The kraken flew at Manny, who floated to the side as quickly as he could. The kraken was easily the size of a bus, its tentacles flying about as it screeched, clacking its beak.
Alex raised her rifle and took aim at the kraken.
One of Manny’s eyes flipped over and saw Alex. “No!” he shouted. “Don’t interfere. This is between Holmorth and me!”
The kraken reared its head as Holmorth aimed his staff at Manny, shooting a fireball that went careening toward the Beholder.
Manny dodged the fireball and turned his attention to the kraken. Manny’s eyes shifted color again, glowing bright white.
The walls next to the kraken shot out spikes, impaling it.
One of Manny’s tentacles sketched a shape, an ancient sigil from times long past. The kraken’s skin caught fire and it burned to nothing but bone and ash. Then the ash rose from the ground.
Manny turned to face Holmorth. He pointed one of his eyes at the black wizard and the ash from the kraken flew toward Holmorth, covering his body in black soot.
Holmorth struggled and tried to escape but could do nothing.
Manny retreated back toward the cadets and shouted, “Now! Let’s go!”
The cadets broke into a run toward the back of the Great Hall as Holmorth tried to free himself. The black wizard screamed in rage and then shouted, “Don’t just stand there, you idiots! Kill them! Kill them all!”
The orcs ran toward the cadets, who had already made it to the end of the hall. The crystal door presented a datapad, and Manny slammed his tentacle onto it, shouting, “Open faster, damn you!”
The crystal doors opened, and the cadets rushed through. The doors shut quickly behind them and Manny commanded the doors to lock before heading toward the stables.
The orcs could be heard firing their plasma rifles from behind the door, trying to break through.
Alex was running beside Manny. “Damn, dude, that was really impressive,” she said. “I didn’t know you were that strong.”
Manny chuckled before coughing and wheezing, trying to catch his breath. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a duel of thoughts,” he admitted. “Honestly, I didn’t know how well I was going to do. I’m glad I made it out alive. I didn’t go into recruitment to have fights like that.”
Alex thought back to all the time Manny had spent helping her without saying anything. Having seen how powerful he was, she knew he could be using his talents anywhere else. It meant a lot to her that he had stuck by her for so long.
The cadets took a right turn at a corner and continued running. Behind them, Alex heard the door Manny had locked explode. Holmorth’s scream echoed down the hall.
The most frantic cadets were toward the front of the group, mostly younger students. Many of them were crying. Alex wouldn’t have been surprised if they were imagining how they were going to die. She might have been doing the same if it had been earlier in the day. Now all she could think about was getting to Chine.
Alex reached out to her dragon with her mind. She wasn’t sure if she was close enough to speak to him. Even though she had been fairly certain she could navigate the Wasp’s Nest blind, running through hallway after hallway while being chased by orcs had left her a little disoriented.
There was no reply. Alex tried again, focusing as hard as she could manage on Chine. Hey, Chine! Are you okay? she sent.
Still no reply. For the first time since the invasion started, Alex worried if Chine was alive. She had to get to him as fast as possible. If anything happened to him… Well, Alex didn’t know, but she felt the consequences would be terrible.
Chapter Six
The cadets raced down the changing halls of the crystal Nest. Alex had assumed the path would be straightforward, as it always had been before, but the Wasp’s Nest was doing its job. The nest was providing the cadets with what they needed: confusion to their enemies.
As the party ran through the hall, everyone trying to get their bearings, Gill shouted left or right as he saw fit. Alex could hear the orcs chasing them, their roars making them seem like a horde of nightmares eager for a butchering.
Gill was at the head of the group of cadets. He was doing a great job of keeping a level head, but Alex doubted he was ever anything other than calm. Regardless of the Nest trying to keep the orcs away from the cadets, Gill was making sense out of the ever-changing labyrinth.
Jollies had decided it made more sense to rest in Alex’s hand. She wasn’t used to flying so strenuously, and she was exhausted.
Brath, on the other hand, was up front with Gill, occasionally shouting to the cadets to keep going, rallying them.
Manny stayed at the back in case any of the orcs or Holmorth started to close in on the cadets.
Alex was replaying Manny’s battle with Holmorth in her head. She had never seen magic used in battle before. Not like that, at least. She had seen the Nest, and that was very different. Panic was starting to creep up on her, but she shoved it down as far as she could.
This isn’t the time to freak out, Alex thought. I keep telling myself that. When is the time to freak out? Freaking out would feel kind of nice about now.
For some reason, Alex had become extremely worried about Chine. She couldn’t get him out of her mind, and it confused her.
Gill pointed ahead and shouted, “Left now!”
The cadets took the left and the Nest closed the hallway behind them. They stood before a large crystal double door—the stables, at last.
One of the cadets reached out to the datapad next to the door. She pressed her hand to it, and the doors swung open. The cadets rushed in.
Manny turned to Gill and told him to turn the lights
