I suck in a breath. “What do you mean? Did something else happen?”
Hazel is silent for so long I’m starting to wonder if I lost the connection. “It’s Hawthorne,” she says finally. “We heard from some of the students back at the island. It sounds like…” Her voice catches, and she clears her throat. “It sounds like he gave himself shifter abilities, Millie.”
She continues to speak, but I can’t say I’m quite listening to what she’s saying. My brain is still hung up on that last, dreadful bit of information, tunnel vision threatening to consume me as a faint ringing sound assaults my ears. It feels as if all the fight has been drained right out of me, and suddenly just staying on my feet seems like an impossible task. I slide down to the ground, putting my head in my hands. “...Millie? Millie? Are you there?” At last Hazel’s voice comes back into the forefront as I beat off the panic attack threatening to overtake me. Sensing something amiss, Landon hurries over to me, sitting down next to me and rubbing soothing circles on my back. The motion helps bring me back down, and at last I’m able to respond.
“Yeah,” I manage. “I’m here.”
“Did you hear what I said?”
I clear my throat. “No, I’m sorry.”
“He’s gone insane,” Hazel reiterates. “It’s more than just the Academy now; he has groups of soldiers scouting the major cities, sowing chaos. More shifters are dead because of him. Whole communities are being threatened.”
“But why…” I begin.
“If the rumors are true, and he does have shifting abilities, then he has no need for shifters anymore,” Hazel says. “We’re all expendable now, and he knows it. I think he’s trying to install himself as some kind of… behind-the-scenes dictator. His goals go past the shifter communities, Millie. He wants to use his powers to rule the world.”
The prospect is so cartoony and absurd that it’s enough to make me laugh, but I can’t manage even a chuckle. Hawthorne gave himself powers. Some way, somehow, he finally got what he wanted. And that’s no laughing matter.
“What do we do?” I ask, although whom the question is directed towards, I can’t say for sure.
“Did you get your powers back?” Hazel asks, point blank.
“Yes,” I reply. “Yesterday. It’s… a bit more than I bargained for. There are some odd side effects.”
“Side effects?”
I shake my head uselessly, looking around at the guys, who are all listening intently. “I don’t know,” I admit. “It feels like I’m stronger than I was before. More durable.” More bloodthirsty, adds a small voice in my head. More prone to violence. But I don’t voice this last bit.
“Good. Brilliant.” Hazel sounds relieved. “We need you, Millie. There’s no way we can win this fight without you.”
“But—” I protest.
“Hybrids might be our best weapon against Hawthorne,” Hazel points out, “especially if he has more than one powerset. You’re all Theo’s been talking about—he thinks you’re the one who will save us once and for all. They practically had to drag him out to keep him from looking for you some more.”
My throat goes dry. Theo has made no secret of his… admiration for me, but this hits on a different level. If he truly wants to use me as some kind of trump card, what does that mean for me? For us?
“You have to come to Edinburgh,” Hazel continues. “That’s where the resistance is gathering. The Academy hasn’t touched us yet, thank god, but if we want to keep it that way, we need someone with your powers here with us. This could be our last chance against Hawthorne, Millie.”
“Okay, Hazel,” I say, after a moment’s pause. “We’ll be there. We can leave today.”
“Please hurry,” the siren shifter says, and hangs up. Slowly, I look up and around at the guys.
This could be our last chance against Hawthorne, Millie.
No pressure, right?
Chapter 4
“I guess this means we have our marching orders, right?” asks Landon, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and jamming his hands in his pockets. “It feels like it’s all about to come to a head.”
“I’ve got some news for you, Landon,” Shade replies easily, crossing his arms. “This all came to a head a long time ago. The rest of us are just stuck playing catchup.”
I’m not sure whether that notion is comforting or panic-inducing, but either way, I manage a small smile as we follow the old cobblestone road that runs alongside the river. There aren’t many people out and about, but now isn’t the time for drawing unwanted attention - especially if it’s coming from uninitiated humans.
Silas has fallen silently into step beside me, his tall form casting a protective shadow over my body, which somehow helps put me at ease. Hunter, on my other side, slips his hand into mine and squeezes it gently; I return the gesture without needing to say anything. That might be the best thing about this relationship, I’m realizing: we no longer need words to understand each other’s emotions.
“Where in Edinburgh are they organizing?” asks Shade.
I frown and consult my phone for Hazel’s text. “She said they’ve taken over a hotel… The Balmoral?” I shrug. “Never heard of it.”
Landon’s eyebrows shoot up, but before he can say anything, Hunter exclaims, “The Balmoral? How the hell did he manage that?”
“I take it it’s a swanky place,” Shade states.
“‘Swanky’ doesn’t begin to cover it,” Landon explains. “It’s an honest to god castle. It also happens to be smack in the middle of the city center, so clearly Theo wasn’t thinking about location.”
“Any landmarks you can point me to?” I ask, just as we turn right and onto a small stone bridge leading to the other side of the river. From here, I have a good view of pedestrians coming from either direction, and it seems like the coast is clear.
The vampire and siren shifters exchange a look. “It’s on Princes Street,” Hunter replies after a moment. “My parents took me there on business once. Aim for the Scott Monument - I remember passing it on the way there.”
I nod, a frown of concentration furrowing my brows. I’ll be the first to admit I’m no geography expert, but I think I know the statue he’s talking about. I hope. “Everyone hold on,” I instruct, linking my free hand with Silas’ and watching as the others do the same, forming a perfect circle. “I’m still adjusting to these new power levels, so I don’t know if…” I don’t even have time to finish the sentence before I feel another powerful surge of energy coursing through me the moment I invest the slightest bit of concentration. An image of the monument appears behind my closed eyelids, as clear as if I passed it every single day, and the next thing I know the world around us is shifting in the blink of an eye. A split second later, the stone bridge has become a concrete sidewalk, the sun now obscured by the shadow of the enormous gothic tower we now find ourselves standing under.
I barely even had to think about it, let alone exert myself, and I stumble back, nearly hitting one of the support columns before Shade catches and steadies me. “You’re something else, Boots,” he murmurs before letting me go.