Page 51 of Loving Amari
I scan the hallway, taking inventory. Children lie everywhere, small bodies scattered across the carpet like fallen leaves. Most of them still glow that unnatural blue. But the ones Kade teleported are different. Their eyes are closed normally, no possessed light behind their lids.
“The spirits aren’t leaving.” I kneel beside a young witch, checking her pulse. Strong and steady. “Only the ones you two teleported.”
“Has to be something about our magic,” Kade says, wiping blood from a cut on her forehead where a lucky strike got through. “The teleportation shock breaks the connection.”
I look at Tofi, who’s standing guard over Torin’s sleeping form. The young wolf shifter is curled on his side, still glowing blue even in unconsciousness. “Carla. What’s going on with Mommy?”
Tofi sends images. Carla in the void of limbo, that endless nothingness surrounding her. Aya Bailey’s ghostly form beside her. Nathaniel’s essence swirling around them like a storm, blue magic crackling with malevolent intent. Carla getting injured, her body jerking as dark magic strikes her. Pink magic flares around her hands as she defends herself, but she’s tiring. I can see it in the images, the way her shoulders sag, the way her magic flickers.
“Shit!”
“I saw it too.” Angie moves beside me, her magic still crackling around her fingers. “Carla’s going to be fine, but it looks like Nathaniel is going full force now.”
I look at Tofi, emotion tightening my throat. “Find your brothers and sisters. Cast a web shield around the entire academy. No one gets out. No one gets in.”
She skitters away immediately, her massive form squeezing through that impossibly small vent with unnatural ease.
Kade, Damon, Selene, and Leah gather around us, forming a loose circle. They’re all showing signs of the fight. Torn clothes. Minor cuts and bruises. The kind of damage that comes from fighting opponents you can’t hurt but who have no such restrictions.
“So what now?” Leah asks.
"We need to find Carla. Figure out what to do next." I tell them. I rub my chest where the mate bond pulses with her pain, her fear, her defiance. It's maddening feeling her emotions but having no way to reach her. "But these children are still possessed. We stay here. Keep them protected."
“What if it’s not just here?” Angie looks around at the sleeping forms, her expression troubled. “What if all the children of Wintermoon are in danger?”
If Nathaniel can possess this many children at once, what’s stopping him from taking every young supernatural in town? The academy houses maybe an eighty students. Wintermoon has hundreds of children.
“We wake one up.” I gesture to Torin, hating myself for what I’m suggesting but seeing no other option. “Find out what Nathaniel’s plans are.”
Everyone looks at the sleeping wolf shifter. He looks so young, so innocent with his sandy locs spread across the carpet. It’s hard to reconcile this peaceful image with the snarling creature who attacked me minutes ago.
“Looks like we’ve got our test subject for the enclosure,” I say quietly.
“We need to figure out something fast.” Kade crosses her arms. “Something tells me this army of children is exactly what Nathaniel needs to get to Solomon. When they wake up, we won’t be able to keep them here unless we hurt them. And none of us are willing to do that.”
“It won’t come to that.” Damon’s voice carries the certainty of someone who’s survived impossible situations before. “This will all be a strange sleepwalking dream to them. We’ll play it off as one of Angie’s spells gone wrong.”
Angie glares at him, one hand on her hip. “You would make me the scapegoat of this shit.”
“Guard the doors.” Damon looks at Selene, and she nods, already moving into position. Her training makes her the perfect sentry.
“I’ll contact Tristian and Headmistress Ebony. Let them know what’s happening.” Damon pulls out his phone, his thumb already scrolling through contacts.
“My Seth. He’s at home.” Worry flashes across Angie’s face, maternal instinct overriding everything else.
Kade, Leah, and Damon snort in unison, the sound almost amused despite the circumstances.
“Trust me,” Kade says, a slight smile tugging at her lips, “no one wants smoke with House of Zorah. That has to be the safest place in Wintermoon right now.”
“Well damn.” Angie shakes her head, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. “We should have huddled up there instead.”
She turns, already moving toward her workroom where Bobby presumably delivered the enclosure. “Alright, get the boy. Let’s figure out how to get out of this mess.”
I walk over to Torin’s sleeping form and carefully scoop him into my arms. He’s so small, so light. Just a child who should be dreaming about running through forests and playing with his fated mate. His sandy locs fall across his face, and even unconscious, that blue glow remains in his eyes like dying embers.
Outside, I hear the spider children moving. Their legs create a rhythmic skittering that would be ominous if I didn’t know they were protecting us. Pink webbing begins to shimmer around the academy, visible through the windows. It stretches from ground to roof, covering every entrance and exit. The barrier pulses with Carla’s magic, that distinctive peachy scent that always clings to her power. They’re sealing us in. Protecting us.
I look down at Torin again, this orphan boy who’s been kind during our brief encounters. Who doesn’t deserve this violation of his body and will.