Page 109 of Elemental Fae Academy: Book Three

Fire licked across my skin, burning a path along my soul, branding me in death.

I fought beneath the restraints, my hands bound behind my back.

Elements whirled around me. Chaotic. Frenzied. Unbalanced.

And the winds roared overhead.

“She’s coming, our queen,” a dark voice whispered, the cackle that followed eliciting a trail of goose bumps down my arms. Only to wither and die beneath the fire.

“She’s coming,” it repeated, singsonging in my thoughts. Inky wisps of smoke twirled along my nostrils, leaving behind an acrid stench. “She’s not alone.”

Another tendril wrapped around me, bathing me in the scent of the dead.

“We’re coming,” an echo taunted. “Run, run, while you can. We’re coming for you.”

I flew upright on a scream, my body drenched in sweat. “She’s coming!” I shouted, sounding like the remnants of my nightmare.

But it wasn’t a nightmare.

I knew deep down it was very real.

Those creepy-crawly things were on their way here.

A hot arm wrapped around me, eliciting another shout from my lips, my fight instincts roaring to life.

“It’s me!” Sol said, jolting away from the flames flashing across my body. “Shit.”

He waved his hand around, the skin burned from my carelessness. I immediately soothed it with water and spirit, mending his wound without even realizing my intention. He gaped at it in shock. “How did—”

Exos threw open the door, Cyrus right beside him. “What the hell is going on?” my spirit mate demanded.

“She’s coming,” I said urgently, apparently unable to say anything else.

“Elana?” Cyrus asked.

Vox and Titus appeared behind them, looking half-asleep.

Which, yeah, it was the middle of the night. But… “We need to prepare. Right now.”

They all shared a glance, and I knew what they were thinking: How do you know it’s not just a dream? Well, I knew. I couldn’t say how. I just knew.

“Trust me,” I urged. “Please. We need to prepare the grounds. She’s bringing the dead with her.” I couldn’t explain how I knew that either. Or what those things would look like. But their stench still lingered in my nostrils.

Real.

Lethal.

Things.

My mates nodded as one, choosing to believe my instincts. “Right,” Cyrus said first. “We all know what to do. Let’s sound the bells. See you all on the main grounds.”

And so it began.

The beginning of the end.

I felt it in every fiber of my being.

Tonight was the night.

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