The Hunting Begins

Chapter Six 

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For a moment, I thought I'd misunderstood him.

"You won't… protect me?"

Jason's looks didn't falter. "Protection weakens you. And you can't be weak at the moment.

I was surprised and totally speechless but I couldn't react.

Instead I asked, then what will you do then?

He took a step forward, and I couldn't sense the warmth in his breath. "I will help you get strong enough to live."

For some reason, in his words—half promise, half threat—my heart stumbled.

"You're not making sense—"

Something ripped through the darkness.

Low. Vibration. Off.

It wasn't the academy bell. It was lower, deeper, vibrating up through the floor like the heartbeat of something gigantic.

Jason froze in his tracks. "Too soon."

"What is that?"

He didn't respond at all.He was already in motion, taking three steps across the room and opening the door wide.

The empty corridor beyond it was vacant, but the air… the air smelled different. Thicker. Each breath heavy with metal.

Jason stopped and rushed back to me. "Put on your shoes. Now."

I just stood there. "Why—"

The noise came again. This time with a scream from someplace outside the building.

Not a scream of terror. Not even agony.

This was terror, plain and simple.

Jason didn't take the time to wait for me to catch up—he slipped his fingers into my arm and dragged me toward the door.

"Move."

We were halfway down the hall when I saw Kael at the far end, approaching us with fire licking his hands like ribbons of flame. His eyes found mine immediately, and the flames grew hotter.

"She's with me," Jason told him without wasting time

Kael didn't even look at his way. "Not anymore."

Jason's grip on me tightened. "She's safer—"

"With you?" Kael's voice was as sharp as ablade. "I highly doubt it."

"Can someone explain what the hell is happening here?" I asked my tone harsher than I intended.

Neither of them spoke—because that's when the first one arrived.

It walked into the hall as though it poured from darkness, its face hidden behind a silver mask shaped in the form of a snarling beast. Loose, frayed robes lay at its feet, the air about it quivering like heat off stone.

I was screaming wrong all over with my whole body.

Kael shouted. "Star Hunter."

Jason pushed me aside. "Run."

The creature tilted its head, as though it could smell me, and then started moving.

I did not run.I did not charge.

It was ten yards away from me, one eye blink. And the next, it was in front of us.

My face was seared from the heat of Kael's flames, which tore down the hallway. But the Hunter did not even blink—it merely lifted its hand, and the flames curled around it, breaking into smoke.

Jason shouted, dragging me toward the closest staircase. "They can't be here. The wards—"

"They're down," Kael snarled, already behind us.

By the time we reached the first floor, the air was humming again—not from the bell, but from something that hunted.

We ran into the courtyard. Moonlight poured down over the snow-covered lawn, shining off a dozen silver masks strewn. My stomach fell.

There wasn't a single Hunter.

There were fifteen or more.

"Why are they here?" I asked in fear

"They've tracked your scent," Kael growled.

Jason's eyes moved to my wrist. "The mark. It's shining like a beacon.".

Before I could demand to be instructed how to make it stop, one of the Hunters broke away from the pack, running with the same impossible speed. Jason pushed me toward Kael.

"Take her to Raven."

Kael took my hand, his blistering palm searing even through the glove. "Don't look back."

We ran to the east wing, slipping in and out of masonry archways. Behind us, the Hunters moved—not running, but approaching. The noise they made wasn't footsteps. It was withered leaves on stone.

"Raven," Kael screamed.

"What is this?" I panted.

"Be still'. Kael said as we stepped into the room.

The room flowed into a circular chamber illuminated by the light of a lone torch. Raven was there, kneeling in front of a stone basin in which blue-white fire danced. His eyes met mine, and I had a moment where I thought he was going to smile. He didn't.

Raven removed a thin silver knife from his jacket. "It's going to hurt."

Jason's words were ringing in my head: Protection makes you weak.

I shook almost in reflex. But there was another scream, far away, that sliced through the air, and I extended my wrist.

Rave's fingers were hot on my skin as he drew the blade lightly over the symbol. It didn't cut—but it burned, as if the silver were giving the magic signals itself. I clenched my teeth and bit my lip, unwilling to shout out.

When he drew back, the black sigil had lost its sharp glitter and was dull as a tarnished coin. The warmth was gone.

"It won't last long," he said. "Hours at most.

Kael headed towards the fire in the basin. "Then we move now."

"Move to where?" I asked.

"Where they can't follow us," said Raven. "The Between."

I looked. "The what?"

Raven growled under his breath, and the fire heated, casting shadows on the walls. A row of archway stood against the far wall, runes etched on it that glimmered with starlight,the ground lost.

"This is crazy," I said.

Kael's eyes collided with mine. "So is dying here."

The air changed behind us—sharp, cold.

I turned and my stomach grumbled.

A Hunter occupied the hallway we'd entered.

Shadows hadn't frightened it.

"Can't be.," Raven panted.

Raven drew his dagger. "Go Now."

Kael grabbed me by the arm and dragged me toward the archway. "Don't look back."

But naturally, I did.

The Hunter entered the room, its silver mask trained on me. Its voice was a harsh scratch of metal over stone.

Starborn.

I fell back, and Kael pushed me toward through the archway.

Cold wrapped around me. A single heartbeat and there was nothing—no noise, no floor below me. Just infinite blackness. And then I crashed down with a rough jerking that shook my teeth.

The sky above was off. Stars rotated in slow spirals, colors changing—violet, gold, silver. The air vibrated like it was alive.

Kael slid down next to me.Raven brought up the rear, the archway shutting behind him with a crack that echoed like shattering glass.

"Where are we?" I gasped.

"The in-between," Raven replied. "Nothing can live here long without a guide."

My throat choked. "And you're the guide?"

He hesitated a bit. "Something like that."

I was going to push when Kael froze. "We're not alone."

Figures took shape out of the darkness past the strobing starlight. Not Hunters. Something else.

Tall. Lean. Old bone colored skin. Their eyes were softly aglow, like smoldering embers.

Raven unsheathed his sword. "They're not here for us."

One of the figures jerked its head. Its voice was nearly soft. Give us the Starborn, and you are free to depart.

Kael advanced, darkness closing in behind him." It's not going to happen."

The figure's head turned toward me. You cannot hide here forever.

"They've breached the wards," Kael said.

"Give me your arm."

I hesitated. "Why?"

"Covering the mark," Raven said.