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. Sёar?h the N??eFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    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.”