“Stop!” Josephine ran around the circle as her familiar let the magic threads go slack. “This isn’t working.”
The fae opened his hands and the threads dissolved. As the phantom wolf sank into Sin’s body, her skin glowed in a hideous rainbow of green, pink, and red before the light faded.
I wrenched free from Kai and charged toward the druidess, the guys right behind me.
“What happened?” I demanded.
“The exorcism failed.” Josephine’s mouth flattened into a thin line, then she stepped into the circle to kneel beside Sin, who was sprawled on her back, breathing fast but otherwise unmoving. “Even with Niavv’s help, the spirit is too strong to dislodge—not without risking Sin’s life.”
I glanced at her familiar. His eyes, bright and pupilless like smooth opals, turned to me, then his form faded into shimmers. Huh, okay. Not so talkative after all.
“Too strong?” Aaron growled. “But exorcisms always work, don’t they? As long as they’re completed before the full moon?”
“I’ve never failed before.” Josephine looked past us. “We need your healer back out here, Tobias. Sin is unconscious.”
I looked over my shoulder. Tobias and Valerie stood beside Kai and Ezra. At the druidess’s words, Valerie turned and ran toward the academy, as strong and fast as any of the alumni despite her designer clothes.
Josephine rose again and I took her place, kneeling beside Sin. I held her hand, sick with helplessness. Her skin was chilled and a strange odor clung to her—earth and musk, but with a sweet undertone, like cherry syrup.
“Why did the exorcism fail?” Tobias asked, his expression sternly bleak.
“The spirit is too strong,” the druidess repeated. “Did you see the tainted aural colors? That isn’t normal. Whatever change the shifters in the woods have undergone, it’s been passed to Sin through the infection. An exorcism alone can’t remove the spirit.”
“Then what?” Aaron barked. “You’re just giving up? Leaving her to turn into a mutant werewolf?”
“Of course she isn’t giving up,” Tobias cut in. “Josephine, do you know how the shifters were altered?”
She glanced at the shimmer of her familiar, listening. “Niavv is certain it’s neither fae magic nor druidry. Only Arcana has the power to fundamentally alter nature like this.”
Tobias nodded. “Transmutation Arcana. I can have an expert here first thing in the morning to examine Sin.”
“I need to return home,” Josephine said. “The moment you have answers, I’ll be back. Sin must be successfully exorcised before the full moon, or there will be no saving her.”
My hand tightened around Sin’s limp fingers. Silence spread between the mythics, and I voiced the question no one else was asking. “When is the full moon?”
The druidess looked up at the overcast sky, the darkness unbroken and the moon hidden.
“Friday night,” she answered grimly.
Dread pierced me. We only had three nights to find the answers that would save Sin.
Chapter Twelve
Steel-gray clouds hung ominously low as I entered the academy building with Ezra at my side. Like me, he hadn’t managed to leap out of bed at the literal crack of dawn. We’d both been slow to get dressed, though his excuse was much better than mine. Dark circles marred the skin under his eyes.
The infirmary was located in an auxiliary wing of the academy. As I rounded the final corner, I spotted Aaron, Kai, Lily, and another guy loitering in the corridor. Lily wrung her hands together, her face pale and eyes huge.
The stranger was around my age, with sandy blond hair and a nice tan. He was tall, but slim and weak-looking with Aaron and Kai next to him, an impression not helped by the two bulging satchels weighing him down. A wooden trunk sat at his feet.
As I drew closer, recognition pinged through me. That dude wasn’t a complete stranger—he was the apprentice from the apothecary, though he looked paler than I remembered.
“Brian, right?” I said. “Does this mean Kelvin Compton the Super Alchemist is Tobias’s transmutation expert?”
“Kelvin is an exceptional alchemist,” Aaron replied tersely, his arms folded and feet set as though he was about to leap into action. “He does guest lectures several times a year on different alchemy topics relevant to student training.”
I almost retorted that, according to him and his alumni buddies, Arcana mythics didn’t have “real power,” but I restrained myself. Aaron’s attention was on the infirmary door and he was the palest among us—though, for a ginger, that wasn’t saying much. His jaw flexed, his anxious concern for Sin palpable.
Since everyone was standing out here, I assumed we weren’t allowed in while Kelvin examined Sin. So we waited. For nearly ten minutes, we stood in almost complete silence. No one felt all that chatty.
The infirmary door opened. Tobias walked out, followed by a hulking, bearded Kelvin. He was carrying another satchel, which he tossed to Brian with barely a glance. His apprentice caught it awkwardly, fumbling the strap, and hooked it over his shoulder with the others.
“The shifter spirit possessing Sin has been transmutated,” Kelvin announced as though expecting a chorus of shocked gasps. “I would guess alchemically, though I can’t be certain.”
“Can you save Sin?” Lily demanded.
Kelvin glanced at the girl but spoke to Tobias. “If you’d asked me yesterday if a shifter spirit could be altered, I would’ve said no. This is—” He gave his head a sharp shake. “This is uncharted magic. To pinpoint the exact nature and method of transmutation, I need a tissue sample from an affected shifter. How quickly can you capture one?”
“Give us a couple of hours,” Aaron answered before his father could. “Does it need to be alive?”
“No.”
Aaron nodded, then jerked his head at Kai and Ezra. Without waiting for a response, he strode toward the door. Tobias called after his son, but Aaron didn’t stop, Kai and Ezra following close behind.
Scrambling into motion, I trotted down the hall and squeezed between Kai and Ezra, matching their strides. “Are we going shifter hunting?”
“Yep,” Aaron answered shortly.
“First, we’ll gear up,” Kai added. “Tori, you—”
“I’m coming!” I interrupted fiercely. “Don’t even think about—”
“I was going to say you should bring your potion arsenal.”
“Oh.” My aim still sucked, but I could hit a giant wolf. Probably. “What’s the plan?”
“Find shifters. Kill shifters.” Aaron paused at the academy doors, his eyes blazing with determination. “Sin only has two days, and we don’t know how long Compton will take to do his part. We’re getting this done fast.”
Again, he didn’t wait for a response before shoving through the doors like a steamroller. Nerves prickled through me. Aaron could be … impulsive. Kai and Ezra were the smart, cautious ones who always reined him in, but this time around, I doubted anything short of chains and padlocks would slow Aaron down.