Fallen University: Year Three

“But he isn’t a god.” Straightening my spine, I raised my voice. “Not even close. He’s nothing but a power-hungry demon

who’s been alive too damn long. You can see it. He’s a walking skeleton, held together with magic and a lust for power. He isn’t anything great, and I think deep down, he knows it. If Gavriel was really all that special, he wouldn’t be shoving his dick into every plane of existence just to prove that he has one. It’s time to cut it off.”

A low chuckle rippled through the crowd, then someone started to chant. “Cut it off. Cut it off.” Then more voices joined that one, and soon the whole crowd—and many of the bystanders—were shouting “Cut it off” at the top of their lungs, whipping themselves up into a frothy fury.

I was stunned. I didn’t think I could do that without magic.

Maybe we’d need to work on a better battle cry eventually, but if this worked, I wasn’t going to fight it.

I beamed at Kai, who grinned back at me. He’d never been comfortable with my excessive use of persuasive magic. I saw a glimmer of pride in his eyes, and I found that pride reflected in myself. For myself. It was a new feeling.

Michael came closer to us to be heard over the chanting. “Nice speech,” he drawled. “You inspired me, anyway. Gave me a whole new goal to focus on.”

His expression grew a little savage, and I grinned. “Thanks. We’ll be in touch.”

The guys and Hannah gathered closer around me, and we all linked ourselves together, grasping the forearms of the people next to us. We’d use a portal to get back to earth—but once we got back, we’d have to be careful as hell, since we were all marked for death.

“Where are we going?” Jayce asked.

“Seattle,” I said. “Dru’s territory. Safest place to port in this condition.”

“All I know about Seattle is the Space Needle.” Kai grimaced.

“That should be good enough,” I said, hoping it was true. “Just focus on that as hard as you can. Everyone who does know Seattle, give it all you’ve got. And hold on to each other tight.”

They did as I said, and I counted to three. We somehow managed to hold on to one another even with reality dissolving around us, though the attempt kind of threw off our axis.

When Seattle swirled into my peripheral, all I got was the impression of asphalt before I came crashing down on top of Kingston and Xero on top of me. Everyone else fell too, a tangled ball of arms and legs.

Kingston wheezed. “Squishing the lizard—squishing the lizard!”

“Squishing all the lizards,” Kai groaned. He was flat on his back, legs spread, with Hannah jammed between them and Jayce pinning her there.

“Oh, God! I’m so, so sorry,” Hannah gasped. “Jayce, can you move?”

“Not until Xero does.”

“Working on it,” Xero grunted irritably. His arm was caught under my thigh, which was pinned under his torso.

“Hold on… I think I can…”

Groaning, I shifted my thigh up just enough for him to pull his arm out and roll off. The rest of us managed to get untangled in another minute or two, then we all stood up and shook off.

“Lucky thing we landed in an alley,” Jayce said with a grin. “Can you imagine if we’d been seen?”

“Um—look.” Hannah’s whisper trembled slightly, as did the finger she pointed.

I turned around to find a homeless man staring at us with huge blue eyes.

“Um—I can explain,” I began, but the man lifted a hand.

“Nope, nope, no explanations!” His voice was wheezy and sharp. “Last time something explained, I was throwed in the looney bin. Not again, nope. Don’t like the chicken, it’s dry, no seasoning in the looney bin. Salt makes you crazy, you know, you demons and aliens and whatever do what you do, don’t need no Gavriel’s nobody telling me nothing about no underworld. I didn’t see nothing.”

What?

His words punched me in the chest. Most of what he’d said was a jumbled mess of gibberish, but…

“How do you know that name?”