“Then we need to go to Falleaf, and hope Hadrian can do something to help us,” Alex said. “Is this everyone?”
The group looked at one another, scanning the faces for anyone who seemed to be missing. A minute passed before a voice spoke up.
“This is everyone,” it confirmed, though Alex couldn’t see who had said the words.
“Good, then I’m going to need you all to come with me,” Alex insisted. He knew Hadrian wouldn’t be too happy at the sight of so many of them, but that was his tough luck. Alex wasn’t going to leave anyone to die.
“I can’t come with you to Falleaf,” Helena said suddenly.
“Of course you can! Come on, it’ll be fine,” Jari jumped in, touching Helena’s arm.
Helena shook her head. “If what you say is true, Alex, I need to take whatever essence we have left and bring it to Stillwater. If I can keep the Great Evil at bay there, we will be keeping our options open. Julius will find out what we’ve done with Venus, and if we only have one place to run to, the king will come down on us like a raging tempest,” she explained. “More importantly, I still have people there. I will not leave them to a fate like this, not if I can prevent it.”
A moment of tense silence passed in the group. If it had been his own people, Alex knew he would have done the same. Before he could speak, members of the Stillwater party began to announce their unyielding loyalty to Helena, their voices rising in a stirring chorus of support.
“We will return with you! We will make our school safe!” one cried.
“We stand with you, Helena,” another said.
“We’ll follow you!” shouted a third.
Helena smiled. “I shall be returning to Stillwater immediately—anybody who wishes to join me is more than welcome, but the others must follow Alex. He will lead you to a safer place.”
With that, the group split into two, though the returning Stillwater group was far smaller—less than half the army Helena had brought with her. The rest huddled with the Spellshadow students, not daring to meet Helena’s gaze, though it was clear the young woman understood their reluctance entirely.
“Here,” said Ellabell, handing Helena the somewhat emptier bag of Falleaf essence.
“Thank you,” Helena said, then turned to Alex. “Now go. We’ll try to meet you at Falleaf afterward. I’ll see you all soon.”
Helena and her downsized army sprinted toward the Head’s office, where the portal would be lying open. Alex watched them go for a moment before projecting his voice over the crowd.
“Follow me,” he shouted, lugging along the still-unconscious Virgil. The Head groaned as they began to move, but Alex ignored it, hoping the royal would have the decency to stay knocked out until they reached Falleaf.
A nervous energy trailed Alex, with the congregation keeping pace with him as they hurried through the hallways. As Alex began to tire, Natalie and Jari took the place of himself and the shadow-man, the latter seemingly using their gesture of kindness as an excuse not to help any longer.
“I’ll see you there,” purred Elias, before disappearing into the darkness of the rafters.
“You’d better,” Alex muttered.
They poured out across the front steps of the manor, ignoring the scattered bodies that lay on the front lawn. Alex turned in time to see Catherine de Marchmont’s red-rimmed eyes glance toward the spot where Jun Asano had fallen, but she dropped her gaze a second later, evidently unable to bear the sight.
A few members of the group cowered as Storm reappeared, dropping down onto the grass beside them with a loud chirrup of indignation. It was clear she hadn’t appreciated being left to her own devices while everyone else disappeared inside the stone walls of the manor, where she couldn’t follow.
Alex smiled, reaching a hand up to stroke the downy feathers on the side of her face. “Sorry, girl, we’ve gotten ourselves into a bit of trouble,” he whispered.
The Thunderbird gave a low, anxious coo.
“It’s okay, we’re getting everyone out,” he said, before clambering up onto her back. She opened her enormous wings, startling the nearby students, but Alex stopped her. “No, Storm, we just need to walk for now, toward the Falleaf portal,” he explained. With a bristle of the feathers at the top of her head, she folded her wings back in and began walking as instructed, in a strangely hypnotic motion, Alex riding on her back. It was clear it wasn’t natural to her, but she was doing it anyway. Alex smiled at the thought—he had grown exceptionally fond of his Thunderbird.
With him leading the way on his peculiar steed, the rest of the group followed, though they picked up speed as a great rumble tore through the ground, making several students stumble. The mist was rising, and they needed to get to Falleaf fast. Almost running now, they hurried through the desolate gardens with their tumbledown walls and warped trees, the fountains mossed over, the flowers long since withered.
Reaching the broken section of the outer fortifications, Storm flew over the wall and landed neatly on the other side, just as another quake shook the ground, chunks of wall tumbling down. The students ducked out of the way, prompting the group to push and shove their way through the gap.
“Single file!” Alex yelled, but nobody was listening. Behind them, debris was falling from the walled gardens, the ancient fountains cracking, and the manor, just visible in the distance, was shaking. The sound of breaking glass and splintering rock filled their ears.
Bigger students trampled smaller ones, forcing Alex to jump down from Storm and join his friends as they struggled to pull the squashed students from the gap in the wall, while more stampeded through. It was a mess, everybody out for themselves. There had to be around fifty students trying to push their way out of the walled garden, and though some called for order, the panicked screams and pained cries drowned them out.
“Storm, can you help?” Alex asked, desperate now. There was a small boy trapped at the very bottom of the gap, his hand just visible, but nobody could get to him and people continued to run over him, pushing him farther and farther down into the crevice.
Storm chirped her response. Taking a step back, she braced herself, puffing out her feathered chest. A beam of ice came hurtling out of her mouth, her wings arched behind her for support. The ice thundered into the side of the stone wall, a short distance from the initial break in the fortifications, cracking it apart like the shell of an egg. As it came tumbling down, the scared students peeled away from the smaller exit, sprinting through the larger break instead. Seizing the opportunity, Alex hauled the small boy out of the wreckage, quickly checking that he was okay. Remarkably, he was, with just a few scrapes and bruises to show for it. His friends came running up, taking over from Alex, giving him the chance to hop onto Storm’s back and continue their exodus.
“With me!” he called, picking up the pace again. Reaching the top of the hill, a few of the students turned back to the manor to see the first wisps of something silver rising into the air. The ground shook again, more violently this time. One of the manor’s towers fell, hitting the ground with an earth-shattering bang. The students couldn’t tear their eyes away; Spellshadow had been a weird sort of home to them for so long that to be leaving no doubt felt strange. Alex shared the feeling—it wasn’t easy to leave a place of apparent safety, to step into the unknown. However, there was no time to think any farewell thoughts they might have—they could do that later, when they were somewhere safer. Barking at them to move, Alex ushered them down the slope of the hill, coming to a halt as they reached the very edge of the smoking field.
“Wait!” Alex called, knowing this would not be a simple crossing, thanks to the wispy snakes that Virgil had placed beneath the scorched earth. He gestured to Natalie and Jari, and they managed to get Virgil up onto Storm’s back, practically draping the skeletal man around the bird’s neck, so the pair of them would be free to race across the treacherous expanse of barren wasteland. Alex wished he could take them all on Storm, but as it was, there was no more room.
Turning, he addressed the group. “We need to run for that tree-line over there, do you understand?” he said, watching the congregation closely for any weak links who might need more help.
The group nodded, more than fifty faces staring at him in abject horror.
“I need you to run as fast as you can, without looking back, okay?” he added.
The group nodded again, more anxiously this time.
“If you fall, get up and keep going. If a friend falls, pick them up and keep going. Do not stop, do not wait, do not pause, do not rest until you have reached the woods on the other side,” he insisted. “Now, GO!”
The students sprinted across the smoking field, some faster than others, but none daring to look back, just as Alex had instructed.
With one eye on the darting students, Alex got onto Storm’s back, pinioning Virgil between himself and Storm’s neck. With the Head securely in place, the Thunderbird stepped back, taking a run up, before rising into the air. Glancing down at the charging army of scared students, he hoped they would all make it across in one piece. For a moment, his gaze was pulled backward toward the manor, where the silver glitter of the mist was rising from the roof like smoke, seeking out souls to feed its insatiable hunger.
Chapter 3
The smoking snakes slithered upward from the cracked, dry earth, sensing the pounding of feet above. Alex saw a few of the students glance at the wispy creatures, their eyes wide in horror, but they did not falter, turning their gaze straight ahead toward the trees, their legs carrying them across the smoking field. Vaporous fangs opened wide, the snakes snapping at the heels of the fleeing students, but none of them managed to make contact. Alex felt a wave of relief when the first of the students disappeared behind the blockade of sickly-looking tree trunks, followed a few moments later by the next few, and the next, until only the stragglers remained.
Billy Foer and Catherine de Marchmont trailed the rest of the runners, two snakes right on their tail, the serpents’ mouths stretching in readiness for the bites they longed to take. The first was just about to close its foggy fangs on the ankle of Billy Foer when Ellabell rushed forward, grabbing the boy by the arms and hauling him into the trees, leaving the serpent to recoil, slithering backward with what Alex could swear was a look of disappointment on its vapory face.
Catherine, however, simply stopped, only a few yards shy of the tree-line. Alex frowned, wondering what she was doing—there was a smoky snake blocking her way, but if she was smart, she could dodge out of its way. But it seemed as if all the fight had left her, body and soul.
“Catherine, run!” Natalie yelled, but Catherine only stared at her blankly. A few students even tried to reach out and grab her, but the snakes blocked their way. Seeing that she had no exit, a sudden light came back to her eyes, but it was too late. The vaporous serpent behind her clamped its jaws around her leg, the other snake joining in, biting down hard on Catherine’s arm. She let out a blood-curdling scream, but there was nothing anyone could do to help her, and though she fought, it was clear there was no escape for her. As a sickening tag-team, the serpents dragged her across the cracked earth, though Alex had no idea where they kept their intense strength, considering their smoky appearance. With a vicious tug, they pulled her into a hole in the ground that was much too small. She screamed all the while, until she suddenly went silent, the echo of her final scream shivering through the air toward the shocked students, the light in her eyes extinguished. Yanking and dragging with appalling vehemence, the serpents continued their foul game, until their prey disappeared beneath the earth.
“Keep… Keep going!” Alex urged, though he knew it would be hard to get over the scene they had just witnessed. He could hardly believe it himself. Grief-stricken and confused, he realized she must have paused, believing she wanted to give up, only to change her mind a fraction of a second too late. He tried to push the image of her final moments to the back of his mind as he urged Storm to descend into a tiny clearing he’d spotted in the woods. There would be time to mourn later, once they were away from the threat of the silver mist.
With a last flap of her wings and a ripple of muscle, the Thunderbird elegantly dropped to the ground. As she landed, the crowd of students appeared through the woods, horror written across their faces.
“Is everyone okay?” Alex asked, dismounting the Thunderbird.
“No physical injuries,” Natalie answered, looking queasy.
Alex nodded, glancing around at the shell-shocked group. Their fear seeped toward him, heightening the worry in his own veins. “I know what you’ve all just seen is terrible, and I promise, we’ll honor Catherine later, but right now we need to get going. Aamir, you know where the portal is, right?”
“This way,” Aamir said, leading the group.
As they departed, Alex turned to the Thunderbird. “Can you meet us at Falleaf? Hide beside the cave until I can come and find you,” he instructed, trying to wrestle the unconscious Virgil from her back.
Storm’s bright eyes glanced over Alex, and a chirp of understanding trilled from her beak. With a rush of limbs and wings, she took off again, soaring over the sickly woods, casting a shadow on all those below, and then disappearing with a crack like thunder.
Knowing she was safely on her way to Falleaf, Alex took off after the others, dragging Virgil along. It still surprised him how heavy the Head was, considering his slight frame and skeletal appearance, and it was tough going as he pulled the man along.
The woods gave way to a larger clearing with a stone circle of obelisks in the center. In the middle of that circle, a portal glimmered, showing the autumnal leaves of Falleaf House, though it was a different view from the one Alex had seen from the walls of Kingstone. This led into a deeper, darker part of the forest around Falleaf, but there didn’t seem to be any signs of soldiers in the immediate vicinity, which made Alex feel a small flicker of relief.
Aamir, Jari, Ellabell, and Natalie were standing at the rear of the student group, marshaling the progress of the procession of students stepping through the portal. Nobody wanted a repeat of what had happened at the walled garden. Some were reluctant, having never seen a portal before, and not knowing what the world was beyond, but Alex could hear the comforting words of his friends reassuring them.
“You are all going to be just fine. The person in charge here is nothing like the Head—he will keep us safe,” Aamir promised.
“Come on, it’s just a little step, dude!” Jari encouraged.
“That’s it, just straight through and you’ll be fine,” said Ellabell, flashing her brightest smile.
“See, they are all fine, and you will be too,” Natalie insisted calmly, pressing a firm hand against the backs of the more reluctant students.
With the last person through, the only thing left to do was step through themselves. Alex glanced back, and though the woods blocked the manor from view, he could see the coil of silver mist rising over the spot where the manor ought to be, its tendrils twisting into the air, sniffing out its prey. With any luck, Alex hoped, it would go hungry today.
“Need a hand?” Jari quipped, before coming over to take up Virgil’s other arm. With the Head decidedly more balanced, and Alex’s shoulders giving a sigh of relief, they took their steps through the portal, into the realm of Falleaf. The temperature dropped instantly, the forest chillier than the woods of Spellshadow, though it looked like warm sunlight was trying to peek through the thick canopy. A few of the Stillwater students, used to constant warmth and sunshine, began to shiver.
As they stood in the cool glade where they had come out of the portal, Alex’s mind wandered toward the idea of the fifth haven. It seemed like the best place to take so many people, though he was certain the suggestion wouldn’t go down well. Yet, he found himself thinking about the clear, crisp air of Starcross, and its seemingly idyllic landscape. Surely, if it had been one of the five fallen havens, it ought to have been smothered in a blanket of mist, but it wasn’t. Did that mean the mist
ebbed and faded over time, after it had done its deadly sweep of the place? With no mage essence left to taste, had it retreated? It was a question he’d have to save for Ceres—she knew more about the fifth haven and its secrets than anyone.
“I’m going to leave you all here while I go and find the man in charge, to ensure safe passage through these forests. While I’m gone, keep yourselves as hidden as possible and your eyes peeled for anything strange that might look like a trap. Listen to what these guys have to say, too,” he added, gesturing toward his friends.
The group made noises of anxious agreement, some of them retreating into the darkest recesses of the glade, their bodies morphing with the shadow into nothingness, the camouflage remarkable. Alex just hoped it would be enough to fool any passing soldiers.
“What are we going to do with him?” Aamir asked, nodding at Virgil.
Alex grimaced. “I’m going to have to leave him here. Can you manage?”
The four remaining friends glanced at one another, their hesitant expressions mirror images of Alex’s own.
“We will do what we can,” Natalie said, finally.
“Though that’s not exactly saying much,” a silky voice purred from the shady boughs of a giant oak. Elias rippled down the twisted trunk, his teeth glinting. “Which is why you’ll be pleased to know I’ve come to join the party,” he added, splaying out his arms while shaking his shadowy fingers—the weirdest jazz hands Alex had ever seen.
As much as he hated to admit it, Alex was pleased to see that Elias had returned. No matter how powerful his friends were, and how weak Virgil was in his current state, they all knew how unpredictable the Head could be. With Elias’s assistance, they stood a better chance of being able to keep the Head under control, at the very least.
“Do you think you’ll be able to manage him?” Alex smiled wryly, trying hard not to roll his eyes in the direction of the shadow-man.