Shadowblade Academy 5: Blood of Darkness by Kingmaker KC

Author:Kingmaker, KC
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: KC Kingmaker
Published: 2022-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Venn

I DIDN’T LOOK UP FROM my bowl of macaroni and cheese when the first cry of alarm rang out in the mess hall. I was too enamored with the pleasant human dish. So creamy and cheesy and delicious. One of humanity’s finest inventions, in my opinion.

I didn’t think anything of the shout and went back to gobbling up my glorious food. I could barely hear it over the commotion of the students anyway, due to all the chatting going on around me. It could have been a laugh for all I knew. Students had squished into the hall like sardines—another delicacy of humans I appreciated, though in much smaller amounts and only during specific circumstan—

Another shout joined the first. It led to a domino effect of yelps and stupefied gasps, and that’s when I finally stopped thinking about food, scrunched my brow, and slowly gazed up from my bowl.

As my mouth fell open, my fork dropped with a clang against the rim of the bowl.

Shadows moved on the walls. It wouldn’t have been strange, since the Academy was all about that, but these shadows moved unnaturally in a way I recognized.

It brought me back to the first time I’d seen something like this, when Dax and I had been strolling through an open-aired hallway and shadow creatures popped out of the walls to attack the couple in front of us.

I would never forget that jarring, terrifying moment.

This was even more unnerving—something much bigger. The walls danced with darkness and silhouettes, swirling, looping together. I stood and spun a full circle. They branched out like webs and tendrils and stretched all the way to the ceiling, attaching to each other to create a giant network of inky blackness closing around the auditorium.

My heart hammered in my chest. Fuck. It’s time.

We were woefully unprepared.

Other students stood from their tables, conversations dying, heads whirling with wide, fearful eyes. At least a hundred people crammed in here, in close quarters. I hardly spied a weapon in sight, despite Alaric having warned us to start traveling in pairs, minimum, and with weapons at our sides at all times.

His advice had fallen on deaf ears. The students hadn’t taken this threat seriously, even after everything that had happened. They felt protected in their little bubble of Shadowblade Academy. Impervious.

For shame.

A cloud of ominous anticipation fell over the hall. Everyone stilled with bated breath.

The first thing I did was bang my fist on the tabletop in front of me. Jolting heads swerved my way.

“Everyone outside, now!” I roared, pointing toward the two exits. “Get out into open space and don’t separ—”

A sound like creaking metal cut me short. The squeal made my teeth gnash together, my mind spinning.

Then all hell broke loose.

The tree of shadows creeping up the walls and ceiling pulsed then darkened. Figures leaped from the walls. Terrifying demons cloaked in black—smoky and ethereal.

They came in their dozens. Some dropped from the ceiling like spiders descending a web.

The second thing I did was take a deep breath as my heart jumped to my throat.

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