“Is it close enough to walk to?” Loralie asked Bogden. “I’d like to save my power if I can.”
He looked up at the sky overhead and then slowly lowered his gaze until it was level with the horizon. “About a five-minute walk.”
“Let’s go,” I ordered and headed in the direction he’d looked. The sooner we got this over with, the better. I wanted to make sure my family was nowhere near the academy when we enacted our plan.
If they saw what we were planning to do, they would ground us for eternity. Or longer.
“Stop scowling, Kiko. Everything is going to be fine,” Loralie said with a wide smile. To others, she would have appeared excited and super positive, but I saw the tension in the corners of her eyes, in the way she carried herself, in the rapid pulse on her throat. She was worried, too.
Did she not want to worry Bogden?
That was most likely it.
“I know,” I said and forced my ears to perk up. “But you also know I’m a worrier.”
“All three of you are,” Bogden said as he walked between the three of us. “You take turns acting cool and composed, but all three of you worry constantly about things.”
“Do not!” the three of us yelled.
He chuckled. “You totally do.”
“You don’t understand what it’s like for us,” Frances whispered.
“I think I understand more than you realize. My mother isn’t exactly your run of the mill creature.”
That was true. Baba Yaga was a well-known monster who had been hunted for centuries. Humans across all of the countries knew about her.
None of us knew what to say to that, so we finished our walk in silence. There were no humans nearby, so Bogden rushed forward to work on the barrier.
“We’re going to go take out the magic user so they can’t change the barrier back,” Frances informed him. “Stay nearby, but stay hidden. If you need to move to another area, that’s fine, but stay close to the barrier. Our plan will only work if you keep the barrier we need intact.”
“What is your plan?” He asked.
Loralie fidgeted with her hands a moment and said, “I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you this year. Stay safe.”
“Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye? Is this a suicide mission? You better not be sacrificing yourselves!”
“We’ll take care of the humans,” I said. “And each other.”
“Loralie,” Bogden yelled.
“Bye,” she whispered, latched onto Frances and I, and shadow traveled right next to the front of the academy’s entrance, mostly hidden by the shadow of the building.
Standing by the entrance was Darla, a witch from an unknown family who came here on a scholarship. She leaned against a pillar, looking out at the road.
“Kill or incapacitate?” Loralie asked.
“Incapacitate,” Frances said. “We don’t know if she is doing this by force or not.”
She didn’t look forced to me. She was just standing by the barrier with arms crossed and kept kicking the dirt with the toe of her boot.
“Fine,” Loralie grumbled.
“Plan?” I asked Frances.
“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do,” she said confidently.
Chapter 39
LORALIE
I moved to the shadows right behind Darla, popped up, grabbed her, and yanked her down into the shadows with us before she could even open her mouth.
Tsukiko smacked her on the head, knocking her out.
We moved into the nearest building, into an empty classroom, tied her up, and left her there. We weren't sure if she was helping on her own free will or not, so we didn’t want to just kill her. We would leave the punishment up to the school.
Step one complete.
Tsukiko’s head whipped up as she looked out the window. “My parents are coming. They are still a ways off, but I can feel them getting close.”
“Time for Plan Apocalypse,” I said and cracked my knuckles. “Showtime, ladies.”
We shadow-traveled back to the spot where we had abducted Darla and fully materialized. The three of us stood side by side, facing the school and the humans.
In the front and center was Larson, a dhampir who talked nonstop about escaping the monster world to rule over the humans. He often talked about wanting to make contracts with every human on the earth so he would end up with the largest army in the monster world to take down even Lucifer. We thought he was just talking big to try to seem cool.
Now it all made sense. He had been helping them all along. Had he been the one telling the humans where the monster towns were?
All of the humans raised their weapons and aimed at us.
A woman in the front beside Larson asked, “What are you doing here? How did you get free?”
“What did you think you were going to gain, Larson?” Tsukiko asked. “Why would you betray all of monsterkind and work with humans?”
“You don’t understand what it’s like for the rest of us. For the low-class monsters of the world. You’ve all been handed everything you have ever wanted,” he hissed at us. He looked at the woman. “Kill them. Kill them now.”
With a deep breath, I reached down into the ground, searching with my powers as Death, pulling and pulling bone after bone towards us. It was lucky that there were a few cemeteries nearby.
Tsukiko shifted into her half-shift form and unsheathed her claws.
Frances closed her eyes and whispered her favorite poem to center herself.
“Freeze!” a human yelled. “Whatever you’re doing...stop.”
“Just kill them!” Larson screamed.
“Stand down,” the woman ordered us. “We don’t want to hurt any of you.”
Once I had enough bones gathered beneath the ground I stood on, I whispered, “Ready.”
Frances set a hand on Tsukiko’s and my shoulder, and whispered, “Apocalypse.”
All three of us linked together spiritually and magically. The cores of our magic weaved together to create one power being.
The bones I had dug up shot up out of the ground, surrounding us, and formed a giant wolven-raven mutant creature of bones and shadows.
The humans opened fire, but it was too late. The magical shield was already erected to give our creature enough time to fully form around us.
Within its rib cage, we stood together, side by side, and ready to move. I would control replacement of bones if needed, Tsukiko would pilot the creature on fighting instinct, and Frances would strategize and give Tsukiko instructions as needed.
Inside of our creature, we were one.
“What the—” the woman gasped and backed up.
“Do not let them escape,” Frances said in an otherworldly voice. “Kill them all.”
Tsukiko howled her pleasure and began attacking the nearest humans with our bone claws and the beak that tore through skin like butter.
We couldn’t hold this shape for long, so we had to kill them all, as fast as we could.
“Come out humans!” I roared. “Come out and face the reaper.”
Ten. Twenty. Thirty humans dead.
Tsukiko took them out without prejudice.