him. “Maim and disable them, but don’t kill unless you have no other choice! We want them to surrender, not die!”
Eight of them against hundreds of us sounded like a cake walk, but they were trying to kill us and that was quite a bit easier than not killing. Although Kale’s lightning took out dozens of us at a time, he couldn’t strike repeatedly. Most of the healers were fae, and they were easily able to weave into the fight, gather up the injured, and get out without injury. It helped that our defensive students all turned their attention to protecting the healers who were in the thick of things.
When Henry felled Kale, Darwin tried to go at the wizard’s throat. I pulled my gun out and shot Kale in the hand before the static energy could strike Darwin. The sound of the gun made Darwin go a little wilder and Kale managed to get away as Henry tried to get Darwin back under control. I aimed my gun at another council member who was trying to burn a group of vampires, but I didn’t have to pull the trigger; Nightshade’s tail swiped his feet out from under him.
With my attention on protecting my friends and my sense of danger already buzzing, I wasn’t expecting an attack from my own team. A wolf crashed into me from behind and I had just enough time to assume that he was pushed into me before I felt teeth sink into my shoulder. I yelled, which got Brian’s attention. The hyena shifter attacked the wolf on top of me just long enough for the wolf to release me. I pushed the wolf off, not at all surprised to recognize the smoky markings in the black fur.
“Brian, go protect Becky and leave this to me,” I said. The hyena obeyed and left me alone with Darnell. The wolf growled. “You really don’t know when to stop, do you?” I asked, picking up my gun that I had dropped. The wolf growled again, but I merely put the gun back into my holster. Shooting him would only breed doubt in the other shifters as to who they were supposed to be fighting.
Although my heart was beating too fast, Zhange Wei’s class had gone a long way in improving my endurance.
When the wolf lunged at me, I dropped and rolled to the left. He turned easily and leapt at me again, this time landing his two front paws on my chest. Endin
g up in this position had been my intention, however. I punched him in the eye with my left hand and received his teeth deep into my arm. With his eyes off my other hand, I pulled the gun back out and smashed it against his ear. Fortunately, it was my left shoulder that was injured, as my hit would have been a lot less impressive otherwise. He yelped and rolled off me.
I wanted to shoot him in the leg, but that would have left him defenseless against the council members. Instead, I smacked him across the snout with the gun as he tried to shake the pain from his ear. Then, when he drew back, I bashed the butt of the gun into his other ear. He ran away at that point. He would live, but he wasn’t going to challenge me again anytime soon.
Unthinking, I reached for a healing potion, only to remember that I didn’t have any more on me. The rest of my stash was in my room. As I stood, my instincts drew my attention away from the main battle. One of the council members was retreating, but two wolf shifters followed him over the line. I reached out instinctively to stop them.
I was too late. A bomb went off, but it wasn’t an explosion of heat. Instead, a deep subsonic sound blasted through the entire campus, causing most every shifter and vampire to drop in pain. The council members used the chance to release their magic simultaneously. The rest of us switched to defense, which was what the council was waiting for. Each of them pulled out what looked like taser guns and started using them on the shifters. Whatever it was, it made the shifters revert to person form.
Anger welled in me before I could stop it and I suddenly didn’t care who I killed. It didn’t matter what kind of man I wanted to be or how much I didn’t want to become John. My training with Langril came forth naturally and I raised my hand to Kale. The lightning that burst from me was red and hit him squarely in the chest. He went down screaming. Another council member attacked me with some kind of white energy and water mixture, but the shield I created around me, which Vincent had taught me, was pretty much impenetrable. I answered his attack with more red lightning. I knew before it happened that I made a huge mistake.
