Page 94 of House of Mages and Raven

If we left the scene, the Shriekers would pour into the school. The Veil had been weakened. They’d had help inside.

Barbie swallowed hard, as did I.

The Shriekers started to scream in excitement at the sight of Barbie, their chests making clattering sounds.

“Princess! Yes, princess! She’s come. Come home, princess!” they called.

She was the prize, and the horde had a single purpose—drag her back to our father to be rewarded.

A vision from Barbie flooded my mind?—

We were chained and shackled while Ruin’s foul spells sank into our bone marrow. An iron mask worse than the one she’d worn in the kidnappers’ dungeon in CrimsonTide was clamped over her face. She couldn’t breathe. She clawed at it, rolling in a pit.

We were back in Ruin’s domain of bleakness and depravity and utter evil. The horror we’d suffered came back. The air stank of blood and gore and rotten flesh. Dark lightning slashed across the blackened land and barren sky. Wails rose around us amid bloodcurdling shrieks.

I grabbed Barbie’s shoulders with my claws, pumping my strength and promises into her.We won’t be caught. We won’t suffer that horror again. I’ll find a way to kill us if we’re to fall!

She pressed her hand on my claws and snarled.Let’s kill them all, Sy!

“Come home! Come with us, princess!” the horde shrieked again.

Our vicious stare locked on the largest Shrieker at the front of the enemy’s rank. It had Ruin’s mark—a chain of skulls that represented the dance of death—between its four eyes, which made him the commander of the abomination.

The wind brought its stench, foul power, and violent intention. A breath later, Barbie and I sensed the same—Ruin’s presence. Our father peeked out through the commander’s eyes, inky smoke swirling in them. He wasn’t hiding his presence in his vessel. The commander’s scaled lips pulled up, a cruel, mocking smile pasted on them.

“Time to come home, daughter.” His spine-chilling voice promised a fate worse than death.

Chills slithered up Barbie’s spine, sinking into my bone marrow as well. I could no longer tell if the blood was pounding in her eardrums or in mine. There was no hiding from him anymore. There was no delusion that our cover hadn’t been blown and that we had more time.

Ruin had sent the first wave of his army, and we knew a bigger force would come soon. His hunt wouldn’t end until he had us.

We have the darkest flame now,I said.Burn them all to crisps.

No, we must be cunning when dealing with Ruin,Barbie argued.He knows exactly where we are, but he doesn’t know that we’ve leveled up. We can’t show him our ace yet. We musthide the darkest flame from him. He can’t know that we’ve broken the foul spell he implanted in us when we were a fetus.

Then we should take magic from the Veil and use it against the abomination,I said.

We’ll never drain a drop from the realm,Barbie replied.If we ever take the magic from the Veil, there’ll be no barrier left between Ruin’s army and the realm. We can’t afford to let Shriekers get into the academy grounds. They kill indiscriminately. They’ll kill many supernaturals! One of our friends, Luna, was slain because of us.

It wasn’t our fault,I said, putting down my foot. I wasn’t going to allow her to blame us for that shit.

We’ll use Deathsong to cut our way through and kill his vessel first,Barbie said, her voice hard and fierce.No matter what, we won’t siphon a drop of magic for him.

“But how can you defeat two hundred Shriekers with only a talking blade?”Pucker shook his head in dismay, and then he was gone. He didn’t have the stomach for violence; he was useless in such a battle anyway. We wouldn’t miss him.

Grim determination settled in our middle. Barbie let her rage and hatred burn brightly, as did I. A battle song drummed in her veins, rising to a crescendo. I joined the song, my blood boiling for battle, for violence.

Let’s go!I screamed, pumping my strength and speed into my soul sister.

With a lioness’s roar, Barbie charged, raising Deathsong high above her golden head, the evil blade shrieking in bloodlust.

The horde prowled toward us like a monstrous wave, and we crashed—one warrior against over two hundred abominations.

Barbie moved like a flash, whipping Deathsong through the air and bringing it down mercilessly. She was an avenging angel, terrifying and beautiful. Yet no one was here to witness ourglory, not even her ghost familiar, who had fled at the first taste of danger.

Barbie charged straight toward the enemy commander, but it retreated to the rear of the rank. One swipe from Deathsong, and two Shriekers’ heads rolled off. The sight was satisfying, but cutting off heads wasn’t an effective way to battle the Shriekers. Their weakness lay between their eyes.

We couldn’t rely on running on adrenaline and rage for long. Barbie soon realized the same and changed her strategy. Though she was short, she could leap high, especially with my aid. She alighted on a female Shrieker’s shoulders and buried Deathsong between its eyes before it could even scream.

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