Sophie squeezed her eyes shut. I gripped the window ledge so hard my fingers clicked. A split second before Bran could pierce the professor with his blade, the professor snapped his wrist and the Nephilim disappeared. Just like that. He was gone.
Everyone who stood at the window took a collective step backwards. The realisation hit all of us at once. We were trapped inside a building that may as well not be warded. One of the most powerful mages in history was out there and nobody was coming for us. My gaze flicked to the horizon. Green light flashed as Kai battled with the giant demon. It only had four of its eight legs now. But four was enough to keep him occupied. The trees in the courtyard of Pantheon painted a gruesome picture for me of what was happening over on that side of the divide.
They were fighting for their lives. Many of them had already been trampled on by the enormous demon. Others were being bent and broken by the low demons who snapped their branches to use as gleeful weapons.
Diana and Roland had managed to find a cache of weapons. They were each loaded up with a couple of axes. Diana had a belt around her waist holding an assortment of knives. I heard the snap of bones and tearing of skin. Trey was going furry. The Fae burst into showers of coloured sparks around me as their wings unfurled.
The guards outside were waging a losing battle. A golden spark of light appeared in the air to the left. Bran popped back. Blood coated his side. An open wound wept on his cheek. Wisps of black smoke sizzled against his armour. Where the hell had the professor sent him? The granite set of Bran’s jaw said it wasn’t somewhere he wanted to return to in a hurry. Yet it didn’t make him hesitate to swing for the professor again.
This time, rather than going to for a direct strike, Bran used his teleporting ability to blink in and out of existence. He did it so quickly I could hardly keep up with him. I held my breath as he struck again and again at the protected space around Professor Mortimer without getting a direct hit. Too late I realised he wasn’t trying to get to the professor. He was just trying to weaken the demon enough so that somebody else would be able to finish where he left off.
Something tugged at the pool of magic inside of me. It yanked me into the Ley dimension where the vast blue scrape of energy was now tipped with darkness. The two opposing forces collided as though they too were on a field of battle. I screamed as the darkness reached out a tendril like an arm shooting out.
My sight snapped back to the present. Sophie gasped beside me. The professor had Bran in a phantom choke hold. The Nephilim’s face was turning blue.
“Teleport!” Sasha screamed at him. Whether Bran heard or not, he didn’t take heed. His sword arm continued to swing wildly at the circle around the professor. Where it made contact, flashes of grey scalped onto the grass. Where it landed, the vegetation withered. I bit back the acid scrape of pain that registered on my hedge magic.
I beat at the window with my fist. Other guards tried to get at the professor. He waved them away like they were flies. I felt it the second Bran’s sword arm went limp. Vines of purple laced with brown slithered from the hand the professor had splayed around Bran’s throat. Golden light surged along the vines. As it escaped Bran’s body, the armour cracked and bent. Everything that had been light about Bran died at the same time he did.
35
My fist hit the glass so hard it cracked. Professor Mortimer dropped Bran’s body like he was nothing more than an empty sack. Beside me, Sophie was sobbing. Something fractured inside of me. I clawed at the tears threatening to spill over my cheeks. The professor took a step forward. He raised his arms into the air. A series of pops rent the night sky like somebody setting off firecrackers to mark the beginning of the New Year.
As each of the runes was unmade, a hollow feeling ripped through me. The popping sound drowned out the keening of the undead. It blanketed out the roar of the other guards as they fought furiously to protect us. Trey and Roland argued with Sasha about running out there and attacking the professor.
The last glyph was erased. An ominous crack reverberated through the school. It rolled like a wave of magic over the earth and snapped back to the being that had made it. The professor shuddered. A pleasured smile danced on his blackened lips. He erected a new barrier. This one blocked out everything outside of the junior school. Overhead, twin blazes of green and silver skidded towards us. They came to an abrupt halt and sparked like they were trying to meet the barrier head-on.
I felt everything through a sluggish haze. Inside me, the blue light in the Ley dimension pulsed again. It flared for a second and drew the professor’s attention. My palm tingled. Morning Star’s hilt was solid comfort as it appeared in my hands.
“Lex,” Sophie said. The professor took another step towards us. A shower of green sparks danced in the sky. The huge demon let out a soul-shuddering roar as the last of its legs were cut out from underneath it. The thing hung suspended for a second before it jerked and went crashing to the ground. It left the horizon mercifully free. Without that huge head blocking out the sky, I picked up the dim glow of fire in the distance.
I reached inside and scooped up every speck of magic I could find, drawing it into a circle around the school once more.
