are bigger things to be concerned about than my insane love life.
Tearing my gaze away from Roman’s, I hustle down the steps, calling over my shoulder, “We should go before we’re any more late. The assembly must be important for Dean Hardwick to gather the whole school.”
If he is planning to announce the closure of the academy, I want to be there so I can voice my objections. Not that I expect him to take a vote on it, but someone should speak up.
I turn down the path toward the auditorium, and a moment later, the guys and Roman all follow me. It only takes us about five minutes to reach the large stone building, but as we approach, I feel something… odd emanating from inside.
The hairs at the back of my neck stand up, and I can sense it, like a smell in the air.
Magic.
I hear the men coming up behind me, and their steps become uneven as they drift to a stop. They can sense it too.
My heart in my throat, I open the doors and enter slowly.
Once I’m inside the building, it becomes obvious immediately what the problem is. Yeah, this is definitely not normal.
There are a few students ahead of me, and one janitor, but none of them are moving. In fact, they don’t even appear to be breathing.
They’re not dead—or at least, they don’t look it. It’s like someone just hit “pause” on a TV show. Everyone’s still halfway through taking a step, or mopping the floor, or grabbing a book. They’re just… frozen.
“What the hell?” Cam breathes behind me.
Tentatively, my heart still hammering, I walk up to the closest student. I have Magical Theory class with her. I reach out, my fingers shaking a little, and lightly touch her arm.
Nothing. She feels oddly cool to the touch, and she doesn’t seem to be breathing or blinking—I can’t even feel a pulse when I press my fingers against her neck.
“What the fuck is this?” Cam whispers. For the first time since I’ve met him, he sounds scared.
“They’re frozen in time.” Roman’s voice is oddly hushed. He seems reluctantly impressed. “It takes powerful magic to do something like this. Hugely powerful.”
I shoot him a glance, stomach twisting as I try to master my own fear. “Who could’ve done this?”
He shakes his head. “I have no idea. Burning off the braces was bad enough, but this?”
“Someone wants everyone out of the way,” Dmitri notes, his tone grim. “Freezing them is easier than killing them, and it means you don’t have to worry about being sneaky. You can just waltz right into anywhere you want.”
“We were late.” My voice goes soft as the realization hits me. “We were late for the assembly—that’s the only reason we didn’t get caught in this spell too.” The gears in my mind are turning, whirring, grinding. Think, goddamn it, think! I look at Roman. “Hardwick was going to announce the shutdown of the school, right?”
“Yes.” His lips press into a thin line. “He fought against it, and he had good leverage but—it seems that it wasn’t enough. The High Circuit felt that the Unpredictable magic users were too unstable and that we couldn’t properly police them. As if it’s our fault that a psychopath is on the loose. Some members of the Circuit are still convinced that Unpredictable magic somehow makes people mentally unbalanced.”
I scrub a hand over my face. “Shit. This all has to connect somehow.” I take a deep breath before glancing around at the men. “Okay, so—bear with me here, but when I went to visit Asher, I overheard Hardwick talking with a few other staff members. About how there are dangerous magical artifacts hidden at this school for safekeeping.”
Cam’s jaw drops. Dmitri glares accusingly at Roman, who looks thunderstruck that I know this. Asher just looks quietly interested, his green eyes sparking with curiosity. It takes a lot to faze that guy—or maybe being in the infirmary for a while put everything in a new perspective for him.
“Is that true?” Dmitri demands.
Roman sighs, closing his eyes and blowing out a breath. “Yes, it is. It was decided that—well, you can’t house dangerous artifacts like these just anywhere. They give off too strong of an aura. But at a school like this, with the immense power the students have, the auras from the artifacts would be undetectable. This was planned in secret. Only certain members of law enforcement know, and they’re very high up. Very few staff members at