Fallen University: Year Three

“Look up into the sky,” I said soothingly as the stone creature hurtled toward us. “Look at all those pretty clouds. You want to catch them, don’t you? They’re so pretty.”

The gargoyle shook its head, seeming confused for an instant. Then its head tipped back with a scraping sound, and it shifted course, heading upward as it reached out with blunt stone fingers, already reaching for the clouds that hovered high in the sky.

Good. There was no way it’d reach the clouds, of course, but if it flew high enough, the magic that helped its heavy rock body defy gravity would weaken. It’d plummet back to earth and shatter, taking out at least one of our enemies.

Just as the other creatures began to disentangle themselves, racing toward us once again, the roar of an engine echoed from inside the garage. A second later, the broad door swung upward, and a sleek black sports car shot out.

Its tires screeched as Kingston braked, and he leaned over to yell through the open passenger window, “Get in!”

He didn’t need to tell any of us twice. I didn’t know shit about cars, but the one he was driving looked expensive as fuck—and more importantly, fast.

We all dove for the car, yanking open the doors and piling inside. None of us had shifted into our fallen forms, but even in human form, it was an unpleasantly tight fit to get six people into a sports car.

Xero, who was the broadest of all the guys, ended up in the front passenger seat. Kai, Jayce, Hannah, and I ended up in the back, with me and the two men squished together and Hannah draped awkwardly over our laps. She practically elbowed Kai in the junk as she rose up to direct a hand out the window, shooting another blast of magic at the fallen who were racing toward the car.

“Go, go, go!” Jayce yelled, reaching forward to punch the driver’s seat, letting Kingston know that we were all inside.

The dragon shifter gunned the engine again, and we peeled out with the smell of burning rubber. As he raced down the long driveway toward the property’s entrance, I saw the heavy iron gates part and start to swing open—but not fast enough.

“Kingston.” My right foot unconsciously pressed into the floor, as if searching for the brake pedal. “Kingston.” I reached out blindly for something to hold on to, to brace myself with. “Kingston!”

The car reached the entrance going nearly sixty miles an hour, and metal screeched on metal as we slid through the gates with less than an inch to spare. Both side mirrors went flying with a crash of broken glass, but I could barely hear the sound through the scream that tore from my throat.

Then we were through, turning quickly as we hit the street, the back end of the car fishtailing wildly.

Holy fuck. Can demons have heart attacks? Because I think I just had one.

“Guess that stunt driving course really paid off, huh?”

Xero shot a glance at Kingston, and I honestly couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. It wouldn’t surprise me if Kingston had taken a stunt driving course at some point. When you had enough money to do and buy whatever you wanted, you probably got up to some pretty weird shit.

Kingston barely acknowledged the demon’s words. His gaze was glued to the road ahead of us, his hands tight on the wheel. The car was picking up speed, zipping through the quiet, residential neighborhood populated by Toronto’s one-percenters.

I glanced through the back window, craning my neck to see better. “They’re still after us—fuck, they’re fast—but we’re gaining a lead. Keep going.”

“Yup,” Kingston said grimly.

Shit. I hope his team got his parents to safety. I wonder how the hell they explained any of thi—

Before I could finish the thought, the air a dozen yards ahead of us seemed to shimmer, like heatwaves coming off of asphalt on a summer day. A half-second later, six Custodians stepped out of the portal, standing directly in our path.

One of them raised a hand, and a bolt of lightning shot from her fingertips, striking the road just in front of Kingston’s car.

“Ah, fuck!”

He jerked the wheel, sending all of us sliding wildly across the seat.

Another blast came at us, and the Custodian must’ve anticipated which way he’d go, because she hit the hood of the car dead on this time.

The entire vehicle jolted with the impact, and the back end rose in the air, flipping over the front. The world seemed to tilt and spin in front of me, and I had just enough time to register the horrifying thought that after everything we’d been through, after all the dangers we’d faced, we were about to die in a car crash.

And then Hannah yelled something just before we hit the ground. The top of the car hit pavement, but instead of crumpling and crushing us, it held firm—and the impact wasn’t nearly as hard as I expected. We all tumbled around inside the car as it skidded across the road upside down.

“Oh, fuck…”

Jayce groaned from beneath me, and I scrambled to let him up.

“Everyone okay?” I asked.