Chapter 16

Chapter 16

At some point during the day, Landon and I move out of the room to give Silas and Shade their space back, but I’m not ready to let him go just yet; I’m clinging to him like a lifeline, and the idea of spending the night alone is inconceivable. We end up sprawling out along the large sofa, me with my head on the siren shifter’s chest, a blanket draped over us both. He doesn’t say much about what I saw, which I’m grateful for -- for all his jibes, he clearly reads emotions well, and knows that I just need quiet comfort right now. Eventually, Mollie and the others come back, and although we get some curious glances, none of them give us any flak. They must just be used to me moving from guy to guy by now, and for some reason, that’s not as embarrassing as I once would have thought.

I make a point of avoiding Hunter for the rest of the day, doing everything in my power to not be in the same room as him at any given time. Edith, too, although that’s not much of a change from how things were before. My mind keeps replaying what I saw: her lips on his, that coy smile on her face, her beautiful, tinkling voice… A horrible possibility dawns on me -- did she know I was there? Did she kiss him because she knew it would upset me? Or does she truly have feelings for him?

I can’t decide which option is worse.

The tension is palpable when we gather in the common room to debrief. I sit perched on the far end of the couch, Landon’s hand in mine, while Hunter just stands on the other side of the room, smouldering. I can feel his eyes on me, burning holes in my head, as if by willpower alone he can make me look at him. At one point, Edith creeps up to stand beside him, but he shrinks away as if she’s poisonous. Part of me feels bad, part of me feels guilty, but mostly, I’m just confused.

“The good news is, they didn’t attack us,” Xander says. He’s sitting at the foot of the couch with Hazel’s back against his chest. “The bad news is, they want nothing to do with any of this.”

“Shit,” Silas mutters, sweeping a hand through his hair. “That figures.”

Ruby sighs and gets to her feet. Most of us are already changed for another night in, and I can see the exhaustion on my companions’ faces. “They’re scared,” she says flatly. “They don’t want the humans bringing heat down on London, and I can’t say I blame them.”

“We’re just going to have to keep trying then, aren’t we?” says Shade.

“We’ll be trying for the rest of our lives, at this rate,” Landon grumbles. I give his hand a gentle squeeze and see the faintest flicker of a smile on his face.

“That’s another three off the list, anyway,” says Hazel, getting to her feet. She lets out a yawn, her short blonde curls bouncing. “I’m going to turn in, I think. All this rejection is bringing my mood down.”

“You’re not the only one,” mutters Shade.

“We should all just rest up,” suggests Mollie. “We can come back to it fresh tomorrow.”

Xander sighs and follows Hazel’s lead. Silas and Shade, looking a little worse for wear after their duel earlier, exchange a look as the dragon shifter heads into the bathroom. Shade’s grey eyes flicker from me to Landon, and he winks -- how can something so corny be so sexy? -- before turning into his room, shedding his shirt as he goes. I can feel Landon’s grip on me tighten instinctively as the wolf shifter disappears, and just have time to wonder whether there’s some tension there before Mollie bids us goodnight and shuffles away with Edith in tow.

Hunter is the last one left, and for a moment he just stands there with his hands in his pockets, staring at the floor. “Millie…” he says quietly, taking a step toward me. “Can we talk?”

“I…” I can feel the emotions welling up in spite of myself and force my expression to harden. “I don’t think there’s anything to say.”

“Please.” His blue eyes are imploring me to give him a chance, but the wound is still fresh in my heart, and part of me wants to hurt him the way he hurt me. I shake my head silently.

Hunter opens his mouth to say something else, but Landon speaks up first. “Leave it alone, Hunter. She doesn’t want to talk about it.” I see the vampire shifter’s jaw clench, but then he gives us a stiff nod and leaves the room. Landon turns to me. “You okay, Boots?”

“As okay as I can be, I guess,” I say, forcing a smile. “Come on, let’s get ready for bed. You and I are up to bat again tomorrow.”

Tomorrow’s plans,as it turns out, are not meant to be, and that’s putting it lightly.

The first thing I become aware of through the fog of sleep is the sound of a loud banging, like someone on one of the lower floors is moving furniture around. Except it’s two in the morning, and the banging is getting louder…

I sit up on the couch, rubbing my eyes, and adrenaline rushes through me as I realise the sound is coming from just outside the flat door which is shaking on its hinges. “Landon!” I shake him awake. “Someone’s here!”

“Mm… what?” The siren shifter blinks at me, but I don’t have time to respond. Suddenly the door flies clean off, landing on the hallway floor with a deafening crash. Lights begin to turn on all over the apartment, but I’m barely thinking now, operating on instinct alone. I don’t see who’s at the door, and I don’t care, already letting my magic take over. An instant later I’m in my wolf form, pouncing on the first of several shadowy figures with a flying leap.

It feels like the world around me is moving in slow motion as chaos begins to unfold. The others come running out of their rooms just in time for a veritable army of black-clad intruders storming in. How did they get past Edith’s wards? How did they know there were wards there?

But I don’t have time to think as I snarl down at the man below me and sink my teeth into his shoulder. He yells, and I realise a moment too late that he’s not a human -- just before he shifts into a vampire and throws me off of him with his supernatural strength. I lose my grip on my form as I go flying into a bookshelf, the force of the impact dazing me for a moment as I look around. “Leave her alone!” Hazel yells in her siren voice, drawing the vampire’s attention away. Allowing my hands to turn red with witch magic, I unleash a blast of telekinetic energy just in time to shield Shade from a fireball coming from one of the other attacking shifters. The fire begins to lick at the walls and furniture, and within moments the room is filling up with smoke.

“We need to go!” yells Landon, dodging an incoming swipe from an attacking wolf shifter. Concentrating, I lift him up with the force of my mind, struggling to hold him in the air long enough for Shade to tackle him to the ground. Even through the haze and chaos, I can just make out the insignia on the man’s jacket.

The Academy. They found us.

How?

It’s not a question for right now. Where is everyone? The fire is making me disoriented, and I have to shout to make myself heard. “It’s the Academy!” I yell, stumbling on an overturned chair with my arms out, struggling to see.

A strong arm hooks around my waist and helps me up; for a moment I struggle against it before I hear Silas’ calm voice in my ear. “Come on -- this way.”

We fight our way through the common area, which has suddenly turned into a war zone, but we’ve only made it as far as the entryway when a telekinetic blast, much stronger than anything I’ve done so far, sends all of us -- humans, shifters, and furniture -- flying every which way. I feel a sharp pain in the back of my skull, and when I brush my fingers over my scalp, they come away bloody. My ears are ringing, and the world seems to spin around me. A concussion? I stumble to my feet, fighting against the stinging of the smoke in my eyes and the wound in my head to feel my way to the front door. I fling it open to get some relief from the smoke, realising too late that one of our group is still unaccounted for.

It’s only as the smoke begins to clear that I see Mollie lying on the ground. There’s a gaping wound in her neck, and I don’t need to be a doctor to see how bad it is. “Mollie!” I cry out, rushing towards her, oblivious to the commotion around me. I’m back in human form before I know it, taking her by the shoulders and pulling her into a sitting position. A jet of fire shoots over my head -- Ruby’s doing -- just as one of the attackers, this one a witch, begins to launch magic in my direction.

Except it’s not one of the attackers. It’s Edith, fully shapeshifted, her eyes blazing with a hatred I’ve never seen before. “What are you doing?!” I yell. “Mollie’s hurt! Help us!”

She smiles, actually smiles. “Why don’t you help yourself, hybrid?” she sneers. “You’re the special one here.”

Hunter lets out a snarl and lunges for her before I can process what she’s saying, blocking her attack from hitting me with his own durability.

I glance down at Mollie, whose eyes are growing glassy. “No, no, no…” I murmur, trying desperately to think of something -- a healing spell, an artifact, something -- but nothing is coming to me. “Mollie-”

She grabs onto my arm with surprising strength for someone bleeding out on the floor, pulling me close enough that I can feel her weak breath against my cheek. Her voice is barely above a whisper, but I can still make out the one command that she gives me.

“Run,” my former foster mother says just before she dies.