133. Summer #2
Another memory, remembering when he was glamoured as Connor. I had let him touch me, hold me, kiss me, all to protect Connor. Over and over, I trusted him .
The stranger is . . .
Yet another memory of him gifting me a ring of protection against the stranger after he broke Max’s arm. Offering me safety and solace from?.?.?.
The stranger is . . .
The final memory of that awful cave—the cave that still plagues me, the cave that he entered when Connor was dying.
The cave where he held Aqua to the wall, giving Connor and me precious moments to say goodbye.
But he could have done more. Now I know he could have done more.
I have always known the power the headmaster wields, but I knew it was nothing compared to the stranger’s, and this whole time, the stranger has been?. .?.
Headmaster Emrys.
The person I should have felt safe with.
The person I should have been able to trust, whom I did fucking trust, and not just with myself but with Connor and Alice.
He pretended to be the white knight, but all this time, he has been the monster in the shadows, watching me, studying me, destroying me.
He stripped away at me piece by piece, slowly extinguishing the light and making my darkness roil and surge, ruining my chance to be?. .?. good.
I look down at the bracelet still on the floor. “I have to go.”
Alice nods. “All right. Where are we going?”
I slice my finger again and draw a rune on both of the boxes, tidying them instantly but also locking them. I then draw a rune on the floor, and items fly around us until my room is immaculate. Picking up the bracelet, I slide it into my bra.
“I need you to go back to Dr?culea,” I say. It is imperative that she continue ruling as planned. “I need to go somewhere completely unreachable,” I say, looking up at her. “And I need you to do me a favor.”
Alice nods. “Anything.” I know she wants more information, but she wouldn’t be my best friend if she didn’t act first, ask questions later. Plus, she knows I’ll tell her when I’m ready.
“I need you to take my phone to Dr?culea.”
“You’re running,” Alice says, a statement of fact.
“I am.” I stand up, trying to formulate a plan. “Mira will come with me so she can use the halo.” Headmaster Emrys is the most powerful sorcerer, if not being, in the majority of the realms. If he finds out I know?.?.?.
Alice pulls an amulet from her pocket and holds it by the chain in front of me. “From the vault of the school. I might have liberated it. It’s a true cloaking device, even more than the Helm. I was going to use it to burn down something, but you need it.”
I take it and slide the chain over my head. “Is there a way I can reach you, but not be tracked otherwise?”
Alice pulls a matching pendant out of her pocket. “It’s a matching set,” she says, and then I hear Alice’s voice in my mind, “It’s me, your worst nightmare.”
Fuck, I need to get out of here.
I hand her my phone. “Take it to Dr?culea and throw it in the ocean.”
“You need untraceable funds too.”
I shake my head. “No time. I have to go now.” The halo hums, and I glance at it as Mira enters the room, her face still puffy from crying.
“Mira, I’ll explain later, but we need to go now,” I say. Mira immediately goes on alert but doesn’t ask questions as she hurries toward me. “Can you help me out, Con?” The halo darkens, and then his plan fills my mind.
My back aches. It’s similar to how I felt in the forest before I went to Hell, but this is not an echo of pain.
This is not a phantom ache. This is a permeating heaviness that morphs into an acute agony that snaps my head back on a silent scream.
A shooting pain surges down my spine as black wings erupt from my back and spread wide behind me.
They cast a heavy shadow over Alice and Mira as they watch me with wide, horrified eyes.
“Summer, you’re?—”
“An angel of death!” Mira finishes.
It’s no longer just an illusion. Connor has transformed me completely, funneling his power into me, and I can feel his light coursing through my body.
I pant, my body trembling as I try to absorb the pain of the sudden transformation.
When my vision clears I lift my head, and surrounding me are multiple gold glowing portals.
“You’re going to need wings,” I say, looking at Mira.
Mira nods once, and in a wave of flame and heat, fiery wings singe the air at her back.
Her hair forms a corona of flames around her face, her skin glowing with white heat.
She watches me with eyes composed of a roiling inferno.
I have never seen her in her phoenix form before, and it is absolutely beautiful and majestic.
Alice watches us with wide, worried eyes.
“When I’ve found somewhere to lie low, I’ll let you know,” I say. “I need you to call the Morningstars and tell them I’m okay but that I won’t be reachable for a while.”
Alice nods. “Be careful. You know he’s going to hunt you.” Even though I haven’t even mentioned him, Alice knows who I am running from.
“I’ve been hunted before,” I say, the fear dissolving into something much more frightening. “This time I’m stronger and braver.”
“Run fast, Sum.”
I take Mira’s hand, and we surge forward into the first portal.
Away from him.
Away from the stranger.
Away from James Arthur Emrys.
Until I can kill him, and this time I mean it.