“Holy shit. Bry, what the hell? Stand down, man. Stand the fuck down!” Rob’s voice caught my attention.
“Dude, why did you—oof!” Was that Clay?
“Bryan? Are you okay? Wait. What are you—” Leo’s voice was abruptly cut off.
My guys. I had to get to them. I pushed for the fog to come to me. That was when I felt the pull of the darkness, not luring me in, but rather luring in one of my guys.
Bryan.
I immediately killed my darkness call. Shit. That was exactly the opposite of what I wanted to happen. Bryan couldn’t resist the darkness. Once I called mine, it triggered his. I increased my focus on earth. As soon as I felt Bryan’s darkness weaken, I tapped back into mine. I’d need it to summon the fog. If I did this fast, maybe he’d be okay. And maybe not, but I had to try.
I kept my earth call the strongest, hoping it’d block Bryan from tapping into the power of the darkness, and focused on calling the fog to me.
Miraculously, it worked.
The fog lifted higher and higher, well above my head. I switched to air, blending it with earth, squeezing the life out of the fog as I created a tornado fifty feet in the air, trapping the inky smoke inside. As I slowly curled my fingers, the cyclone followed my command and closed in as it increased in intensity. The fog fought me, trying to break free of the trap I’d created. It was no match. Once the fog had cleared completely, I killed my calls and rose to gain a better view on the battle below and find my guys.
What I saw nearly stopped my heart.
It wasn’t the battle below. Since the dark elementals no longer had the fog to hide behind, they were fleeing like the cowardly little bitches they were. My guys were huddled together, the three surrounding my earth elemental to check on him.
No.
It was the giant plume of smoke just on the other side of the veil.
Clearwater Academy was on fire.
21
Why would they do this? Why would they torch their headquarters? They’d already cast a spell over the barrier, rendering it worthless to protect against dark elementals. Cressida didn’t seem affected by the spell, unlike last fall when a counter ward struck the barrier like a virus and trapped her in human form, nearly killing her.
A fire, however, would destroy her along with the school she protected.
We couldn’t charge onto school grounds and announce ourselves. That was exactly what they wanted us to do. The attack on the veil, the battle at the grove, even the fog had all been a distraction. Something much more sinister was at play here.
When it hit me, I muttered the same four-letter word over and over. Graves had been there when my mom confronted me about Cressida, about how I’d been talking to her, how she’d been manifesting and advising me on how to win this war. He knew she hadn’t been in my head as my mom had accused. No, he knew she was real, as real as any of us now staring at the flames as they peaked high and consumed the main hall.
He planned to destroy the school to draw me out to save Cressida before it was too late. And, unfortunately, it worked. I’d agreed to the insanity Stace had suggested.
We were about to step into the void. Willingly. Only this time, it wouldn’t just be our minds lost if this didn’t work. We’d be trapped both mentally and physically. If the void denied my crystal its power just as it did our elements, we were all screwed.
“This had better work,” I muttered.
Stace stood next to me and nodded. “It will, Katy. I promise. Trust me.”
I hated that I did still trust her, even after everything she’d done to betray that trust. Did that make me an idiot? Probably. But she’d also brought a hell of a lot of good to my life. That…I couldn’t just forget or pretend never happened.
Drawing in a deep breath and glancing around at all the eager expressions, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time I saw them, I stepped forward and curled my fingers around the crystal before closing my eyes and concentrating on the void. “Aperi oculos.” For good measure, I said my destination out loud. “Take me to the void.”
When the crystal warmed, I opened my eyes and took another step, placing distance between me and everyone else. If this backfired and sucked me into a void vortex, I didn’t want to take anyone else with me. The legends had already repositioned right outside the academy grounds. Now it was just a matter of getting the rest of us there.
The green ring grew from the crystal and opened a portal. It worked.
“Groups of four,” I instructed, hoping that was the magic trick that’d worked for the guys and me when we’d gone in looking for Bryan. “Remember to recite the lyrics to the song you chose, and whatever you do, don’t let go of each other.”
Clay led the first group, pausing briefly to kiss me on the cheek. “See you on the other side, Montana.” He and the three he pulled with him disappeared through the hole floating in the air.
Leo was up next and stopped in front of the void to regard me. “Babe, my parents are somewhere in the void. If we make it out of this alive, I want to go back in and find them.” I nodded. He nodded back and walked through the hole, disappearing.
Rob stepped up, his concentration completely on me. “I love you, Reed. This is going to work.” He disappeared with his group.
Bryan hesitated next to me and stared at the portal. “Are you sure
