Phoenix Academy: Freed (Phoenix Academy First Years Book 5) by Lucy Auburn

Author:Lucy Auburn [Auburn, Lucy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

"We're going to Hell." I announce this standing in a tiny clearing covered in goo, ickor, and various pieces of hacked-up demon. There's blood on my clothes, some of it mine, some of it belonging to a bison shifter, a bit of it mysterious. "That pit where those things crawled out of? It's where we have to go to free you guys, and to close the door, all at the same time. We'll all have to die to do it. And it won't be easy, for all the obvious reasons. So let's hope you're ready."

We're the only fighters left on the field; everyone else has fallen back to rest, regroup, and have their injuries tended to. As soon as I was done with Malavic, our deal sealed in mutual blood, I rejoined the battle, my hands full with demons to kill. It took until now for us to get a break in the wave of the fighting, along with my only chance to tell them the plan for what comes next.

They don't look too excited about the thought of returning to the place of their rebirth. Ezra and Lynx exchange a look of shared worry; Sebastian silently broods, while Mateo seems to be counting his remaining bullets and grenades, unconcerned.

"We drove the demonic horde away from campus," Ezra points out. "They've been thoroughly beaten. Only minor injuries were sustained. This might be the last of them."

Behind us, Auerbach strides onto the battlefield, looking wizens and tired. "It won't be." He pulls a thin silver circlet out of his collection, and approaches the gates as he speaks to us. "I've managed to strengthen the wards, now that demons aren't thrusting their variously hairy and scaled appendages through, but they'll come back through that gate. Make no mistake: they fell back to regroup and fight again, just like us. That means there's likely a leader among them, which means they'll come back with a strategy next time. Fighting a faceless horde of teaming demons with no particular plan is one thing. This next battle may very well overwhelm our forces permanently."

Worrying at my lower lip with my teeth, I ask him, "How is Ari? Were you able to wake her?"

"No." His voice is grim as he drops the bracelet, releases its magic, and draws runes in the air to strengthen the wards near the campus gates, which face the cracked-open gate to Hell. "She's deep in a magical slumber. I believe she has to wake herself. We won't find out what opened this gate, or why, until she's finished with her own battle."

"How long until the wards fall again?" Ezra asks.

"About two hours, a little more if we're lucky. After that... I'm not sure I'll be able to build them again." Holding up his hands, he tells us wearily, "I'm almost out of magical stores. And while the Council of Mages may send someone out here to help me, by the time they arrive..."

Turning towards the guys, I tell them grimly, "It sounds like ending this is up to us.

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