Page 126 of Class Studies

Tederwinkle’s magic burned my fingertips while sending waves of lust down my arms. I fought the sensation, pushing the same power I’d driven into Officer Keres down my arm and willing my bead to release from Roisin’s head.

My hand snapped back toward me, accompanied by a slick popping noise. I threw my tainted magic to the floor, and it smashed, sparking with rainbows before dissipating into nothing.

I slid to the ground, fumbling around Roisin’s neck to find a pulse.

She couldn’t be dead.

A steady heartbeat appeared under my fingers, and I rocked back on my heels in relief.

“Dot!” Beryl yelled.

Time slowed. Around me, students lay unconscious. Beryl and Vac were only a few yards on either side of me, grappling with the two MA agents. A girl screamed, running in circles as she swatted at her thick curly hair. The ground rocked, and a glow from a half-detonated rune came from Ashe’s direction.

Right in front of me, Ram’s knee was a millisecond away from connecting with my face. There was nothing I could do to stop it.

Pain, as I’d never experienced, exploded. I went flying backward, landing hard on my butt. Blood streamed down my face from my broken nose, and I struggled to breathe.

Ram stalked toward me again, and I scrambled backward.

“Ram, stop,” I ordered.

The massive mage’s bleached-out face grinned before he picked me up by the neck and hoisted me into the air. The same burning I’d felt grabbing the tainted Bead of Will surrounded my neck. Ram squeezed, cutting off my air. Tears sprang to my eyes. The sound of the tendons in my neck stretching terrified me more than the pain.

“I need her alive!” Tederwinkle screeched.

A jagged strike of crystal power hit Ram in the back. The massive mage ignored Tederwinkle. Hatred filled his eyes. Something collapsed in my throat, and pain seared down my chest.

With a boom, the room shook. Ram’s grip loosened enough I sucked in the tiniest amount of air. Beryl appeared in my vision. I expected him to lunge for Ram; instead, he skidded to a halt and grasped my hips.

A massive fist made of stone and metal grabbed Ram’s arm and squeezed. Blood oozed out between the Golem’s chunky fingers, followed by a gory mix of muscle, tendons, and bone. The sound of a tree branch snapping cut through the sounds of battle. Weight dragged at my neck, and more air hissed into my lungs.

Beryl pried Ram’s severed hand from around my neck. I would’ve gagged, but I was too busy pulling in what little air I could through my collapsed esophagus.

The battle between Ram and Saffron in his Golem raged. Ram dodged one of the Golem's arms and stepped forward, his remaining fist ready to punch the glass dome at the top. But Saffron was too fast. He grabbed Ram's arm so he couldn't escape. Flattening his palm with the other, he brought the side of the Golem's hand down at an angle on Ram's head.

It sunk into his skull like a hammer sinking into a watermelon. Blood, brains, and white hair flew toward me. I pushed away from Beryl, heaving. The pain in my throat doubled as my vomit burned.

Beryl hoisted me over his shoulder. "Goddess, I need you to be sick somewhere else.”

He sprinted toward the door we entered. It took all my self-control not to vomit down his backside.

The professor sat partially hidden behind the door we came in, and Beryl gently settled me into his lap. I was in too much pain to move.

The headless Ram rose from the floor, a massive white club of pure magic in his fist. He swung it wildly, clipping Saffron’s Golem and taking a chunk out of its knees. The Golem shuddered and lumbered back.

One of the mind-controlled MA agents traced a rune in the air. Beryl yelled, charging toward him before the MA agent completed it.

The professor pulled my attention away from the fight, running his hand gently across my injuries. I hissed as he prodded my nose. "You’ll be okay. Hang tight until we can get you a healing potion.”

He slipped back into his mage trance.

I didn’t nod. I couldn’t talk even if I wanted to. Painful heat seared my throat, and my face throbbed.

Bodies littered the floor. While I’d been fighting Roisin, if that even counted as fighting, Beryl and Vac had hopefully knocked my fellow students unconscious. I silently thanked Beryl for thinking on his feet and changing the plan when my beads had no effect.

A pod of MA agents took cover around the back of the room. Four of them pinned down Ashe where he crouched under Beryl’s door.

What had to be one of Tanwyn’s summons bounded across the room. With the speed and grace of a cheetah, the unnaturally orange hyena-like creature jumped onto one of the MA agent's backs. The agent flung it towards the ground. His gloved hand glowed white before he plunged it into the summon’s shoulder. The creature let out a wail, its body distorting. It tried to leap away from the agent, but the man rolled, smashing a potion bottle against his back. The summons dissolved into the air.

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