Fallen University: Year Three

“Duck!” I screamed.

The guys and I all dodged, and the energy ball went hurtling into the group of students who were attacking Kingston behind me. They scattered. Shrieking, Kimi lunged at my face with her claws. I ducked low and shot a jab at her gut. She doubled over.

Dropping the Sonja disguise, I pushed more persuasion out at her, finally getting my hooks into her. “You should go lie down. You don’t feel so good.”

“I’m… gonna go lie down,” she mumbled. “I don’t feel so good.”

She stumbled off, but unfortunately, there were three more people ready to take her place.

I pulled the same tricks on them, turning into a mirror or their best friend or Toland, drawing on my persuasion. It was easy. Surrounded by my guys, all of us fighting, all feeding into each other, my power flowed like water. I didn’t get tired even though I was shifting from shape to shape faster than I’d ever done before.

Our time in the underworld had clearly brought us closer as a unit.

One by one, the attacking students tapped out. When the five of us finally outnumbered the remainder, we rounded on them and attacked as a group. It was over very quickly after that. As the final student finally called uncle, Beedle blew his whistle.

“Good fight,” he said, nodding in approval. “I hope you all learned something, because you’re going to do it again tomorrow.”

The big girl who used to follow Sonja around like a puppy grinned, baring her teeth. “You’re going down, bitch. And your little dogs too.”

I shot Beedle an exasperated look. “What the hell did I do to you, man?”

He shook his head, his stubby horns glinting. “Trust me. You need this.”

“Damn straight she needs it,” Kimi said. Two pink spots sat high on her cheeks, and she was obviously pissed as hell about be

ing one of the first ones to get taken out by me in the fight. “She needs to get her ass kicked from here to the underworld for what she did to Sonja.”

Nobody disagreed. Neither of Sonja’s other two minions, and none of the other students in the class either. They all stared at us with the same cold, murderous intent in their eyes.

Shit. I’d never exactly been popular at this school, but I hadn’t been universally hated either. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling.

“We didn’t kill Sonja,” I said, speaking through clenched teeth. “Gavriel did. Sonja followed us because Gavriel told her to. He tricked her into helping him, then he killed her.”

“Oh, right, because Gavriel just happened to hate her as much as you did. How do you explain you all still being alive? Sonja was two years ahead of you in her training. More experience, more power, more everything. If anybody should’ve died out there, it was you five. You were working with Gavriel to kill her, admit it!”

My hands curled into fists. Fuck this. It was either deck her or use persuasion again, and I really didn’t feel like getting sent to Toland’s office again on my first day back in classes.

Letting my magic weave through my words, I spoke softly. “You want to let this go right now. You know I didn’t kill Sonja.”

“Don’t fall for it, she’s using her fucked up magic,” the morose flunky said. Her name was Jen, and I kind of regretted that I knew that.

Kimi blinked rapidly, shaking off the effects of my power. Damn it.

“You fucking bitch!” She started to power up, getting ready to hurl a spell at me, but Beedle snapped his fingers.

“Class dismissed,” he said sharply. Despite his short stature, he could be terrifying when he wanted to be. “You want to kick her ass, do it tomorrow. Get to your next class before you’re late.”

The little blonde girl shot me the dirtiest look in the history of dirty looks and stormed off.

“Well,” I breathed. “That was fun. What do we have next?”

“Um… Underworld Flora, Fauna, and Terrain.” Kingston glanced at the schedule and then shoved it back into his pocket.

“What do you want to bet we’re the only ones in that class?” Kai scowled.

“No bet,” I said.

As it turned out, I should have taken the bet though. When we walked into the small classroom, we discovered that Hannah and another student were taking the class as well. The other student, a young teenage boy, was familiar. And very, very nervous.