“No!” I screamed.

He hit her with the back of his paw, and my best friend looked like a garish ragdoll as she sailed through the air. Her body hit the wall with a sickening thud, and she crumpled to the ground, blood dripping from the gashes on her stomach, seeping through her clothes.

Rage and heat exploded in my chest; fire blazed from my hands like flamethrowers. Nell’s wolf glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes went wide before she rolled off the bear’s back and scooted away several paces.

The searing pain in my chest expanded, and I let it fill me—welcomed it because this power would destroy that beast.

“Come on!” I screamed at the bear. “Face me!”

The black furry monster turned, and I raised my hands, now covered in live flame all the way up to my shoulders.

He roared, and I flung my hands forward, thrusting my fire magic at him. The fur on his chest ignited, and the flames spread, turning his body into a ball of flames in an instant.

Mallory’s slight frame was a blur to my left, but I kept the majority of my attention on the burning bear.

Reaching back, she chucked her sword. It flew across the room, sliding into the bear’s chest like a knife through butter.

The huge animal keeled over, landing with a thump.

I released the hold on my magic, but the searing pain in my chest continued to swell. Glancing down, I gasped as I saw the skin on my chest was glowing. Tugging at the neckline, I watched as the mark of the flame element burned into my skin, right between my breasts.

What the mage?

“Kaja!”

Nell’s scream ripped me from my thoughts, and I jerked my head up to see Nell holding her sister, my BFF, limp and bleeding out, in her arms.

Chapter 17

The entire campus was littered with bodies. All around us, people lay dead or dying, but I kept my focus on Kaja. Nell and I carried her to the castle, desperate for the best healer, only to discover every healer in the castle ward had been killed in the battle.

Before I could ask Nell what to do, a male voice boomed through the air like a magical PA system. “Anyone with healing abilities, report to the castle. All other students, please lock yourself in your dorm until a teacher comes to check on you.”

Nell magically staunched Kaja’s bleeding abdomen with her water power and then went to work on the small gash on the side of her head. Then, we took her to Harvest Dorm, settling inside and locking the door.

“Stay here with her while I go get help?” Nell asked. “I’ll see if any other healers survived.”

Like there was anywhere else I’d go.

I settled in at Kaja’s feet to monitor her, and both Nell and Rue dashed off to try to find another healer. Mother Mage, let the guard at the castle be wrong, that at least one healer survived. Kaja’s other sisters, Mele and Fiona, hadn’t been by either, and I hoped they were okay.

An agonizing half-hour later, the twins returned to the Harvest dorm, both wearing matching wary expressions.

“It’s a madhouse out there. How’s she doing?” Nell studied her sister, who lay in bed, still unconscious. I’d been staring at the rise and fall of her chest, but the rate of her breaths was increasing.

“Not bleeding anymore, but she hasn’t woken,” I told them. “Is it normal to breathe that fast?”

Nell frowned.

I’d cut away Kaja’s uniform and wiped all the blood from her skin to better assess her stomach wound. No more bleeding, thanks to Nell’s water magic, but what if Kaja had internal bleeding? She hadn’t stirred once, and my anxiety continued to coil tighter and tighter until I felt I might burst.

“Did you find another healer?” I looked past them at the entryway, expecting one to walk through any moment. “A strong one?”

Nell’s voice was hollow. “All the castle healers are dead.”

Panic flooded me so fast my hands shook. I mean… the guard said as much to us when we took Kaja there, but I thought for sure she would have found at least one…

How could that be?

The twins stepped closer, and Rue pulled out a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff, which they must’ve gotten from the castle. After turning on every light in the room, the muted tones of twilight outside fled in the artificial brightness. Kaja’s room was decorated in the vibrant greens of life, and with the lights on, the contrasts became even more noticeable. My bestie’s skin was whiter than a ghost.

Thick scabs covered the once open gashes on her face and another on her stomach, but Kaja looked bad.

I hovered as Rue did her assessment, and ten minutes later, she shook her head.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Her vital signs are getting worse, not better,” Rue stated, her voice shaking with emotion. “I’m not sure…”

She didn’t finish her sentence, but I didn’t need her to.

“How much blood did she lose?” I asked. “How much can we lose before we won’t heal ourselves?” A wolf’s regenerative capability was in the blood. Without most of it … my gaze bounced from Rue to Nell because one of them should know this. Right?

Nell shrugged, and her gaze dropped. In the last half hour, she’d worked herself to exhaustion, leaving the skin beneath her eyes now dark and sallow. “I don’t know.”

Rue paced the room. “Not a healing mage left on the island. This was a heavily coordinated attack.”

“So … what are our options?” Doing nothing wasn’t an option; I wasn’t going to lose my bestie.

Nell sank onto the edge of the bed with a sigh, and Rue shook her head, her gaze downcast.

“Mele and Fiona must be in hiding or hurt. I don’t know what to do!” Nell got up and paced the room too. “Our clan’s land is a two-hour run from here, all the way at the south end of the island. But I’m not sure our father can do much better than me.”

“What does that mean?” I waited, and when neither said anything, I screamed, “What does that mean?”

Rue swallowed. “Maybe if she’s in a restorative sleep, she’ll eventually wake up on her own…”

I strode closer to the bed and leaned toward Nell, narrowing my eyes.

“But…” I swallowed. “You don’t think that’s what this is.”

Nell shook her head, but this time, Rue answered.

“Kaja’s vital signs aren’t strong enough for this to be a restorative sleep.”

Which meant she was dying.

No way in hell would I let that happen.

I paced the room, frantic to think of something… anything…to save my friend. The colors of the sky deepened to black as I stared out the window, and then the answer hit. With a triumphant grin, I spun toward Kaja’s sisters. “Didn’t Justice go to Dark Row and get a potion to heal me?”

Nell’s eyes widened, and Rue paled.

“We need to go there. Surely we can find a potion maker there who can heal her.”

Nell glanced at Rue, and my gaze followed, but Rue dropped her chin to her chest.

“Well?” I asked Nell. “Can we do it?”

After a hard swallow, Nell said, “I don’t know how to get there.”

Crap. That was the reason I needed them; I had no idea either.