Page 80 of Two Who Live On

Good. That’d hold long enough for me to reach them. Caleb studied Tara’s clenched teeth while she cast shadows, intangibility, and ward sealing in tandem. This was the one technique she’d mastered, conjuring all three together as a defensive measure, but it didn’t cause her this much strain.

A searing burn flooded her thoughts, boiling her ocean of doubt as her arm shook. The struggle of all her branches pulling at the muscles in her arms sent a sharp, stabbing pain through her broken wrist.

“We need to go.” Tara inched back, bumping Caleb and knocking his banishment flow off momentarily.

The sphere burst, and shadows swept in a strange formation against Tara’s direction. She wove her arms, attempting to reshape the sphere, but the gorgon inhaled the entirety of her casting in a deep breath.

“I feast upon unique branches regularly.” The gorgon locked his gaze on Caleb. “It’ll take a lot more than that to contain me.”

Caleb couldn’t move, blink, or channel.

He was trapped in the gorgon’s stare as a blue blur raced toward him. Jagged teeth lining the gorgon’s palm reached Caleb’s face, an inch from snapping shut.

I fucking refused this outcome.

Severing the link of telepathy, my dual vision faded, and I mentally recalibrated my surroundings.

I shouted, channeling everything into my telekinesis and releasing the burst from overhead.

Intercepting the gorgon, I knocked him into the pavement before he touched one of my students. Asphalt cracked beneath him while Imaintained a powerful telekinetic burst fluctuating to keep him pinned.

“Mr. Frost,” Gael shouted.

“Thank god.”

“I need you three to get out of here now.”

“Can he really hold a demon like this? What if…”

“Go, now.”

“No, stay.”

My telekinesis waned. The gorgon pushed himself upright, resisting the steady burst. Tensing every single muscle in my body, I unleashed all the telekinesis possible. The gorgon slammed back into the ground but slowly twisted his neck. Bones crackled and snapped as he turned so his gaze landed on me. Fuck.

I lessened my root and redistributed magic into my banishment to block his petrification. My body stilled.

“The fun’s just beginning.” The gorgon stood, brushing off rubble caught on his scales. “Which kid should I eat first? I’m leaning toward the branch buffet, but then I’d be stuck with the prickly augmentation or branchless witch as a palette cleanser. Neither sounds particularly appetizing.”

“Get…out…of…” I struggled to speak, locked in the gorgon’s sight.

Electricity surged, coursing through the air, and whipped across the gorgon’s face. He roared, covering his eyes as lightning trickled and sparked along the scales of his head.

“Please don’t disrespect Mr. Frost by willfully ignoring his instructions.” Chanelle’s heels clicked along the pavement. “I believe he told you three to leave.”

Tara, Gael, and Caleb all stared in awewhile Chanelle sauntered past them, holding lightning conjured into the form of a whip.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The kids ran back to the bus, where all the students had returned, and awaited the arrival of enchanters. Chanelle was kind enough to keep that thought close to the surface so I wouldn’t fret, along with a snarky comment on how I should’ve given her a heads-up on which way to go.

“Honestly, Dorian. I was at the hospital after you decided to fight off those warlocks. You really wanted to throw yourself at a demon this semester?” Chanelle grinned. “So dramatic.”

“It’s a gorgon,” I warned as the lightning fizzled away from his temples, and he turned his sight back toward us. “Which means it can—”

Chanelle used the elemental whip to slash the gorgon’s eyes.

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