Page 185 of Scars Like Wings

Quinn suddenly hissed in pain and pulled away the hand that was holding mine. On the back of it, we both watched as five open cuts knitted themselves together.

“Oh, no, I’m so sorry, baby! I didn’t even realize…” I tried to focus on returning my nails to normal, but instead, I felt my four fangs descend and my ears become pointed.

I was shifting against my will.

We must survive.My dragon roared.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s already healed. What’s wrong?” Quinn asked, always able to sense how I was feeling without me saying a word.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t respond. My chrysalis magic sparked around me. I ground my teeth to get my wings and tail to not unfurl. My dragon fought me hard, making me groan in pain.

“Byrd! What’s wrong?” Quinn asked.

“Something… Making… Shift,” I grunted.

“What could?—”

The elevator dinged as we reached the Vault, stopping Quinn from finishing her question.

The name was a bit of a misnomer. The Vault protected the information located within it, but it was far from a room sealed by a large locked door underground. For one thing, it was located on the top floor of the Archive. It was the closest one would come to reaching the ceiling as well as the top of the Archive’s tree. Up here, there was a wide branch leading from the elevator to what looked like an exposed part of the tree’s trunk. There were shelves upon shelves stacked in neat rows with tables and chairs on the far side. It seemed to stretch on forever, a never-ending series of stacks of scrolls, parchment pages, books, slabs, and so much more supernatural information that the public didn’t need to see. A railing of branches thick enough to be trees of their own reached into the storm clouds of the Archive’s current ceiling. They surrounded the outskirts of the trunk floor. It made the Vault appear to be like a meadow in an enchanted forest.

I could count on one hand how many times I had been here, cataloguing new materials and completing other tasks for Rhois and Izzy. It was usually magical, reminding me of my childhood home and running through the woods. I had always loved thesmell of the different woods mixed in with the scent of age and history.

Today, however, the elevator door opened to pure chaos.

There were shelves that had been knocked over. Materials were flying or were scattered all over the floor, lifeless. Tables and chairs had been overturned. There were cuts in the trees that were leaking sap as if they were bleeding, and there were flames on some of the tree branches framing the Vault’s space. Golden fire, sky blue airy magic, and dark garnet red magic went flying. I couldn’t make out where the dark magic was coming from, as it seemed to be coming from multiple places at once, but I could see where the other magic was coming from.

Journee was sending their magic from one side of the air. They rode on a cloud the same color as their magic. The glow of their magic radiated from their eyes, bright enough to see even from this distance. The yellow flames were coming from a fully shifted Isidora. Her double set of dark wings flapped behind her, keeping her in air and helping her dodge magic blows. Her entire lower half was a lion, her tail whipping behind her just like her curls on her head. Her black claws stretched long and sharp from her hands and were surrounded by golden fire. She roared, fighting off who I could only presume was the source of the dark red magic. On the ground, a red wolf the size of a Clydesdale horse snarled while fighting Zaria who had a fuckingswordof all things. The sword glowed blood red with an aura of power around it. My scales rippled and surfaced in patches on my skin. The feeling here was lethal and all consuming. It was like the aura from the dagger times a hundred. I growled loudly, my control slipping.

We must fight this. We must kill it. It’s wrong. It’s wrong. It’s wrong.

What was wrong? Why was my dragon acting like this? What was she sensing?

“What thefuckis going on?” Simone asked from behind Cole toward the back of the elevator.

“Looks like a good ol’ fashion magic fight to me,” Maisie answered. With a wave of her hand, a barrier of neon purple magic formed in front of the elevator door. It was just in time to block a blast of that horrible energy before it hit us. The magic was powerful enough to almost crack through Maisie’s barrier, and it left her shaky on her feet.

“Maisie! Are you okay?” Simone exclaimed.

Maisie nodded as she righted herself. “Yeah, I’m fine. That magic… It’s the same powerful magic from the blade and the spell keeping everyone asleep. It’s all connected. It has to be done by the same person, and they have to be who the guardians are fighting. That’s what’s making Byrd shift. If I feel it, I can only imagine how suffocating it is for her.”

Oh, you have no idea,I thought.

“So, what do we do—Ohmigods, is that agun, Cole?!” Simone asked. I heard the click of the safety on a gun behind me.

Something else snapped and clicked into place near where Cody stood. “We have a crossbow, too, princess, and Quinn has tiny swords.”

Quinn unsheathed Amy and Tina from underneath her pant legs. When I glanced at her and our eyes met, her face was the most serious I had ever seen it. Her eyes were aflame with focus. She nodded before asking Simone and Maisie. “Do we know who Zaria and the witch are fighting?”

“Isidora, Journee, and Rhois. They are the Archive’s Guardians and Byrd’s bosses. They are trying to protect the Vault. I’m sure those two didn’t come in through the front door to check out the latest Brynne Weaver book,” Maisie said.

“Understood.”

Another stray blast of red magic hit. A crack formed in the barrier. Maisie cried out. “That barrier won’t last much longer! We need a plan!”

“Waiting on your orders, Quinn,” Cole said.

Quinn’s voice took on a tone and inflection that I had never heard before, but had caught glimpses of. It was deep, commanding, and definitely made me feel things I shouldn’t be feeling before going into a fight with a witch and huntress and keeping my dragon at bay. It didn’t go beyond my dragon’s notice as she purred, pleased with Quinn’s strength and power.Girl, same here.

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