Chapter 23
Classes went by smoothly for the rest of the day – at least by my standards. There were no explosions, no one almost died, and the Runecoats watching our classes didn’t find any sedition that I could see.
Most miraculous of all? I’d managed to avoid being face-to-face with Typhon, despite the fact that he’d slipped in and out of no less than three of my classes. My friends and I managed to use our stones to set up a meeting for that night.
I couldn’t wait to be all together again, to just lean into them, to tell them about the curse and the meeting with Bellamy.
After a rough morning with Thalienne and Calypso, the day had taken a turn, and things were going good for once.
Until dinner at least.
I was at a table with six other students.
Fable was across the table a few chairs away, which was probably for the best. Maybe it was because we were so close, but I felt extra weird around her now.
It was like I was so nervous that people would be able to tell we were friends, I wound up going too far the other way, barely even looking at her.
Which I was pretty sure would come across as just plain weird if we were right next to each other . . .
Gary, on the other hand, sat to my immediate left. Most of the teachers had gone for the night already, and about half the students too. We would head to Stormfen for our meet-up shortly – it seemed the perfect place, now that I’d seen it – and even Zeed was going to meet us there.
I hoped.
“Great class today with Doyen Liam. He got two kids to like, totally quirk out,” Gary said.
I paused with a spoonful of whipped cheesecake halfway to my mouth. “What?”
“Yeah, it’s what we started saying when people hit their Quirk hard.” A girl to the left of Gary said. “It’s cool, right?”
I grinned and saluted her with my spoon. “Cool, quirking out. Let’s get it, right?”
A low murmur rumbled through the crowd and our table, which was against the far-right wall, all strained to see what was happening. Four Runecoats swept into the room, two of them dragging someone between them.
A chill rolled over me as Gary craned his neck to see.
“Who is that?”
“I think it’s Bryony . . .” I stood and stared into the face of the woman who’d only that morning been so incredibly kind to me, making sure I was okay after a tough lesson in the loch. Her eyes were closed.
I scanned the room for Thalienne, but there was no sign of the Sage as the Runecoats dragged Bryony across the dining hall. No one moved a muscle.
No one but me.
Before I had time to second guess myself, I charged after them, barking orders at my tablemates over my shoulder. “Someone find Sage Thalienne! Now!”
Was Bryony even awake? She looked limp in their hands.
“Stop, you can’t take her!” I yelled, hot on their heels. They didn’t slow, not one step.
Rylee, a red-headed Draconell girl who’d been in my Rune Casting class, ran up next to me. “She’s right. You can’t take our teacher!”
A chorus of grumbles erupted through the room from those of us left. I caught sight of my housemates moving closer in my periphery, making sure we weren’t ‘together’ but backing me up, nonetheless.
I turned and locked eyes with Rylee. “Block the doors!”
Her grin was instant. “On it.”
She spun a rune and slammed the doors shut before they could step through them.
The Runecoats turned and released Bryony, who fell to her knees, and then forward, smacking her chin on the floor in the process. It was only then that I realized her hands were bound so not only could she not cast a rune, but she also couldn’t catch herself if she fell.
Bastards.
“Go to your dorms! Or I will freeze your asses to the floor!” one of the Runecoats shouted, their hands coming up to a defensive position, rune-casting ready.
Another of the Runecoats stepped beside him, beginning to spin the rune that would ice us over.
Thalienne wasn’t here, and who knew when or if she might come back. Which meant we had to stop this on our own. Even if this was not one of my best ideas. It could out us and then what . . .?
But I couldn’t just stand by and let them hurt her.
“And let you take our favorite teacher?” I gave them a slow grin, “I don’t think so.”
I dove to the side even as I spun a rune.
All four of the Runecoats aimed for me, the ice rune skimming cold across my back, but I kept moving.
I’d learned my lesson with Mallachtan – not only did the Runecoats wear protective cloaks beneath their uniforms, they had probably also cast wards around them like the senator had.
I needed to play smart.
I threw the rune not at their bodies, but at the floor ahead of them, softening it like goo.
Their faces went slack with shock as they sank to their knees and pitched forward, forcing them to use their hands to catch themselves or slam their faces into the floor just like they’d let Bryony do.
A flurry of spells hit them from all sides, and not just from my friends.
A dozen other students were standing now, adding their runes to the mix.
The Runecoats were knocked out cold less than a minute later.
Whatever protective spells they had were overwhelmed by sheer volume, and the fight was over before it really began.
“Good job, Hannah,” Rylee said as we stood over the four Runecoats. They were unconscious, their legs still stuck in the ground. “But now what?”
Great fucking question.
Every eye looked to me for the answer as I rushed to Bryony’s side and rested a hand on her back. I did a quick sweep of the room, thoughts racing. “Anyone know some sort of compelling rune? And maybe we can get our hands on some liquor somewhere?”
“I think the teachers had some wine at their table,” Marina called, hurrying to the upper tables and beginning to search.
“Compelling rune?” Rylee asked. “Isn’t that kind of thing forbidden?”
Taking someone’s will and subverting it was absolutely forbidden, but what choice did we have?
“I know, I know. But we have to do something, or it won’t matter that we stopped them. They can tell Mallachtan, and Bryony will just get snatched up again – and the rest of us expelled.” Even as I spoke, Bryony began to stir.
Too many fires to put out all at once. Luckily, Ellie stepped up and waved me away, dropping beside Bryony and pressing a gentle hand to her face. The improvement in her skin tone was immediate, and it was only a few seconds before Bryony sat up with a gasp.
“No, I didn’t do anything wrong! Release me!”
The students around me shuffled as Ellie took Bryony’s hand. “You’re safe. We already knew it was bullshit. That’s why we stopped them. But we need to wipe their memories or we’re all in trouble.”
Bryony looked around, her eyes filling. “You all saved me?”
Somehow those tear-filled eyes found me, as if she knew I’d started the charge. I shrugged and stepped back, so Rylee was just in front of me. “We’re a team. Right?”
I looked around and the others nodded. “That’s what I like to hear. Now let’s get this shit solved.”
Before long, we’d put together a nice little scene, with the four Runecoats slumped over wine bottles and glasses at one of the dinner tables. When they were set up as convincingly as we could manage, Bryony wove a rune that I’d never seen before.
I watched closely as I suspected it wasn’t on the approved list. Maybe not a bastardization of a rune like those I made but one that was .
. . frowned upon. The freaky part? There were elements of it that looked like the rune I’d used to put the messages into my friend’s stones.
As if Bryony was imprinting the message into the Runecoats themselves. Powerful stuff, for sure.
I tucked that nugget away to gnaw on later as Bryony turned to face us, a grim smile on her face.
“They will only remember coming here for a drink and overdoing it. They will remember nothing more.” Bryony took a step back. “Now open the doors, go to your dorms, quickly!”
The other students hurried to do as she asked, but her soft, “thank you,” stopped me at the door. I looked over my shoulder and again her gaze locked with mine.
I gave her a quick salute. “Thanks for the tea and warm clothes. And . . . if you need someone to help you stick it to the man, I’m your girl. Every time.”