Page 122 of Architecti
Mortem appears under the drinks table.What the fuck has gotten into him?Why is everyone so weird tonight?
Lucy pats down her leg, realising there are no marks, and then reaches for her glass.But it’s gone.
“Helena, I think you took my drink,” she says.
“I’ll grab you another one, sorry, I thought it was fresh,” Helena says.
“Well, it was, but never mind, you keep it.”
“Thanks, I’m gasping,” she says and gulps down half the glass.
She swallows but her face turns a funny colour.She steps back.
“Oh,” Helena says.“Oh, dear.”
Her face contorts, she buckles over and throws up like a waterfall.The liquid comes first.Then what I assume was her dinner and then blood.
So much blood.
A scream rips through the courtyard.
Lucy staggers back.
Ignatius surges forward.Thalia and Alistair both reach for Helena.
“GET A MEDIC,” Thalia screams.
I clock the two students who I didn’t recognise escaping out the library archway.
“Lucy,” I bellow.
Chaos erupts as Helena drops to the floor, her mouth foams as she seizes.Space is made for her, but that’s the last thing I see as I drag Lucy away.Ignatius catches me with Lucy’s hand threaded through mine, and my stomach churns.He might not be able to touch me for a month, but he can make my death painful.
Bastien and Lex spot me and charge after us.
“Get her back to House Inferos,” I bark at Bastien.
“Like fuck, that was my glass,” Lucy says.
“Exactly.That’s the second attack on you, and I want to know why.”
“Youwant to?It’s me they keep coming after.You’re not going after them without me,” Lucy says.
“Wow.At least you don’t argue like a married couple,” Lex says.
“I would like to point out, they are, in fact, getting away,” Bastien points a lazy finger in the direction of the cloisters.
“Fucksake,” I growl and yank my scythe out.“I swear to gods, Lucy, you get injured, and I’ll reap your soul for you.”
“So dramatic, and just over a professor…” Lex says, her expression implying the fact she’s fully aware that Lucy is anything butjusta professor to me.
Something I’ll have to deal with later.
The four of us chase after the students but they’re way ahead.
Lucy calls the campus’s magic, and dark ribbons peel off each building as we pass.She whispers words into the threads of one.“Tell Obidiah to keep them on campus.”
The ribbon twirls and then vanishes.
