Chapter 36

Earlier

Tessa spent the entirety of dinner gossiping and floating wild theories about Amara and Vee. She would never in a million years have guessed that they would hook up, but apparently the stars had aligned in Purgatory. It also made sense in hindsight; the first time they’d all talked through the circle, the two had seemed strangely amicable.

She desperately wanted to know what had happened. The day before Amara disappeared, she’d been complaining about Vee ignoring her, so what had changed? Had Amara’s starvation pushed Vee’s hand? Was Vee now an enthusiastic fallen angel?

The idea of rubbing this in Vee’s face filled Tessa with glee. After all her high-minded arguments about trust and damnation, now they were on even footing.

After dinner, Tessa returned to the circle. She had a feeling she knew what the circle needed to finally function as an interplanar gateway, and the runes were itching to free themselves from her mind. She knew what needed to be altered, what could be added, and how the entire circle could be reinforced to make the process safer for everyone, even the planar boundaries themselves.

It was strange to be so excited about the tedium. Hadn’t she told Nick a few days ago that magic just felt like work? Maybe it was because she was using it to help her friends, or because Nick’s stupid optimism was rubbing off on her.

Regardless of the reason, she spent the entire evening working on the circle. She even went to bed at a reasonable time to fend off Nick’s nagging. She woke up relatively early, for her at least, just so she could continue her work. The runes were coming together, the magic was flowing nicely, and she was confident that Amara and Vee would be coming home today.

After Nick woke up, Tessa pulled down the illusion to let him get their morning coffee. She continued running tests the whole time he was gone, and found that she didn’t need to add or alter any more runes.

She had just jumped to her feet to start stretching out her back when her alarm went off. She removed the wall again—yet another thing that was getting easier— and only had to wait a few minutes for Nick to return. He had a bag of food, a tray of coffee, and appeared to be shivering as he stepped out of the staircase.

“Phew, it’s getting cold out there. There’s a nasty fog on campus, too, which didn’t help,” Nick said.

Tessa eagerly ran over and wrapped her hands around her coffee. It was delightfully warm, and after her first sip, she hummed in satisfaction. Before returning to the circle, a strange urge came over her, and she decided to let it take control. She pushed up onto her toes, then playfully kissed Nick on the cheek. “Thanks, Nick. For everything.”

She expected to catch Nick blushing, or perhaps stumbling through some ridiculously saccharine sentiment about friendship, but his attention was elsewhere. He was staring straight ahead, a concerned look on his face. “Um, Tess, is the circle supposed to be doing that?”

Turning her attention back to the circle, she immediately saw what he meant. The entire thing was pulsing rapidly, a cascade of unusual energy dancing around its edges. Tessa gave her coffee to Nick and ran back, falling to her knees in a panic. Her tattoos flared, and she started running through possible reasons why a circle like this would start flaring. Had her alterations failed somehow? Was the magic in Purgatory flaring up?

After a few seconds of concentration, she figured it out. The magic wasn’t from Purgatory at all, she had seen it before. This was Vee’s angelic magic, coming though much more intensely than last time.

Something was wrong.

“Nick, I need to get them back. Now. Stand back.” Tessa rose to her feet, bracing herself as she connected with the circle again. As the connection grew stronger, and the runes flared, she felt the bridge begin to form. Vee’s magic seemed to dissipate as she activated the circle, and with a bright flash, Amara and Vee were standing in front of her.

“Hey, I got your message, what’s—”

Tessa was unable to finish her sentence. The instant the connection was finalized, Amara bolted forward and sprinted for the staircase. She was panicking and seemed to be ready for battle; her chitinous gauntlets were back, as were the strange talons on her feet.

Vee appeared just as frantic but took a moment to look at Tessa and Nick. “We need to move! Drop the circle and run!”

Tessa looked at Nick, who had already put down the breakfast, and the three of them took off running. Vee slammed into the staircase door, sprinting up the steps as quickly as she could, while Tessa struggled to keep up.

“Vee! For fuck’s sake, can you just tell us what’s happening?” Tessa shouted. “And tell Amara to put her wings away! We can’t let people see her!”

“Believe me, Tess, that’s the least of our worries right now,” Vee said, pausing at the top of the stairs. She held the door open for Nick and Tessa before running ahead to the entrance, the one overlooking the quad.

“The least of our— Vee, you of all people should know how important it is to keep this shit under wraps!” Tessa said, struggling from the unexpected exertion.

When they finally made it outside, Tessa was surprised to see they’d caught up with Amara. For some reason, she’d stopped moving and was just watching the quad. Tessa followed her gaze, unsure what was so urgent.

The quad was covered in fog. The same fog that she’d seen the last few days, and the same fog that Nick had walked through to get their breakfast. At first, Tessa didn’t understand what had everyone so panicked, but after a moment, she began to see shapes in the mist. They were moving, shifting in unnatural ways, and Tessa finally pieced it together. An impossibly large creature was standing in the grass, stumbling back and forth while shaking its head. It was bigger than anything Tessa had ever seen, and it was made completely of bone. This had to be one of the creatures that Vee had previously mentioned, and it was here, on campus. In broad daylight.

“What the fuck is that?” Tessa asked, her voice shaking. Things were about to get very, very bad.

“We’ve been calling them reapers,” Vee said. In the distance, the creature continued stumbling around, knocking its head into the branches of a tree and pulling away in shock. “Brandon is controlling them, and he’s going to use them to extract his revenge.”

“Wait, Brandon is alive?!”

Amara spoke up next, completely ignoring Tessa’s question. “Vee, it looks horribly confused, and it even collided with that tree. I don’t think they can phase while they’re here, which might make killing them easier. Are you ready?”

Vee nodded. “We almost killed it before, and now we’re on home turf, we can—”

Her words were interrupted by another dull flash, barely perceptible had they not already been watching the quad. A second reaper had appeared.

“Fuck!” Amara yelled. “He’s going to send all of them through, I can’t fight that many at once! New plan; damage control. Vee, you and I can keep them contained, but we need to get everyone on campus to safety. Tessa, Nick, can you manage that?”

Nick checked his phone quickly. “We’ll do our best. For better or worse, the cafeteria’s about to open, so everyone is likely already heading this way.”

“Just our fucking luck,” Amara said.

Tessa was breathing erratically. Monsters were here on campus. Everyone was in danger. Everyone was about to find out that magic was real. Her thoughts were only interrupted when Nick grabbed her arm.

“We’ve got it covered,” he said. “We’ll stay out of the way, and make sure everyone gets inside safely. It’ll be easier to manage if everyone’s in the same spot anyways.”

Another flash of light pulled Tessa’s attention. She was worried it was another reaper, but thankfully it was Vee this time. She’d just manifested a glimmering, angelic mace, and was turning it over in her hands. “Fuck, Amara, over on the left.”

Terror gripped Amara’s voice. “No! That’s Chloé!”

Amara and Vee sprang into action, leaping forward and running towards the quad. Tessa watched them leave; her entire body numb as she tried to process what was happening. She only lost sight of the monsters when Nick stepped in front of her, his soft words filling her head. “Tessa, I know this is scary, but they need our help. As long as we avoid the monsters, we’ll be okay. We just need to help keep the other students safe. Are you with me?”

“One foot in front of the other,” Tessa said nervously. Swallowing her fear as best she could, she nodded slowly. “Let’s do this.”

Vee’s heart was racing as she raced towards the quad with Amara. The task in front of them felt insurmountable, and she was nervous she wouldn’t be able to keep up with Amara in terms of raw skill. Her panicked thoughts were interrupted when Amara spoke up again.

“There’s two of us, and two of them, at least for now. I’ll get Chloé to safety and then take out that reaper, you focus on the other one, okay?”

“I-I’ll do my best,” Vee said.

One of the reapers, the first to arrive, angled its head away from the quad and seemed to notice Chloé. It took to the skies, its massive legs gouging holes into the field, but its flight was quickly disturbed when its feet caught on the top of a tree. Its trajectory collapsed, and it crashed into a nearby building in front of Chloé.

Vee felt the heat of Amara’s hellfire swell, grow even more intense as her panic manifested through it. She started running even faster, fear in her eyes, and managed to intercept the reaper just before it got to Chloé.

With a sigh of relief, Vee directed her attention towards the second reaper. She’d never faced one alone before, and she was terrified of fighting without Amara by her side, but she knew she had a job to do. If nothing else, her mace would be more effective than the sword, and she muttered another prayer of empowerment as she closed the distance on the second reaper.

Angelic magic surged through her veins, more than she was usually comfortable with, and she hoped the adrenaline would keep her senses sharp. The reaper seemed to hear her coming, as it quickly turned towards her with a lumbering growl.

Once Vee was close enough, the reaper swiped at her with one of its arms, but Vee managed to jump over it. Even though she wasn’t as strong as Amara, she was a smaller target and would be harder to pin down. She dodged another massive claw, this time bringing down her mace on the creature’s wrist with a sickening crack. A small crack appeared in the bone, but focusing on her successful attack left Vee open to retaliation. The reaper’s tail lashed out, colliding with her legs and knocking her to the ground.

Another flash of light filled the quad, but Vee hardly noticed as the reaper above her continued attacking. Its tail darted towards her, and came dangerously close to impaling her stomach, but she managed to roll out of the way. She jumped to her feet, doing her best to keep evading the monster’s attacks, but she could tell they weren’t on even footing.

The creature that had gone after Chloé was the one Amara had previously damaged in Purgatory, whereas this one was still in perfect shape. It was taking all of Vee’s focus just to avoid getting hit, and the one strike she’d managed to land had barely fazed the beast. Time was not on her side, and she tried to reassess her goals.

Okay, I’m not going to be able to kill this thing, not on my own. But, if I can keep it contained, I might be able to buy time for Tessa and Nick to find everyone still on campus.

Vee spent the next few minutes staying just close enough to keep the reaper distracted, focusing all her energy on evading its attacks and keeping herself alive. The beast wasn’t incredibly fast, thankfully, and as she weaved around its massive claws, she watched its movements closely, hoping to learn as much as she could about it.

At times, its massive size betrayed its intent, but it still managed to keep Vee guessing. Just like her fights against Amara, she had trouble reading its tail, and the few additional injuries she suffered had come from losing track of it. As the minutes crept on, she felt like she was growing more familiar with how it moved, but she was also struggling to keep herself focused. While she hadn’t been starving in Purgatory, she hadn’t exactly been eating five-star meals every day, and the lack of energy was starting to weigh on her.

Another strike, another dodge, and Vee scanned the quad for any signs of the others. At the corner of the quad, walking alongside the lower level of the cafeteria, she saw another student. The student was wearing bulky headphones and appeared to be completely ignoring the rest of the world as she walked.

Fuck. I don’t see Tessa or Nick anywhere, I need to—

Vee knocked one of the creature’s claws away, but the follow up strike forced Vee further away than usual. In the space that had been created, the creature looked to the side and saw the other student, then immediately shifted its priorities. It turned around, its massive tail slamming into the dirt where Vee had just been, and took off running.

Panic filled Vee’s thoughts as she sprinted after the reaper. She just needed to reach the student first, or possibly interpose herself long enough for the student to realize what was happening.

Thankfully, as powerful as the reaper was, Vee was faster. She managed to cut it off, turning to face the rampaging beast, and brandished her mace. She knew she couldn’t fight it like this, but could she scare it? It seemed at least sentient enough to attempt to avoid her, and they certainly seemed capable of panicking.

What would Amara do? She’s bigger and scarier than me, but it’s not like I don’t have flashy abilities of my own...

With a deep breath, Vee raised a hand and prayed for a burst of light to erupt from her hand. She did her best to focus it on the reaper’s face, hoping they could be blinded even without eyes. As the light appeared, it cut through the fog on the quad, and the reaper screamed out in surprise. Its attempts to avert its gaze caused it to trip over itself, and Vee silently cheered in victory.

There was no time for proper celebration, however, people still needed her help. She turned and ran to the oblivious student, getting a better look at her as she closed the distance.

This student had bright red hair and appeared to be in fantastic shape. Despite the cold weather, she was wearing a tank top that showed off her muscular physique, and her bulky headphones continued to deafen the warning shouts that came from Vee.

Once Vee closed the distance, she tore the headphones off the girl’s head. “You need to run! Get inside!”

“Hey, what the fuck?! Give those—” The girl’s words were cut off by another monstrous roar, and her eyes went wide as she turned to see the reaper stumbling around. She instantly began screaming, frozen in fear as she looked up at the beast.

Fuck, I need to get her to focus!

Wait, we’re done hiding our abilities. Maybe I can use that.

With a deep breath, Vee stepped in front of this girl and pushed her headphones back into her chest. She connected with her inner magic, let it flow through her, and tried to channel every story she’d ever heard of angels revealing themselves to mortals.

When Vee opened her eyes, powerful angelic light burst from them. The magic she released was raw, unrefined, but she did her best to keep it from harming the student. Her feet lifted off the ground, and she hovered above the student as her entire body began to pulse with Enochian energy. The student stopped screaming, thankfully, and Vee spoke.

“Child!” Vee said, “Be not afraid. I’m here to protect you.”

The red-haired student stared up, her face struck with both awe and fear. Her mouth opened, yet no sound came out.

“Go inside and stay with the others. Now!” Vee shouted, raising a glowing hand as she attempted to scare the student away. Thankfully, the show of force seemed to work. The student grabbed her headphones, nodded, then turned to sprint up the stairs to the cafeteria.

Vee immediately cut off her magic, falling to the ground before gasping from exertion. Behind her, she heard the reaper crawling closer, and she redoubled her grip on the mace before turning to face it again. Thankfully, just like the other reaper, this one seemed confused by its inability to phase through solid objects. It tried to charge her, but it recoiled as its head crashed into the branches of the tall oak tree in between them.

Seeing an opportunity, Vee leapt forward and struck at one of the reaper’s hind legs, the mace connected with a satisfying crunch. Cracks appeared in the bone, but Vee was unable to dodge the beast’s retaliation. One of its claws struck her side, throwing her to the side. She flew a considerable distance, gasping in pain as she landed, and rolled a few times before she managed to catch herself. Pain radiated through her chest, and when she ran her hand over the injury, it came back covered in blood.

Her strength fading fast, both from the previous injuries and the burst of energy, Vee knew she needed to escape. A quick look around revealed no other students, and she decided it was time to run.

She dismissed her mace, devoting all her energy to staying light on her feet, and started running towards the tree line again. The reaper tried to close the distance, and Vee had to dodge another two swipes, but soon enough she had made it to the sidewalk.

Turning around, Vee studied the reaper closely. It was clearly confused about the tree, but she could see the gears turning as the creature looked at her. It lowered its neck, then started to creep forward, its heavy footsteps shaking the ground as it walked. Vee made sure to jump back another few feet as she kept watching, hoping to learn as much as she could about the creature to aid in future encounters.

Before the reaper could move any closer, another flash of light appeared behind it. The beast flinched, taking a step back before turning to look behind it.

Vee did the same, running a few steps higher to gain a better vantage point. She let out a sigh of relief as she looked over the field; the flash hadn’t heralded the arrival of another reaper. Whatever it was, however, the reaper seemed to abandon its pursuits, content to wander back to the center of the quad. She continued watching for another minute, and the reaper did nothing but lurk the entire time, just like it had been doing back in Purgatory.

Is Brandon telling it to stay put? Why hasn’t he come through yet?

If nothing else, Vee was safe, and she still didn’t see any other students nearby. Hoping that Nick and Tessa had been able to spread the word, she decided to head to the cafeteria.

With the fight over, Vee now felt the sting of her injuries. A cursory inspection revealed that nothing was significantly damaged, and she was sure a bit of magic would have her back in fighting shape in no time. For now, her steps were cautious and stiff as she pushed through the front entrance of the building.