The Cursed Rune (Royal Reaper Academy #1) - G. Bailey Page 0,72
changed. After quickly braiding my hair and changing into plain black high-waisted leggings, a tank top, and finally my boots, I head back into the living room. Poppy is ready, and Seb is talking quietly by the lift with Ryker. Both of them look up as I walk in, before turning back to each other in what seems like a heated discussion.
“Ready for another test?” I question Poppy. She grins and nods.
“I’ve tucked Mossy into my bed. He stayed up all night in case ‘the dog tried to eat you.’ His words, not mine,” she explains to me.
The hellhound eating me in the right way could be a very good night indeed. Shame it would come with complications like feelings.
Pulling myself out of my dirty thoughts, I ask, “Got your dagger on you?”
“Yes, and where did you get that other dagger from?” she asks me, eyeing the new dagger on my left hip. Now that I have three daggers and my whip, I’m practically building up my collection. Though I still have my eyes on Finn’s dagger. That pretty thing calls for my stabby hands all over it.
“It’s Catherine’s. Mossy got me it,” I tell her, and she chuckles, shaking her head.
“You’re making an enemy for us both there,” she says and looks over her shoulder, lowering her voice. “But I’m secretly super happy you dislike her as much as I do.”
“Dislike is putting it mildly,” I reply, just as the lift opens and Finn walks back in. Silently he waves his hand in a circle, and a portal opens on the ground, looking like a big black hole.
“After you,” Poppy gently suggests. Ryker and Seb walk to Finn’s side, just as Finn meets my eyes.
Fuck, he looks mad.
“Fae wine is great for relaxing,” I say as I step to the edge of the hole. “For your information.”
“Jump, Daesyn,” he impassively demands. Rolling my eyes, I step off into the shadow and fall straight down. Shadows whip around my body, and I feel like I can’t breathe for a second before I fall out of the darkness and right onto a concrete road, right above the white line in the middle with cat’s eyes either side. I quickly step out of the way, looking around at the very human town we seem to be in. It’s a high street with a big shopping centre waiting in the distance and dozens of town terrace houses surrounding it, all crammed into one small area. Humans don’t look at me as they walk down the paths leading to the shopping centre, and I realise I must be magically cloaked.
I need that shit, because if my old boss sensed me here, I’d see his ugly face right about now.
Seb jumps through next, and I turn to watch him as he straightens up, glancing around us. His voice drips with disgust. “Humans.”
“I’m sure they would say the same about you,” I reply. “Supes are disgusting here.”
“How did you grow up around them?” he questions. I don’t answer, and eventually, Ryker followed by Poppy jump through the portal before it disappears.
“Wow, this is Earth!” Poppy exclaims, her eyes taking in everything from the tiny cafe to the screaming baby in a woman’s arms as she passes right by us.
Suddenly the earth begins to shake, harsh tremors that make all of us fall to our feet and the street to descend into chaos. The screaming starts to irritate me straight away, making it difficult to see what is going on. The tremors stop, and I climb to my feet quickly, my gaze filling with the growing sphere of flames stretching right above us and boxing us in a dome shape.
“What the actual fuck?” Ryker shouts, helping Poppy to her feet. We all freeze as a voice speaks, and I recognise it as the royal stuck-up queen herself.
“Placing one’s people before themselves is a true test of royalty. This test is simple. Each of you has been placed in groups of four, and the task ahead is this. Save as many humans as you can. The group who saves the least will never leave Earth alive. Begin.”
“Crap,” I mutter, watching the dome and noticing that it’s starting to shrink.
“How do we stop them getting burnt? Our magic combined would struggle to push that back!” Poppy shouts in horror. “It’s going to kill us!”
“Grab as many people as you can, and I will find something. Meet here in ten minutes!” I tell them all. Ryker and Seb look between