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Yet the crack and sizzle of magic was even closer now.

I could hear other weapons clashing and fae were screaming.

Above it all, Ms. Rhodes called out orders, her words a perfect mix with the war cries of the rest, yet no one else seemed to care about them.

Not my friends, not the hunters, and not even the Huntsman moving ever closer to Aspen.

She flung her hands out in front of her, sending magic, but the Huntsman grabbed it from the air. The stuff was quickly absorbed into his skin. I had a feeling that was much too similar to what happened when my friends hit me with magic.

"Leave me alone! I didn't ask for this!" Aspen pleaded.

"One does not ask for a crown," the Huntsman said, his tone so eerily calm. "She inherits it. She claims it. She usurps it, and you have been found guilty!"

I spun, leaving behind the hunters I'd been fighting and kicked the Huntsman back the same way Keir had.

Once I had enough space, I swung at him with everything I had, adding all of my strength and bodyweight into the blow I hoped would finally stop him.

Not even kill him, but keep him from putting his hands on Aspen.

With a backhanded swing, the man knocked my blade aside.

His other hand snaked out, caught me around the throat, and lifted.

In that instant, I forgot about the weapon, the shadows, and everything else.

All that mattered was my inability to pull in a breath, and the ever-tightening sensation of his fingers trying to crush my neck!

"Rain!" Jack cawed, darting in to flap and claw at the Huntsman's eyes. "Morrigan. Rain! Morrigan-Court!"

I tried to yell for help. I kicked. Most of all, I grabbed at the Huntsman's wrist as my feet left the ground, trying to spare my neck, but the pressure only increased. My pulse was pounding in my ears, and the world was growing dark around the corners, but Jack refused to stop fighting for me.

So the Huntsman grabbed the bird mid-flight and slung him to the ground.

"Do not hurt Jack!" Aspen yelled - and whiteness flared into her hands.

"Aspen!" Torian yelled as he pushed himself to his feet.

But Aspen's eyes were locked on the Huntsman. "I tried to say no. I didn't want any part of this, but I will not let you hurt them!"

She shoved both hands out, blasting the Huntsman with blindingly white light. His torso froze, ice crystals traveling down to his elbows, but it didn't loosen his grip at all.

"I am here for the princess!" the Huntsman said, his voice booming with power.

So Aspen thrust one arm out towards her brother, her open palm reaching for him, but her jaw clenched, her body straightened, and my girlfriend pulled herself up as tall as she possibly could.

"There is no princess here, Huntsman. I am eighteen, and that makes me an adult! That makes me the Queen of Winter, and I order you to leave!"

"That crown has been claimed."

"That crown was stolen! " Aspen shrieked.

Torian pushed, scrambling unnoticed through the hunters. Not a single one even looked at him. That was how he got back to Aspen, grabbing her hand even as he turned back to face the Huntsman.

"Do it," he said softly.

And Aspen smiled.

I felt my arms growing weak. Spots were forming before my eyes, but I still saw when Aspen's lids slipped closed, her fingers tightened on her brother's hand, and everything I'd ever thought was possible changed.

Lightning flashed across a clear sky, spraying out in all directions. Hawke dove to the ground, avoiding it. Keir shoved a hunter back, then turned to grab Jack from the ground. Behind me, where I couldn't see, I heard Wilder pulling back, and then the skies opened up.

"You cannot have any of us!" Aspen screamed. "We are free. We may be fae, but we are not subjects of the Mad Queen!" Then she thrust her free hand toward the ground.

Lightning hit everything. Not just near us, but all across the Silver Oaks campus. The air sizzled with ozone as the electricity burned the very air it broke through. The crashes of it rolled across each other, turning into one deafening, vibrating, heart-stopping barrage.

Strike after strike slammed into the ground, the bright bolts wrapping around the hunters and yanking them up into the air.

The silent grey men flailed and struggled, but when a bolt hit them, they stood no chance at all.

Again, then again, then again, and just when I was sure I was about to lose consciousness, my world turned white - and hot!

Then I was falling. Another crack slammed into the ground beside me, but I was too busy trying to gasp for air to even move.

Down here, I could see the stars shining in the sky, and the half moon was just cresting the trees, but the purple-white whips of power were slinging each and every hunter at Silver Oaks deep into the darkness above.

"To the kids!" Ms. Rhodes screamed, her voice so close I could've seen her if I could just turn my head that way.

Instead, I focused on rolling over, reaching an arm out towards Aspen, and croaked out, "You saved me."

The footsteps were almost to us.