The Culling Trials 3 (Shadowspell Academy #3)(51)

We were at the end of the tunnel exit. The moon was bright overhead, and I’d barely noticed that Frost had released my arm so that she could step out ahead of us.

“Where are the others?”

I smiled at her, not fully understanding but knowing I’d ruined her plans. “I sent them back.”

Director Frost turned on me, her eyes glittering. “Just like your mother. Weak. And alone.”

As if her words sparked the memory, my mother’s voice whispered to me: “No matter what, you fight to the end. You never give up. You never give in. You give them hellfire and brimstone, my wild girl.”

I glared at the director. “She was not weak. And neither am I.”

Hellfire and brimstone, here we come.





Chapter 20





Director Frost lifted a shaking hand to me and dug her nails into my chin. A light pulsed through her fingers and into me, quick as a rattlesnake’s strike, and her venom was as sure. My knees went weak as I slumped under her hands. She threw her head back and laughed, her face smoothing and her hair growing longer, thicker right in front of me. Blonde, loose curls wove over her shoulders.

“Rich, I won’t need the others anyway. Wild will fill me for years.” When Director Frost tipped her head back, the lines in her face were gone. “What do you think, Jared?”

“As beautiful as ever,” he murmured, lifting her one hand to his mouth, pressing his lips hard against her skin.

I wobbled in place, on my knees in my prom dress, my heart racing and my muscles weak.

“You—”

“Sucked the life right out of you.” She smiled and snapped her fingers at Jared. “Get her in the van.”

Jared bent to lift me, and I swung up with my left hand with everything I had left, landing a punch perfectly under his jaw. His head snapped back, teeth clicking, and I stumbled forward. We were surrounded by forest, but that didn’t bother me.

“Get her!” Frost yelled, and I knew I had only seconds before he was on me.

I fumbled for the wand on my left side, pulled it out and pointed it behind me. I needed light. Blinding light.

“Stroblightus!” I yelled, hoping a made-up word, powered by all the intent in the world, would work for me. Please God, let it work for me.

The wand shook, warmed, and then brilliant light blasted out of it, illuminating the forest in a blinding flash.

Jared yelled and the sound of him skidding to a stop was music to my ears. I bolted forward, diving deep into the trees. The light behind me faded, but not before I saw people I recognized. People I hadn’t thought would be there to save me this time.

Two dark figures shot through the shadows ahead of me, one catching me around the arms.

“Rory.” He’d come for me.

He gave me a light shake. “Where is she? Where is Frost?”

“Back there,” I said.

“I’ll end this. Use your crew. You’ve got this.” He dropped me, and he and the other dark figure ran back the way I’d come. The Sandman. So much for coming to rescue me.

I stumbled back a few more steps, so tired it was as if I’d run the whole set of trials without a single visit to a healer’s tent.

Jared gave a low laugh and I spun, trying to see him. But he wasn’t the only one whose vision had been damaged by the flash of light.

That is when I saw them. My crew, their dark shadows creeping forward from between the trees. “Guys, I could use some help!”

Jared laughed, but the sound slid away as my friends emerged from the trees, stepping up beside me, all still wearing their high-end grad clothes. All except for Pete, who was already in his honey badger suit.

I faced Jared. “I’m not alone. And we are not weak.”

He snarled and shot forward, and Orin met him with his claws extended, shocking the older vampire.

“You cannot fight me!” Jared yelled.

“I’m not yours to command anymore!” Orin yelled back and I knew that it was because he was with us. He’d switched allegiances. The two vampires collided, hissing and snarling like wild animals. Pete shot into the fray, grabbing at Jared’s ankles, tearing the flesh and then finally clamping on like some living version of a parking boot. Jared swung and stepped, trying to shake him off, but Pete was on good and tight.

“Coming, Pete!” Wally yelled. She lifted her hands and the ground softened around us, turning into quicksand. But it wasn’t the ground she was controlling. “The dead are everywhere. Statistically speaking, there is not one place on the planet’s surface that doesn’t contain dead material of some sort or another.”

The ground beneath Jared’s feet began to give way and Pete jumped back. Orin landed several blows, one right after the other.

Ethan pointed his wand. “Orin!”

Orin stepped back and turned his face as Ethan shot Jared in the face with a blast of light that was stronger than the one I’d produced, and far more direct. Jared went down howling. The smell of burning flesh wafted over to me. I tucked the wand back into my pocket and pulled my knife. As much as the wand was good, the knife was real.

The knife was my home.

Jared shook, his knees embedded in the softened ground. “Fools, you are all fools!”

“Stay where you are,” I said. “Ethan, is someone else coming?”