Academy of Unpredictable Magic, Tome 6 : Clash

CHAPTER 1

It’s just Agustin and me.

We’re standing about ten feet apart from each other, and I can see lightning and flame crackling to life between his fingers.

Hoo boy.

I grit my teeth, reaching out, trying to mirror him properly through the jumble of powers that are coiled inside of him like so many snakes. It’s like I’m trying to make my way through a funhouse mirror hall.

Okay. Okay, I can do this.

The lightning whip appears in his left hand, snapping in the air, and I try to duck, but it’s as if I’m frozen. I can’t move.

Dammit! Why can’t I move?

The whip wraps around my arms and torso, burning my skin. Then the burn starts to seep inside of me, like the weird almost-ticklish feeling of being zapped with static electricity, but so much worse. It hurts like a son of a bitch, and I still can’t move, and—

I wake up in a sweat.

The sheets are twisted around my legs and chest. I practically rip them off and shove them down to the end of the bed, my lungs heaving, my pajamas sticking to me.

Fuck. Fucking fuck.

I keep having the same nightmare. Every night in my dreams, I find myself facing off with Agustin, trying desperately to beat him, but I can’t. The reasons why are different each time. This time, apparently, it was because I was frozen in place like a damn block of granite. And every time I fail and die a horrible death, I go back to the beginning again. The setting might change—sometimes it’s on a random street, sometimes it’s at Griffin Academy, sometimes it’s even at the bar where I used to work—but it’s always just the two of us, and we’re always facing off, and I always die.

Yippee.

I scrub at my eyes to make sure I’m actually awake, then pinch my arm for good measure. Ouch. Okay, so, definitely awake.

On my right, Roman lets out a snore that Asher, also asleep, unconsciously kicks him for. On my other side is Dmitri, and on the far end is Cam, who sleeps like a vampire. No, seriously, sometimes I have to check to make sure he’s really breathing, he lies that still and quiet while he sleeps.

We’ve gotten a room to ourselves since the whole “eighty-five percent of the government being put into a suspended animation coma” thing went down. The Unpredictable holding facility has been rearranged so that couples and friends can sleep together. There aren’t really any beds big enough for two people, never mind five, so we’ve just laid a bunch of mattresses on the floor and made do.

I have to admit, part of it is kind of nice. I had worried the men would have problems sleeping together—you know, bed hogging or blanket stealing or whatever. But it’s been good. Everyone’s totally comfortable with each other. I mean, Asher and Cam will actively cuddle anyone who gets close, and Dmitri hasn’t murdered any of us yet, so I’d call it a win.

Besides, none of us want to really be away from each other. Even in sleep. Not with what’s been going on.

The government—our entire magical community—is crippled. People are terrified. Nobody knows how Agustin managed to put the overwhelming majority of our local and highest government officials into a coma-like stasis, but it sure says a lot about how powerful he is.