Chapter 123: Hooded Attackers

Elara:

The moment the men appeared, Jasper’s entire demeanor changed. One second he had been standing beside me, and the next he had moved so quickly that I barely registered it before he was pulling me to my feet and positioning himself directly between me and the hooded men.

His shoulders squared, his feet planted firmly against the ground, and every muscle in his body seemed to tighten as though some invisible switch had been flipped inside him.

The woman who had opened the portal immediately moved behind me as well, putting herself between my back and the approaching danger while Crazy remained pressed against my legs. I glanced down at him and realized that even my usually ridiculous familiar had gone completely rigid. His fur stood slightly on end, his ears were flattened, and his eyes remained fixed on the hooded figures surrounding us.

There were more than a dozen of them. Every single one wore dark clothing with hoods concealing their faces, and the moment I looked at them, every instinct in my body screamed the same thing. They weren’t here to talk.

I had no idea which enemy had found us - the Reapers or the unknown person who had already tried to have me killed in Starfall. For all I knew, these people belonged to either side. Maybe both or maybe neither.

The only thing I knew for certain was that whatever peace I had managed to find during the holidays had just been ripped away in just one day. And this time, we were horribly outnumbered.

I could barely use magic reliably in combat, and even if I could, there were too many of them. Jasper was an exceptional fighter, but even he couldn’t protect me from more than a dozen armed attackers indefinitely. My mind raced desperately through every possibility while my eyes searched the cemetery for an escape route. There wasn’t one. We were surrounded.

"Get her out of here," Jasper ordered the woman without taking his eyes off the masked men. His voice was so calm that for half a second I almost believed there wasn’t an army standing twenty feet away from us. Then he added, "Now."

The woman immediately reached for my arm, but I pulled away and stared at Jasper. "What about you?"

He finally looked back at me, and something in his expression made my stomach drop. He wasn’t planning to come with us. He was planning to stay. To make sure they couldn’t follow me.

"I’ll be right behind you," he said, but I knew him well enough by then to recognize a lie when I heard one.

The hooded men seemed to realize something was happening, but they didn’t move immediately. A few of them actually chuckled at Jasper’s words, apparently amused by the idea that we could simply escape the cemetery while they surrounded us. They clearly didn’t know about the woman. They didn’t know she could open portals. The realization flashed through my mind just as she grabbed my arm again.

"No," I told her, pulling against her grip. "I’m not leaving him."

Jasper’s expression hardened as he kept his attention fixed on the enemy. "Elara, go."

"I’m not leaving you here."

"This isn’t a discussion." His words were laced with both a command and a plea that made my heart clench.

I shook my head fiercely. I understood his duty, but I wasn’t letting him getting hurt just so I could stay safe. Leaving him here wasn’t even an option. "Then you are going to have to physically drag me through that portal."

His jaw tightened, but before he could answer, the woman moved. Her fingers closed around my arm while her other hand lifted toward the air. Magic surged from her palm, and the space beside us began to shimmer.

Everything happened at once. The amusement vanished from the hooded men the moment they realized what the woman was doing. Their bodies moved simultaneously, weapons flashing beneath the moonlight as they charged.

"Now!" Jasper shouted.

The woman yanked me backward while I fought to keep my eyes on Jasper. He launched himself forward, meeting the first attackers before they could reach us, his movements so fast that for a moment all I could see were flashes of steel and bodies colliding.

Someone swung a blade toward him. He dodged. Another attacker came from his side. He blocked. Then three more rushed forward.

"Jasper!"

I screamed, but the woman pulled harder. The portal was already forming around us, its edges twisting violently as if reality itself were being torn apart. A dagger suddenly flew through the air. I saw it coming toward us. Toward Jasper.

I didn’t know what happened inside me at that moment. I simply reacted. I lunged backward, my fingers catching the back of Jasper’s jacket just as the woman dragged me toward the portal. The dagger disappeared behind us just as my hand clenched around the fabric, and I pulled with every ounce of strength I had.

For one terrifying second, I felt resistance. Then Jasper stumbled backward, and the portal swallowed us.

The world twisted, making my stomach lurch. Cold air slammed against my face, and then I hit the ground hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs.

For several seconds, I couldn’t understand what had happened. My fingers were still clenched around something. I looked down and found Jasper’s jacket. My heart immediately seized when I noticed the fabric beneath my fingers was soaked in blood.

"Jasper?" I whispered. I looked around wildly. He wasn’t there. My breath caught. "Jasper?" I said again, louder this time.

Nothing.

Crazy was beside me, shaken but unharmed, and the woman was already grabbing my arm and trying to pull me upright. "We need to get you inside the academy wards," she said urgently. "You are safe once you cross them."

I barely heard her. My eyes were scanning the darkness around us, desperately searching for the familiar figure that should have been standing beside me.

"Where is he?" I demanded.