“What’s going on?” I asked, seeing some dark thought in my brother’s eyes.
“I need your help with something.” He gripped my arm, nodding to Mom and Hamish in goodbye as he guided me away through the masses.
“What is it?” I asked, but he didn’t answer, instead quickening his pace until I was forced to trot at his side as he jogged down a narrower tunnel that led towards the exit of The Burrows.
He flicked a silencing bubble up around us, glancing at me as we made it to the clock and slipped out into the farmhouse. “Gabriel’s had a vision,” he said in a low voice.
“What vision?” I demanded anxiously, sensing something was wrong as we hurried out into the freezing air where snow was falling thick and fast upon the guards.
“You need permission from the Vegas to leave the-” one of the guards started, but Darius knocked him to the ground with a blast of water, baring his teeth at the others as they exchanged nervous glances.
We jogged past them as they started to regroup, and Darius pulled a pouch of stardust from his pocket as we headed straight for the boundary. The second we stepped through it, he threw a pinch of it over our heads and I had no more time to ask where we were going as the two of us were dragged into the stars, sending us wheeling through a glittering galaxy of light before we were transported onto soft ground between two thick bushes.
I looked around in surprise as I spotted the outer fence to Zodiac Academy, a glimpse of Earth Territory beyond the bars looking back at me.
“What the hell are we doing here?” I hissed in alarm.
“Listen,” Darius growled, stepping closer to me as a cloud of urgency fell over him. “Gabriel has foreseen your herd being killed today; they’re being denounced as traitors. We have barely any time to get them out. And I have no doubt Father will have made a new boundary around Zodiac to alert him of us returning here. The moment we step past this fence, he’ll know where we are.” A whinny of fear escaped me as I thought of Sofia, even fucking Tyler, and Darius clapped a hand over my mouth to silence it. “Your herd is going to die if we don’t hurry. We don’t have time to waste. Can you do this, brother?”
I nodded, my fear giving way to determination as I thought of the Pegasuses who had welcomed me into their wings, who’d accepted me even though many of them feared my father. And as my mind settled on Sofia with her gentle soul and all the words that had passed between us over the months I’d been stuck at Acrux Manor, I knew I would do anything to save her today. She had been my salvation and so I would be hers.
“Let’s go,” I growled, my voice taking on the roughened edge of a Dragon for a moment and Darius nodded, clapping my shoulder and leading the way to the fence.
He stepped through one of the bars which was nothing but an illusion and I followed him, feeling the magic of a powerful detection spell running over me. I recognised the touch of my father’s power and a shudder ran through me. He’d know. And he’d be coming here right now to claim us. I realised I’d rather die than return to his captivity.
The two of us broke into a sprint, tearing across the grounds as Darius cast powerful concealment spells around us to give us the best chance of evading Father for as long as fucking possible.
“Where would they be?” Darius called to me as we ran down a steep bank and through a cluster of trees. There were no students so far from the centre of campus, but it wouldn’t be long before we came across someone.
I mentally calculated what day it was in my head, trying to remember my school schedule and a gasp snagged in my throat.
“They’ll be at Order Enhancement together,” I said, veering left as the path forked and Darius fell into step with me as I led him towards the hills in the eastern side of Earth Territory.
“No doubt Father has chosen this moment precisely then,” Darius bit out. “If they’re all together then they are more easily destroyed together.”
A snort of rage left me as I quickened my pace, the two of us moving as fast as we could on two legs in the direction of my herd.
A deafening, terrifyingly familiar roar cut through the air like a thunderclap and I caught Darius’s eye in fear. Father was here.
“You get them out of here. I’ll distract him.” Darius tossed me the pouch of stardust and I fumbled the catch as he started pulling his clothes off.
“Wait!” I cried in panic for my brother, but he turned away from me, leaping off of the path and shifting into his enormous golden Dragon form, answering my father’s roar with a roar of his own. “Darius – be careful!” I begged as he took off into the sky with two powerful wing beats, his shadow swallowing me up for a moment before he soared away across campus with a stream of hellfire spilling from his lips.