Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,79

now. I have to—

I don’t know what happens. One second I’m trying to find the words to explain that I have to go alone to my friends. The next, a portal flares around me and I’m swallowed by its magic. The portal spits me out almost immediately. I blink, taking in the red bricks. The dumpster a few feet to my right. The stench of trash assails my senses.

I must have created a portal without even meaning to. I put the surprising thought away to examine later.

Valerian. He’s nearby. I can feel his wounded energy prickling the air. Calling me.

Using the rough brick wall for support, I maneuver around the trash at my feet—discarded beer boxes, pizza containers, a dirty sneaker. Club music pulses from somewhere nearby.

Where is he? Where is he? Where is he?

Driven by desperation, I leap over the piles of trash. The alleyway ends on a side street. My head whips left to right. I have to find him. He needs me.

I recognize the row of clubs lining the street.

Even though it’s late into the night, lines still snake from the doors. The bond tugs harder, the wrenching pain more insistent.

I’m coming, I whisper across our connection, hoping he can hear me.

He’s drowning. His dark, tormented emotions like flames burning him alive.

The pain is almost too much to bear.

Where are you? Please, I can’t find you—

A pulse of something drags my focus to the far left.

On some instinct I don’t understand, I ping Valerian’s location to the largest, loudest club at the end of the street. The three-story brick building looks like it was once a warehouse, and by the lack of windows and doors, is probably violating at least ten fire codes. The line wraps around the only doors I can see and disappears behind the building.

My Fae senses kick in, and I sprint to the doors faster than humanly possible. Two ram shifters with giant sets of curving gray horns move to block my way—

I drive my fist into the first one’s throat. He flails back, surprise widening his dark eyes. I dart through the opening.

The second one grabs me by my hair and twists. “What the Fae hells are you—”

My leg kicks back, and I ram the sharp point of my heel into his thigh. He bellows. The pressure releases from my scalp. I hurtle into the crowd, pausing by a cordoned off stairway that goes down.

There. He’s down there.

A pale vampire female with spiky pink hair and full sleeve tats hisses, baring her fangs. “This is VIP. Wait, you’re mortal. How did you get in here?”

Annoyed, she moves to stop me—

Whatever she sees in my expression sends her retreating. I blow past her, taking the steps five at a time.

I’m coming. I’m coming.

Techno music pounds the walls of the underground club. Blue and white strobe lights flash in rhythm with my racing heart. Everyone in the club is dancing, swaying, and thrashing to the violent beat. Some sort of shimmery fog layers the air. The overpowering scent of sweat, alcohol, and honeysuckle collides with my senses.

Adrenaline sears my veins. I drag my gaze over the patrons. Their floral tattoos and bright clothing. Their gold and red hair.

This is a Seelie club.

Valerian would only come here if he wanted—

Oh, God.

The bond drags me across the dance floor. I’m sprinting, shoving Fae out of the way. I’ve almost forgotten that I’m a mortal in a sea full of drunken Fae, but they haven’t. A male Summer Fae with long red hair lifts his nose in the air as I pass. He wears jeans and no shirt, sweat gleaming off his powerful body. An eagle fighting an owl is tattooed across his broad chest.

His head whips in my direction, his lips tilting into a dark grin as he reaches for me—

Without slowing, I grab his wrist, using his momentum to drag him forward as I snake out a leg. He goes sprawling into a group of gazelle shifters.

Where are you?

The music intensifies. The strobe lights flash faster and faster, changing colors, pulsing in a wild tempo to match the beat. Something—a feeling, a sound—drags my attention to the mezzanine above.

Again, an employee has the stairs cordoned off. A sign reads VIP members only.

I must look terrifying because the dark skinned Summer Court Fae lets me by without a word.

Two leaps and I’m on the top landing. The connection pulls me to the right. My heels sound like gunshots as I hurtle down a hallway, blindly, trusting