I swallowed hard. The network couldn’t be down. It was maintained by the Nephilim in Seraphina along with the MirrorNet. If the mirrors didn’t work, it meant something was very wrong. Racing to the mirror beside the fireplace in the common area, I placed my palm on the cool glass. “Sophie Mwansa.”
The reflective glass wavered. “Welcome, Sophie. How may I help you?”
The knot in my chest unravelled. “I need to contact Jacqueline Pendragon.”
The mirror personality didn’t respond. “Hello?”
“Hello, Sophie Mwansa. How may I help you?”
I repeated the query with the same results. “Ummm…how about Malachi Pendragon?” I didn’t know anyone else on the Council. Kai was the closest thing to authority now that Jacqueline seemed to be out of the picture. I was this close to picking up the mirror and smashing it on the ground when it gave me nothing. Fuming, I smashed my fist on the table. I felt like roaring myself.
“Max. Find me Max Thompson.”
To my utter astonishment, the mirror projected a picture of Max onto its surface. It must have been captured when he first started in the senior campus because his dark hair was clipped like he’d just had a haircut.
“This better be good,” his voice shot through the empty common room a second later. He appeared on screen from what looked like the armoury on the senior campus. Behind him, some of the other seniors were gathered. They appeared to be picking through the weapons. His eyes shone a bright, beaten gold. “Sophie?”
I almost wept. “Max! Everything’s gone dark on this campus. I can’t find anyone!”
“Stay put. We’re coming. I have no fu –”
A wild, gargling sound ripped through the commons. It was followed by the same blood-curdling roar of agony that I’d heard earlier. Max’s face twisted into a mask of furious recognition. “What number is Charles’s room?” I asked.
“Wait!” he screamed at me. “Don’t go –”
I heard it again. The roar was more of a muted grunting now. I shook my head at Max’s wide-eyed terror. And then I was tearing through the corridors towards the sound.
16
My palms blazed with pink light as I sprinted down a dark corridor. The guttural wrenching sound of Charles being choked drew me first to the right and then farther down the warren of bedrooms.
As I neared, the air temperature dropped to the point where condensation appeared as I exhaled. An icy wind brushed up against my arms, making my skin break out in goose bumps. Humans had the depiction of hell all wrong. It wasn’t a fiery inferno of blistering heat but a cold, lifeless place that sucked the joy from everything.
I was drawn to a room in the middle of the next corridor. My foot slipped as I turned. The ground was glazed over with frost. Charles’s doorknob was coated in ice. My magic was a tiny flutter of defiance against the impending dark. I allowed it to coat my palm as I reached and turned the knob.
When I threw open the door, the darkness inside was beyond anything I had ever encountered. It wasn’t just dark but dense. Like I was wading through jelly made of tar. The small bit of light from my hands did nothing to illuminate the room. But I knew that this darkness had nothing to do with an actual lack of light. It wasn’t even evening outside.
Drawing the magic back inside me, I drew a magical sight circle around my mind. I blinked and the world became a picture of varying shades of pink. I drew a protective circle around my body, but that was a temporary shield. As a kitchen witch, my circles weren’t anywhere close to strong. I could probably hold out in a defensive struggle for a minute. Enough time in a battle to raise the alarm. Probably not enough time to save myself from getting killed.
Over on his bed, Charles lay with the sheets tangled around him. In his distress he was caught in a mid-shift. Long hairs splayed around his head while the muscles on his legs bulged. He clutched at his own throat and gurgled. He was fighting so hard with whatever had hold of him that he was tearing into his own flesh with his claws. Around him, a dense cloud of dark pink motes sparkled. In my dreams, I hadn’t been able to look directly at the ephemeral beast. In reality, I didn’t want to look. Where Charles’s mouth gaped open, a funnel of energy was stripping him of his essence. It was like a vacuum sucking out his soul.
It had no body. No shape. But when the edge of the cloud reared up and twisted in my direction, I knew it had sensed me. Stupid. That’s how Grammy would have categorised the way I’d come bungling in here without any kind of plan. Charles emitted a sound like a bleat. Somehow it was more terrifying than a scream. Like he’d been doing that for so long this was all he could manage. His throat was being constricted so that he laboured with every breath he was taking.
The temperature in the room dropped even further so that my teeth were chattering. Shrugging off my backpack, I watched the cloud splinter down the middle. Frantic, I tore open the zip and rummaged around inside for the salt. Stuff dropped all over the floor but I didn’t have time to worry about losing my shit. I also didn’t have time to worry about anyone finding out the extent of my alchemy.
I tossed a handful of salt in the air as the cloud soared over my head. Directing the magic into my hands, I swept the salt into a dense ball and commanded it to reshape itself. The cloud of darkness brushed up against my magic circle tentatively. As it did so, I felt the entity in my thoughts. The familiarity of
