Page 73 of Blood Currents
But while guards moved toward my parents and the auditorium buzzed with activity, something was wrong.Alstone had gone very still in his magical restraints, his dark eyes fixed not on the chaos around us but on something specific.
The stage beneath our feet.The circular platform at the auditorium’s heart.The platform that could open to reveal the wellspring chamber below.
Around us, the revolution was happening—evidence being presented, accusations flying, the old order finally crumbling.But in that moment, with Marigold’s hands in mine and the truth finally spoken aloud, I felt something I’d never experienced before.
Freedom.
Not the careful, controlled freedom of perfect performance but the terrifying, exhilarating freedom of complete honesty.Of choosing love over duty, truth over comfort, the person I wanted to be over the person I’d been trained to become.
“Whatever happens next,” I said, “I need you to know… I’m done lying.To you, to myself, to anyone.No more masks.”
Her smile was radiant.“Good.Because I’ve been waiting to meet the real you.”
“You’ve been looking at him all along,” I said.“You just had to wait for me to catch up.”
That’s when Alstone’s restraints dissolved like smoke, and everything went wrong.
33
Marigold
“Stop him!”Cyrus shouted, butAlstone was already moving.
He didn’t flee toward the exits like everyone expected.Instead, he sprinted directly toward the stage, his hands weaving complex magical patterns that made the air itself seem to scream.
“No,” Keane breathed, understanding flooding his face.“He’s not trying to escape.He’s going for the wellspring.”
The stage platform began to glow, responding to Alstone’s magic.Ancient mechanisms that hadn’t been activated since our orientation ceremony stirred to life, preparing to reveal the chamber below.
“If I can’t control them individually,” Alstone called over his shoulder, his voice carrying the kind of desperate fury that made my blood freeze, “I’ll corrupt the source itself!Let’s see how your precious harmony holds against a poisoned wellspring!”
The circular platform started to lower, revealing the silver glow of the academy’s wellspring chamber.But even from here, I could see that the light was wrong—flickering, unstable, shot through with the same dark veins we’d seen spreading through the magical network.
Across the auditorium, I spotted the silver-haired witch who’d been standing among the witnesses.Her hands were moving in precise patterns, and the academy’s protective wards suddenly flared with visible light before beginning to dim as if under attack.
“The wards!”Lucas shouted, pointing to the ceiling where ancient protective magic was visibly cracking.“Someone’s breaking them!”
“He’s going to finish what Project Cornerstone started,” Parker said, her voice tight with horror.“Complete the corruption of the academy’s wellspring.If he succeeds—”
“Every other wellspring in the network gets infected,” I finished.“The whole magical world.”
We ran.
Behind us, Lord Raynoff was shouting orders to the arriving guards, trying to coordinate a response to something none of them had trained for.But we couldn’t wait for official backup.By the time they organized themselves, Alstone would have done irreversible damage.
“The stage access,” Aurora called, pointing to the stairs that led down into the lowering platform.“We can reach him before he gets to the wellspring itself!”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Raven move toward the silver-haired witch, confusion evident on her face as she noticed the woman’s magical working.“What are you—” she began, but before she could finish, the witch made a sharp gesture that sent Raven stumbling backward.
A terrible scream tore through the auditorium—not human, not magical, but something in between.The academy’s wards shattered like glass, fragments of protective magic dissolving into the air.The Lightfords moved with unnatural speed toward the exit, surrounded by what looked like living shadows.
“Stop them!”Lord Raynoff commanded, but the Shroud Guards who moved to intercept them collapsed as the silver-haired witch raised her hands, dark energy spilling from her fingers like oil.
“Who is she?”Lucas cried, starting toward Raven who lay dazed on the floor.
“Leave her!”Cyrus grabbed his arm.“We need to stop Alstone first!”
Alstone was faster than any of us.As we reached the platform’s edge, he leaped down into the chamber below, landing with inhuman grace beside the silver pool that should have been the academy’s heart.
