Page 51 of Unicorn Shifter Academy
I debated shifting into Unicorn form, but like most of my kind, I couldn’t travel as quietly when I weighed over two boulders, or over six hundred pounds in earth units—the United States, specifically. After my time during Lucifer’s uprise, I’d been around humans long enough to learn their overly complicated metrics.
I also understood why Samuel spoke aloud to Guille instead of communicating telepathically. Guille was one of our youngest students.
But I knew not to underestimate him. I’d seen what he was capable of.
Adrenaline spiked through my veins when I heard the distinct impact of hooves on gravel.
I bolted into action, bursting into a shift in a single moment that I’d mastered after the past century of practice.
The magicked leather around my neck stretched to accommodate my Unicorn form, and the Sun Stone blazed over my chest. It reacted to the Purity magic that I released in a wave.
The blast of light revealed a gruesome scene of Samuel and his intended target.
I stopped short, realizing that the Corruption had either taken on a strikingly similar form to Professor Soleil…
Or it had infected him.
SAMUEL
“Samuel!”Guille shouted.
He ran up to me with his hands on fire. His raw power raked through him unchecked, which would have been terrifying on anyone else.
Purity magic tended to beconsuming.
His body handled it, though. He was one of the few among us who was just as powerful in human form as his Unicorn one. He seemed to prefer remaining on two feet. And it wasn’t to show off.
I watched in awe as he launched his magic into the air, sending it crackling against the Corruption.
The reason he remained human was so he could dothat.
Which was probably why he hadn’t mastered basic skills like telepathic communication yet.
Professor Soleil grunted in pain and wrapped his fingers around my horn as the darkness around us threatened to implode. His touch should have been blazing hot.
Instead, it was as if he was made of ice.
Intensely repulsed by the sensation, I shifted back to a human.
It was the easiest way to dislodge my horn from his body and begin healing him.
Except, the moment I shifted, Professor Soleil opened his mouth and roared. His jaw unhinged from his mouth, stretching abnormally as the horrid sound felt as if it was clawing its way through my skull.
I’d never heard such a sound in all my life. Throwing my hands over my ears, I tried to hide from the agony that raked through my body.
Something was terribly wrong.
This wasn’t Professor Soleil. Or at least, this wasn’t the Professor I’d known since my admission to the Academy.
Black blood oozed from the hole in his chest where my horn had been.
The Corruption is in his bloodstream. Not good.
And it was doing something to him.
He should have been dead. Instead, a light blue tint seemed to strap his spirit to his body. It wasn’t the Corruption’s effects that were keeping him alive. Rather, another Unicorn must have arrived on the scene.
A powerful one.
