‘You have no idea how psycho I can go if I need to,’ Sera told me.
I couldn’t help it as I burst out laughing in the car, which earned me a lot of stares.
‘I love you, Sera. I have no idea how you got your personality, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.’
‘I’m just stating the facts. I won’t let us lose. Mom is coming home tonight.’
Mom. Just like that, Sera became my sister.
“Hey there, bud, how you doing?” Shea whispered to her circular blades. Then she put her ear up to them and laughed uncontrollably. “Oh stop it, you’re so funny!”
I groaned and reached back, smacking her knee.
“Shut up. Don’t be jealous,” I scolded her.
Shea grinned. “Right, I’m so jealous that you look like a lunatic half the time, talking to your knife.”
I knew she was messing with me, and it got me to smile. “Yeah, well, my lunatic ass is going to save you from getting killed tonight.” Sera pulsed her light a few times for good measure.
Shea chuckled.
“We’re here,” Lincoln announced, and holy shit, he was right. We were pulling down the alley that led to Tainted Academy. There were cars all over the place, even pulled up on the sidewalk, and people were walking in big groups to the gates.
There were demons everywhere.
Lincoln winced, his breath hitching as we pulled up to the gate.
“You okay?” I reached out to touch his arm.
He nodded. “So many demons in such a small area. It… hurts. But I’ll be fine.”
The guards at the gate were different this time. They just glanced at our fighter cards and waved us through.
“Special parking in front,” the guard barked, then smacked the side of the car door.
Lincoln drove to the front lot, where there was indeed special parking for the participants. So special, in fact, that the spots were reserved with our names on them. Our sign read “Fallen Academy douchebags.”
“I hate this place,” Shea growled.
“Me too. We’re almost out of here. For good,” I told her.
We wasted no time, parking and rushing through the crowds to get inside. I wanted time to warm up, learn all the rules, and scope the competitors.
After signing in, we were told to go in back to the competitors’ lounge, and that we’d have to leave our friends.
The auditorium was packed. There was a circular cage in the middle about twenty feet in diameter, with people crammed around it as far as the eye could see. Secondary seating was up in the bleachers on a second level.
Lincoln grasped my hand. “You got this,” he murmured and kissed me, his lips lingering just long enough to let me know he was worried that I might not have this.
“I’ll be fine,” I told him.
He nodded. “If not, have Shea create a portal back to school and jump through it. I’ll get Chloe and Luke out.”
And there it was. I knew he’d have a backup plan just in case. But if I did that, my mom was as good as gone. Grim would be livid, and there’d be more of a hunt for me than there already was.
I just nodded.
After giving Chloe and Luke a quick hug, Shea and I made our way to the back room. Two guards stood before it, requesting our IDs, and then we were in.
The moment we stepped into the crowded room, all eyes turned and silence descended upon the crowd. I recognized a few faces, and it was like a punch to the gut. I was going to have to fight some of my old friends.
“Shea, dear, we’ve missed you,” a girl with green hair cooed.
“Fuck off,” Shea spat and pulled out her blades.
Whoa. Shea was ready to throw down. That was good, but we needed to not get jumped before our first match.
I placed a hand on Shea’s arm, pulling her to the corner of the room where I saw two familiar faces—Ben and Stephanie. I hadn’t seen them since the Awakening, but I was hoping I could still count them as allies. At least until the fighting started.
They looked up at us and gave a half smile. My eyes flicked to the insignia on their stark white jumpsuits. Steph was a Necro like my mom, and Ben was a Nightblood.
“Hey,” Stephanie whispered, then walked a bit farther away until we were at the back of the room, leaning against the exit door.
“Can’t really be seen making friends with you guys,” she murmured, looking out onto the crowd.
Oh damn.
“I get it.” I leaned against the door and started to scan the crowd.
Not gonna lie, everyone looked freaking vicious. They were tatted up, weaponed up, and wore psychotic murderer expressions.