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The first wave of infected attacks had come at dawn. Now we were deep into the afternoon, and all learning had come to a stand-still. Classes had been canceled. Students were in lockdown. My office had become our command center. The vestibule area was full of runners from the various towers and older students wearing white armbands marked with the symbol of a single drop of blood. These were my leadership students: I was calling them Hallwardens. The Hallwardens escorted runners as they delivered messages between the houses and distributed essential supplies and equipment. We had no idea how long this second wave would last, so we were fortifying: Food, medicines, and other supplies were all being delivered to each tower.

The First Years had been split into three groups and escorted to Drakharrow, Avari, and Orphos—we weren’t giving fucking Mortis any First Year blightborns as fodder. We were going to keep all First Years safely tucked away and protected as best we could under the circumstances.

I glanced around the table, looking at my council. In Blake’s and Visha’s absence, Theo had stepped into the role of Drakharrow House Leader. His dark blond hair was tucked behind his ears, and he wore a coat of black and red. There was blood on his knuckles. His blightborn partner, Vaughn, stood beside him, a leather harness over his chest filled with small blades. I snuck a closer look at Vaughn; I knew Viktor had captured him and his grandparents. He was looking hale and hearty now. But I also knew some scars could never be seen.

On either side of me, Kage and Lysander stood like a mismatched pair of threats. I decided I would never grow tired of looking at either of them. Even in a time of crisis, I couldn’t help stealing a peek—at Kage who stood with his black shirt sleeves rolled up, revealing forearms roped with muscle, or at Lysander, all cool lines and calm control, with just a few long strands of silver hair spilling out of his bun, softening the sharp edge of his cheekbones.

“Avari Tower is locked down tight.” Kage’s Second sat sprawled in a chair. Evie was compact and athletic, wearing black leather Avari armor and had a silver crossbow propped up against her chair.

“The infirmaries are filling up quickly,” Healer Elycia said. Her pretty, dark face was filled with tension. “Mostly blightborn with bite wounds. We had two highblood students with infections brought into Avari earlier.” The tension in her face grew. “Both had to be … released.”

She meant put down. The healers were using the word released because it was a little softer-sounding, I guessed.

“House Mortis continues to keep their infected alive,” Professor Briggs said. She looked stressed and exhausted. Quinn Riley hadn’t bothered to show up for the meeting, but Briggs had. I knew she was doing her best to take care of the few blightborn students who still remained affiliated with Mortis, but Quinn must have been making that hard.

“An incredibly dangerous decision,” Elycia said quietly. “There is no cure. If the plague is a kind of corruption spreading because of the cracks in the Veil, there may very well never be one.”

“Quinn is delusional,” Theo said. “But we already knew that.”

“She must have other motives,” Vaughn remarked. “Otherwise, why put her own house at risk like that? Could she know something about the plague we don’t?”

“I doubt it,” I said. “But that’s very charitable of you.” I looked at Dani. “You have the Hallwardens’ report? What’s the status of the school perimeter?”

Dani’s head jerked up from the sheaf of papers she’d been annotating. “The perimeter looks clear. The bridge is holding. We have Hallwardens patrolling the exterior of the school hourly.”

The guards Elaria had provided us had vanished sometime between last night and that morning. We assumed when the second wave had hit Veilmar, they’d either panicked or been told to give up their posts. Since their disappearance, we’d built a makeshift barricade over the bridge. I just hoped it would hold.

“Are all students accounted for?” Kage demanded. “Can we get confirmation on that?”

“No, they’re not.” It was Librarian Shen. I looked down the table at Florence’s mother; Jia Shen looked so much like her daughter. I knew Kage had given her an update on Florence, but I didn’t think he’d told her how bad things really were or else she’d have looked much more anxious than she already did. “We’ve been taking head counts all afternoon and checking them against the enrollment records.”

Jia and her librarian colleagues had been called in as record-keepers. The attack that morning had begun in the library. We’d arrived in time to save most of the staff, but now many were refusing to leave the towers where they’d been offered sanctuary. Jia had been the only one brave enough to attend my little meeting; she’d arrived with Evie. I knew Kage’s Second would make sure she made it back to the Avari Tower safely.

Jia glanced at Evie. “We believe there may still be a few students and at least one librarian apprentice who weren’t evacuated from the library this morning.”

“Vaughn and I will take a few patrols and see if the library is clear or not,” Theo offered.

“At least five students from Mortis are also missing. All blight-born. There are reports of students barricaded in a classroom near the entrance wing,” Professor Briggs said.

I glanced at Kage and Lysander. “Let’s finish up here. Then Kage, Lysander, and I will check it out. If anyone is there, we’ll escort them to the nearest tower.”

Lysander looked around the table. “Each house is responsible for continuing to sweep the corridors nearest your tower. Our goal must be to reclaim the school quickly and wipe out the spread.”

A murmur of assent went around the room, and the meeting ended. Everyone emptied out of the boardroom and then the outer vestibule. No one left alone. I watched as Evie and a group of Avari students shepherded Jia and Dani away, then locked the door of the office. I knew Dani had had enough of blood splatter on her desk.

Lysander was already standing at the junction of the corridor, checking sightlines and waiting for Kage and me to catch up. We moved quickly toward the entrance wing of the school, Kage slightly ahead, me in the center, and Lysander behind. We hurried down the stairs in the foyer and moved to the row of three classrooms that lay just behind the wide, sweeping staircase. Kage was already flinging doors open. The first was empty and quiet. Same with the second.

The third …

At first, I didn’t hear anything. But Kage’s face had turned grim before he’d even touched the door. Then I heard chewing. Kage moved in. He wore a pair of steel swords on his back, and both blades were already out.

“Be careful. There might be survivors …” I started to say.

Lysander touched my arm, shaking his head. I stepped inside the room, wrinkling my nose. Inside, the classroom told the tale of a battle lost. Desks had been overturned, a window was shattered. Chairs were toppled or shoved out of the way. Near the lecture stand, two highbloods crouched over the five dead blightborn students. The bodies were fresh, but I could smell the rot coming off the two infected.

I heard Kage growl, then saw the infected highbloods look up at him, mouths dripping with gore. His blades flashed, and two heads struck the floor. Lysander and I hadn’t even had to do anything. I looked down at the students; I recognized one of the blightborn. She’d delivered some letters to my office a few weeks earlier.

“We’ll clean up the classroom soon. We’ll get their bodies moved,” I said aloud. “I’ll send word to their families.” I looked at the two dead highbloods: one wore Drakharrow colors, the other Avari. They’d been students, too. “All of their families.”