Page 41 of Phoenix Academy: Madness

Startling ice blue eyes look down at me, framed by impossibly blond eyebrows.

"David." I blink up at him, wondering what he's doing sitting on the edge of my bed, shaking me lightly. "What... what's going on?"

"I don't know. You tell me." He frowns down at me, those pale brows drawing together, eyes narrowed. Ah, there's that angry David face I know so well. "I came here because half the campus has gone absolutely fucking mad, and there's this bluedustcoating the air, which I'm pretty sure was you somehow. So tell me, Ari, why the fuck is your room full of magic when you're not even awake?"

I jolt upright, leaving my dreams completely behind, and stare around me.

He's right. My roomisfull of magic.

Feral, wild, impossible magic, the kind that makes men go mad and even die. The kind that turns shifters into...

There's the distinct sound of a roar through my window. I can't even tell what it is—some kind of big cat maybe–but it's answered by a trumpeting bugle sound, and the distinct feeling of large feet hitting the ground.

I gulp. "Is that an elephant?"

"Come on. We've got to go fucking fix this, before every student in here kills each other."

David grabs my hand, lacing his fingers through mine, either careless or ignorant of the heat his tight grip sends fanning through my body. Even at a time like this, I can't stop thinking about what he looked like naked—or what a body like his could do, if I got him to touch me with something other than anger or irritation.

Maybe I'm as mad as my magic.

I'm dragged out of my thoughts as David yanks me out of the dorm building and into the campus beyond, revealing just what exactly the dusting of blue magic in the air has done to the world around us.

It's complete and total chaos.

Predators are fighting tooth, claw, nail, and fang. The large ones stomp and kick; others twist, bite, and leap. Overhead, large predatory birds dive at each other and towards the shifters on the ground. At one point I even spot a horse kicking a tiger in its teeth, and a snake coiling around a panda bear's neck.

Someone has to stop it.

That someone is me.

Chapter 20

There are principles to magic:what has been made cannot be unmade with the same spell; time traveling is a bad fucking idea; and only the witch (or mage) who cast a spell can uncast it by pulling her powers back into herself.

When I was just a naturalistic witch and not a feral magic casting phoenix, drawing my powers back into myself was as simple as drawing a breath. What goes out comes back in, and for all my life it's been easy. I simply drew my senses back towards me and let them rest.

Thisdoesn't feel likethat.The feral magic is out there, alright, and I can sense that it's mine. It belongs inside me just like every other bit of my flesh, blood, and bones.

The problem is getting it back inside my body before it wrecks further havoc. Blood is already starting to be spilled, and the more time passes, the more the madness takes hold. All around us shifters' eyes are glowing bluer and bluer as they breathe in more of the madness.

"Well?" David digs his fingers into the side of my arm, and I frown in his direction, bothered by how close he is—and how easily it affects me. "C'mon, Ari. You did this, you can undo this."

"I'm not sure I can," I admit.

"The alternative is a metal box. One they'll lock you in, and then throw away the key."

"What do you mean?" I can't tear my eyes away from his face, which is somehow grave and worried despite the fact that the situation he describes—locking me away forever—is probably one of his biggest dreams. "What metal box?"

"This school has a prison where they send the Grims. It's an island, technically, and they'll put you in it if your powers can't be contained. So you better figure your shit out."

My mind flashes back to the first day here, when Petra scolded Mage Auerbach for letting slip the fact that there's a prison nearby.

I don'tthinkHeadmaster Towers, who was so eager to get me to attend this school and keep me safe, would throw me in a prison. Then again, I barely know her, and either way I have to undo what's been done.

So I close my eyes andyankon the magic around me.

"Hey!" David yelps, drawing back and rubbing his arms. "That wasme."

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