Immortal Consequences(16)

“Smart girl,” August mused aloud.

“A new student…” Emilio shook his head. “That’s not possible. There shouldn’t be a new student for at least another—”

The earth began to rumble, cutting Emilio’s words short. It was soft at first, the faintest tremor, and then the ground cracked and split with a violent lurch. The movement was so sudden, so abrupt, that none of them had time to brace themselves.

Wren stumbled toward the edge of the rooftop, clearly taken by surprise. Her eyes went wide as she lost her balance, leaning back, closer and closer— It happened so fast that August almost didn’t grab her in time.

But he did.

He reached out and grabbed a fistful of Wren’s coat, pulling her in toward him before she could stumble over the edge. It was an instinct. A primal reflex that took over his body without warning.

He had known Wren was about to fall and had decided to save her.

She gasped as her chest collided with his. Every nerve ending in August’s body came to life. Every inch of his skin burned with an uncontrollable warmth. For a moment, neither of them said a word, their eyes locked like two opposing magnets.

“Are you…” The words died on his lips. He couldn’t bring himself to ask.

Wren nodded. “I’m fine.”

A piercing sound interrupted them. And then a blinding white light poured out of the sky like a tunnel, a perfect cylinder sprouting from the black clouds and funneling toward the ground right outside the Blackwood gates.

The light grew in intensity as a figure began to descend from the sky. Two arms. Two legs. A head. A body. It was a person. A soul. Just like them. And as the figure slowly made its way to the ground, their limp and lifeless body haloed by the shimmering light, August couldn’t help but bite back a swell of unwanted emotions.

The new student lay sprawled right outside the iron gates of Blackwood, their body enveloped by the tall grass. They all waited. They knew what would happen next. The student would wake up, disoriented and confused, and the gates of Blackwood would slowly open, welcoming them home.

It was what happened to all of them. The same routine. The same inevitable outcome.

But then something changed.

A flicker of smoke lifted from the body. An undulating darkness.

Shadows.

Olivier stumbled forward, closer to the edge of the rooftop. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know…” Emilio cautiously joined him. “This isn’t normal.”

“Is that—” Irene let out a manic snort of laughter. “I think that’s shadow magic.”

“That’s impossible,” Masika muttered in disbelief.

Wren’s face contorted into pure terror. “No…that can’t…it can’t…”

“Is she a Demien?” Olivier asked in bewilderment.

“She can’t be a Demien, for Christ’s sake.” Irene’s tone was sharp and commanding, though August could hear a slight waver in her words. “We just saw her cross into Blackwood. It’s…it’s not possible.”

“M-maybe it’s an illusion,” Emilio offered sheepishly. “Maybe none of this is real.”

Masika shook her head. “We would smell it. And look—” She lifted her hand and summoned the familiar violet runes associated with illusionary magic, but they quickly fizzled out, like a flame being extinguished by a sharp breeze. “Nothing. It’s not an illusion.”

The realization dawned on them at the same time. The truth no one wanted to say out loud.

But August would.

“Those shadows,” he whispered, “are coming from her.”

It was at that moment that Louise jerked awake, eyes jolting open as a terrified shriek escaped her lips. Even from where he stood, August could feel the pressure of her scream, the sound of it reverberating at a supersonic level. And then the shadows dancing against her skin erupted into towering heights, black and opaque and endless, sprouting from her body like a mycelium of darkness.

A figure materialized outside the gates. They parted the shadows using a counterspell and approached Louise’s convulsing body. When they whispered something into her ear, everything stilled.

The shadows vanished. Her cries subsided.

Silence.

And then the six of them watched as the figure lifted Louise from the ground, carrying her toward the main entrance of Blackwood, and vanished into thin air.

Part II

An Exercise in Restraint

5

Olivier

It was a known fact that Olivier Dupont could not sit still. He was easily agitated, constantly fussing with the blond hair that fell over his eyes or fidgeting with the cuffs of his coat. Neither of these habits was entirely surprising, seeing that Olivier appeared to exist in a perpetual state of restlessness. His father, who bore witness to Olivier’s many quirks and ever-present disquiet, would often joke that perhaps death would be the only permanence heavy enough to sedate his son.

It turned out death only made everything worse.

Presently, it didn’t help that Olivier had just witnessed something that was, for all intents and purposes, impossible. He’d never seen shadow magic before. He’d heard rumors. Read books. But nothing could have prepared him for the sight of the newbie shrouded in tendrils of shadows. The way the world seemed to shudder, as though the very particles of the afterlife had split open and cracked in half.