Phoenix Academy - Lucy Auburn Page 0,10

with me the way it pulled you into Hell. Especially because... because the rules of this place are different."

"How so?"

"I hadn't wanted to mention this before," I admit, "but only my soul is here. And the three of you... your bodies are here as well. That makes things harder. We should be able to get you out, since you haven't technically died. But I don't want to gamble with it. Just in case."

None of them look happy at this, and I can't blame them. It was one thing when we'd just stumbled into Hell and weren't sure what would happen next. Now that we're facing the possibility of being trapped down here, everything is looking a little more, well, grim.

At least Ezriel is stopped for now. And I gave a warning to Auerbach to protect the campus. Plus, we have this new place to shelter in—things can't be that bad. We haven't even been attacked by demons yet.

Maybe we'll be out in no time.

As I take the steps up towards the front of the school, though, a little shiver goes down my back. Whirling around, I narrow my eyes into the darkness and throw a blue fireball down the steps, arcing past the guys—but it hits nothing.

There's no one there.

"Something wrong?" Reggie growls low in his throat, much like the black panther form he takes. "Did you hear something?"

"I thought I sensed something... but if you guys didn't, maybe it was just my imagination." Shaking it off, I take another few steps up towards the school, and a sense of foreboding goes through me. "Do you feel that?"

Frowning, Xavier races up the steps beside me, and shakes his head. "I don't see or hear anything."

"Or smell anything," David adds, shoving his hands into the pockets of his borrowed Phoenix Academy blazer. "Sure it's not just your imagination, Ari?"

"It must be. I guess it's something to do with what happened here before." At their quizzical looks, I explain, "I can feel the old energy of this place. Souls used to be tortured here. Some of them left their pain behind long after it was over."

"Fantastic," Reggie says dryly. "We're heading into a torture factory."

"At least we know it was abandoned."

As we push open the front doors and walk through the empty hallways, though, I don't feel alone.

I feel a menacing presence all around me.

Just when I'm about to grab the guys and drag them out with me, something hits me right in the chest, and all the air leaves my lungs.

My father.

The Heretic.

He's here.

Chapter 4

Ari

I scream and grab for the guys, but they're gone. I'm alone in the hallway of this abandoned school. Desperate, I whirl around looking for them, but they're nowhere.

The doors behind me are shut.

Beyond them, only darkness.

"You bitch. You whore." The Heretic's voice is soulless, just like the husk of a man he is. "I'll show you what should be done to witches like you."

Surging towards the closed doors, I grab onto the handles and try to escape, but they're locked. So I move to the windows—boarded up. Screaming in terror, I call my flame to me. It responds, surging into my hands, unfurling into bright blue wings over my shoulders. I throw everything I've got directly at the windows and doors, trying desperately to burn it down, to escape—nothing happens.

His footsteps are heavy.

He moves closer and closer.

Slowly stalking his prey.

There's no need to move quickly, after all. He knows I'm trapped. Tears streak down my face as I turn around to face him, feeling horror and disgust in my gut, nausea and anger. I still remember the pain as he tied me down and slashed me open with his knives.

Trying to bleed the evil out of me.

To make the magic go away.

He did it to Mom first. I watched him. Then to Lizzy, after me, draining her life. Mad and soulless, that's what he is, with no humanity left in him.

Despite myself, though, I still plead for my life.

"Please." My voice is shaky and childlike. I call to my fire, try throwing it at him, but it sputters and whimpers just like me. "Please, don't... don't hurt me."

The Heretic smiles.

David

My father's favorite belt has a buckle at the end of it carved in the shape of angel wings. I know because he used to hit me with it when he was mad—or just because he could.

I still remember how it felt when I woke up in the hospital and realized we'd been in a car accident.