Chapter 19 MIDNIGHT HUNT
CHAPTER 019: MIDNIGHT HUNT
The academy goes silent after the lockdown. No footsteps. No voices. Just the hum of magic sealing every door and window.
I can't stay in my room.
The bond yanks at my chest like someone tied a string around my ribs and keeps pulling. Morgana's somewhere out there and every second I sit here doing nothing makes it worse.
Sofia blocks the door when I try to leave. "You're insane if you think I'm letting you go out there."
"I have to."
"Why? So she can finish what she started in the duel?"
"She's not trying to kill me." I push past her. "Not anymore."
"How do you know that?"
I don't answer because I can't explain it. I just feel it. Through the bond I feel her panic, her desperation, her fear.
She's running from something.
Or someone.
I slip into the hallway and Sofia hisses my name behind me but doesn't follow. Smart girl.
The corridor is empty and dark except for the floating lanterns that cast everything in cold blue light. My footsteps echo too loud. I try to walk quieter but it doesn't help.
The bond pulls me left. Then right. Down a staircase I've never seen before.
I'm halfway down when a shadow peels away from the wall.
I bite back a scream.
Kieran steps into the light, his eyes glowing amber. "Where do you think you're going?"
My heart slams against my ribs. "You can't just appear like that."
"Answer the question."
"I can feel her," I say, still catching my breath. "Morgana. She's close."
His jaw tightens. "Then you're walking into a trap."
"Probably."
"And you're going anyway."
"Yes."
He stares at me for a long moment. Then he moves beside me and his hand wraps around my wrist. Not tight. Just enough to let me know he's not letting go.
"Then I'm coming with you," he says.
We move through the academy without speaking. Kieran knows these halls better than I do. He leads me down passages I didn't know existed, past locked doors and sleeping portraits.
The bond pulls harder the closer we get to the outer gates.
Kieran stops at a side entrance I've never noticed before. He pushes it open and cold air rushes in.
Beyond the gates is the Forbidden Forest.
The trees are massive and twisted like they've been growing for a thousand years. Their branches claw at the sky and the moonlight barely touches the ground.
"This is a bad idea," Kieran mutters.
"I know."
"We should go back."
"I can't."
He looks at me and something shifts in his expression. "You're really going in there."
"She's calling me."
"I don't hear anything."
"Not out loud." I press a hand to my chest. "Through the bond. I can hear her."
Kieran's grip on my wrist tightens. "Then we go together."
We step past the gates.
The moment we cross into the forest the temperature drops. My breath comes out in clouds. The trees close in around us and the academy disappears behind a wall of shadow.
I hear whispers.
Not words exactly. Just sounds that almost make sense. They curl around my ears like smoke.
Kieran's whole body tenses. "Do you hear that?"
"Yeah."
"That's not normal wind."
"I know."
The bond yanks me forward. I stumble and Kieran catches my arm.
"Thalira slow down."
"I can't. She's close."
We push deeper into the trees. The whispers get louder. They sound like Morgana's voice now, layered over itself a dozen times.
Then the forest opens into a clearing.
Moonlight floods the space. And standing in the center of it is Morgana.
Her hair is wild. Her clothes are torn. Shadow magic swirls around her like a living thing, twisting and coiling in the air.
Her eyes lock onto mine.
"You came," she says. Her voice shakes.
I step forward. Kieran tries to pull me back but I shake him off.
"You called me," I say.
"I didn't want to." She laughs but it sounds broken. "I tried to stop it but the bond wouldn't let me."
"What's going on Morgana?"
Her face twists. "You ruined everything."
"The duel was your idea."
"I was supposed to win." Her voice cracks. "I was supposed to be free."
I take another step. "Free from what?"
She stares at me and for the first time since I met her I see something other than hatred in her eyes.
Fear.
"From him," she whispers. "From the Hollow King."
My blood turns cold.
Kieran growls low in his chest. "What does he have to do with this?"
Morgana's laugh is bitter. "Everything. He came to me weeks ago. Offered me power if I killed her in the duel."
My stomach drops. "He wanted me dead?"
"No." She shakes her head hard. "He doesn't want you dead Thalira. He wants you broken."
The words hit me like a slap.
"And now?" I ask quietly.
"Now we're bound." Her voice is raw. "And he's furious. He didn't plan for this. Neither did I."
"So what happens now?"
She looks at me and her expression shifts into something almost like pity.
"He'll use me to destroy you," she says. "And I won't be able to stop him."
Before I can respond her hands fly up.
Shadows explode outward.
I throw myself backward. Kieran shoves me behind him and shifts halfway, claws bursting from his fingertips.
"Morgana don't," I shout.
"I'm not doing this," she screams. "He is."
The shadows twist into shapes. Claws. Teeth. Wings.
They rush toward us.
Kieran roars and slashes through the nearest one. It dissolves into smoke but three more take its place.
I try to reach for my time magic but the bond flares hot and I feel Morgana's panic flood through me. She's fighting it. Fighting him.
But she's losing.
"Thalira run," Kieran snaps.
"I'm not leaving you."
"I can handle this. Go."
Another shadow lunges. He tears it apart but more keep coming.
I look at Morgana. Her face is twisted in pain. Tears stream down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry," she chokes out. "I'm so sorry."
Then her eyes go black.
Not shadow black. Empty black. Like someone scooped out everything that made her Morgana and left a hollow shell behind.
Her voice changes. Deeper. Colder.
"Hello daughter."
My breath stops.
That's not Morgana speaking.
That's him.
The Hollow King is using her like a puppet.
Kieran shifts fully into his wolf form and his growl shakes the ground.
But the voice just laughs.
"You can't protect her wolf," it says through Morgana's mouth. "She belongs to me."
I back up. My hands shake. The bond burns so hot I can barely breathe.
"Let her go," I say.
"Why would I do that?" The Hollow King tilts Morgana's head. "She's perfect. Bound to you. Close to you. And now I can be close to you too."
Morgana's body jerks forward. Her hands lift and shadows pour out faster than before.
Kieran lunges but the shadows wrap around him. He snarls and fights but they're too strong.
"Stop," I scream.
The Hollow King smiles with Morgana's face. "Make me."
I don't think. I just move.
I grab the bond between us and yank.
Pain explodes through me. Through her. Through both of us at once.
Morgana screams. The shadows falter.
The black drains from her eyes and she collapses.
Kieran breaks free and shifts back to human form. He's bleeding from a dozen cuts but he's alive.
I rush to Morgana. She's gasping for air, her whole body shaking.
"What did you do?" she whispers.
"I pulled him out."
Her eyes widen. "That's not possible."
"I just did it."
She stares at me. Then she laughs. It's a desperate broken sound.
"He's going to kill us both," she says.
Before I can answer the ground shakes.
The trees around the clearing crack and splinter. The air turns freezing.
A voice echoes through the forest. Not through Morgana this time. Through everything.
"Clever girl. But you can't keep me out forever."
The Hollow King's presence wraps around us like a vice.
Morgana grabs my arm. Her nails dig into my skin.
"Run," she says.
"What?"
"Run. Now. Before he finds another way in."
The ground splits open beneath us.
Kieran grabs me and yanks me backward. The earth where I was standing a second ago crumbles into darkness.
Something moves in that darkness. Something massive.
Morgana scrambles to her feet. "He's coming through."
"Through what?" I shout.
"The bond." Her voice breaks. "He's using it as a door."
The thing in the darkness rises.
Red eyes. Wings. A shape too big to be human.
Kieran shifts again and his wolf form puts itself between me and whatever's coming.
But I know it won't be enough.
The Hollow King steps out of the shadows and this time he's not possessing anyone.
He's here in his real body.