The Culling Trials 3 (Shadowspell Academy #3)(2)

Wally gave me a salute, and Pete nodded as I strode out of the room. I loaded up two to-go containers of food in the mess hall, barely looking at what I was piling on, only knowing I was starving and needed fuel.

Back in the room, Wally and Pete filled me in on what they’d learned about the missing snake shifter.

“Lisa told her friends that someone higher up suggested she’d get to skip the rest of the trials because she was doing so well.” Wally said and shot Pete a look. I stuffed a chunk of potato slathered in cream cheese, bacon, and chives into my mouth.

“Lemme guess,” I swallowed my mouthful and jammed in a roast beef chaser. “She wasn’t, was she?”

Pete shook his head. “Her friends felt bad talking about her, but they said she was middle of the pack at best. Not even an alpha personality. They weren’t surprised that she’d accepted an offer like that. They figured it was the only guarantee she’d get.”

A moment later, Ethan and Orin stepped into the room, eyes shooting daggers at one another. Or maybe wands and fangs.

Ethan puffed out his chest. “We got some good info. The ones we talked to thought—”

“That he was going to be moved through the trial?” I offered as I stuck my fork into another potato chunk, this one covered in some sort of gravy and hunks of cheese. If nothing else, the food here was spectacular.

Ethan frowned, and we filled him and Orin in on our findings.

“Where is Colt?” Ethan looked around as if the other boy could be hiding under one of the beds.

“We went our separate ways,” I mumbled. I’d cleaned off both plates and a nice food lethargy was stealing over me. “Orin, you want to come with me to get that paper from the director’s desk tonight? We can do it at midnight.” I yawned and crawled into my bed. It was not quite noon, but I was exhausted and my body was shutting down. “Wake me up when it’s time to go.”

I’m not even sure that he answered me. My head hit the pillow and I was out like a light. But my sleep was far from restful.

My dreams were disjointed and laced with panic. Shadows chased me, and when I turned to fight them, they engulfed me—my arms and legs went numb, my body slid to the ground. Helpless. I was helpless, and I hated it.

Blink.

I stood at the edge of our old farmhouse, watching it burn. Animals lay dead all around me, their limbs twisted, and the smell of death filled my lungs, tightening them more than the smoke. These animals had been mine to care for, mine to protect. And I’d failed them. Waves of fire rushed straight toward me, faster than I could even turn away from. I threw my hands up—

Blink.

Sam screamed for me on the edge of a cliff, high above me, high above the river of rushing water beyond me. “Wild! Help me!” Her voice cut into me, drove me forward even though there was no way to get to her. I threw myself at the sheer rock face, my fingers digging into it, sliding. “I’m coming!” The rock pulled away in pieces like shale. Her screams filled the air around me, pitching higher and higher, charged with panic and pain, and I couldn’t get to her, I couldn’t save her—

Blink.

A figure cloaked in darkness stood across from me, less than ten feet away, and yet I couldn’t see his face. Everything around him was hidden in shadows. Something about him rang familiar to me. The way he moved, like liquid night, the gesture of one hand as he pointed to me. “I know you, Wild. And I will come for you.”

Blink.

I was against that tree in the woods, Rory’s arms and legs around me, his finger tapping the pulse point in my throat. Dangerous, he was dangerous. But he was home too. His arms tightened around me, and I relaxed, breathing in his scent. “You shouldn’t trust me,” he whispered as his arms tightened further, crushing me, snapping the bones in my chest until they pressed into my lungs, my body gasping for air—

“Wake up,” the voice growled in my ear. Not Rory, someone else.

I opened my eyes to see Orin’s face inches from mine. I slapped him away and rolled out of bed, that last piece of the dream sticking with me. I shook my head once and stood, still in my clothes.

We crept to the door to see Wally and Pete waiting on the other side and, shock of shocks, Ethan.

“Can’t let you have all the fun,” he said.

I glanced at Orin and Pete. The other two guys shrugged.

Whatever they’d done or said, he’d obviously agreed to join our expedition—or been forced into it, though I rather doubted the forced part. He’d agreed to this for some reason or another, no doubt because he thought it would work for him somehow. I made a motion with one hand for them to follow me, and they fell into a line, spaced out, behind me. We headed down the hall a ways before a warning tingle hit my spine. Orin shot forward and grabbed my arm.

Vampire, he mouthed.

We peeled off, nearly to the stairwell. I motioned for everyone to hide, and we all ducked back, hiding in the shadows as best we could. Orin, of course, blended in completely, and the others…well, if you didn’t look too closely you could pass by them. Assuming you weren’t a vampire sniffing for scents and listening for heartbeats.

Voices drifted up to us from the stairwell, the footsteps silent.

“Watch them closely. It feels like the night is holding its breath.” That was…Sunshine’s voice. Crap!

Pete had tucked in beside me and he shivered, recognizing the Sandman too. I clamped a hand over his mouth. I could almost feel a squeak ready to sneak out past his traitorous lips.