Page 66 of Mantle

It was followed by a shiver in the ground that drew our immediate attention, refocusing us on the task ahead of us.

With violent pulses of pink light, two creatures blasted into being.

Their bodies were tall and gaunt with cracked gray skin. Their limbs were too long for their bodies, their fingers clawed and twitching creepily. Their heads were partially humanoid but jawless with a wide cavity where the mouth should be. Instead of eyes they had two slits either side of their head that pulsed intermittently. Their legs bent backward at the knee, and they hovered like ghosts overhead.

“What the fuck are those?” I called out to the group.

“Threniths,” Kai informed me.

“Maven Academy is fond of using them in combat training scenarios,” Ariana said.

“They are elemental phantoms,” Kai told me. “They attack when they sense powerful magic. Andwhenthat attack happens, a piercing shriek bursts forth that can rattle bones, disrupt spellcasting, and send some beings to their fucking knees.”

“Lovely,” I groused.

Ariana pointed into the distance, and there, in the center of the landscape, was a radiant pedestal—visible for only seconds at a time before phasing out again. Upon it sat a golden medallion. “There,” she said.

“It won’t be as simple as snatching the medallion from the pedestal,” Kai warned, as we all took it in. “Morrigan is fond of employing magical puzzles that require precision, out-of-the-box solutions and teamwork to solve.”

Ariana nodded, then turned to Nyx and me. “Nyx, head up there with your Incubus abilities and investigate, read the spell. Vorzyr, assist with your more ancient-based Dracoryn magical knowledge and cover him, while Kai and I dispose of the Threniths.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I said, giving a respectful salute, and really enjoying her issuing orders and being all commanding. In fact, it actually had my cock stirring, in spite of the fact that we were technically in class, and dealing with this chaotic scene before us.

“With pleasure,” Nyx answered, already moving in the next moment, his coat billowing behind him. He vaulted over a fallen pillar, scaled a curving wall, and leapt onto a drifting platform without pause.

Hot as fuck.

I followed, employing my magical flame, and creating a rich crimson glowing path beneath my feet, tracing my every step.Shifting into dragon form was my other option, but I didn’t want to do that because it would limit communication with the three of them too much. It was possible for me to just summon my dragon wings, but it was uncomfortable to do so, and they were unwieldy when I was otherwise in human form.

Not seconds after I’d invoked my magic, and the Threniths burst forward through the air, descending, and headed right for me.

Silver light shot toward them and I saw Ariana leap into the air and call her angel wings in the very next second, soaring at them while her power swirled around each creature, trapping it.

I grimaced as they started screeching at a decibel level that would have the ears of non-supernatural beings bleeding, their brains turning to mush.

I heard Nyx groan, it impacting him more than me, and he lost his footing on one of the platforms and tumbled down, headed for a set of jagged black rocks below.

I swept down on my magical red path and snagged him by his elbow, using my dragon strength to haul him several feet up to the raised platform where the pedestal was.

He used the momentum and that sexy agility of his to somersault in the air and land in a primed crouch just a foot in front of it.

He slapped his hand down for stability that he normally wouldn’t have needed, and I saw his hands shaking, because of the pain and damage that the screeching was causing him.

I went to spin toward Kai and Ariana but needn’t have worried—just as I did, the screeching stopped.

And there Kai was, levitating in the air a few feet from Ariana, his palms glowing with magic as he uttered an incantation fiercely—clearly a spell that had silenced the Threniths.

I made it onto the platform with Nyx.

“Damn,” he breathed, rising to his feet. “That was a real bitch.”

“Are you all right?” I asked, rapidly looking him over for any visible sign of damage, while I also tuned into his pulse. It was rapid, but calming by the moment now that he wasn’t in immediate pain.

“I am now. I’ll be fine,” he assured me. “Gotta focus on figuring out this magical puzzle,” he said, moving closer to the pedestal, failing to hide how shaky he still was.

I grasped his shoulder, both as comfort and physical support.

He smiled out at me, grateful.

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