by S. L. Morgan
“The school is already lost to the darkness.”
“There are areas that are enchanted that I can hide students in,” she said. “I will use my secret locations as a hiding place for safety.”
“Why don’t you let them come out and fight like the rest of us?” I asked.
“Because the only students who won’t fall to this evil are the weak students. They can’t fight. The darkness wants the strong students, the students you would need in your fight.”
“Dominic can help give them direction. We need everyone, even the weak ones. Everyone fights,” I demanded.
“Everyone fights,” Dominic repeated. “Do not dare hide and let us die out there alone, trying to save your lives. The only way the weak become strong is by facing fear itself. If sudden death happens because of that, then they died heroes. If the evil wants the stronger ones, then you just gave us its game plan. It won’t expect a weak immortal to take its ass down, and that’s exactly how we’re going into this.”
“Fine,” she said with frustration, but you could tell the woman knew Dom was right. “I’ll keep them ready and waiting, we all need to have some kind of plan with this.”
“The plan is simple. When you see us out there fighting other students and the evil that’s already here for us, turn them loose. If anything, they’ll help serve as a distraction.”
“Then, I guess it’s game on?” I raised my eyebrows in shock and disbelief that this was happening.
“Let’s go, Jen. I have a plan for you and me, but we have to get to the others first. They need to be involved,” Dom said, and then we were rushing out of Constance’s room and into what looked like a war zone. The wind was blowing trees all around, and students were running everywhere like they were being chased by the ghosts Constance said were at this forbidden place.
This crap was coming for me because I was some supernatural mutant with powers it wanted. We both had to focus. Dom was racing us toward our dorms, and I couldn’t feel an ounce of panic coming off of him. I absorbed his calm determination and craving to end this once and for all.
The only question I had now was, where the hell was Ethan?
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Dom and I stormed into our dorm house. The forceful wind had already blown through the entrance, leaving the doors squealing back and forth on their strained hinges.
“Nothing like this place exposing itself for what it really is when we have zero chance to prep the students for what’s about to happen,” I said as Dom clenched my hand, and we ran up the flight of stairs to his room.
“Let’s hope everyone got the message with this shitstorm outside, and they’ll be in my dorm room,” he said as we tore down the halls, students still fleeing the dorm as if some creature had chased them out of the building.
We rushed into the room to find that the master shifters, Tanner, Vannah, and Lusa were either pacing the floor or standing out on Dom’s balcony, watching the chaos below. Once in the room, the attention turned on Dom and me.
“What the hell is going on out there?” Scott asked, coming inside from the balcony.
“While we were getting the info dump from Professor Constance, all hell decided to break loose,” I said.
The door burst open, and we all went into attack mode before seeing that it was Ethan entering.
“About time. You were supposed to get back here this morning,” Dom snapped.
Ethan didn’t flinch. “The oracles kept me longer than I wanted.”
“Alright.” Dom chilled some and then looked to the master shifters, “The dark energy is here already, but I have a plan. We can’t take all the witches with us, so leading the shifters out to the forest to wait for the attack once the vulnerable immortals are possessed and turned into killing machines is pointless. They will stay back and wait with the witches.” Dom exhaled, “We’re going with Jenna out to the forest, and we’ll form a—”
“That’s not an intelligent plan,” Ethan cut Dominic off. “Jenna cannot go to the forest. It’s waiting for her there.”
“Then what’s the plan, E?” Dom snarled.
“Dominic,” Lusa reprimanded him with her tone. “Take it easy on him.”
“If you hadn’t noticed, Lus, we’re all screwed. If I’m being told my idea isn’t the smart way to handle all of this, then I want to know what is. We don’t have time to debate.”
“Ethan,” I smiled hopefully at the solemn owl shifter, “why can’t we go into the forest? We could possibly throw this thing off and keep it away from the school.”
“It’s too late for that now,” he eyed me.
“What are the oracles saying, Ethan?” Dominic asked in his steady alpha tone.
“The oracles will no longer help. They believe that Jenna must—” he stopped himself and started pacing.
“E,” I took his hand. “Tell us what they said. It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.” He looked at me, then Dominic.
“They believe that Jenna must what?” Dom insisted. “What are those all-knowing, senseless creatures saying about Jenna this time?”
“I think we all know that answer, Dom,” I said.
“Ethan,” Dominic lowered his voice to a much less aggressive tone, “Listen, bud, we can’t tackle this if we don’t know what those oracles have planned. What do they want with Jen?”
“I am sorry, Jenna,” Ethan studied me with remorse. “They didn’t expect it to be so powerful. They knew it would come eventually, but not this fast.”
“What do they want with Jenna?” Dominic repeated.
“Jenna is the cause for all of this. Jenna is the reason the evil will force the extinction of the supernatural race.”
“How so?” Dom pressed.
“She is the one that the evil wants. If Jenna were gone, then the evil wouldn’t be attacking this school, and the threats would end in the human world with the rogue supernaturals. The evil needs her powers.”
“Gone as in dead?” I asked.
“If you’re not alive, then the evil has no reason to form such a monumental attack on the supernaturals or humans. It has no more hope when you are removed from your body that holds so much power.”
I felt Dom practically crush every bone in my hand before I pulled it out of his tight grips.
“Well, that sucks,” I answered with a sigh. “It does make sense, though.”
“It makes zero sense,” Vannah finally spoke up as Dom was rendered speechless by rage. “Jenna, you’re not going to give up like that, are you?”
“What other options do we have?” I answered. “Ethan’s right. The shit will go back to where it came from since Dom and I gave it hope by realizing we were mates. That’s why all this shit has been happening. It wants us merged to gain access to some ultimate power that I have locked inside me. Take out the common denominator that this dark force has been wanting since turning my mom, and it has nothing to work with anymore.”
“No,” Dom finally said. “The oracles have tried to take you out already, and they were wrong. Maybe they were right in their motives for keeping you and me away from each other all this time because when we were young, we weren’t ready for something like this,” he said as he pointed out toward the green haze that swirled through the gusty winds outside.
“Believe what you want, Dominic,” I said. “Trust me, I’m not one to sit here and be the martyr, but one life versus an entire race of supes? You do the math. You and I both know that the oracles are right to want to remove me from the equation to save countless others.”
“Ethan, what is your owl telling you?” Dominic said, ignoring the real solution and probably the only shot in hell we had. “What does the owl want?”
“My parents died defending House Silvers.” Ethan looked at me, “I’ve known that since I was educated about you, so I could protect you when we got to Immortal Academy together.”
“I’m so sorry about your parents,” I said.
“Your parents died because
Edgewater and your uncle Mark had everything to do with the slaughter of all those innocents,” Dominic interjected.
“I know my uncle didn’t understand that House Silvers was good,” Ethan said while Lusa walked over to us with a blank expression on her face. “It wasn’t Uncle Mark’s fault.”
“He believed that leprechaun,” Dom snarled. “That piece of shit who weaseled his way into our family through mom. That asshole is the reason we’re up against all of this. He’s the reason for the genocide of House Silvers. He and my father facilitated the mass murder of who knows how many people who were just as innocent as the rest of us.”
“I know that,” Ethan answered. “I know more than you do, Dominic.” Ethan’s voice was more hostile now.
“Do you?” Dom pulled me closer to him. “Then what are you going to do to Jenna, Ethan? The oracles are calling for her death. She’s pretty much willing to give up her life for this, so what’s your plan? Are you going to take her and use your owl to gut her?”
“Dominic!” I said, looking at him with disbelief.
“Tell me,” Dominic said to Ethan. “What are your plans for Jenna?”
“I was sent here to kill her as the owl I am,” Ethan said, his eyes not faltering under Dominic’s silver-brimmed, alpha gaze.
“Is that so?” Dom set the challenge as if he could take on an owl shifter if he wanted to.
“It is so,” Ethan answered firmly.
“You will not touch her,” Dominic growled.
“No.” Ethan shook his head but kept his eyes on me.
“Why don’t you go back to those oracles and let them know that if Jenna dies because they again lack any judgment, then I will hunt them down and kill all those spirit bastards myself.”
“I’m not leaving Jenna,” Ethan said as he looked at me. “My parents died defending House Silvers, and I will die defending the very last of House Silvers too.”
My mouth dropped open, but nothing came out. I felt tears well up in my eyes, knowing these oracles had it right. If they took out me and the powers that this diabolical monster wanted, this shit would end here and now.
“Good, E. Thank you for doing what’s right,” Dom said, watching Ethan closely. “We won’t die.”
“We will die,” Ethan said. “All of us.”
“And you’ve officially gone from the oracle to the grim reaper,” Ian spoke up.
“It is a fact,” Ethan said before he looked at me. “I said I will die defending you. I will also remove you if I see that we are losing the battle, and the evil has a chance to take you. I will do this.”
“Can we also plan a way of preventing all of our deaths in trying to defend the school? I’m seriously still with the oracles on this. If I get attacked during the fight, there’s still a high chance we’re going to lose the entire supernatural race because we didn’t listen to Ethan’s commands.”
“I don’t follow the rules of the oracles,” Dom said. “If I had, you wouldn’t be standing here today.”
“If you had,” I countered back, “we wouldn’t be standing here today, and you also wouldn’t have an entire race of supernaturals facing their approaching extermination. Dom, this should have ended with the last oracle.”
“Enough death talk,” Tanner surprisingly cut through the arguing. “Let’s get out of here and get ready to face whatever is coming for Jenna.”
“Right,” Dom answered. “Fin and Ian, go call in all the shifters. Right now, we have fairies and witches running around like death is already chasing them outside. Let them know we need to face this in or out of our animal forms, whichever form they feel strongest in. Most will shift and let their animal natures take over. Go,” he ordered the two away.
“Got it,” Finley said, both master shifters leaving the room.
“Tanner, Vannah, and Lusa,” he looked at them, “Professor Constance is working to hide the weaker fairies and supes that she doesn’t think this thing is coming for. Each one of you must make sure they come out to fight once the battle is here.”
“Where is she keeping them?” Vannah asked.
“Somewhere in House Fae,” I answered.
“Get that look off your face, Jenna,” Vannah said. “We’re going to beat this.”
“Whatever you say,” I answered. I didn’t want to die, but I definitely didn’t want to be responsible for everyone else dying either.
“Scott,” Dom looked at him, “You, me, Jen, and Ethan are marching out. If this creature is coming for Jenna, we’ll bait it with the one it wants. I’m pretty sure we all will know exactly what to do if we’re attacked by a supe who’s turned against us” He looked at Ethan, “You and I are making sure if that creature comes anywhere near Jen, we will kill it faster than it can smile to deceive her, got me?”
“Yes.”
Just like that, we were heading outside to go fight a pointless, losing battle. Granted, I had an owl shifter willing and ready to take me out, and that was the only reason I wasn’t throwing myself on the sacrifice table just yet.
We rushed outside just as the dark skies turned a brilliant blue, and the winds of chaos stopped, making everything eerily quiet.
“It’s getting ready to break loose,” Dom said while we looked around, seeing shifters in their animal forms and regular forms walk fearlessly toward the center grounds of the school.
The rest hadn’t joined us, but when I saw the glistening red hair of the leprechaun as she brought in the fairies, I knew this was the start of round one with the monster I’d created in Melanie.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Dom went into some military command mode, his head nodding toward where Ian and Finley managed to talk some fierceness into the shifters who stood in formation behind where they were waiting for Dom to give a signal.
“Funny how it all worked out, isn’t it?” Melanie cackled, making a sound that had me wondering what the hell I’d turned her into.
“Yeah, I did a number on you, alright,” I said in disgust.
“Don’t taunt her,” Dom whispered as Professor Samson approached us. “I need to know which genes are more dominant in you right now. We need all the force we can get.”
“We need to shift,” Professor Samson said. “We must attack like the shifters we are.”
I glanced over at the professor, feeling his fierceness radiating from him. “You know what we’re up against?” I asked.
“Death,” he answered. “I’m going after where I sense it the—”
Professor Samson dropped right then and there, clutching his throat, blood spewing from his mouth while he fell to his knees, gagging and choking. I was frozen in place with shock as Dom leaned down to help the professor.
“I’ve been waiting for that since the first day I got to IA. He was so obsessed with shifters,” Melanie said, smiling with her newly-colored, pitch-black eyes.
“My fairy genes,” I yelled at Dom to answer his question.
Dominic’s eyes were silver, and his expression was lethal as he clutched the dying professor’s hand. “Samson, fight this!” he growled. “Jenna,” Dom looked back at me where I was stuck in some supernatural stare-down with Melanie. “Jen!” he barked.
I looked down at the professor and willed my fairy magic to save him. Son of a bitch! And just like that, my fairy genes were not coming to the surface. Right when I needed them, they were instantly locked away with no reason at all.
“Can you help him? Reverse what she did?” he asked.
I went into my mental space, and for the first time, I encouraged the conjure word to come into play. I could save him. If it were my magic that created this emotionless leprechaun of death, then it would be my magic that could save whatever it went after. I had to get my fairy magic back up and working before it was too late.
Nothing. There was nothing but my wolf with her hackles up, pissed off that I wasn’t finally going for Melanie’s throat like I’ve wanted to since day one.
“I can’t,” I said with tears i
n my eyes, watching Samson take his dying breath. “I did this.”
“Knock it off,” Dom rose up and turned to me, and now I was staring an alpha master shifter in the eyes. “You have fear in your thoughts, and that’s all they need to kill you. You understand that, Silvers?”
My wolf crouched down and was ready for me to uncage her and turn her loose since my natural form was hesitating and crumbling with fear.
“Jenna Silvers,” I heard Ethan’s voice cut through the fear that was trying to envelop my mind and snuff out the wolf. “She will die,” he answered solemnly.
“So, who goes first? Wait, I already did,” Melanie taunted while the witches joined in, following the supes that Vannah and the others had brought in.
“Don’t answer her,” Scott said to me.
“Ethan,” Dom called.
“Yes, Dominic,” Ethan answered.
“Get up in the sky,” he ordered. “We need your owl up in the air while we work the ground threats.”
It was almost as if Dom had called down the diabolical shadows in the sky himself after he said the words. Ethan shifted and soared up into the sky, fearlessly attacking the creatures as they swarmed over the area, bringing in more sinister energy that seemed to lurk beyond the line of fairies hiding in the forest.
“Ethan’s got the sky. Let’s handle it on the ground,” Dom said as he looked at me. “We need to shift, just like Samson said. Our inner animals will know the difference between our enemy and allies.”
I offered myself over to the wolf, who was now clawing and howling to be in the fight. The screaming and wailing went to another octave when I heard the calls of witches chanting and shifters crying out in their predator forms.
We followed the large black wolf and funneled in behind Dom’s lead as he jumped out toward where all the fairies stood, black-eyed, possessed, and ready to kill.
As soon as Dom lunged out toward Melanie, the leprechaun vanished right before our eyes, throwing his wolf into the line of snarling fairies. Each shifter shadowed Dominic’s wolf in either snapping necks or removing heads of innocent fairies who’d been turned evil by the darkness that was most likely laughing at this fight.
