There was no time to think about it. The snake hissed and struck at me again. We fell in a tangle of bodies. As coils wrapped me tighter and tighter, I couldn’t breathe. My dragon roaring inside me, trying to get loose. I had to shift. Hudson and Drew’s faces flashed before my eyes. I couldn’t. It would bring the building down and hurt them. The sound of their voices yelling echoed in my ears, but it was getting further and further away. All I could see was black scales flexing, pulling tighter against me.
Darkness clouded my vision. I thrashed. It didn’t help. The metallic taste of panic coated my tongue. The snake was wrapped all the way around my legs and arms. Magic hit one of the coils and jarred the snake. Cool air brushed against my hand. There was something else. The wood from the shard of table leg was rough against my palm. I had enough fire left inside me to set it aflame. I jabbed upward as hard as I could. The snake began to thrash, with me still inside his coils. The movement addled me. I couldn’t tell which way was up. I kept stabbing anyway. Something liquid hit my skin and burned. I barely registered the pain.
My lungs gasped for air as the coils around me loosened. Racking coughs came one right after the other. Big arms lifted me up and pulled me free of the last of the coils. Hudson hauled me all the way across the room and stood in front of me. Drew had the snake’s head tight in his arms, holding its mouth shut.
Black blood pooled on the floor around the snake. A flash of white light momentarily blinded me. When the spots in my eyes cleared, the snake had been replaced by a man. Drew dropped him into the puddle of his blood.
“Sophie, are you okay?” I nodded. Hudson brushed my hair away from my face. I could see he had small burns across his nose and cheek where the snake’s blood had sprayed him too.
“Is he?” I couldn’t bring myself to say the words.
“No. Just unconscious.” Drew had grabbed a rag from one of the worktables and pressed it again the bleeding wound in the guy’s belly. I walked over, Hudson a shadow behind me. His shoulders were rigid.
There was something shining by the man’s foot. I bent down to pick it up. It was a small piece of gold, shaped like a coin. I rubbed the smooth surface with my hand. There was an emblem of a bear track with a crown above it stamped onto both sides. Where had I seen that before?
“That was really stupid,” Hudson said. I pocketed the coin.
“But it was fun,” Drew pointed out. Even Hudson grinned at that.
“What were you all thinking?” Drew, Hudson, and I were lined up in chairs in Headmistress Adiana’s office. She was pacing back and forth in front of us. Professor Sarah and Professor Vickers flanked her on both sides. All of them were still in pajamas and coats.
“Three young and untested animages against a trained one. All three of you are lucky to still be alive. You better thank Professor Sarah for her excellent training.”
None of us spoke. Between interviews with the Upholders and lectures from the other professors, we’d been getting scolded all night.
“Headmistress, we train our students to fight and be suspicious of everything,” Professor Vickers said. “We tell them they are the strongest beings in the universe and then train them to make war. Why are you surprised when they seek it out?” I glanced at Hudson and raised my eyebrows. I had never heard a professor argue with the headmistress before. Even Professor Sarah’s tail twitched and as she looked back and forth between the headmistress and the other professor.
“Charles, that’s enough. I know your feelings on the matter.”
“Why didn’t you all get there first? I mean, didn’t you know there was someone on campus?” I tried to kick Drew under the table. He shrugged at me, completely nonchalant about provoking the headmistress.
“No, we did not.” Headmistress Adiana’s tone was clipped. “The snake had magic working for him that shielded him from us. Our security alarms went off, alerting us to a threat on campus, but that was all.”
“How did you all know?” Professor Sarah asked. Hudson and Drew both looked over at me. My face flushed.
“I can sense negative feelings in people. Pain, distress, nervousness. I felt him. I knew he wasn’t a student or professor. His intent felt—red.”
“Red?” Professor Vickers asked.
“Yeah. That’s the best I can explain it.”
Our conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Chief Winston. Instead of pulling the adults aside, he addressed us all. I sat up a little taller.
“The suspect will live. He’s awake and talking. You guessed correctly that he was here to steal something. As far as we can tell, he was working alone.”
“Oh—” I pulled the coin from my pocket. “I just remembered. I found this. Does it mean anything?” Chief Winston inspected the coin.
“No. I’ve never seen anything like this before.” He placed the coin on the table beside us. “That’s the kind of investigative instincts I like to see in the younger generation.” He winked at me. I smiled.
“What was he trying to steal?” Drew asked. “Is there anything of value in that room?”
“We use that room to store old books and some professors use it to conduct low risk experiments,” Headmistress Adiana said. Drew opened his mouth again. I kicked him under the table again before he could say anything.
“Chief Winston, thank you for the update. I will join you in a moment.” Chief Winston nodded. He started out the door then paused and turned toward us.
“I have to say. You three were
