Page 21 of House of Lilith

I stop, my eyebrows shooting up and anticipation making my breath shallow.

But before I can even process what’s going on, the ball is already vibrating and the next thing I know, it’s buzzing around her and she’s screaming.

The sound makes blood curdle in my veins, but I can’t tear my eyes away. The ball is getting a chain of light wrapped around the girl and the chain is cutting into her skin, threatening to slice her into pieces.

The scream gets louder, the only sound beside the throbbing of my own heart in my ears.

Fucking shit, isn’t this supposed to stop as soon as a student gets in mortal danger?

I sense other students stopping to watch and I glance around, wondering if I’m supposed to do something.

But it’s at that exact moment that the ball stops, the girl drops to the ground and the Box zaps her out of the Ring.

As I watch, terror seeps deep into my bones. I have to fight the urge to go look for Nikolay and Max. Instead, I keep stalking around the Ring, trying to come up with a plan.

So far, I know that the balls have magic and it’s not just one type, based on what’s just happened. I also know you can’t rely on catching them before they have time to react. They’re just too fast.

What if I used my stealth? Would that help me catch them off guard?

Time is running out, I remind myself as I scan my surroundings. I don't know how long we have left because Hourglass won't show that, but I have to get a move on.

So I take a deep breath and I zero in on one of the balls, but it’s just then that my eye gets drawn to one of ours, a fae-blooded guy who’s just managed to trap one of the balls using Air Magic.

I stop, watching the ball squirm inside the air balloon he’s created around it.

My eyebrows shoot up. Clever, making sure he doesn’t even need to touch it. And I can already see him driving the air balloon through one of the goalposts.

But the next second, the ball inside the balloon stops squirming, and it pushes down and through the barrier, slamming straight into the ground.

My heart skips a beat and I see the guy’s eyes round in surprise.

But before he can do anything, the ball comes charging up, releasing some foul gas that envelops the fae completely.

I jump back as soon as I see the cloud of smoke drawing closer, the guy inside coughing and trying to yell something as he runs.

Help, he’s calling for help.

Fuck this shit, I think to myself and I move to try to save him without even knowing how.

But as he whizzes past me, he gets too close to one of the other balls and the next thing I know, we have three of them flying straight at us.

The buzzing, their buzzing is so angry. Run, run the fuck away, I curse at myself.

Just as one of them gets too close for comfort, I do a flip, throwing myself on the ground and rolling away.

I land on one knee, push myself up and break into a sprint.

My heart pumping wildly, I throw a glance over my shoulder and I slam into something, hard.

The crash makes me stumble back and look up.

And there he is, the alpha, standing in front of a shield, as still as if the impact didn’t even make him budge. There’s a frown on his face. I open my mouth to say sorry, but I see his eyes dart to a spot behind my back and we both duck.

I hear one of the balls whiz past and then I see it, flying straight at the shield behind his back.

But before it can even touch it, it comes to a screeching halt, turns and flies away.

I hear the alpha say something. “You okay?” I think that’s what he’s asking me.

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