Midnight Truth (Shifter Island #4) - Leia Stone Page 0,63

several other members of Daybreak Clan stood huddled together. Some were crying and others staring with wide-eyed expressions of shock. Sara stepped forward as soon as Rage and I entered the room. She had her arm cradled to her chest; blood stained her tattered clothing.

“Your Majesty,” she said, bowing her head, her voice strained. “The blood mages…” Her voice cracked, and when she looked up, her cheeks were streaked with tears. “…attacked. We tried to fight them off, but our numbers were … overwhelmed.”

Wait. What?

Attacked here?

“How many?” Rage growled, his entire body stiffening.

Sara shook her head, and fresh tears spilled down her cheeks.

“More than we could count. Dad and Lizbeth … are gone.” Sadie’s voice cracked, but she forced a swallow. “We lost most of our clan, trying to fight them. Even the hawks helped.”

It hit me then that Sara was the one speaking … because John was dead.

“Oh, Sara.” I stepped forward and grasped her hands, giving them a squeeze. “I’m so sorry.”

She nodded, wiping at her eyes, and a tall young man in his early twenties stepped up. “I’ll take over alpha duties until we can sort out who will be in charge from now on,” he told Rage.

“Thank you, Nick.” Rage nodded to him.

My heart thundered against my ribs.

“What did they want?” I asked. “The blood mages … what did they want?”

Sara wiped the tears from her face and swallowed hard. “I don’t know. They disappeared through the tree portal to High Mage Island.”

No!

No, no, no!

“Nai!” Rage yelled, but I was already moving … racing out the door.

I needed to get back there.

I needed to check on my family.

I should’ve never left them.

Oh, Mother Mage, I prayed. Please let them be okay!

My mind was a scattered mess, my thoughts too jumbled to concentrate enough to create a portal. So I ran.

Out of the castle and across the quad.

I raced all the way to the library where I blasted the giant wooden double doors open with my air element.

The wood splintered inward, and I strode through the rubble to the black onyx door.

Then, I pushed it open…

And was greeted by the screams of pandemonium.

Oh, Mother Mage, give me strength.

I advanced down the corridor and froze as dozens … no, a hundred advanced mages blasted their magic at an innumerable host of blood mages. Behind the mage citizens of High Mage Island were a wall of men and women with black hair and pale skin. Swirling tattoos like I’d seen on Surlama, danced across their faces and arms.

This was a war.

While I’d slept in my mate’s bed, the blood mages had declared war.

How were there this many of them?

My mind couldn’t fathom what was happening, and I stood there in shock.

I spotted Snade with his hands extended, fire blasting out from his palms, igniting several blood mages’ robes. Heath and his earth element heir, Carson, flung stones and made the ground shake, all in an attempt to slow the tide of monsters rushing the library. A giant crack ripped through the library floor, and books shook from their shelves.

The women and young children of High Mage Island poured toward me, to the narrow corridor of escape through the Alpha Academy library. I pushed through the tide to get to the fight—to get to my family—but I was careful to leave the portal door open so that they could escape.

My mind reeled with what I was seeing. The way Kian had first spoken to the other high mages about the blood mages, it almost made it sound like they were on the same side. But this was definitely not that. This was a full-on attack against both the shifters and the mages.

I darted toward the door marked with spirit, ready to run to Grandpa’s office, when Sariah, Donovan, and Annette stepped through. Relief slammed into me at the sight of them. My eyes darted past them, looking for more people.

“Where’s Grandpa?” I shouted at them as I raced toward them. Reyna was missing too.

My voice was lost in the screams and panic around us.

I crashed into Sariah, scanning her for any injuries. Her eyes were wide, and I noticed blood on her hands.

“Where’s Grandpa?” I bellowed. She shook her head and looked back at the door in shock. “They … killed the dogs,” she mumbled. “Drained them.”

My stomach fell to my feet.

“Go,” I shouted, pointing toward the portal to Shifter Island, where a river of mages flowed toward their only escape. Some of the high mages were holding the blood

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