SETH SPED IN front of me as a huge white wolf, knocking me back as he dove onto a Nymph. His coat was flecked with blackish blood and more joined it as he ripped the Nymph’s head from its shoulders in one powerful bite.
An echoing Dragon roar billowed up to the sky and I felt it right down to my bones.
“Argh,” Orion hissed, clutching the crook of his elbow and I turned to him in alarm.
“Are you alright?” I begged.
“Darius,” he growled, then shook his head. “Just keep moving and take out any Nymphs you can. Go that way.” He pointed across the pitch and I nodded.
Orion had retrieved his silver blade and we worked as unstoppable unit as we made our way in that direction, my eyes ever-roaming as I hunted for signs of my sister.
Heat blazed over me from one side and I turned sharply, throwing out my hands just in time to block the stolen fire magic cast by a Nymph, releasing a torrent of water. The hiss of the two powers colliding filled my ears and steam spurted out in every direction.
Orion sprinted past me in a blur of motion and the Nymph’s magic died in a wave as he skewered its heart with his silver blade. He ripped it free and we ran to meet each other once more, racing on toward the other end of the pitch.
I ducked as Geraldine bounded over us, chasing a Nymph down and finishing it with her toxic bite. As we hurried to carry on, my foot caught on something soft and I glanced down. Horror thickened in my stomach as I found a body in a navy and silver kit. Ashanti’s lifeless bronze eyes gazed up at me, her limbs awkwardly twisted and a single line of blood leaking from her mouth.
“Fuck,” Orion hissed, drawing me away and I tried to smother the shock of it, a strange ringing filling my head.
As we continued across the field of hell, my shock gave way to a burning fury like nothing I’d ever known. I was Fae. These were my kin. And they were falling prey to the hands of our enemies.
With a yell of defiance, I fell into a frenzy as I made my way forward with Orion, striking at any Nymph who got too close. He helped me guide my power every time I blasted one into oblivion with the monstrous fire I’d been gifted and together we carved a path forward.
As a plume of smoke lifted ahead of me, I realised the crowd was thinning and hope dared to raise its head in my chest.
The few Nymphs still standing released a wailing cry and started to flee.
“Are they leaving?” I gasped as Orion moved closer to me, his blade coated in black Nymph blood and his arms flecked with it too. He was breathing heavily but he assessed the battle with complete control as the students and professors chased the last of them to the exits.
“It’s over,” Orion said with a breath of relief. “For now at least.”
My gaze fell on the bodies strewn in the stands and fear overwhelmed me. Where’s Tory?
Panic raced through me and I pulled away from Orion, desperate as I hunted for my sister.
“Tory!” I screamed, but it felt like screaming into a void. There was no way she’d hear me over the shouts and wails of the Fae surrounding us.
She has to be alright.
With the way ahead clear, Orion dragged me into his arms and my stomach lurched as he sped across the pitch at a fierce speed.
As we made it across the field, my heart jolted with relief as I spotted Tory kneeling over Darius. My relief was quickly swallowed by fear as I saw the blood pooling out around the Fire Heir from multiple wounds.
“Heal him!” Tory begged as she spotted us. Her eyes raked over me as Orion put me down and her shoulders sagged a little as she realised I was okay before her gaze fell back on Darius beneath her. Tears had tracked lines down her cheeks and her hands were stained red with his blood as she fought to help him. My lips parted in surprise as I noted the fear in her gaze, wondering what could have happened in that fight to make her look at Darius that way.
Orion fell down beside him, looking distressed and I hurriedly knelt down too. He pressed his fingers to a bloody wound on Darius’s side and it slowly began to heal.
“He’s survived worse,” he growled bitterly as Darius groaned, coming to.
I sagged forward, beginning to tremble as exhaustion took hold of me.
Orion nudged Tory’s hands away from the wound on Darius’s chest so that he could heal it next and she shifted forward, pressing her bloodstained palm to his cheek instead.
Orion’s jaw tensed and I noted the pale colour to his skin as he threw his magic into healing his friend. His gaze slid to me imploringly. “I need more power to-”
“Take mine,” Tory said, offering him her free hand without looking away from Darius for a moment.
Orion snatched her hand without a moment’s hesitation, the green glow in his palm gaining intensity instantly.
Darius coughed, his eyes flickering a few times before snapping open. His gaze fell on Tory as she continued to look down at him. Her hand was still pressed to his cheek and he frowned slightly.
“You…” he began but he didn’t finish what he’d been going to say.
His hand moved over hers for a moment, holding it in place against his cheek as he held her eye.
I shifted uncomfortably beside them, feeling like I was laying witness to something private.
“Good as new,” Orion muttered, releasing Tory and Darius in the same movement.
Tory blinked, snatching her hand away from Darius’s face before scrambling off of him and getting to her feet. She turned her back on him, moving to my side and pulling me into a hug.
“You’re alright,” she whispered, pushing back to look at me and I nodded, tears stinging my eyes as I stared at her ash-smeared cheeks. It was such a relief to find her alive that my heart could hardly take it.
“Thanks to some insane blue and red fire I cast,” I said and Tory’s eyes widened.
“You used it too?” she asked in surprise, gazing down at her palms as if searching for an answer. “It was nothing like our usual Element.”
Tory looked to Orion for an explanation and I rested my shoulder against hers, adrenaline still making my body shake.
He shook his head, seemingly lost. “I don’t know what it was, but it was powerful enough to kill Nymphs. It was nothing like anything I’ve ever witnessed…” He trailed off as he pulled Darius upright and the Fire Heir looked between Tory and I, his eyes flickering with some dark emotion.
“You just proved your worth.” Darius didn’t say it with any kindness, in fact he sounded genuinely threatened for the first time since I’d met him. And though I was overwhelmed by this power, it felt more natural than anything I’d ever known. Like it had always lived within me.
I gazed around at the devastation, embers tumbling through the air and the wails and moans of those in pain carrying from all around us. Who knew how many were dead and how much magic the Nymphs had taken for their own?
The need to find my friends and make sure they were all okay enveloped me like ice cold water.
“Why did they attack us?” I whispered, ready to do anything I could to help.
Orion looked around, his jaw locked tight and his eyes as dark as ink. “They attacked the children of the most elite Fae in Solaria, so my guess is, the Nymphs just declared war on our kind.”
