The Culling Trials 3 (Shadowspell Academy #3)(16)

“I can do no such thing,” the necromancer purred.

“Then how did I learn it from you?” Wally held out a hand and her necromancer power crawled down her arm and latched onto the vampire closest to us.

“I would never have figured it out if I hadn’t seen you control Orin.”

Orin nodded. “He made me attack my crew. He was inside my head and I couldn’t stop him.”

Three of the vampires laughed. The fourth tried to join them, but Wally made a fist. The laugh strangled, and she pointed at the other vampires. “Protect us from them.”

Pride suffused me as my crew closed ranks. I only wished Gregory were here, that he could be a part of this moment. Ethan and Orin went shoulder to shoulder, keeping the necromancer on the ground in front of them. Pete stayed near me, and Wally was to our left, directing the vampire she’d taken hold of.

“Damn it, she’s in my head!” He stepped forward, claws extended at his fellow blood suckers. He put his back to us and let out a snarl. “This should not be possible!”

A moment of tension, and then the world seemed to explode in a flurry of movement, shouts and emotion.

People burst through the doorways, not all of them vamps. One was Director Frost, and another was Ethan’s dad, his wand out as he blasted one of the vampires away from our group, flipping him end over end.

Behind them strolled the Sandman, his eyes on me. He gave me a slow nod, and I knew who’d sounded the alarm that something was wrong with our trial. The only question was, why?

Why had Sunshine helped me? Was it because Rory had died?

I went to my knees, the chaos around me white noise buzzing along my skin. Yelling, flares of magic, vampires hissing...it all unrolled around me as I stayed there on my knees.

Pete grabbed one arm, and Wally the other. “We’ve got to get you to the healer,” Pete said.

I closed my eyes and let them carry me.

“She dropped her knife,” Ethan called from behind us, slipping the blade back into its sheath. Only he’d said the wrong thing.

She. He’d said she.

A new burst of excitement whipped up behind us, but I couldn’t bring myself to care as I was hauled through a doorway, out of the House of Night, and into the bright sunshine of upstate New York, as if everything behind us had been a dream.

“Nightmare more like it,” Pete said. “Holy cats. Wild, that was…do you really think they were trying to kill us all?”

They laid me on a table and the healer shushed him, the same healer as that first day. What was her name again? Was I mumbling?

“It’s the infection,” the healer smiled down at me. “It’s almost to your brain. They got you out just in time.”

“What would happen if it reached her brain?” Pete asked.

“Zombie,” Wally said.

The healer—Mara, that was her name—tsked. “Don’t go upsetting her. She’s here and that’s that.”

Of course, she knew I was a girl too. She had from the beginning but hadn’t said anything. But every other thought scattered as her hands pressed against the bite wound. I arched my back as pain rippled outward from her touch.

“This will not be pleasant,” Mara said, her voice grim.

Fire and ice, knives and snapping teeth, tearing flesh and broken limbs, I couldn’t think past the pain that erupted through my veins. “Bite down.”

Something was shoved between my teeth and I bit down hard, snapping it in half.

“Holy cats, are we sure she isn’t a shifter?”

A chunk of leather was shoved in next and I bit into it, my teeth almost touching through the thick material as I screamed.

For a moment, I thought about just letting it go, because the pain was surely not worth the prize. We still had one more trial to go through, one more chance at being killed. Because I was sure that this botched attempt wouldn’t be the last. Whoever was doing it would try again, and again, until they had what they wanted–our deaths, a kidnapping, it didn’t matter. They would not give up.

Was that why the Sandman had been there? Was he after me? The pain receded and my mind went into overdrive with theories and questions. Had the Sandman killed Rory for looking out for me?

Had my friend died trying to protect me, or had he been just thrown under the bus to throw me off the track?

The shakes took me, starting in my legs and working all the way up through my middle to my chest and arms. A heavy blanket was tossed over me, and then Orin and Ethan swept into the tent, followed by…Colt.

His eyes shot to me, one still bruised from his encounter with Rory in the forest. It felt like a lifetime ago even though it had been less than a day.

“She can stay here,” Mara said, dusting her hands. “She needs rest and food. And I fixed her nose while I was at it, seeing as…” As everyone knew I wasn’t a boy. That thought tripped through my brain.

Ethan shook his head. “No, she comes with us. Colt, can you pick her up?”

Orin took a step, but Colt beat him to it. “Yeah, of course.” He scooped me up, blanket and all, as if I weighed nothing.

“I can walk.” I moved to push him away, but my arms were weighted lead and I couldn’t so much as lift them.

Colt held me tightly to his chest as he walked out of the tent, the others falling in around us. All the way to a bus that took us back to the mansion. I dozed, unable to keep my eyes open.