I felt Sip brush past me as Lisabelle collapsed into the werewolf’s arms. Purple eyes met gray and Sip said, “A little help, please?”
I darted forward. Kia seemed to have used up her bravery for the day and was again cowering against a carriage wall that was melting away.
Now that the top and walls of our transport were disintegrating, I could clearly see what was going on around me.
But I wished I couldn’t.
Everywhere I saw paranormals doing battle with demons. High in the air, we were no match for them.
“I think we’re totally off course,” Lisabelle muttered. “The demon was leading us the wrong way the whole time.”
I shook my head. “How could that be? Where’s Dove?”
The former committee member, who was at Public this semester in an advisory role, was nowhere to be seen.
“We have to get out of here,” said Lisabelle. “If I call my broom can you help it along?”
I nodded and took a firmer hold of the winds swirling around us.
“There’s Keller,” Sip cried, pointing. Keller was shooting toward us, his black wings outstretched. He was easily outrunning the demon that chased him.
“He looks a little worse for wear,” said Lisabelle dryly. The shirt he’d been wearing when we left was in tatters, as if it had been burned off his body. I wondered what his wounds had looked like before he’d healed them. “Not that any girl would complain about seeing him shirtless.”
“This is a total ambush,” said Sip grimly. “I wish we were on the ground, so that we could fight.”
Lisabelle, who was still slumped against the werewolf, straightened. “It’s time we did fight,” she said. “I refuse to be a sitting duck to these incompetent demons.”
“How are they incompetent?” Kia cried. “They took us by surprise, didn’t they?”
“They’re incompetent because we aren’t dead,” said Lisabelle. “Obviously.”
Before Sip knew what was happening, Lisabelle had grabbed her beneath the arms. Sip barely had time to change into werewolf form before Lisabelle launched her at the nearest demon.
Sip gave a furious battle cry as she slammed into the Demon of Knight, who rode what looked a bit like a hellhound with wings. Powerful haunches and paws were covered by black fur, massive jaws dripped red saliva, or maybe it was blood. Our carriage lurched as Sip’s weight transferred. The demon gave a roar as the werewolf’s jaw tore into its armor. The wings of the beast beat furiously and I saw that they were tattered and torn, with scraps of flesh hanging off them.
“What is that creature?” I yelled to Lisabelle as we watched our friend do battle. The fear on Lisabelle’s face mirrored my own. If Sip didn’t win that battle, student against a powerful darkness demon, she was dead.
“It’s a hybrid and it shouldn’t exist,” said Lisabelle grimly. The thing was trying not to move, because if it bucked Sip it also bucked its rider. “Demons fly on their own. If they can’t, then they don’t fly at all.”
The thing turned its burning eyes on us and I flinched away. Something in it looked almost gleeful, and my heart was ripped in two for my friend.
“But can’t a Demon of Knight fly?” I yelled back, as more demons converged on the chariots.
Lisabelle nodded. “Yes, which is why the fact that they’re riding flying animals is concerning. What’s the point?”
“Can we worry about the fact that we’re a mile in the air and our transport is burning around us?” Kia yelled.
Lisabelle gave one curt nod. “That’s the first smart thing I’ve ever heard a pixie say.”
Kia was about to reply when another burst of flames slammed into us.
The demon pulling our carriage started to plummet downward. My screams were joined by those of Lisabelle and Kia. I grabbed the seat, but was instantly forced to let go because it was too hot to touch. Standing was also out of the question. I looked around helplessly as the demon steering us continued the downward spiral at a sickening speed.
“Wow,” Kia said, almost too quietly for me to hear. “I’ve never seen so many demons.” All around us, like a dark sea in the sky, was a roiling mass of blackness. We’d been ambushed, and it had been so perfectly planned that I couldn’t even see the other carriages we’d left with.
My heart squeezed. Where was Keller?
Chapter Eight
I had a split second’s view upward through the mass of darkness, and there, high above our carriage, were four demons fighting a winged fallen angel. My next breath came easier at the thought that Keller was alright, but then I felt taloned fingers grip my arm and I yelped.
Lisabelle looked at me, her eyes burning. “If one of us doesn’t do something, we’re all dead.”
Fear beat at my temples. I knew she was right.
My ring was pulsing and ready to fight. It knew we were in a battle to the death.
“Alright then,” I muttered.
I summoned the winds, and they came at my call. I was careful not to disrupt Keller or Marcus, who were using those same winds, somewhere above us, to fight. I didn’t want to get in the way, or worse, put them in any more danger than they were already facing.
The winds came to me from below, and as they slammed upward our demon was forced to slow. I called more wind. I was comfortable with the winds, and it was easy for me to reach them.
“Once more,” I heard Lisabelle cry.
“Brilliant,” Kia breathed next to me. I was too caught up in what I was doing to see. “I thought we were done for sure.”
“We’re slowing down,” Lisabelle yelled. “I’ll deal with the fire.”
At some point we would have to talk about the fact that Lisabelle’s body could absorb fire like osmosis, but right now probably wasn’t the time.
If we saved ourselves, we still had to save Sip.
“We aren’t slowing down fast enough,” Kia screamed. I opened my eyes. She was right. The ground was rushing up to meet us at a sickening speed. The demon pulling us seemed determined to get us there, and it was clear that if he succeeded, we were going to die.
Frantically, I called more air and shoved it at the demon. It veered and jerked, sending our flaming carriage bouncing through the air. Kia came flying into me; she wasn’t strong enough to hold on as the carriage was thrown in one direction and then another. Almost everything around us was burning anyway, and our situation was now dire.
I grabbed Kia’s arm and planted my feet as firmly as I could.
“Sit down,” Lisabelle cried. “Keep your balance.”
I pulled Kia down with me.
We were almost to the ground, but now we had slowed down enough so that I no longer felt like I was about to throw up.
“Are you alright?”
The former committee member was floating outside our carriage. Never in my life did I think I’d be happy to hear Dove’s voice, but I had just proved myself wrong.
“I didn’t know vampires could float so high,” I yelled to him. His eyes sparked. His clothes were burned and his hair was tilting at all angles, but he didn’t look injured.
“Ms. Rollins, now is not the time to be surprised that you do not know everything,” he answered back. “Are you alright? Where is Ms. Quest?”
Kia rolled her eyes at me. It stunned me that the pixie was actually nice.
“We’re fine,” I said. “Sip went to fight a Demon of Knight. Can you help her?”
I pointed upward. We could see nothing in the sky around us but demons. There was something strange about the way they were flying, but I didn’t have time to figure it out right now.
“I have to help you,” Dove yelled to me. “You’re what’s important.”
“No,” I said firmly. “We’ll be fine. Get Sip. I can’t fight if I don’t know she’s okay.”
Dove hesitated, but only for a split second. Just as he was about to say something more, one of the demons streaked past us, then another, with a furious-looking Zervos chasing after them. A va
mpire in attack mode was a scary thing to behold, and Zervos was probably scary when he was sleeping.
Watching his fellow chaperone somehow decided Dove. The vampire straightened his shoulders and looked at me with calm, determined eyes.
“Can you give me a lift?” Dove yelled as he floated closer. At first I didn’t know what he was talking about, but then I realized he wanted the wind. I called a special gust just for him and sent it up. As he took the current and sped upward he gave a sharp kick to the head of the demon that was pulling us. The thing slowed even more.
“We’re going to hit,” said Lisabelle. My attention came back to the inside of our carriage and I saw with amazement that while I had been dealing with Dove, she had dealt with the flames.
“The impact will kill us,” Kia cried, scrabbling next to me like a frantic mouse.
“Can you get us into the air?” Lisabelle asked me. I nodded. There weren’t a lot of winds left, but there might just be enough.
Luckily it didn’t take much; the winds were confused by the battle and wanted to help. I just tumbled out, using the winds to pull Kia and Lisabelle out after me.
For a brief second we soared. The air rushed around us, cool from the winter but warmed from flowing over so many burning demons. Kia screamed, and Lisabelle and I each grabbed one of her arms to steady her, but she continued to scream.
At first I thought she was screaming because we were randomly flying through the air, but that only lasted a few seconds before I heard the crash of what was left of the carriage. The demon had plowed both itself and the carriage right into the ground.
I managed to get the gusts to move us just far enough away from the wreckage so that we didn’t land on the rubble.
Glancing down calmed me. It was like a sea of green trees, some topped with a light dusting of snow. At least if we fell there would be something to break our fall.
“Ground incoming,” Lisabelle yelled hoarsely. The words were barely out of her mouth when we slammed into the earth. I had thought it would hurt, but it didn’t. The dirt, grass, and roots should have been frozen solid, but it felt more like we had landed on a soft mattress.
For a second I just lay there, but I knew I didn’t have the luxury of time. We were on open ground, making us a far easier target than when we had been in the air.
I pushed myself up until I was kneeling. Lisabelle was already standing, while Kia lay on her back. The small pixie was petrified. She was staring up at the sky, her eyes wide, her long hair splayed around her.
“Demons,” she muttered over and over, worrying her hands together. “So many demons.”
I glanced up at the sky. If I had been hoping to see Keller or Sip with Dove, I had another thing coming. All I saw was demons. Dotted here and there were some of the other carriages, and my fellow students, though besieged, were fighting back as best they could. Still, I saw several carriages tumbling out of the sky.
“Why’d we land so softly?” I asked Lisabelle. “What’d you do?”
The darkness mage had one black streak of soot down her cheek, but as far as I could tell she was otherwise unharmed. She glared at me. “Um, geez, I have no idea, Elemental.”
“That was me?” I demanded. “How?”
“Let’s add it to the list of mysteries we have to figure out.”
Kia sat up. She looked white beneath her green skin, and it wouldn’t have surprised me if she had had a heart attack right there.
“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” she said. “She’s an earth elemental too, right? The ground isn’t going to kill its own.”
She examined herself closely, checking for injuries. “We really did land on a mattress,” she breathed. “I thought we were dead for sure.”
“Maybe you made the wrong friends sophomore year,” said Lisabelle.
Kia grimaced. “Yes, well, that’s certainly possible.” She gave heavy sigh. “As a matter of fact, if I had had any idea what they were doing. . . .” She looked at us with helpless eyes. “I never would have. . . .” She sighed again. “It’s probably too late for me now.”
“You ladies looking for us?” a voice croaked from behind us.
The knot in my stomach, which I had been paying no attention to until I heard Lough’s voice, finally started to dissolve. I sprang to my feet, moving even faster than Lisabelle.
“Lough,” I cried, rushing to my friend, who was emerging from the woods with Rake, Trafton, and Evan. None of them was in great condition. Evan’s arm hung at an odd angle and Trafton was bloody. Lough didn’t look injured, but he was covered in dirt and grass. Rake had a long cut down his cheek and was walking with a limp.
I threw myself at Lough, who opened his arms, caught me, and held me at a little distance.
“Careful,” he muttered. “My whole body hurts. I might as well have gotten into a fight with Lisabelle years ago. I don’t think I could feel worse.”
I drew back to look at him, frowning. His eyes were feverish and there was sweat on his brow.
“What happened?” I demanded. “How’d you survive the fall?”
“We dreamed the demon was back home with his friends,” said Trafton. “Totally confused the thing.”
“I didn’t think dream givers were any use at all,” said Rake. “I’m now prepared to revise my statement.”
“Thanks,” said Trafton dryly. He ran his fingers through his blond hair, which at the moment was more of a grayish color. They came back dirty.
Lough looked at Lisabelle. Kia, who was standing nearby, hung back.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly.
Lisabelle nodded. “Course.”
Lough took in our surroundings. We were in a clearing, but behind the guys was the forest from which they had just emerged.
“Where’s Sip?” he asked.
I pointed upward, and Lough sucked air in through his teeth.
“We sent Dove to help her,” I said. “No way he fails.”
Lough gave one sharp nod. “We have our own problems, anyway,” he said. And pointed.
Demons were coming in droves. More than ten, and then more than twenty, they were converging on us rapidly.
“Shall we run?” Trafton asked.
Lisabelle shrugged. “I mean, they’re going to die now or they’re going to die later. Seems like it’d be more polite to kill them now.”
Trafton gave her a sharp grin. He looked tired, but less so when he looked at Lisabelle.
“You might not be afraid, but that’s a lot of demons coming at us,” he said.
“Run,” Kia cried, as she darted for the trees.
“I guess we’re running,” said Lough. “We should at least get to cover.”
We ran. Once we reached the trees we’d be better able to defend ourselves.
And to fight.
Chapter Nine
The woods were thick, with the branches hanging low from the weight of the snow and ice.
“This way,” said Lough, leading us to the carriage they had landed in.
“What happened to the other carriage?” I asked.
Lough shrugged. “It carried Faci, Daisy, Camill,a and Dobrov, so probably nothing. Do you care?” He gave me a sharp look and I shrugged. I did, in fact, care about Dobrov. I worried about him and I wanted him to be alright. Lough had totally given up on him when he’d gone back to Daisy, though, and I wasn’t about to argue the points of loyalty now.
“So we’re missing Zervos, Keller, Marcus, and Sip?” Trafton asked grimly.
“Zervos was fighting demons,” said Lisabelle. “I bet he went to help Marcus and Keller.”
“It must have been a hard landing,” I muttered when I saw the wreckage. Evan gave a whimper and I glanced at his arm. Feeling my stomach lurch, I looked away. The vampire was pale and swaying a little. Rake helped him to sit.
“Let’s form a circle,” said Lisabelle. “Eyes out, backs in. No one break formation. The demons are going to come, but we have the Power of Five. We should be able to
form a protective ring around ourselves and anyone else who can get to us. The demons shouldn’t be able to get in.
“Ah, the Power of Five,” Kia breathed. “Brilliant.”
“Don’t get excited yet,” said Lisabelle. “You’re the only pixie we have.”
I wouldn’t have thought Kia could get paler, but she did.
“There’s Zervos,” said Trafton, pointing back the way we had come. Indeed, our Cruor professor was coming toward us, and it was the first time the thought occurred had to me that he might really be a demon. His eyes were blazing red with fury and there was blood dripping from his mouth. He was running at full speed. Behind him I could hear crashing.
“Think all that noise is demons?” Trafton asked.
“Yes,” said Lisabelle. “I do.”
Trafton nodded grimly and planted his feet more firmly. His hands were balled into fists at his sides.
“What the darkness do you think you’re all doing standing there?” Zervos bellowed as he reached us. Behind him I could see Marcus, but still no Keller or Sip. I tried to force myself to be calm. The young fallen angel had a bruise spreading across his cheek and he looked disoriented.
“Why isn’t he healing himself?” Kia cried, pointing at Keller’s friend.
“He doesn’t have the energy,” said Zervos. “He already had to use it to reattach his arm.”
“Power of Five,” said Lisabelle, pointing at Marcus. “Now we can. Is he able?”
Zervos looked momentarily taken aback, but he recovered quickly and said, “We can give him enough strength to manage it, but most of the power is going to have to come from the rest of us.”
“I’ve barely used mine,” said Rake. “I can help.”
Trafton and Lough both nodded.
Zervos nodded approvingly at our circle. “Ms. Verlans. Why aren’t you joining?”
“I wasn’t going to,” she said. Again, Zervos didn’t argue. “One dream giver in the Power, the other with Ms. Verlans.” Both Lough and Trafton started forward to stand with Lisabelle, and Zervos rolled his eyes. “Lough, with the Power,” he ordered. “You know Charlotte better, and that will help. Trafton, with Ms. Verlans. Do whatever she says.”
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