Fire & Flood (Mythverse #1)

Book 2 Chapter 32

32

“No!” I screech. Hitting the ground hard, I shift back into human form. The baby’s blanket is at my feet and I grab it, then bundle it up, hoping everyone will think I now have the baby.

Hoping to buy Cassie some time.

“Jordan, go with Cassie!” I yell at him, and he’s off after her, running awkwardly on three legs, but still fast.

Hepa runs toward the portal too—with Maddox on her heels.

I dig deep, ready to shift again, when a bolt of lightning comes out of the clear sky and strikes inches from Maddox’s nose. Maddox yelps. Then swivels her head in all directions.

“Zee?” she barks.

But that lightning bolt didn’t come from Zee.

I turn to Val in time to see him throw aside the limp body of the werewolf that had been attacking him. They’re both covered in blood. But Val is the one who’s still standing.

I clutch the empty blanket to my chest as Val makes his way to Larissa’s broken body. Obviously hurting, he moves slowly. Reaching Larissa, he falls to his knees and then leans over her, quietly touching her face. He’s shaking, silently, as tears of blood drip down his face and splatter Larissa’s pale skin.

Maddox lets loose a guttural growl then shifts back into her human form. There is silence in the stone circle, as the remaining students look at one another, in shock. We just saw a teacher murder a student.

Even Nico, who has also shifted, looks lost. He turns to the wolves who attacked Val. “What is wrong with you?” I think it’s what he wants to say to his mom…but can’t.

Finally, Maddox speaks. “Calm down, Nico. They were just following orders.”

He looks astonished. “I didn’t give that order.”

“No, I did.” Maddox says. And then she turns her back on her son, dismissing him. I freeze at she focuses in on me instead. “I told you, Edie. You are with me, or you are my enemy. And death comes to my enemies.” She spits Larissa’s vampire blood from her mouth. “It is time for you to choose.” She eyes the bundle in my arms.

“Edie, don’t,” Greg shouts weakly, but I silence him with a look.

I rise up on my wings, a glorious fire red, and shift fully into my dragon form, my spiked spine tearing out of my back as I throw the bundle into the air. Some of the students below me gasp as I let loose a ball of flame that incinerates the bundle in midair, leaving only ashes to fall in their upturned faces.

I descend, landing before Maddox. Her battle glazed eyes are gleeful. “I thought you were a good choice for my son. You are worthy of him. But now I’m not sure if he’s worthy of you.”

I shift into my human form and look her in the eyes. “Everyone at the Academy will know what happened here today,” I promise.

She takes my proclamation as praise, giving me a quick squeeze on the shoulder.

“Nico,” Maddox says. “Have you forgotten you’re leading this mission?”

“Really? I get to lead it now?” Poor Nico. He looks devastated and furious all at once. “Maddox, you’re dismissed. Get out of here.”

Her eyes go wide. “You don’t speak to me that way.”

“I don’t want to speak to you at all.” This time it’s Nico who turns his back on Maddox. She stares at him for a long moment. Momentarily bewildered, but then quickly hardening again.

Head high, shoulders back, she stalks to the portal and is gone.

Nico watches her and after she disappears, he continues looking at the spot where she last stood, until finally shaking himself out of it and returning to business.

“Trackers, make sure all the monsters have been killed,” he snaps. “Witches and warlocks, maintain the perimeter.” He looks at Val, still weeping over Larissa’s body. “Vampire, bring the Academy dead back through the portal. They will be buried with honors.”

I take a step forward. “I’ll take Larissa.”

I don’t wait for his acknowledgement. I kneel next to Val.

His shirt and pants are torn and deep bite marks ooze blood. Maddox intended for Val to be dead too. This wasn’t a heat of the moment thing; it was pre-meditated.

“Let’s get her back,” I say.

He looks up at me and nods. His tears are gone, only the b****y streaks remain. His face is hard, free of his customary smirk.

Larissa was his intended bride, a beautiful vampire that I should have hated on sight. Instead we became friends. She died defending Cassie, and a helpless baby.

And what did Val and I do? We made out behind her back. At least there is one last thing we can do for her, a debt that we owe.

Together we carry her body through the portal.

My first stop is to the infirmary with Val, where we place Larissa’s body in the care of Fern. She is laid out with the rest of the dead.

“I have to talk to her family,” Val says. “They trusted me to take care of her.”

“Larissa was strong,” I assure him, putting a hand on his arm. “She knew what she was doing. She knew that she was sacrificing herself.” I can barely believe she’s gone. “You did take care of her at the Academy. She loved it here. But you couldn’t have stopped her. The choice was hers.”

Val looks at me like I’m an i***t. It’s an expression I’m used to seeing from Tina. But not him. “I was entrusted with her care and safety. No one will care to hear my excuses. I wouldn’t give them regardless. Larissa should never have gone today. But I—” He stops and shakes his head, the tension practically radiating out from his body. “I wanted to be there for you.” Disgust twists his face. “And Larissa felt it her duty to stay at my side. So she could have my back.”

I don’t know what to say to this, and I’m pretty sure anything I do say will only make Val more upset. So we both stay silent, watching as more of the dead students are brought in.

We didn’t lose many, but even one is too much. And it’s not like I can forget that not all of the Academy dead were killed by monsters. One of us was killed by our own. As if following my thoughts, Val looks back at Larissa, his mouth a flat, angry line.

“I have to go,” I tell Val. “There are things I need to do.”

“Like finding out what Cassie did with the baby?” he asks.

My eyes flash up to his. “You know…”

“I know you wouldn’t roast a defenseless newborn, even if it is a monster.”

“You won’t tell?” I ask, though I know the answer.

“Larissa died for that child,” he reminds me coldly. “And Cassie too. She protected them from that—” He cuts off and spins to push his fist through the infirmary wall. The exterior is stone from the beginning of time and yet Val created a hole that I can see straight through to the outside.

“I’m going to take care of Maddox,” I assure him.

He looks at me, eyes intense. Not alive like Nico’s get, but flat. Deadly. “Not if I do it first.”

“Val, don’t do anything stupid,” I warn.

He turns away from me. “I thought you wanted to find Cassie.”

Silently, I watch as he sits on a chair beside where Larissa is laid out. He picks up her hand and holds it between two of his own.

My heart breaks. For him. For Larissa. And yes, I’m ashamed to admit it—for me too.

Unable to watch anymore, I spin away and hurry out of the infirmary.

I need to find Cassie, but I decide to go to Themis first—before WWIII breaks out on this campus.

I’m approaching her office door when it bursts open, Themis nearly taking it off the hinges as she erupts into the hallway, Hepa fast on her heels.

There is a fire in Themis’ eyes that I have never seen, before—a good reminder that this isn’t just the guidance counselor. She is a goddess, after all.

“This will not stand,” Themis says, as she brushes past me in the hallway.

Hepa turns to me, shaking her head. “I had to turn Maddox in. And those werewolves as well. It’s not right what Maddox did. Murdering Larissa. Trying to kill a baby. None of this Moggy bullshit is right, either.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” I tell her. I’d wondered if her cooled feelings toward Jordan had something to do with Zee’s proclamation.

“What? I may be bitchy, but I’m not a bigot.”

I laugh, despite myself. “You’re not…” but I can’t finish. I laugh again. “You’re just you. And…” I pause, wondering how many people I can trust with my own secret. It turns out no-bullshit Hepa is the perfect person to tell as I fill her in on how I tricked Maddox with the baby blanket.

“Smart,” she nods. “And Mad Maddox bought that?”

“Yeah, she thinks the baby is dead. Where actually is…?” I ask Hepa.

“Cassie wanted to hide the baby in her dorm room, but I told her that was idiotic. I had Jordan take it to his. Figured that was safer, since Greg is his roommate. The little bugger is actually really freaking cute. Fern has been bringing us a potion that has the same properties as manticore milk.”

Ugh. Well, that’s sort of gross, but I guess it’s a good thing. “We just need to keep the baby safe until we can send it back to the monsters. I may know someone who can help us with that.”

“Who?” Hepa asks, her gaze intense.

“Just a contact,” I tell her vaguely.

“Well, you’d better get in touch with them. If Maddox sniffs out that baby we’re all dead.”

“She won’t,” I tell her. “And by the look on Themis’ face, she won’t be around long enough to catch the scent.”