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She stepped in front of me, but I wasn’t about to let her do this spell alone. It was a powerful one, even for a reaper.
I grabbed Autumn’s hand and lifted the Mortana Wand in the other. “Together.”
Autumn looked up at me and nodded.
Magic swelled through me, filling me up from head to toe. A powerful gust of wind swept through the hallway, then the shimmering edges of a portal bloomed at the nuckelavee’s feet. I could hear the snap of bubbling lava below us. The red glow of hell reflected off the walls. One by one, nuckelavee let out horrifying cries as they were sucked into the portal.
A single monster remained at the end of the hall. He set his sights on me, then began galloping in our direction. Autumn and I only funneled more magic into the spell. Our portal expanded, until it was so large it touched each wall. I could see the lake of boiling lava below us—even feel the heat of it on my face.
The nuckelavee jumped, soaring over top of the portal. I was certain he wasn’t going to make it and would fall into the pit…
The monster’s front hooves touched solid ground, but its backend dropped into the portal. His feet scraped at the floor, desperately searching for a handhold. When he didn’t find one, the long arms of his humanoid half reached outward—and connected with my ankle.
I was swept off my feet in an instant and felt myself being dragged across the floor. My heart jumped into my throat.
“NO!” The word echoed around me, and I was certain multiple people had screamed it.
My legs slipped into the portal, being dragged down by the weight of the nuckelavee. I felt the heat of hell on my clothes as the monster attempted to drag me into the portal, down to hell with it. I thought for certain I was a goner, and that the fires of hell would consume me. But at the last second, my friends reached me. Multiple hands grabbed my arms, my clothes—anything they could reach. Autumn clung to me as she kicked at the nuckelavee, trying to force him off.
I felt his hand break free. It was at that same moment that Autumn’s eyes filled with terror. A split second of panic hit, and then, her hands left my body. The nuckelavee had grabbed hold of her instead, and she’d lost her grip on me.
“Autumn!” I screamed. I reached out for her, but it was already too late. Her fingers slipped from mine, and she went tumbling into the lava below. I looked through the portal to hell. It all happened so fast that she was a mere flash of color, reduced to a splash…
And then, she was gone.
I hope my sacrifice has redeemed me. Autumn’s voice rang through my mind.
My friends pulled me back to solid ground. Tears welled in my eyes. “I shall see you in Alora,” I whispered, hoping that somewhere out there, Autumn could hear me.
The portal slammed shut. In front of us, the dead bodies Professor Warren had reanimated lay sprawled out on the ground. The nuckelavee were gone—they’d all been swallowed up by the portal.
Or so I thought. Hooves stomped up the staircase. Somewhere in the chaos, my shield had broken, and the two nuckelavee left in the stairwell came charging at us. They had their sights set on the nearest person—Nadine.
I wasn’t close enough to stop them. I choked back my tears and immediately sprang into action. I lifted my hand to cast a shield, but I wasn’t as quick as Verla. She threw herself in front of Nadine and lifted her palms. A crackle of magic made the hair on my arms stand on end a moment before battle magic unlike anything I’d ever seen burst from Verla’s hands.
A thundering boom consumed the following moment. It was as if a bomb had detonated, sending a wave of magic blasting down the hall. The two charging nuckelavee were reduced to a pile of ash in the blink of an eye. Windows exploded outward, and the sound of glass filled Octavia Hall.
My friends and I were thrown backward. The wind knocked out of me when I hit the wall, and my ears rang. My friends lay scattered across the hallway.
I thought it’d be over in a second, but the building began to creak, and I realized the ground was shaking beneath me. A loud crack broke through the air, and building materials rained down from above us. Half the building gave way all at once, and a gaping fissure opened in the floor.
Professor Warren didn’t get a chance to move as the rift split under him. His legs slipped into the opening.
“Professor!” Nadine and I screamed at the same time. We both lunged forward, but Professor Warren had already fallen.
I heard the hard thud of his landing on the level below us, along with the snap of what I assumed to be building material.
My heart hammered as I peered through the opening. I found relief when I saw Professor Warren lying on the floor below us, trying to catch his breath. His leg was twisted at an odd angle. I realized the snap I heard had been bone. He was hurt, but he was alive.
“Professor, are you okay!?” I called.
He sucked a breath between his teeth. “I’ll live…”
I whirled around to assess the damage. The fissure was six feet wide at its largest spot and progressively got smaller, until it stopped halfway down the hall. My friends groaned and rubbed parts of themselves that had been hit in the blast.
“Everyone all right?” I asked.
Murmurs of I’m okay spread through the hall. Apart from a few bruises and Warren’s broken leg, everyone looked to be fine. The nuckelavee were gone, and we were all still alive. Mandy clung to Professor Wykoff as they slowly inched out of the hall they’d been hiding in.
