My breath came in ragged bursts as I stood over Carlyle’s trembling form.

  He lay on his side in the road, sobbing over what remained of his arms, makeshift bandages that I had tied on him soaked with his blood. Embers glowed like malevolent fireflies around the wreckage of Ash’s burned buildings. I exhaled and let the power slip away, shifting back to my human body.

  Carlyle twitched and shrieked when I bent down, an ugly sound that made me sick of myself. But pity wouldn’t help. My arms ached as I tied him up with rope scavenged from a collapsed cart. He spat curses, tears streaking his face, too consumed by his loss to remember our fight. I shoved a gag in his mouth, muffling his howls.

  ‘You know, I should feel great about putting this brat in his place, but he doesn’t even look sorry. Just arrogant. Classic mages,’ Fern muttered.

  They say revenge isn’t as sweet as it sounds.

  ‘Nah, I just want him to realize how awful he is—but he never will.’

  Waelid hovered nearby, breathing hard. “Just finish him,” he muttered. “He’s useless without his arms. Why let him live?”

  I forced a slow breath. “We already took his limbs. Killing him now . . . doesn’t sit right. He might have information.”

  Waelid exhaled, frustration clear. “Fine. Your call.” He eyed Carlyle before giving a satisfied nod to the headless corpse of the woman he’d killed. He was ruthless as ever, but I couldn’t blame him this time. They had destroyed so much. Killed so many innocents.

  I glanced toward the distant pillar. Drawing strength from Fern, I pushed my vision past the smoke. Two silhouettes moved down the narrow steps—Major Philip and Laska. “No time to rest. They’re on their way, and we’ve already taken out two magebloods. We need to keep momentum.” I turned to Waelid. “Let’s find Coren. Make sure the villagers are safe.”

  Waelid knelt and rifled through the female mageblood’s pockets, pulling out a handful of papers. “Might be useful,” he said with a shrug. Then, in a swift motion, he spread his phoenix wings. Flames erupted, reducing the body to ash in seconds.

  “Let’s move.” I hoisted Carlyle over my shoulder. He whimpered, and I ignored him.

  We trudged across the scorched road, embers and snow crunching underfoot. At the far end of the street, Coren and the villagers stood before a half-charred building. When we got close to them they walked inside, and we followed

  The building felt like a doused furnace. Smoke clung to the air, and lanterns cast shifting shadows on charred walls. Villagers huddled in groups, clutching makeshift weapons, bandaging wounds. Silence fell when Waelid and I came through the door with Carlyle draped over my shoulder.

  Coren stood facing usrelief on his soot-streaked face. “You’re alive.” Behind him, miners hovered, torn between fear and hope. “We got everyone down safely, except Agnus—took a shot to the gut, but he’ll pull through.” He gestured toward a table where the wounded man lay.

  His face darkened. “Most of the old folks and kids made it, but a lot of our boys weren’t so lucky.”

  I scanned the exhausted crowd—farmers, blacksmiths, seamstresses. Too old, too young, too gentle to fight. Without the academy, they never stood a chance against magebloods.

  Coren pointed to a battered table. “Lay him there.” I dumped Carlyle onto it, his muffled groans punctuating the tense silence.

  “These two,” Coren told the villagers, “took down the magebloods who destroyed our town.”

  A ripple of awe spread through the group, but I caught glimpses of distrust too. We were half beasts to them. They’d seen our monstrous forms.

  I grabbed Carlyle’s hair, lifting his head. “You burned our sanctuary. Killed guards and others. Be thankful for my mercy. Be thankful I didn’t leave you for the rats.”

  His bloodshot eyes flicked up to me. He rasped against the gag, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear him. The villagers were too heartbroken to be angry, but I wasn’t.

  Waelid turned to Coren. “How did they get through the barrier?”

  Coren nodded to an older man. “Wildro was in charge when I left. He can tell you.”

  Wildro leaned on a battered cane, white beard rustling as he spoke. “It started a week ago. Last of the young men went up to mine with Coren. That night, we saw a streak of light on the mountaintop—thought it was a shooting star. Then the nightmare began.

  “Twelve of them. Floating down like gods. Taller than normal folk—turned out to be their long robes. That bright light we saw? Them slipping through the barrier.

  “When they reached Ash’s gate, the young guard transformed into a wolf and tried to stop them.” Wildro’s voice tightened. “Didn’t end well for him.”

  Coren clenched his fists. “We left Cinder enforcers stationed here—wasn’t much, but it should’ve been enough. Did any survive?”

  Wildro shook his head. “The magebloods cut them down in minutes. Split up after that. Two stayed behind—the arrogant boy and the woman.” He eyed Carlyle. “I assume the woman’s dead?”

  Waelid gave a thumbs-up. “Avenged your people, gramps.”

  Wildro sighed. “At first, they just bossed us around, demanded food. Killed anyone who resisted. We thought they came to claim the last bit of Stylos they didn’t control. Then this morning . . .” His gaze flicked to the rafters. “That’s when the two went mad. Started burning buildings.”

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  A woman scowled at Carlyle’s twitching body. “They got a message from some device—a voice telling them, Do what you want now. They torched Ash after that. If not for you two, we’d all be dead.”

  I exchanged a look with Waelid, dread curling in my gut. “That means the rest are at the academy.”

  Waelid nodded grimly. “The magelord’s with them.”

  “We’ll find a way.”

  “How? Half the academy’s probably dead,” Waelid argued.

  “You really think so little of our classmates and teachers?”

  Waelid hesitated.

  “What about Galina? Think she’d go down that easy?”

  He shifted uncomfortably. “No . . . She would’ve planned something.”

  A tremor shook the building. A distant boom rolled through the hills. My pulse leaped. “That’s coming from the academy.”

  Wildro’s face paled. “It’s been like that all day.”

  I nudged a foot at Carlyle. “Keep him alive—he might be useful. But we can’t waste time.”

  Coren saluted. “Good luck, boys.” Around the smoky hall, villagers echoed the gesture.

  A little girl stepped forward. Luci—Coren’s daughter. She held something out to Waelid. “Take this, mister.”

  He lifted the pendant into the dim light: a silver bird holding a carnelian rock.

  “How’d you know I was a phoenix?”

  “I didn’t. But when you saved us, I thought maybe the spirits wanted me to give it to you! It was my mom’s. She said it would always protect me. Now it’ll protect you. Please save our town.” Her wide eyes made her look like a paid actor tugging at heartstrings.

  Waelid swallowed hard, tucking the pendant into his pocket.

  We turned and headed out, smoke and adrenaline fueling every step.

  Waelid and I sprinted toward the land bridge. My legs ached, fatigue tugging at me, but a restless energy burned inside.

  “I’m not sure how many more times we can shift,” I murmured. “If we overdo it, we’ll be useless.”

  Waelid groaned. “Every fight feels like the real one.”

  The sun dipped low, casting the academy in hues of orange and purple. Smoke stained the sky. The peninsula looked like a battlefield.

  Then I saw it—smoke rising from House Anu. A fresh explosion rattled the land bridge beneath us.

  Waelid stiffened. “That’s close.”

  I narrowed my eyes. The spires were battered.

  “House Anu is under attack,” I said as weapons clashed in the distance.

  Waelid bared his teeth. “Let’s go.”

  We broke into a sprint. If House Anu was still fighting, then maybe—not all was lost.

  Waelid and I skidded to a stop behind a half-toppled garden wall. The courtyard of House Anu was chaos—flames flickered on shattered stone, thick smoke curling into the dusky sky. Two magebloods hovered above the battlefield, their gold-and-white robes billowing beneath heavy golden armor. They looked like angelic nightmares, hurling magic down at my classmates below.

  I spotted Galina instantly. She had transformed into her level-two form. She was like a hybrid scorpion; thick chitin covered her arms and torso, and her face was hidden behind the unmoving white mask. Her tail twitched as she batted away spells. Around her, House Anu students fought back with whatever they had—arrows, slings, raw physical attacks. Some upperclassmen had transformed: A porcupine hybrid hurled quills, a horselike fighter kicked up stone, but every attack was dodged or reflected.

  “The students are in stage-one or stage-two forms,” Waelid whispered. “They can’t hold them long without backlash. And their control isn’t perfect—these are still trainees.”

  I nodded. “But they’re trying. Look.”

  Luna crouched in a corner, loosing arrows whenever the bigger of the two magebloods drifted too low. Sora slung stones at the skinny mage’s face. Their attacks barely dented the shimmering armor spells covering the magebloods, but they kept them distracted.

  “She’s setting something up,” Waelid murmured.

  I followed Galina’s gaze—she kept maneuvering the fight toward a specific spot in the courtyard. Each time the magebloods adjusted, she did too.

  Luna fired another arrow, this one tipped with an explosive. Sora’s sling released a rock tied to a long string—like a rope dart. Then she gave a sharp tug, and both Luna’s arrow and the rock detonated midair, engulfing the magebloods in black smoke.

  Galina roared. “Now!”

  From underground, Silas, Tevin, and Mel erupted in a cloud of dirt, their veins pulsing, faces flushed. They raised grappling gauntlets and fired into the black cloud, snagging a mageblood’s ankle. The fat one yowled in surprise, staggering midair as the metal grapple pierced his calf.

  “Pathetic devils!” he bellowed. “Is that all you can do?”

  The skinny girl snickered, flicking a golden whip to clear the smoke. Spotting Silas below, she lashed out, leaving a bloody gash across his face.

  “Waelid,” I breathed, “they need help.”

  He stayed still. “Wait for it . . .”

  I flexed my fingers, testing my reserves.

  ‘Our power’s returning fast. We could jump in now.’

  Not yet, I said.

  Galina took a step forward, raising her hands. “Take me prisoner. Let them go.”

  The skinny girl descended, stopping just above the ground, her hood concealing her face. “Sorry, girl. Orders are orders. You wouldn’t negotiate with termites, would you?”

  She raised her hands, magic crackling at her fingertips.

  Galina clicked her tongue, then slammed her tail to the ground. Dust burst upward, blinding the mageblood.

  “Morosa, stop playing around!” the fat mageblood snapped.

  More dirt exploded. Not four, not eight, but twenty House Anu students burst from underground, grappling hooks flying. The magebloods twisted midair, but the lines tangled around them, tightening like a web.

  The skinny girl shrieked, thrashing.

  “Incapacitate them! Now!” Galina commanded.

  Waelid and I exchanged a glance. Time to move.

  Waelid kicked off the rubble, shifting instantly, phoenix wings blazing. I slunk around the courtyard’s rear, summoning my chimera form—hooves, horns, scaled wings, and Fern’s snake form curling behind me.

  Galina saw Waelid taking flight and shouted for House Anu to press the attack. The magebloods panicked, their magic melting the ropes.

  I surged forward, hooves hammering stone. A fresh wave of grappling hooks and explosives erupted around them.

  Waelid dove. The fat mageblood twisted too late.

  “Jorinmo! Look out!” Morosa, the skinny mage, shrieked.

  Fern, controlling my snake tail, brandished the cursed blade. In a blink, I slammed into Jorinmo’s chest, driving the sword through his golden wards and into flesh. His eyes went wide. Blood splattered his gilded robes as he dropped.

  Morosa screamed, dislocating her arms to rip free. She raised her hands for a final, desperate spell, energy crackling in her palms—

  But she wasn’t fast enough.

  “AHHIIIEE!!” she screamed.

  Waelid’s flaming talons had raked across her back.

  More grappling hooks spiraled around her ankles, yanking her down.

  I swung once, severing her hands before she could cast again. She wailed, pinned beneath the ropes.

  Silence settled over the courtyard. Then a ragged cheer broke out from House Anu’s defenders. Some stared in shock at my chimera form and at Waelid’s burning wings.

  Galina, still in scorpion form, limped toward us. “Erik . . . Waelid . . . Thank the gods. We thought we were alone.”

  I let my power drain away, gasping for breath. “We’re here now. What’s the situation?”

  “Not even a proper hello?” Silas quipped, dabbing at his wounded cheek.

  I held out my hand. “Good to see you’re still alive.”

  “Of course we are.” He smirked. “Still got a report on our investigation, though I doubt it matters now.”

  I raised a brow. “You mean you know who the spy is?”

  Mel stepped up, jerking a thumb toward House Anu. “You bet we do. And we’ve got him tied up back there.”