The Culling Trials (Shadowspell Academy #2)(24)

The middle-aged woman who was clearly looking for delinquents started upstairs, footsteps increasing in speed. She’d probably heard the chatter of the other women in the hallway. Hopefully she had, at any rate.

As the lights around me dimmed, I popped out of my hiding place like a groundhog. Coast was clear, time to move.

Putting on speed and staying to the shadows, I turned a corner, intent on finding a back door. Loud shoe scuffling caught my attention as the hallway opened up. A muffled yell stopped my heart.

I slipped in beside a coat of arms that had clearly seen more polishing than an expensive car and peered around its arm.

Down the way, heading for a dimly lit double door leading out into the night, three figures dressed in dark clothes wrestled with a thin, bucking figure dressed in trial grays.

The expectation of danger flared up through me and adrenaline dumped into my bloodstream. I couldn’t tell if that was Gregory from here, but whoever it was, they needed help.

Another muffled scream sent me out into the open.

“Help!” I yelled, sprinting down the corridor, hoping one of the security guards would hear me. If they cared so much about curfew, surely someone would be out enforcing it.

Two of the figures jerked, looking in my direction. One whipped out a wand as they neared the door. A blast of red zipped through the air, and I dove to the side, hitting one of those waving plants and sending it clattering across the floor.

“Wild! Help!”

My blood ran cold. I knew that voice. It was Gregory. They, whoever they were, were trying to take him.

“I’m coming,” I yelled, climbing quickly to my feet and dodging another blast of magic.

Hands slapped the long metal handles on the double-door, shoving them down and the door open. Gregory tried to rip his arms free and spin away, but he was too small and they were too many. They held him fast and marshaled him through, aiming another blast at me.

I jumped to the side, kicked the plant, and plowed into an armchair. The door swung shut, but I was up and running again.

A slip of black caught my notice up the way, like a shape ducking out of sight. I wished with everything in me that I had a wand to brandish and a spell to cast. As it was, I’d have to hope it was a trick of my eye and not another bad guy trying to stay out of sight.

I jumped over a fallen vase that couldn’t have been glass because it hadn’t so much as cracked—or, well, magic—and shoved at the door handles. Crisp night air greeted me. The cluster of people moved away right, struggling behind a grouping of trees. Disturbed branches waved as they passed.

Another burst of speed, using the span of my long legs, and I was hot on their tail.

“Wild!” I heard Gregory yell from beyond the trees.

“I’m coming. Someone, help!” I called, really needing a little backup. This was an emergency if ever there was one. “Help me!”

I was nearing the trees when more footfalls registered right behind me. I didn’t have time to look. I assumed someone had finally seen fit to answer me.

A solid, heavy mass hit me from behind. My front slammed into the ground and my face bounced off of the grass. The assailant landed on my left side, thankfully not center mass. Even still, the weight of solid muscle pushed the breath from my lungs. I gasped and threw an elbow back, hitting a hard slab of muscle. My attacker’s arms tightened around my chest, and suddenly he was up, deadlifting me as though I weighed absolutely nothing and running me over to another grouping of pine trees.

“No…way,” I ground out, and kicked behind me, trying to reach a shin. My foot sailed through dead air. I arched, punching back with my head, but barely managed to hit his shoulder. I spun and twisted, throwing my weight to loosen his grip. It did loosen, and I kicked again, but he’d already adjusted his hold, maneuvering me like a fussy baby, and handling me just as carefully.

His smell hit me like a Mack truck, even as branches thwapped my head. Warm spicy vanilla, pure comfort on a cold night.

My heart lodged in my throat, and I stilled for a moment. Sensing safety even though I’d just been tackled.

“Quiet now,” Rory said urgently, his lips to the shell of my ear. “Really quiet. This is a bad night for you to be out snooping.”

“But—”

His huge hand clamped down on my lips, muffling my protest.

“We have reason to suspect that the people being taken aren’t being killed,” he whispered, his hot breath dusting my face. “Your friend will be fine.”

I peeled his fingers away from my mouth. “Don’t you lie to me, Rory Wilson. What people?”

His sigh ruffled my hair. “Still able to see through my fibs, I see.”

“It’s not like it’s hard. You’re a horrible liar.”

“You’re the only one in the entire magical world who thinks so,” he murmured before scooting away from me, farther against the tree.

I leaned forward to resume my chase, but Rory was faster than I remembered, and he’d always been damned fast. He grabbed me around the middle and hauled me back before crossing his legs over my lap. He hugged me tightly with his arms, keeping me put.

“Wild, help!” Gregory’s shout was more distant, but the words were no less clear.

“Let. Go. Of. Me,” I said through clenched teeth. “So help me God—”

“Shhh!”