shifter blinks at me, but I don’t have time to respond. Suddenly the door flies clean off, landing on the hallway floor with a deafening crash. Lights begin to turn on all over the apartment, but I’m barely thinking now, operating on instinct alone. I don’t see who’s at the door, and I don’t care, already letting my magic take over. An instant later I’m in my wolf form, pouncing on the first of several shadowy figures with a flying leap.
It feels like the world around me is moving in slow motion as chaos begins to unfold. The others come running out of their rooms just in time for a veritable army of black-clad intruders storming in. How did they get past Edith’s wards? How did they know there were wards there?
But I don’t have time to think as I snarl down at the man below me and sink my teeth into his shoulder. He yells, and I realise a moment too late that he’s not a human -- just before he shifts into a vampire and throws me off of him with his supernatural strength. I lose my grip on my form as I go flying into a bookshelf, the force of the impact dazing me for a moment as I look around. “Leave her alone!” Hazel yells in her siren voice, drawing the vampire’s attention away. Allowing my hands to turn red with witch magic, I unleash a blast of telekinetic energy just in time to shield Shade from a fireball coming from one of the other attacking shifters. The fire begins to lick at the walls and furniture, and within moments the room is filling up with smoke.
“We need to go!” yells Landon, dodging an incoming swipe from an attacking wolf shifter. Concentrating, I lift him up with the force of my mind, struggling to hold him in the air long enough for Shade to tackle him to the ground. Even through the haze and chaos, I can just make out the insignia on the man’s jacket.
The Academy. They found us.
How?
It’s not a question for right now. Where is everyone? The fire is making me disoriented, and I have to shout to make myself heard. “It’s the Academy!” I yell, stumbling on an overturned chair with my arms out, struggling to see.
A strong arm hooks around my waist and helps me up; for a moment I struggle against it before I hear Silas’ calm voice in my ear. “Come on -- this way.”
We fight our way through the common area, which has suddenly turned into a war zone, but we’ve only made it as far as the entryway when a telekinetic blast, much stronger than anything I’ve done so far, sends all of us -- humans, shifters, and furniture -- flying every which way. I feel a sharp pain in the back of my skull, and when I brush my fingers over my scalp, they come away bloody. My ears are ringing, and the world seems to spin around me. A concussion? I stumble to my feet, fighting against the stinging of the smoke in my eyes and the wound in my head to feel my way to the front door. I fling it open to get some relief from the smoke, realising too late that one of our group is still unaccounted for.
It’s only as the smoke begins to clear that I see Mollie lying on the ground. There’s a gaping wound in her neck, and I don’t need to be a doctor to see how bad it is. “Mollie!” I cry out, rushing towards her, oblivious to the commotion around me. I’m back in human form before I know it, taking her by the shoulders and pulling her into a sitting position. A jet of fire shoots over my head -- Ruby’s doing -- just as one of the attackers, this one a witch, begins to launch magic in my direction.
Except it’s not one of the attackers. It’s Edith, fully shapeshifted, her eyes blazing with a hatred I’ve never seen before. “What are you doing?!” I yell. “Mollie’s hurt! Help us!”
She smiles, actually smiles. “Why don’t you help yourself, hybrid?” she sneers. “You’re the special one here.”
Hunter lets out a snarl and lunges for her before I can process what she’s saying, blocking her attack from hitting me with his own durability.
I glance down at Mollie, whose eyes are growing glassy. “No, no, no…” I murmur, trying desperately to think of something -- a healing