Page 54 of Fortune Academy: Year Two
Logan barked a command and the wolves turned away from me, facing the Dean.
We all had a common enemy—for now.
The Dean appraised the situation with a beMused smile. “Look at this, Merlin. The students think they can run this school.”
The white-haired wizard chuckled and patted Melinda on the shoulder. “I’ll leave this to you, my dear. They won’t want to harm their own.”
I cursed under my breath as Melinda ordered her wave of enthralled students forward.
This was going to be a bloodbath.
It was the library all over again and I’d gone all the way to Heaven to avoid it.
Now I’d have to go to Hell.
I spotted Orion in the distance, his golden skin brilliant after a trip to Heaven. A hissing dark form writhed behind him as he dragged Jess in tow by the wrist. She snarled and snapped at him, but after being drugged and starved, she was no match for a pumped up Demigod.
I took off my Blood Stone and gazed into its ruby depths. It was fully charged now and it hummed with power, ready to do what I needed.
Before I changed my mind, I slammed it against the ground, sending the jewel piercing straight through the thin veil that Fortune Academy sat on and breaking into the Hell realm that brushed up against its side.
There.
Blackness swept out from the spot I’d struck and made frost bite my nose as the temperature plummeted. Dante took my hand and gave me a subtle nod before all hell broke loose.
Literally.
Melinda’s crysent the enthralled students bolting towards us with weapons—not the spelled Awakening Arena weapons, but real ones, probably from the Dean’s personal stash. Swords, morning stars, daggers raised while crossbow bolts and arrows rained down on us. The Mages tossed their first row of miniature black holes, wiping out the attack.
The shifters sprinted next, tripping up the students as they gnawed at their heels, not dealing any real damage but keeping the bulk of the gathering from advancing.
Meanwhile I concentrated on the spreading blackness and caught onto a link that tugged me from the other side. I didn’t have Renee’s magic to jump realms this time.
Orion caught up to us and offered me my demonspawn friend. Jess took my hand, reminding me that I wasn’t alone.
“Well look at that. The shiny brute actually was taking me to you.” She snapped her teeth at Orion as she wrapped her tail around my leg. “Let’s go home,” she whispered with a malicious grin as she rolled her dark eyes in the back of her head. “Use me as a medium to get us there in one piece.”
A low hum sounded from the back of her throat and I felt what she meant. She was hellbound born and raised and the link I needed to connect this realm and the next. The dark pool went translucent as I tugged at that connection and pulled us closer to it as if I was on a boat pulling onto a dock by a rope.
“There,” Jess praised. “Just a little more.”
“No!” the Dean shouted, raising her hand to show Olivia’s eyes wide with fear as someone wrapped a dagger around her throat. “If you run, her death is on you!”
I froze, unsure what I should do. Wolves and Mages battled against enthralled students who were only getting closer. The wolves would have to start using lethal force, half of Logan’s pack already sporting bloody fur. He was still in his mortal form and he fought a string of students that had been trying to get to me. Slash wounds ran up his side and he panted, glancing at me with a “don’t make this all for nothing” look.
Hendrik likewise was closing in as sweat beaded his forehead. He sent waves of electric bolts slamming down, stunning rows of students that had tried to ambush me from the other side. Each time he sent down a new strike, a wave of his Mages collapsed and I realized he was cannibalizing his clan.
To my surprise, even Kaito had come out to join the commotion and his tattoo glowed red as he blurred through the warzone, sending students falling down unconscious in his wake.
If I gave in to the Dean’s demands just to save one life, all of this sacrifice would be for nothing.
Tears welled in my eyes as I made an impossible choice. Dante wrapped an arm around my waist, bringing me into the safety of his hard chest. “I’ll support you no matter what decision you make,” he vowed, making my heart break.
I knew what I had to do.
I closed my eyes and embraced the darkness inside of me until the only heat on my skin was where Dante held me against him.
“Don’t let go,” I whispered, my voice cracking with pain.
