Page 10

Oswald

M y brain was struggling to compute what was happening, but there was no time.

At the sound of the first screams, I was running from my room to see what was going on. Junie was out there, and I was suddenly feeling very stupid for letting her go outside on her own. It wasn’t safe, but her garden was warded. Only she could get in, so I thought she would have been okay.

Clearly, I was mistaken.

‘Mister Drudner? What’s happening?’ one of the younger girls asked as she peered out from the small crack between her door and its frame, fear and uncertainty urging her to remain safely hidden behind it. I recognised her from my class. Agnes Faith.

‘I don’t know, Miss Faith,’ I admitted, my voice tight. ‘Close the door and stay inside until someone gets you,’ I instructed and then tore off down the hallway to the main entrance once her door snicked shut and I heard the lock click into place.

Just as I stepped foot outside the dorm building, Hawthorne and Enid came running around the side of the building, almost colliding with me as they skidded to a halt.

‘The academy is under attack,’ Hawthorne exclaimed.

I swore loudly through my teeth, the dread spinning in my gut picking up speed. ‘She went to her garden,’ I told them, unable to say my sister’s name out loud in front of an audience. I just hoped they knew who I was talking about.

‘Juniper?’ Enid asked.

I nodded curtly. ‘I shouldn’t have let her leave,’ I berated myself, but there was nothing for it now. Time travel wasn’t possible no matter how many had tried, so the only option was to be her backup in the fight.

‘Who’s attacking?’ I asked as I led them toward the section of the forest where I remembered she kept her garden.

Hawthorne huffed a humourless laugh. ‘You’ll never believe it, man, but they’re not… human.’

I frowned even though he couldn’t see it with my position in front. ‘What?’

‘We don’t know what they are,’ Enid admitted.

‘What do they look like?’ I asked as we approached the treeline.

‘Like that,’ she responded in a shaky voice. I turned to see what had caused her fear and followed where her finger pointed to the right. Stepping out from the treeline was a tall man with light features that softened his hard build. Muscles upon muscles with veins popping as he wielded twin blades, he glared at us through deadly eyes bisected with silvery scars from previous battles, but it was what his braided hair revealed.

Two long, narrow ears tipped with sharp looking points.

There was no way…

Immediately, my thoughts went to the tomes currently stashed in Junie’s room. He wasn’t here for them, was he? Were they seeking the information hidden inside, just like we were?

Full lips pulled back in a snarl as he bared his teeth at us a growled. The sound was almost musical, but the deadly intent had my hands raising in preparation to fight him off.

Thorne took up a fighter’s pose beside me, and on his other side Enid pulled out a dagger. From where I had no clue, since she was wearing form-fitting yoga pants and a tank top so there was nowhere to really hide them…

The Fae saw our defensive positions and charged, blades slashing through the air with a whistle that spoke of skill and experience. He was faster than I’d anticipated so I wasn’t quick enough to prevent the blow to my face. Thankfully, I dodged it enough that it only sliced through my eyebrow, the sting of the wound close enough to my eye that I knew he wasn’t messing around. This guy was going to kill us if we didn’t put him down first.

Without thinking, I shoved my palm against him and shouted a spell that would incapacitate him without killing him. He may have wanted to kill us, but he was Fae after all. It hadn’t escaped me that capturing a Fae could give me and Junie a chance to translate the tomes faster, and it was worth a shot.

‘ Enervo!’

His eyes, a light blue so pale that they were practically white, widened as my magic washed over him and depleted him of his strength. His arms sagged where they held the twin blades which fell to the ground with a thud since his fingers no longer had the strength to grip them. He dropped to his knees, then tilted to the side where he lay, too weak to move. It wasn’t a pleasant spell, but it was necessary now. I really didn’t want to kill him and this was the quickest way to incapacitate him.

Unfortunately, as soon as he hit the ground shouts sounded in the distance mixing with the sounds of more blades clashing and animalistic roars.

‘Gods above,’ Thorn and Enid muttered breathlessly as we turned our attention toward the central courtyard that connected the three campuses. There was an odd divergence between two groups. One was fighting, though it seemed it was vicious protectiveness over the second group that were dazedly forming a circle around an iridescent shimmer floating in mid air in the centre of the courtyard.

A portal. It was growing by the second and sending off waves of powerful magic that I didn’t think we could overcome while also holding back the enemy.

My head whipped toward the trees when twigs snapped beneath heavy footsteps. First to exit a short distance away was another Fae and I tensed, ready for another fight, but he didn’t even seem to see me, his attention rigidly fixed on the strange growing shimmer.

My heart sank as the next to step out was Juniper, her gaze just as blank and just as transfixed on that shimmer as the others. She walked woodenly as if someone else was controlling her movements and panic seized me, stalling the breath in my lungs.

Another Fae stepped out behind her, also caught in the haze of whatever magic was responsible for their catatonic states and my stomach twisted with unease. What the fuck was going on?

I took a step toward Junie, intent on halting her progress when a battle cry sounded from behind me. All three of us turned to defend ourselves against another attack, only this time it wasn’t a Fae. Instead, it was a giant, muscular woman charging right at us. We watched on in horror as within moment her teeth elongated into fangs as her face seemed to push outward to form a muzzle. Next, her nails sharpened into claws, thick grey fur spread across every inch of skin and her bones cracked and twisted until they reformed into a completely different shape. Lastly, and most horrifically, her voice morphed from undeniably feminine to a monstrous growl. Furry lips pulled back in a wicked snarl as drool dripped from her jaws.

She was a Shifter.

‘Fuck me,’ Thorne swore under his breath. He sounded like he was about to vomit.

We didn’t get a chance to process what we’d just witness because she was already on us. Well, she was already on me . I didn’t know why the kept coming for me first, but as soon as our bodied collided made sure my palm was flat against her thick grey coat and I practically screamed the same spell as before.

‘ Enervo!’

The magic hit her even faster in my panicked state, throwing her off of me as her entire body wilted beneath the spell. She collapsed into a heap, but I didn’t stick around to see if she was alive. I needed to get to Juniper.

She had taken a spot within the circle that was forming around the shimmer in the time it had taken to deal with the Wolf chick, and I raced toward her knowing my friends would be at my back. Only we weren’t the first ones to reach her. Instead, a massive man with purple skin and deadly-looking horns had stopped in front of her. His expression almost made me pause, shock and tenderness radiating from him. I ran faster, however, when he slowly reached a hand up, aiming for her face.

Oh, hell no. No man was touching my sister without permission.

Thankfully, we reached her in time to block him from laying a single lilac finger on her, but what happened next happened so fast I was barely able to keep up. The shimmer sent out a wave of magic that seemed to have two intents. One was to draw those caught in its grasp closer, and the other tried to repel the rest of us. I didn’t let it, forcing myself to stay by Junie’s side and attempt to pull her back.

Tinky Winky and I shared a look and an understanding passed between us. For now, whatever animosity we held toward one another didn’t matter. It was clear he wanted to help and I wasn’t about to turn that away. I didn’t care who or what he was, nor did I care to look too closely at the long, curved horns protruding from his head that ended in wickedly sharp points, but I recognised the way he was staring at Juniper. There was longingly there, awe, and protectiveness as if he wanted to shield her from the ongoing battle. It was the look of a man who had just found a reason to live, and while I wanted to pummel the asshole for daring to look at my sister that way, I wasn’t about to deny the extra set of helping hands.

Thorne was practically growling at him like that Shifter had growled at us, his possessiveness over Juniper presenting itself publicly for the very first time, but even he didn’t shove the purple man away. He and Enid attempted to grab hold of Junie as well, but there simply wasn’t room. As she was pulled away from us by the strength of the portal’s call, it was increasingly difficult to hold on. The repellent aspect of its spell made it impossible to maintain our grip.

To my heart-sinking dismay, our combined effort simply weren’t enough.

She slipped through our fingers just like all the others and was sucked through the portal.

It pulsed once, then caved in on itself like a dying star, shutting off any connection I had with the person I loved most in this world.

‘ Fuck! ’ I screamed into the now empty space. I wanted to scream her name but it got stuck in my throat like always thanks to the damn curse, so I stuck with spewing my own curses instead.

‘What the fuck,’ Enid whimpered beside me, her eyes wide in shock and horror at where they’d all disappeared.

Another voice, one deeper than I’d ever heard before like rocks grinding but somehow smoother,

spoke up in a language that sent shivers of trepidation down my spine. It was guttural and beautiful at the same time but also exuded a sense of wrongness I couldn’t shake.

I turned wild eyes on the purple man, wondering why he would try to help. I didn’t even know what he was so I doubted he knew about us, and he had no real reason to want to help. My brain supplied the image of his expression when he first walked up to Junie, and I had to physically restrain myself from launching at him.

‘Who and what the fuck are you?’ I demanded, but his eyebrows only dipped over his eyes as he tilted his head to the side. Confusion. He didn’t understand my words.

I sighed and shook my head in frustration but decided it would be better to at least know that man who wanted to cart off my twin to his sex layer. Or perhaps it wasn’t about sex, but I highly doubted it. No one looked at someone the way he looked at Junie without wanting to fuck them.

I pointed to myself. ‘Oz.’ Then I pointed to him with an eyebrow raised in question.

He copied the motion and thankfully provided his own name rather than repeat mine. ‘Phenex.’

Hawthorne stepped up beside me, his entire body vibrating with untapped rage. Junie was my sister, but my best friend had been in love with her for a long time now. I couldn’t imagine how he would be feeling, especially since they didn’t actually have any sort of relationship. Regret swamped me as I tried not to feel guilty about keeping them apart. It wasn’t intentional. It was the damn curse. I would never trust anyone with her besides him because I knew he would take care of her, and she him. The were a match made in heaven kept apart by a devil’s curse.

The true definition of star-crossed lovers.

And I hated that I was a part of the reason for the gaping chasm between them.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, his voice hard.

‘Guys…’ Enid tried to interrupt, but we ignored her.

‘He wanted to help,’ I said simply, unable to elaborate.

‘Guys…’

‘Why would he want to help? He’s not even one of us,’ he grouched.

‘I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Thorne. The more muscle the better and he seemed… friendly enough.’

‘ Guys! ’

I swivelled around to glare at Enid only to stop short at the fear I could practically taste as it emanated from her.

‘Enid?’ Throne took a step to her but stopped when her eyes darted behind us.

Slowly, we turned to see what had freaked her out so much, only to come face to face with an entire horde of panicked supernatural beings we’d previously assumed were myths. Or extinct. Either way, they were not supposed to be here right now.

‘What the fuck is going on?’ asked Hawthorne, his voice merging with dozens, possibly hundreds of others. There were so many different languages it was hard to keep up or pick out our own amid the chaos and my head started to pound.

My eyes drifted back to where Juniper and the others had disappeared, and my heart clenched with worry. I wanted her back, or at the very least to have gone with her to keep her safe. But the portal’s magic was intricate enough that only those caught in it’s siren song were transported to wherever it led to.

The voices rose in a wave, washing over us with the intensity of their emotions.

‘Everyone’s going to start trying to place blame soon,’ Hawthorne concluded as we watched the rising angst among the crowd.

‘Is there a way to calm everyone down before people start dying?’ Enid asked. She may have been from the Belladonna Coven, the Femme Fatales of the supernatural world – well, I guess the Wiccan world – but they only killed for money. There was no money to be made here today.

‘Fuck this,’ Hawthorne mumbled, then stomped to the patch of grass where the portal had been floating.

Suddenly, as if responding to his presence, it flickered back to life. Within moments, Hawthorne’s face went slack and he was rooted to the spot, trapped by its spell the way Junie had been moments before.

And then I heard it. The drumming she had mentioned to me earlier that I had stupidly dismissed. It was coming from the portal, a calming sound that called to me from my very soul. It wanted me, and I knew that where it led was where I was meant to be.

Hoping it would lead me back to Junie, I let the magic encase me in its warmth and allowed the spell to take hold.