Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,98

venom that I half expect Mack’s crossbow to accidentally go off and her bolt to accidentally lodge in Inara’s eyeball. “Wow, you are straight up in denial.”

“Why would they lace my food?”

Mack arches a dark brow. “Because they . . . hate you?”

Inara makes a dubious sound. “They most certainly do not. They’re just playing a game. A stupid game.”

Mack and I share an exasperated look.

“Yeah,” Ruby snarks, “and the creatures out there don’t want to crunch my head like a grape and pick their teeth with my delicate bones.”

Her confidence wavers, lips tugging downward. “He probably tripped and knocked into me by accident. Right, brother?”

Inara flips around to cast a desperate glance at Bane—only to watch him wave goodbye. The portal evanesces into the smoke-ridden air.

“I bet he accidentally destroyed the portal too,” Mack mutters. “You know, the only thing standing between us and painful, gory death?”

Slowly, Inara turns around. Her eyes roll wildly as she takes in the darklings in the woods beyond. “We’re going to die.”

“No, you are going to die because I’m going to kill you.” Mack lifts the crossbow, her brows shoved together in rare hatred.

“Wait! Don’t kill her yet,” Ruby whisper-yells. “Shoot both her legs so she can’t run and then we can sneak away while the scary things eat her.”

Mack beams. “Genius. I’m really proud of you, Ruby.” Crossbow still trained on Inara, she glances at me. “What’s your vote?”

“My vote is the only one that matters,” Inara quips, her usual arrogance flaring. “And I veto that idiotic idea.”

“Not how this works at all, but okay.” Mack stares down the shaft of her bolt at Inara. “Tell us, since you’re in charge, how do we survive this?”

Inara throws up her shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know. You guys figure out a distraction while I run to get help. My Fae speed makes me the perfect choice.”

“Yeah, that’s going to happen never,” Mack hisses, her voice growing louder. “You would leave us here to die.”

“I know where we are and which direction leads back to campus, meaning I’m your only hope.”

“Only because you planned this nightmare scenario,” Mack seethes.

“The past is the past. Let’s focus on the future, hmm?”

Mack jerks the crossbow until it lines up with her right thigh. “Let’s see how glib you are when a darkling rips off your arm and gnaws on it like a drumstick . . . while you’re still alive.”

Inara’s lips stretch into a taunting grin. “My, aren’t you a demented little thing.”

I throw up my hands. “Everyone, shut up, I’m trying to think.”

Mack and Inara glare at each other, but they stop talking, and I use the silence to form a plan.

The . . . complete silence.

A prickle of alarm rushes over my skin. My ears strain to pick up the moans, snarls, and shuffling noises from earlier, but the woods have gone still. Which means something has caught their attention.

A sinking feeling takes hold as I discover the shapes around us have stopped moving.

Peering through the smoke and mist, I pick out a dark figure between a copse of stripped trees. It’s hunched over, arms hanging and neck at an odd angle.

And it’s—it’s sniffing.

Oh, fudge. Double fudge on a stick slathered in crap.

“Guys, the portal—”

“The portal’s gone, idiot,” Inara snaps, forgetting to use her surrounded-by-face-munching-monsters voice. “Oberon’s beard, how have you guys survived this long?”

The darkling’s head snaps up.

“No,” I whisper, retreating on my heels until Mack and I are back to back. “When it was destroyed . . .”

“The magic leaked into the air,” Mack finishes, the quiet terror in her voice confirming my dark suspicions. “It’s going to draw them straight toward us.”

Then, like a bad horror movie, the darklings screech as they converge on us. Hundreds and hundreds at once.

41

There’s no time to formulate a plan. Most of the darklings seem to be coming from one side so we sprint in the other direction. Ruby flits above me, appearing through layers in the mist as she scouts ahead. Mack and I lock eyes—hers wide but determined—and make a silent pact to stay close. We leap over fallen trees and rocks. Slam into dead stumps. Trip over roots.

Behind us rages a growing cacophony of grunts and animalistic shrieks that pierce my marrow.

“They’re gathering around the portal’s location,” Mack shouts, dragging in a breath.

Her dark, colorful ponytail streaks behind her as she runs, arms pumping like an Olympic runner. Up ahead I catch glimpses of Inara. Just like she promised, she’s faster than