Page 117 of Dancing With Demons

I winced right back. “I’m really hoping that’s not where the spell was going with that,” I said. “And as for the air hallow? Was I right about them being an angel and an angel feather?”

“You were right. A powerful item from a powerful being. Not to mention a true angel feather is blessed with divine magic. The kind of thing you want when you’re trying to become a god.”

“Wow,” I breathed. “That’s—”

“Good. Are we done?” A hand flashed and snatched my notebook from my grip.

Raven marched it and herself to the door. “I’ll be back with the dragon ash, feather, voice, and severed elf balls,” she announced. “You be ready to make me a goddess when I do.”

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing, Raven?” Ursula charged off after her. “Make me a copy!”

“Make five!” Eris shouted.

With that, they were gone and out of my room. They didn’t need me anymore.

I traded looks with Nik. “Thanks for taking time off just to go all the way back home and ask your moms about this.”

“No need to thank me. The break from this place was welcome.” Nik did that cute little face-scrubbing thing with his cupped hands. “It’s gone to shit since you made your announcement.”

I wished I could say that wasn’t true, but Nik was actually putting it lightly.

I wasn’t going to pretend that Abaddon Academy was ever the pinnacle of organization and education, but ever since I told all of hell that I was a dark messenger sent to raise a god who’d unleash hell on earth and bring about the dominion of the witches, everyone stopped pretending like they cared about anything else.

Classes ground to a halt because everyone from the students in my class, to the students in other classes, to the professors pelted me with questions every minute of every hour—demanding to know more about the hallows, the final completion of the All Hallows, and more clues to figure out the spell.

And that was just the people who wanted the power to be found. From the many potential assassins who had to be carried off and pecked by carrion crows, to the ones in school who charged me and were exploded in a shower of blood and guts—it was clear some people did not want the power of the All Hallows to be found. I couldn’t be sure who sent them, but I knew what they were after.

About a week after my announcement, an anonymous message hit DeadDrop saying that since I was a blood witch, the power to bind the hallows into the All Hallows was in my blood. So all anyone who wanted to ensure their victory had to do was drain it from me.

I immediately refuted that, of course! I said that witch magic must be wielded by a witch, not a psychopath with a jar of blood.

The psychopath then replied, If blood’s not enough. I’m sure a soul will do.

I shuddered, a chill went down my spine remembering the first time I read that sentence. The majority—the princesses most of all—knew enough about magic to know you couldn’t play fast and loose with the requirements of a spell. If I told them a living Avos witch was needed to take the power into herself, then share it with those she chose, then they’d believe it until they had facts stating otherwise.

But that didn’t stop them watching my every move. And it didn’t stop chancers and sneaks from convincing themselves I was better off dead.

One of them being Connard.

For days after the start of the Hallow Hunt, which I had officially dubbed it, Connard used every minute of class time to berate and shout at me. He ordered me to hit up DeadDrop and announce that I made an “error.” Werewolves, vampires, leeches, fae, and the rest of the Others were not eligible to share in the power of the All Hallows, and if and when any of the hallows were found, they were to be turned over to him until he determined which demon among us was worthy of them.

I just goggled at him like the nutcase he was, but no one else did. The princesses and their Sins gang girls shouted right back at him, telling him he was looking right at the demons who were most worthy, so he’d better get the fuck out of their business.

It all devolved so fast and hot, that on the seventh day of my worst week in Great Invasion class, Connard bellowed over all the shouting that I was to get on my knee right then and swear a binding oath to never give the All Hallows power to an inferior.

I said no before the lunatic even finished his sentence, and he attacked me.

That same eerie ball of green light shot from his fingers as he bellowed—hate twisting his mean mug into something unrecognizable.

Then he burst into demon confetti.

Just like that. Before I could think to duck, Connard exploded and his magic ball disappeared along with him, leaving us all blinking and shocked in his wake.

After which, it was decided that we would not be getting another professor for The Great Invasion. The headmistress didn’t come out and tell us this herself, of course. Instead, she delivered the message through Erlik.

“All of hell wants in this place and closer to you,” Erlik said, looking me straight in the eye that day. “Also thanks to you, girl, we know how lacking our security is when it comes to advanced glamour magic, so we’re not taking the chance of hiring another assassin, or giving another Hallow Hunter an edge by gaining access to you.”

He clomped off the platform. “And speaking of the Hallow Hunt,” Erlik breezed on. “The headmistress wants the identity of all four hallows by the end of the month, or she’ll lock you in a dungeon so dark and deep, you’ll wish Connard killed you.”