Page 7 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3

7

PANDORA

“ I ’ve got you, trouble.” Dex's arms were trembling around me. The rise and fall of his chest was against my back as we lay on Hunter’s bed. I could feel his heartbeat on my spine. His grip was almost desperate, as if I’d slip away if he let go.

I loved being in his arms.

I inhaled his metallic scent. It was the smell of blood, sure, but it was his . Shadows still clung to him, curling along his skin like whispers of darkness, but they never once touched me.

“What happened when they took you?” Hunter’s voice was gruff with barely contained rage. His magic had destroyed the entirety of Rapture Cavern just an hour before now, and I knew he was still angry on my behalf. I felt it in my soul.

I couldn’t meet anyone’s gaze.

Every time I tried, flashes of that cavern and that tourmalyke cage—the cold, the blood, the anguish—rushed back. The worst memory was of watching Dex’s head be sliced off his shoulders and his body fall lifeless to the ground.

My stomach twisted into knots.

Dex spoke for us both, his voice tight and steady, but I could feel the fractures in the small glimpse of the matebond I was given. “We woke up in separate cages.”

“Who?” Dad demanded with a deadly calm tone.

In the corner, he sat with Jenni curled up in his arms. Her face was pale, peaceful in a strange way, though she was still unconscious. Seeing my dad like that, holding my best friend so close—it was…strange. Beautiful, though. He hadn’t left her side since they found us.

Just like my mates hadn’t left mine, but I couldn’t focus on that. Not now. Not when the memories of what had happened were pressing in on me.

“My parents were there, and…Vane.” Dex swallowed hard.

Reed cursed under his breath, his fists clenching by his sides. “Vane was there?”

Dex’s face hardened. Shadows flickered around his jawline as I glanced up at him. “Yes. She…pulled Pandora out of the cage by her hair.” His voice wavered. “Threw her at my feet like she was nothing.”

He’d let her.

But he had to.

The room went silent, a heavy, suffocating silence that held the weight of unspoken promises and threats.

“She’ll be soulless soon enough,” Dad stated.

“Why isn’t she already?” Bram asked.

“She was gone by the time Pandora’s powers returned,” Dex answered.

My heart beat faster, and I felt my throat closing as panic tried to take over.

Dex’s hand slid up to my shoulder, squeezing gently. “We’re safe now,” he whispered.

“Nebula,” I croaked.

I needed him.

Hunter nodded, getting up and leaving his room for a few minutes before coming back with Nebula in his hands.

My best friend hadn’t manifested, but that was okay. He hadn’t been manifesting as often as he used to.

Hunter gave him to me, and as soon as Nebula’s skull was placed in my palms, some of the tension inside me unraveled. I could breathe a bit easier.

“Thank you.”

“Anything for you, starlight.”

Dex cleared his throat. “When we woke up, Poppy was waiting with Rod. They had taken us to make us reject each other in hopes of strengthening us both in dark magic.”

“They wanted you to have a rejected bond,” Dad muttered bitterly.

Dex nodded. “When we refused, she cut into me with her shadows.” He shuddered. “Over and over. Nothing I wasn’t used to, but…”

“It must’ve brought up a lot of Pandora’s past,” Skel grumbled from where he leaned against the wall.

“Not just Pandora’s,” Bram reminded them.

Dex and I had been through an eerily similar childhood, but the decapitation that I witnessed surely would haunt him worse than it did me.

“She sliced my head off,” he admitted. “Infected me with dark magic. I fought it as hard as I could, but when I thought she was going to kill Pandora for my defiance…” He stopped and exhaled shakily. “I rejected her.”

Hearing it spoken aloud tore at something deep in me, scraping against that soul-deep wound I’d tried to ignore. The rejection had sliced through me as surely as any shadow tendril had.

But I saw the agony lacing Dex’s gaze, the self-loathing on his face. Even then, some part of me had known why he’d done it, but the pain still lingered. The rejection was a bruise on my soul that hadn’t fully faded.

“I don’t blame you, Dex,” I murmured, reaching for his hand. My fingers found his, and I curled mine around his as tightly as I could. “I get it. I…I know why you had to do it.”

His shadows crept up his arm, curling and twisting around his fingers. He gritted his teeth as he tried to suppress them, but his control slipped.

A single tendril brushed against me.

It was hot and searing, like a brand against my skin that sent a jolt of panic through me.

The room spun.

Shadows danced in the edges of my vision, weaving into the walls, turning them into the cold, jagged rock of that cavern, and then it shifted to the walls of the cellar. I was a captive again. The thick scent of blood closed in. My breath hitched, coming in sharp, shallow bursts.

No, no.

I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t?—

“Pandora,” Hunter’s voice cut through the fog threatening to drown me.

In an instant, he was beside me, his arms wrapped around me, tugging me off Dex’s lap and into his.

Then, Reed’s familiar warmth settled in front of me. “It’s okay.”

I felt their matebonds flooding with love. It was a fierce, grounding reassurance that fought against the dark storm of my panic.

Hunter’s fingers brushed over my hair. “You’re safe, starlight. Right here with us.”

Reed’s grip on my hand was firm but gentle, his thumb tracing soothing circles along the back of my hand. “Feel us, dream girl. Come back. It’s okay. You’re with us now.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to focus on the sound of their voices, on the warmth of their touch. But the memories clawed at me, shadows curled up as thick, sticky tendrils that pulled me back, again and again, to the cold horror of my past.

My breath stuttered and my hands trembled as I fought to pull myself out of the nightmare replaying in my mind.

“Pandora,” Reed murmured, his tone laced with a fierce protectiveness that cut through the haze. “Stay with us. Can you feel our bond? It’s real, dream girl. Right here, right now.”

I focused, trying to feel the energy of their souls, trying to let them sink into mine.

Gradually, their presence seeped through the sheer fear, pulling me out breath by breath.

The nightmare faded back to the soft light of Hunter’s room and the warmth of Hunter and Reed’s arms around me.

The tension released in my chest, leaving me drained and utterly exhausted.

I looked up as my vision cleared and saw Dex’s pale face. Guilt was etched into every line of his expression.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, his voice cracking. His hands clenched at his sides. I could see him struggling. His shadows pulsed and writhed around him as he gave me space. “I didn’t mean?—”

Skel’s hand rested on his shoulder. “Of course you didn’t mean it, Dex.”

Bram nodded. “She knows that.”

Dex just shook his head.

“Dex,” I whispered, reaching out a trembling hand toward him. “It wasn’t your fault. I know you didn’t mean to. I just—” My voice cracked, and I took a shaky breath. “I just got…lost in the shadows. I’m trying not to let it affect me, but?—”

“Don’t justify it,” Dad muttered quietly. “You’ve been through enough. You don’t need to justify how your body reacts to triggers of your trauma.”

Dex’s eyes met mine. “He’s right.”

I knew he was struggling as much as I was. He was haunted by what he’d had to do in the cavern and what was done to him.

“Dex, I?—”

“I’ll never forgive myself for letting you go through that,” he stated. “If I’d been stronger…if I’d just fought harder?—”

“No,” I interrupted, letting my hand fall. “You did everything you could, Dex. We did the best we could.”

Hunter tightened his arms around me, burying his face in my hair. “You both did amazing.”

Reed leaned in, pressing his forehead to mine as he brought my gaze back to him. “Whatever you need, we’ll be here. You’re not alone. Neither of you.” His violet eyes flicked toward Dex.

Dex’s gaze softened, the shadows around him slowed. He moved forward and lifted his hand, brushing a thumb across my cheek. “I’ll be better. I’ll make sure no one ever hurts you like that again. Not even one of your mates.”

“As all of you should,” Dad snapped from his spot in the corner.

I melted into Reed and Hunter’s embrace, trying to ignore the look Dad shot both of them.

The weight of what Dex and I endured pressed on me until I couldn’t hold it back any longer.

“I saw her cut his head off,” I rasped, tears filling my eyes. “And I couldn’t do anything to stop it. She made him reject me. He tried rejecting me using the surname Bones, but it didn’t work, so she told him to use the name I identified as— Gravesend .”

“Pandora…” Bram’s voice broke.

“I hated her. I hated Poppy and Vane both for what they did to him, to us .” The words tumbled out. “And I…I killed Dreadful. It was between her and Jenni. Easy choice, but still…” My voice faltered as I looked at my dad. “I killed her.”

Dad had tears in his dark eyes as he listened to me. The grief and helplessness etched into his face struck me.

He shifted Jenni in his arms as he stood and crossed the room, placing a hand on my head. “Pandora,” he murmured, “You did great. You survived. I would have torn territories apart to find you, but not just me…your mates proved themselves this time—all five of them. They broke without you, and I’ve been in their position. They reacted the same way I had when Amy was taken from me.”

“Dad…”

His lips curved into a smile as he turned to look at Dex, Bram, Hunter, Reed, and Skel. “Take care of her. Don’t let her fall.”

Dex nodded, solemn. “We won’t. Not ever.”

“We promise,” Hunter murmured.

“We’ve got her,” Reed assured him.

Skel and Bram nodded their agreement.

Dad lingered until he was satisfied with their responses, gently patting my head before stepping back. He held Jenni even closer, nodding as he disappeared from the room.

When the door clicked shut behind him, a strange quiet settled around us.

Reed, Hunter, and Dex stayed close through the night. Skel and Bram hovered nearby, too. The matebonds surged between the five of us, and it was so comforting after what we’d been through.

I cradled Nebula closer to my chest as my breaths evened and my eyelids drooped closed. The memories of what happened still lingered, but they weren’t as bad while I was surrounded by all five of my mates.