Tarot Academy 4 - Sarah Piper Page 0,101

glowing yellow as they scamper over the lands of Arcana Academy, devouring everyone in their path, leaving a trail of blood and bones behind.

That’s what I saw in my snake-bite vision. The nightmare that’s haunted me ever since.

The nightmare that’s clearly headed our way, sooner rather than later.

So many magickal practitioners have been rounded up. So many executed.

For this. Always, for this.

The Magician’s words echo, chilling me to the very core.

I need an army, Starla. A magickal army. There are not enough beings in my realm for that...

“Oh, but you haven’t even seen the best part!” He digs harder into my flesh, making the stars dance before my eyes. “It’s one thing to perform this kind of magick on regular witches and mages. But driving the light out of the Light Arcana themselves? Now that is a feat. No execution required! Very convenient.”

“You won’t lay a hand on any one of us,” I grind out, my eyes watering at the pain shooting up my arm.

He lets out a heavy sigh, tsk-tsking at me like I’m a stupid child.

And in an instant, it all makes sense.

My stomach bottoms out. My blood turns to ice. And as my knees buckle and I hit the ground hard, I let out a cry like a wounded dove, the Dark Magician’s most terrible vision sliding unbidden into my mind.

Standing on a wooden dock, glancing across a cheerful, pastel-colored town perched on the edge of the sea, an Arcana mage with coppery red hair and eyes the color of melted caramels lifts a fiery wand to the sky.

“Ani, no!” I cry out. “Fight him! Fucking fight him!”

“Ani can’t come to the phone right now,” the Magician says, his mouth hot and wet at my ear.

The vision begins to fade, but not before I see its final moments.

Ani grins, his whole body glowing with power.

He points the Wand of Flame and Fury toward the city.

“Burn,” he whispers.

And the world is consumed by witchfire.

I bolt to my feet, backing up against the wall and pressing the tip of the athame to my chest, blinking away the last of the terrible vision.

“You’re welcome to return when you have a better offer,” the Magician says with a final mad grin. “I’ll be waiting for you with baited breath.”

“Wait for your death,” I choke out. “That’s the only offer you’re getting from me.”

Without another word, I shove the athame into my heart.

The spell instantly shatters, sucking my consciousness back into my body.

I pull in a deep breath and open my eyes, ignoring the vertigo as Doc comes back into view.

“Stevie!” He reaches for me, blowing out a sigh of relief. “Are you—”

“It’s Ani,” I say, struggling to get to my feet. “We need to tell Broome to sedate him. Now.”

“What did you see? What’s happening?”

“He’s got the Wand, and he’s turned dark.” I close my eyes, holding on to Doc’s arm as the room slowly stops spinning. “There’s only one way to get him back, Doc. We need to get inside his head. And we need to utterly break him.”

Thirty-Five

CASS

Nightmare’s Lullaby roils in the bottle, black and horrifying, as hungry as a demon.

It has one job, and unlike the rest of us, this potion never fails.

Stevie, Kirin, Baz, and I stand at Ani’s bedside, looking down at the mage we’re so close to losing. In repose, he seems to be at peace, but that’s just the effect of Professor Broome’s clever sedative.

The rest is up to me.

But despite what I promised the woman I love, despite the fact that some part of me knows she’s right about this, I just don’t have the balls to go through with it.

“I can’t do this, Stevie. Not even for you.” I set the potion on the nightstand and close my eyes, unable to meet her gaze.

“It’s not for me,” she says gently, her hands warm on my arm. “It’s for Ani.”

“You’re asking me to invade his mind. To change it. To trap him in a nightmare so vivid, so real, so damaging, he’s got no choice but to break his current binds and flee.”

“I’m asking you to bring him back to us, to save him from torture, whatever it takes. If we had another option…”

I finally open my eyes again, looking deep into hers, losing myself for a moment to their beauty. Their realness. Their depths.

Goddess, how did it come to this?

“Nine times out of ten, you’re talking about a complete violation,” I say, parroting back her words from our first class together. “Isn’t