“Fuck,” Roman swears as the shriek dies down. I open my eyes. “This isn’t a bird,” he spits. “I’m not sure what kind it is, but this—this is a demon.”
It doesn’t surprise me he recognizes a demon when he sees one, and I realize that was what struck me as familiar about the strange orange color of its feathers. It’s the same hue as the demon he summoned last year.
Unnatural. Alien. A color my eyes couldn’t quite process—because it’s not really of this world.
Jesus effing Christ.
“I think we know what’s been attacking the students,” Dmitri says dryly.
“You think?” I shoot back.
That’s when I hear it—a cracking noise.
And I realize the bird wasn’t just shrieking to intimidate us.
Oh crap, oh crap, the eggs are opening. Oh crap!
We can’t take on six more of these bird-demons, even baby ones. Can we? I know I can’t, even with my new mirroring power. And would that even work on a demon? What powers does this thing possess, anyway?
The rustling, cracking sounds continue, but we stand our ground. It’s not like we can just run and abandon the school to these demons up here. And if we did try to run, that would just mean turning our backs on this thing—no fucking thank you, not today, sir.
The bird rustles its feathers. I swear it has a gleam of triumph in its eyes. If birds could smile, this one would be smirking evilly like it’s the villain in a James Bond film. As its feathers ruffle, I hear not the movement of natural, soft feathers but the scrape of metal, and I realize—those feathers are deadly sharp, like blades.
Ahahaha. Fuck. We are so fucked.
“Run,” Roman whispers to me. “I’ll cover you two.”
“No way!” I hiss. “I’m not leaving you.”
“I’m the demonology expert.”
“And I’m stubborn and reckless, remember?”
Before he can respond to that, a hand shoots up out of the nest and grabs the rim.
I jump, my stomach twisting in fear. What the hell is that?
The hand clenches, grasping at the sticks and hardened mud of the nest as more of the body rises into view.
And I see someone I recognize.
It’s Tandy.
But that’s… not possible. Tandy’s down in the infirmary with the others. She’s resting; they all are. They couldn’t go home because the healers were worried it would be too much of a strain on their systems to move them. They’re all still fragile and in an almost comatose state, and Tandy’s down there, not up here.
“What. The. Fuck?” Dmitri says hoarsely, and for once, he sounds anxious.
Yeah, I concur.
More of them start to climb over the nest. Tom and the other students who were attacked, and—
And Cam.
They’re all naked, which would normally be a bit off-putting, but their bodies aren’t quite human. A weird slime covers them from head to toe, probably residual goo from the eggs. There’s also a strange orange light in their eyes. And where the, well, dangly bits and stuff would normally be, there’s just more smooth skin.
Alarm bells ring in my brain, my senses screaming that something is off, something isn’t right here. Something is very, very wrong. The six figures are even moving oddly, like they’re not quite sure how humans walk so they’re just doing their best imitation.
It makes bile rise up in my throat. Especially staring at the Cam doppelgänger. He looks just like the sunny blond mage, but… not. It’s creepy and disconcerting, and I want it to stop—I want to cover my eyes and burst into tears for some reason, but I can’t.
It’s pretty damn clear we’re going to have to fight these… these others, these doppelgängers.
The bird-thing lets out another piercing cry. I crane my neck to look up at it, and for a moment, I see a weird glimpse of something. As if there’s a veil between what’s right in front of me and what’s going on somewhere else, somewhere far away, on the other side of the world for all I know. They say on Halloween Night and Midsummer’s Night, you can see through the veil into the spirit world, or the world of faerie, but this isn’t either of those days.
So what the hell am I seeing?
I blink and scrub at my eyes like I’m trying to dislodge sleep particles from them.
The bird bobs its head down and glares at me—yeah, it’s a glare, there’s no other word for it—and I stare back as I hear Roman shout something from beside me. Magic glows