Page 61 of Evergreen

The logic of it made me want to scream. He was right, and I hated it.

Cass grabbed my hand, his fingers ice-cold and trembling. “Come on, Linden. We have to trust him.”

I looked at my Sparks, saw the fear in his green eyes despite the bravado he was trying to project, and felt something in me break. He was right too. And I was wasting precious seconds we probably didn’t have.

“Which way?” I asked Elias, my voice flat and hollow.

“This way,” he said, already moving deeper into the tunnel. “There’s another teleportation circle I can use to take you both back to Widdershins. Come on!”

We ran through the darkness, our footsteps echoing off stone walls that seemed to pulse with ancient magic. Behind us, I could hear the sounds of battle still raging in the Elder Council chamber. Explosions. Screams. The distinctive crackle of combat magic that made my stomach twist with guilt and fear in equal measure.

“How did they even get in?” Cass asked as we ran, his breath coming in ragged gasps. “The Council chamber should be protected by every ward known to paranormal law.”

“The Purity Front must’ve been planning this for months,” Elias said, not even sounding winded despite the pace he was setting. “Maybe longer. They had inside help. That much is obvious now. We just don’t know who.”

“Was it Jackson Rose?” Cass offered, breathing hard as he ran.

“No,” Elias replied, taking a tight corner. “He’s not close with the Council. Someone within the Elder Council showed them how to get past the wards. That’s the only explanation.”

I tried to fathom the implications of that sentence. Someone, an Elder Council member, had betrayed them to the Purity Front. And now council members were dead. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of repercussions that would have on the entire paranormal world. And I didn’t have time to think about it either. Not right now.

Suddenly the tunnel opened up into a large room, and I could see what looked like a natural stone platform ahead of us. The floor was inlaid with silver and gold much like the council chamber, but this was almost an exact replica of the teleportation circle back at Widdershins. This was our way out.

Elias skidded to a halt at the edge of the circle, his breathing finally becoming ragged. He raised his hands, beginning to chant in that same language Elder Briar Hall had used before. The silver and gold inlay started to glow, responding to his magic with pulses of ethereal light.

“Hurry,” he urged, not looking back at us. “I can feel them trying to break through on the other side. They’re almost here!”

Cass and I rushed toward the circle, my hand still gripping his like it was the only thing tethering me to reality. Behind us, I could hear a distant boom, the sound of something massive rocking the entire place. Once. Twice. The third time, I heard the crackle of magic shattering into a million pieces.

“Now!” Elias shouted.

We stepped into the circle just as the tunnel behind us erupted in a shower of stone and flame. I caught one last glimpse of masked figures pouring through the breach before the world dissolved into that familiar stomach-lurching feeling of being unmade and remade somewhere else entirely.

When we materialized, we were standing in the greenhouse at Widdershins. The familiar scent of campus shocked me after all the smoke and blood. And for a moment I could only stand there, gasping for air, trying to process what had just happened. The attack. The deaths. The world and everything I knew seemed to change in an instant.

“We need to warn people,” Cass said, his voice hoarse. “The Purity Front is⁠—”

“Already done,” Elias interrupted, his eyes closed as he tipped his head toward the sky. “I just sent a telepathic message to Dean Thornfield. He’ll be mobilizing the school’s security team as we speak.”

I looked around the greenhouse, at the glass panels that Cass had finished repairing just a week ago. It felt like a lifetime had passed since then. Back then we were worried about classes and feelings and not getting caught. But now…

“You two need to go back to your dorm, right now,” Elias said. “Stay together. I’ll be in touch once this is all over.”

“Where are you going?” Cass asked. “Won’t the Dean need help?”

“He’ll be fine,” he said, stepping back into the circle. “I’m going to save my husband.”

With a quick chanted word, he disappeared with a pop, leaving the pair of us standing just outside the stone circle, the iron gates of Widdershins Academy looming over us. Darkness had settled over the academy. Over the world.

Everything was about to change.

Chapter 27

Cass

Iexpected Widdershins Academy to go into lockdown. And it did. The moment we were through the gates, the security team was already spreading across campus. They shut down buildings, ushered everyone out, and sent them back to the dorms. It was absolute chaos and nobody, for the moment, understood why.

However, what I didn’t expect was the sudden influx of parents through the standing stone circle. They’d heard about the attack on the Elder Council, and they were coming to collect their children before the violence spread to the school once again.