“Then how did you get MEs inside the veil?”
“Professor Layden.”
Jebus rice crackers. Just when I’d started to trust that woman again. Now this? Why’d she feel the need to hide this from me? As soon as she broke free from her void coma—granted, if she broke free—I’d confront her. Until then, I had bigger issues to deal with.
Like the fact Vanessa Graves had a group of MEs with her that didn’t know how to use their inside voices. If the Council heard them, they’d all be sent to Carcerem.
“All of you, talk only if absolutely necessary. You don’t know where the Council’s patrols are hiding.” I glanced around, making sure they all paid attention, before returning to Vanessa. “You’re saying Stacey Layden knew you were the custodian all this time and never said anything? Why?”
“You’ll have to ask her. Trust me, I don’t have any hidden agenda. Katy, this world, it’s not the same now. You have to stop the Council. They burned down the school. My own father led the mob that set fire to the main hall last night. There’s nothing left.”
The sight of the charred remains made me sick to my stomach. “What about the ruins?”
She shook her head. “Gone. That was the first building he destroyed. He had an army of earth elementals not only level it, but also toss every stone that made up the tower off the cliff.”
My first thought was of Cressida. That had been her home. If the Council destroyed it, had that destroyed her? Was that why I no longer felt her presence? “Where’s your dad now? Alec? All the others? Why aren’t there any Council patrols? He used the fire to draw me out. I’m here. Where is he?”
“Underground, in the tunnels. That’s why I have this group here. The Council blocked all the entrances and exits. They know someone is sneaking them out. They just don’t know who.”
Shit. We never planned for the enemy to attack us from below. I needed to warn the others. “I have to go.” I moved to slip the crystal over my head.
“Katy?”
I paused. “Yeah?”
“I don’t expect us to ever be friends. You don’t like me, and I definitely don’t like you.” If this was her definition of a pep talk, she sucked at it. “But this is bigger than us. We have to stop the Council before they destroy our world.”
“The enemy of my enemy is a friend.” I couldn’t remember where I got the quote, but it seemed appropriate. I texted the guys to let them know I had a group of Sentry recruits with me in Aquae and that the Council was hiding in the tunnels beneath the school to sneak up and attack us by surprise. We had to move—now—if we wanted to take them by surprise instead.
“Katy?” An ME spoke up. “There are, um, giant hairy trees heading this way. What are those?”
“Yetis.” I checked the window. Sure enough, Bryan and the yetis were on the move, closing in from the north. “Earth legends.”
“No way,” he breathed. “They’re real?”
Another ME pointed out the window. “I see a swarm of something with a weird-looking butterfly thing in front.”
I hurried to the window to confirm the sighting. “Pixies. Air legends. The one leading them is Xye, their leader.” And right up there with the head pixie, using his element to carry him, was my bearded air elemental, grinning from ear to ear as he held a Superman pose and closed in from the south.
“I think I see a snowstorm, maybe?”
I checked to be sure. “Snow ghosts. Water legends.” Leo marched with them, determination set in his expression, closing in from the east.
“I’m not really sure what I’m seeing. It looks like snakes. Glowing snakes.”
“Lava snakes,” I explained and spotted Rob right up front with them as they closed in from the west. “Fire legends.”
Oh, hell yeah. They’d never see us coming. We totally had this.
How wrong I was.
22
Sentry closed in, taking up the entire grassy round. I smiled and practically giggled at the sight. It was a beautiful thing, seeing so many coming together to fight for our world.
My smile wilted when I caught sight of the Council members, dark elementals, leechers, and sorcerers teleporting in onto the grounds and surrounding Sentry. By the time the troops spotted them, it was too late.
The Council all fired at once, the coordinated attack taking out an entire line of each group with the opposite element. Alec charged in with dark fire elementals and continued to attack the water elementals, focusing his assault on Leo. Only, he didn’t know Leo had the power to call fire now. Joke’s on you, asshole. Graves attacked Bryan and the yetis with air, but it was no match for the tree giants. They circled the earth elementals and others with the group, protecting them.
Leechers used water on the lava snakes. Rob stepped in front and blocked the attack with a wall of ice. The lava snakes all slowed and hissed. Dark earth elementals tried to continue the assault on the air elementals, but the pixies had swooped in, swarming them and lifting them into the air. High into the air. The swarm suddenly broke, and the dark elementals dropped. Those with the ability to teleport, did. Most, however, didn’t and slammed into the ground, the impact cracking skulls and other bones. Not one of them moved again once they hit the earth.
I had to get out there. I hadn’t built an army to sit and watch from the sidelines. My troops were being slaughtered, the Council having no mercy in their killings. They were brutal in their attacks, using forbidden calls like it was their job. Elements flew in every direction. Legends began to fall. The yetis dispersed, leaving the earth elementals exposed. The Council closed in, murdering anyone standing up to them.
“Stop!” Alec brought up
