Page 124 of Her Psycho Beasts

We part ways and go back to our respective dorms for the night.

“Watch out,” Bastien, the door gargoyle, says as Eugene and I approach the animus dorms. “Angry dragons are about.”

“Angry Boneweavers too,” I grumble.

Eugene clucks in agreement.

I should have known our quiet spell wouldn’t last. There was still the matter of our captive nimpins, and zookeeper Rick had rebuffed Stacey’s attempt at seduction, refusing to tell us where they were being kept. It is this that leads to the next catastrophe.

Late one evening, Minnie and Raquel are re-watching Bridgerton with me in the TV room of my pack’s suite. We’re all crammed in there, Minnie curled up in Yeti’s lap holding a bowl of popcorn, Marduk and Savage are sharing a bowl of sourworms on the floor, while Raquel and I are sharing an entire slab of chocolate. Scythe and Lyle are on laptops in armchairs next to us. The other animas are busy in the pack dorms with Sabrina, working on their dresses for the ball. Xander, as is becoming common these days, is with Eugene in his room, smoking.

Except our faithful rooster comes rushing into the room, flapping his wings and squawking before jumping in Savage’s lap.

Something dark makes the air tremble. I set down my bowl.

Savage and Raquel leap to their feet at the same time.

“Sabrina!” Raquel shouts, before sprinting out of the room. They’ve heard something on the wolf-network.

“She’s on top of the anima dorm!” Savage cries, his eyes frantic as he reaches for me. “We need to go now.”

“Oh Goddess!” Minnie shouts, scrambling off Yeti.

It’s chaos as we all head for the stairs and run outside. I forgo my human feet and launch into my eagle form, swooping down the corridor and stairwell, my heart racing.

I’m one of the first to make it outside. Ahead of me, Connor is sprinting across the school grounds in his lioness form.

Raquel and Minnie are close behind us. I pump my wings, gaining height into the night air, as the sight of a slender figure on top of the anima dorm comes to view. She looks fragile, and yet determined.

“Stop!”I scream into Sabrina’s mind.“Don’t you fucking dare!”

I beat my wings hard, spearing right for her as she wanders closer to the edge, her black hoodie flapping in the wind.

She steps off the edge.

Steps off as if it’s nothing.

Multiple screams fill the air, including mine. And then Minnie is there, in her tigress form, roaring into the night, and Sabrina is caught with a powerful telekinetic hand.

I breathe a sigh of relief.

Until I see Sabrina thrashing around, fighting Minnie’s power as if she’s been caught by an enemy once again. Fighting for her life. Her death. But Minnie holds her firm and Lyle has come up next to her. Between the two of them, they guide our thrashing friend gently to the ground.

“It’s my right!” she screams. “My right!”

It strikes me right in the heart.

“She said she was going to the bathroom!” Connor cries, back in his human form, standing next to Minnie. “But she was in there for too long!”

Yeti is shooing gaping animas from the dorm back inside as I land and shift back into my human form.

“It was Cherry,” Stacey sobs. “One of the guards heard us talking about the nimpins and told us he’d seen Cherry’s body.”

Raquel swears, pinching the bridge of their nose. Savage is by my side instantly, tearing off his T-shirt and shoving it over my head while Yeti does the same for Minnie.

We reach for Sabrina, now being held by Connor. She pounds hard at his back as he holds her, both of them sobbing.

“My heart hurts!” Sabrina screams. “My fucking heart hurts all the fucking time and I want it to stop!”

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