Lyra's POV
Everything slowed. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as my feet pounded the earth. I grabbed the nearest thing, a training staff propped against a post, and swung it with both hands. The wood connected with the attacker’s arm just as he reached for the girl. He snarled, staggering back, hood falling to reveal a gaunt face marked with black runes. Not a rogue wolf. Something else.
The girl bolted behind me. I shifted my stance, staff raised.
The man hissed a string of words I didn’t understand, his eyes glowing an unnatural yellow. Dark energy coiled around his fingers like smoke.
Panic flared. I had no training for this. But my body moved on instinct. The hybrid power inside me, wild and unpredictable, surged. The air around me seemed to thicken, then snap. The man’s spell
