Page 81 of Shadebound
Chapter Twenty Four, Chaos
By Wednesday evening, something vital inside me had snapped. The morning after Varl’s lesson blurred past, then the afternoon, and then the rest. I moved through the day as if I were piloting a version of myself that ran entirely on muscle memory. For the life of me, I didn’t know how I’d gotten to other classes or how I’d managed to keep my eyes open. I just knew I’d done it.
Everything inside me ached. My stomach twisted. My head throbbed in a steady rhythm, like my skull had its own heartbeatnow. I couldn’t focus. I couldn’tthink. The lessons had melted into one another—lectures layered with cryptic threats, weapon strategies taught with veiled menace, and a long slog of things I did not want.
When we got to dinner, the room was buzzing with movement and low conversation. I sat beside Maya, who slid me a glance but didn’t say anything. Zayden leant against the wall near the table, chewing without much enthusiasm. No one looked like they wanted to be there. We were all too tired, too stressed. Any other day and time I would have loved the macabre vibe and desolate faces. Just not right now or when it was happening to me.
Or when I could hear my sister’s screams on repeat in my brain.
I picked at my tray without really seeing it. My brain was foggy, like someone had padded every thought in cotton.
I could barely even think of the killer. My head was dizzy, and I was sure something was off in the air. I presumed it was a lack of access to magic. There had to have been something deeply wrong with me, for me to not be able to sit there ruminating on my revenge plans.
Or the torture I would mete out to the bastard who stole my twin flame.
I didn’t even notice Alessandro storm past me, or his friends following suit. Not until Tyler walked close enough to jolt me forward with his elbow. My tray skidded, spoon clattered to the table.
“Cursed bitch,” he snapped. “Hopefully the next dead body that turns up is yours. Save us all the hassle of dealing with you.”
Something cracked. But it was not me.
I shoved back from the table so hard the legs of my chair shrieked in protest, a jagged scrape that turned a few heads. My hands had already balled into fists, heat crawling beneath myskin as I surged upright despite knowing I could not fight with my hands. But Tyler hadn’t even turned toward me yet.
He was too busy being jumped on by Zayden.
Zayden’s fist crashed into the side of Tyler’s face with a crack that echoed off the stone walls. His head whipped to the side, orange hair swinging, a sliver of blood blooming near his mouth. He stumbled a step, blinked, then snarled.
Zayden didn’t shift. But he clearly didn’t need to. He just launched himself at Tyler without hesitation, all muscle and fury. The table jerked as someone tried to shove between them, but somehow it only got worse.
Kalamity, and some other wolves I didn’t know the names of, jumped into the fray. Backing up their Alpha. Alessandro followed suit, his horde joining too. I barely blinked before a mass brawl took over the ground, making far too much noise on an already loud day.
Chaos erupted in the rest of the room—shouts, the scrape of chairs, the thud of things hitting the floor. When I turned to watch Zayden, arms wrapped around my middle and dragged me back. Hands roamed my body, yanking and grabbing with violent intent. There was a sharp pull as someone grabbed one pocket on my combats, and I twisted, snarling, trying to get in a few swings before someone hauled the stranger away from me too.
I dropped to my knees, looking up through the manic mess. But it wasn’t Zayden, or Draven, or anyone else from Mors that had helped me. It was the six-foot-plus muscular form of someone who shouldn’t have been there. Someone I had been pretending not to think about, even with the headless roses he left in my room.
He knelt beside me, ignoring the surrounding mess, and offered me a black-gloved hand. As he leant in close enough Icould easily smell his familiar spicy aftershave. His free hand moved to my combats, sliding something into my pocket.
“Little monster, I thought I told you to be careful.” The voice-changing box in his black mask muffled his voice. The inky one shaped like a skull, with blacked-out eyes, that hid his entire face from me.
Like it had done since we’d met after Bells’ funeral.
The first time our... our whatever this was, began.
“I didn’t choose to start a fight.” I breathed, spine tingling, heart racing. Head full of questions about how he was here, and why. “The dragon fool started it first.”
“I wasn’t on about the fight.” He helped me to my feet, his hand lingering in my own as the world around us remained in pure chaos. “I was on about with yourself. Your magic got the better of you yesterday. Your mind is growing dark—I could see it.” He tutted. “Something is off with you, and you need to work out what.”
I pulled my hand out of his, frowning up at him as my necklace turned red. “My magic didn’t do anything like that. I was incompletecontrol.”
Shouts crashed through the noise as chairs scraped, and trays clattered to the floor. Someone’s hand clamped around my upper arm, but I wrenched away before they could drag me off. My fist slammed forward, the impact jarring all the way up to my shoulder. My heart slammed against my ribs, each beat pounding so forcefully it made my teeth ache.
I turned back to my...friend, eager to continue our conversation and see if I could source his help for my quest with my brother. But much to my annoyance, and admittedly some disappointment, he was already gone.
Already back to haunting the edges of the night and places that even my shadows seemed to miss.
I searched the crowd, desperate to find him. But spotting someone wearing black in a sea of all-black monsters was damn near impossible.
Then agony lanced through my wrist, searing and sudden enough to cut off my search. The cuff had gone from a dull metal band to a brand, lighting every nerve in my arm like a matchstick dragged through skin. My body convulsed with the jolt, a ragged breath tearing loose as I gritted my teeth against the scream rising in my throat. All around me, bodies jerked, screams erupted. Someone collapsed with a yelp. Another student sobbed openly, their shoulders shaking as the current ripped through them. The second pulse came harder. It stole the strength from my knees. My hand spasmed, and the bones in my fingers ground together.
