Defying Destiny (Afterword Academy #3) - Katie May Page 0,46

wings protecting her as Karston and I hold the door.

Monsters crash into it, their demonic howls making all the hair on my body stand on end.

“We can’t hold them!” Karston shouts, his teeth grinding, toes digging into the old floorboards.

He’s right.

This is a fight we can’t win.

All we can do is protect Hadley.

“Everyone, protect Hadley!” I shout, and we abandon our posts, encircling her on the bed, like a shield of souls.

The bed groans from our weight, the mattress creaking. Then the door crashes to the ground, and the monsters fight to get in first. Hadley and Preston scream at the top of their lungs, and panic has my heart racing.

This is it.

Where it all ends.

I fire arrows as quick as I can, and many fall, pus-filled boils bursting, spraying us with liquid that burns like acid.

“No!” Hadley screams as one of them claws at Karston, grabbing onto his bicep with the mouth on the end of its arm. He howls in pain, stabbing at the monster with his dagger.

And as a dozen more monsters descend on us, the floorboards give way and we sink into the floor.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Chapter 19

Caius

The seventh layer of Hell.

We’re so close I can practically taste it. It dances on the tip of my tongue, tantalizing my tastebuds, until I’m begging—no, screaming—for more.

“Is everyone okay?” I ask, hovering anxiously above the five of them. My beloved blinks drowsy eyes, the spark I love and admire so much dripping from her body like sap in a maple tree. Her multi-colored hair is wildly disheveled as she weakly moves into a sitting position. I wish desperately that I could help her, that I could turn physical and scoop her up, but I already used the power of the essences once during this journey.

I refuse to do it again.

I refuse to give in to the desire to become the Darkness, to become a monster incapable of earning Hadley’s love.

“Kar? You okay?” Hadley asks weakly, turning towards the Ghost. He’s nursing his arm, brows scrunched together, but he manages a curt head bob.

“I’ll be fine.”

Braxton is helping a trembling Preston and a scowling Auston to their feet, before he turns his dark, obsidian gaze onto me.

“Smog monster,” he hisses, and I choose to see that nickname as a term of endearment instead of an insult. Positive thinking. “You’re familiar with this layer of Hell, correct?”

“Yes,” I confess immediately, staring at the coal-like walls oozing rivulets of lava and fire. It flickers intermittently like candles on a birthday cake—the one human tradition I hope to continue when I’m finally free of my prison cell.

Because I can’t leave her. I don’t know for certain when I came to that conclusion—maybe when I sheathed her fingers inside her wet heat—but now I’m positive that I’m supposed to live out the remainder of my days at her side.

I couldn’t save Claire, but I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to Hadley.

We will find my prison.

We will free my body and her essence.

And we will get our happily ever after.

“We’re close, baby,” I hear Karston murmur to Hadley. He has his good arm wrapped around her shoulders, and she’s leaning heavily against him, those slightly curled eyelashes fluttering against her cheeks. Has her skin always been that pale? That gaunt? I swear I can see every bone individually, almost as if they have been inflated with air and shoved into a vessel two sizes too small.

Turning to address the four men before me, the four men who each hold a piece of Hadley’s infinitely large heart, I say, “This is where all of Hell’s monsters reside. We’re going to have to fucking fight like there is no tomorrow. Once I’m in my body, I’ll be able to do more damage. Unlike Hadley, I’m an original Fate. I’ve never been reborn. I’ll unleash all of my Wrath on the monsters so we can escape. But before then, we need to fight. Is that understood?”

Auston looks uneasy, but he sets his jaw and nods in grim determination. Braxton merely holds his sword in front of him, the blade glinting in the flickering flame light. Karston and Hadley both nod as well, though I notice the Ghost doesn’t remove his attention from Hadley’s pale face. I have no doubt he’ll spend the majority of the fight by her side, protecting her.

“Preston?” I turn towards the last member of the quad and my favorite. The poor Reaper looks scared shitless, his dark hair sticking in all directions as if