Demon Reform Academy, Term 2

49. Skel

49

SKEL

B ram had rushed out of the classroom, and Reed was kneeled next to Death. The air was thick with the scent of fear—their fear of losing Pandora and mine. It made my magic leak worse, seeping into every nook and cranny in this damned classroom.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” My fingers trembled as I clutched my fae pipe, the rainbow-colored smoke swirling around my head in a desperate attempt to combat the overwhelming power of my own magic.

I took a deep drag, the familiar taste of the enchanted magic coating my tongue, but it did little to steady my racing heart or the spilling of my magic. The white strands of my hair slipped through my fingers as I twisted them.

The scar over my right eye throbbed. I’d been hit over the head by some fucking demon just as the infected demons attacked. I wasn’t able to do anything to help my fated mate…

“Pandora...Pandora…fuck! Princess,” I muttered, my voice breaking as I stumbled over the scattered textbooks and broken desks. “ Where is she?”

My magic was leaking badly, creating illusions of Death’s, Reed’s, and my own fears of Pandora that gnawed at the edges of my sanity to see. The classroom transformed into a hellscape of my own making.

Pandora beaten bloody and blue.

Pandora chained in a dark cellar.

Pandora with cuts all over her.

Pandora with a shadow tendril sticking out of her gut.

Nausea swirled in my stomach as I fell to my knees. The ground beneath me was cold, and a chill of fear seeped into my bones. My breaths came in ragged gasps, the taste of fear and smoke mingling in my mouth. My chest tightened until every fucking breath became a struggle.

“Get a grip,” I snarled at myself, but the words were hollow.

I fumbled for my bag and found my tablet, my fingers slick with sweat. I managed to click Dad’s contact, but my head was filled with raspy screams of my mate.

The phone rang a couple of times before his voice came through. “Skel? I’ve been trying to call. So has Kat. Are you okay?”

“I—I can't...control it.” My voice was barely a whisper, my body trembling uncontrollably. “Pandora's gone...I messed up...I messed up so bad. I was hit in the head, and when I woke up, we couldn’t find her!”

“Skel? Skel, calm down.” Dad’s voice crackled through the line, but it was Kat, my sister, who took over.

“Skel, listen to me.” Kat's voice was firm, trying to cut through my fucked up hysteria. “What's happening? Are you at the academy?”

“I’m losing it, Kat,” I sobbed, my words barely coherent at this point. “My magic is worse than ever. I can't stop it. Pandora…fuck, my mate—she's gone . They took her.”

“Skel, breathe. Focus on my voice,” Kat urged, but her words were drowned out by the absolute carnage of my own mind.

The illusions around me grew more vivid, more terrifying , feeding off my despair and hope for Pandora’s safety.

I never thought I’d see my fucking magic make Death himself cry, but he was. Reed, too.

“I can't...I can’t…” My voice broke completely, my muscles shaking with the force of my sobs. The tablet slipped from my grasp, clattering to the ground as I buried my face in my hands.

I couldn’t see her be hurt any longer.

My sense of reality slipped away as the fear magic consumed me entirely. Was this how those demons in that village felt? No wonder they decided to take their own lives… no wonder they died of pure fucking fear.

This was too much.

Just as I felt myself teetering on the edge of complete ruin, a sharp crack rang out in my skull.

I looked up, disoriented, just in time to see Reed looming over me with a desk in his hands.

“I’m sorry, Skel. I can’t see her like that.” A tear slipped down his cheek. “Not anymore.”

Then, I fell into the abyss of my mind.