Chapter 168 A SUPPOSED HALLUCINATION

Chapter 168 A SUPPOSED HALLUCINATION
CHAPTER 168
A SUPPOSED HALLUCINATION

ROWAN

It had been a week since the festival attack and Liana’s death. I sat alone in the quiet garden behind the vampire wing, elbows on my knees, staring at the dark soil between my boots.

The air smelled of damp earth and cut grass. Night insects clicked somewhere in the bushes.

I had gone over the same thoughts every day since the procession and still could not make them fit.

The last time I saw Liana was when I left her after helping Magnus and Mordecai out of that hole.

Flashback

I shot away from the impact of a shadow monster and spun mid-air. I landed on its back. This one was fully grown.

It had already sucked power from several people and changed shape. Instead of the usual slippery black mass it now looked like a frail boy with black hair and wide brown eyes.

I knew that face belonged to the first person whose power it had taken. The strength in its body came from everything it had stolen after that.

It shrieked. The sound scraped down my spine. I held on and sank my fangs into its neck. Bitter black blood flooded my mouth.

The monster thrashed and tried to throw me off. I staggered but locked my legs around its waist and climbed back up.

I grabbed its head with both hands, gritted my teeth, and twisted hard. The neck snapped. The body went limp. I pushed off and landed on the ground as it crumbled into ash.

I bent over and retched. Thick black blood spilled from my mouth onto the dirt.

“Fuck,” I groaned, holding my stomach while more of it came up.

A scream cut through the noise. “Get your ass up there and run! Don’t you dare come back!”

Mordecai’s voice. I shot toward the sound and found Magnus scrambling out of a deep pit. Relief flashed across his face when he saw me.

“Magnus!” I yelled and reached down.

He shook his head and pointed. “Help him first.”

The shadow monster still had its fangs buried in Mordecai’s neck. I snarled, dropped into the hole, and slammed into the creature. It released Mordecai.

I drove my hand into its chest, closed my fingers around its heart, and ripped it free. The monster’s eyes went wide. It collapsed.

I caught Mordecai before he hit the ground and pushed healing magic into him. He coughed up blood. I lifted him and shot out of the pit.

Magnus waited at the edge. “Take him to the bus,” I ordered sternly. “He’s done. He won’t survive another hit.”

Magnus grabbed my arm. “We go together.”

I shook my head. “I’m checking for any other students first. Then I’ll come.”

I left them and moved fast through the broken stalls. That was when I saw Liana.

She was fighting a shadow monster near an empty stretch of ground. I reached her in seconds, came up behind the creature, and tore its heart out. It turned to ash at her feet.

She heaved a long breath and wiped her face with the back of her hand.

I asked her, "Are you okay?"

She nodded. “I’m fine.”

I looked around. The area was almost empty. “Head to the bus. I’m doing one last sweep.”

She nodded again, then asked, “Where’s Ember?”

“Kael already took her back to the academy.”

Liana let out a breath that sounded like relief. “That’s good.”

I shot away. After a few seconds I heard something and turned. Liana still stood in the same spot. Her face was tilted up toward the sky.

For a moment I was sure I saw a thin flare of shadow move around her body. She jerked, turned, and saw me watching.

She waved me on and went back to looking at the sky. Light now gathered around her hands as she started forming earth magical binds.

I frowned, still wondering what she was doing, then left.

End of Flashback

That was the last time I saw her alive.

Her body was found near a food van. That van was not on the path to the bus. It was farther back, in the opposite direction. There had been no Ruihs near her when I left.

The area was empty. So why did she move toward the van instead of the bus? The energy it would have taken to reach that van could have gotten her safely to the evacuation point.

And the shadow I saw around her. I was certain I had seen it.

I rubbed my face with both hands. The questions kept circling and never landed on an answer.

Had she gone back for something?

Had another monster appeared after I left?

Or had something else been happening that I only caught a glimpse of?

The night air felt colder. I stared at the ground again and let the same thought repeat.

Or had I hallucinated it?