“Get to the girls’ dorms!” Balthazar shouted to me over the din. He was at the end of the hallway, almost out of sight. “I’m going to help the guys!”
For her part, Mrs. Bethany was already running down the stairwell.
Even though she was unarmed, I didn’t want to be the first Black Cross hunter she encountered.
But what if that hunter was Lucas?
I ran behind Mrs. Bethany, but I couldn’t make it downstairs as fast as she could. The uneven stones made me stumble, and I had the shakes. Everyone’s in danger. Everyone. Lucas. Balthazar. Mom. Dad.
Raquel. Ranulf. Dana. Vic. What I felt went beyond fear. It was a blank, wrenching need to survive and to save—fight and flight—but who was I supposed to fight?
Someone screamed, and then there was a wet crunch and thud. I ran downstairs and saw the crumpled form of a man on the floor, a stake still gripped in one of his hands. Blood spattered the wall behind him, and Mrs. Bethany stood there, admiring her handiwork—but only for an instant. Then she ran toward the din.
I thought I recognized the man from the Black Cross cell in Amherst, but I couldn’t tell. Blood covered his face. The shouting all around me was only getting louder, and I could hear more and more footsteps on the stairwell as students started to flee. I ran after Mrs. Bethany—
—and into the battle.
The main corridor of classrooms was packed with Black Cross hunters—I recognized little Mr. Watanabe, a crossbow steady in his hands, and Kate, who was fighting hand to hand with Professor Iwerebon down the hall. Next to me, Mrs. Bethany deftly dodged an arrow, swung around, and slammed her fist into a hunter’s throat. As he stumbled back and gagged, she got his neck in a headlock, then twisted it sharply. I heard a terrible crack just before he slumped to the floor. Instantly Mrs.
Bethany whirled toward the next Black Cross hunter, kicking his knees out from under him as she grabbed his crossbow. When he fell, she shot him with his own weapon. Two deaths in ten seconds—and she was still going, still fighting, while I could only stare in horror.
“Bianca!” That was Dana, farther down the hall. “Get the hell out of here!”
“Go!” That was my mother squaring off against Dana. “Honey, go!” She and Dana looked at each other in a second of confused recognition, but then Mom leaped at Dana and took her down to the floor.
I ran. Somebody had to stop this, but I couldn’t; I didn’t know how.
If I could only find Lucas, surely he could do it. Surely he could call off Black Cross. But where was he?
“Everybody outside!” That was Balthazar. I turned around to see him hustling students down the stairwell, and I caught a glimpse of Vic in boxers and an undershirt, staring at the mayhem in dismay, but running as fast as he could. Even though he never seemed to turn toward me, Balthazar must have sensed that I was there, because he yelled, “Get to the girls’ dorms!”
“I can’t! There’s fighting in the main building—we’re cut off!”
“We’ll figure something out!”
Then a voice down the hall, audible even over the screams and the wail of the fire alarm, said, “Don’t listen to him, Bianca. You need to leave this school immediately.”
I turned to see Eduardo, weapons strapped to bandoliers across his chest and a smear of blood on his scarred cheek. Why did it have to be him? Quickly I held up my hands. “You don’t have to go after Balthazar.
He’s safe, I promise.”
“You don’t know how to tell a vampire from a human yet,” Eduardo said. His smile twisted the scars on his cheeks. “Let me let you in on a secret. Only vampires would remain in this building to defend it now.
Which means we can finish the job.”
“Please, you’ve been lied to. Charity—the vampire you caught, the one who told you something terrible was happening here—she wasn’t telling the truth!”
“You’re not the best at knowing when you’ve been lied to, Bianca. I suggest you trust me. Get downstairs. If you don’t, it’s on your head.” Then he held up the walkie-talkie that dangled from his belt and said,
“Torch it.”
Fire. One of the only ways to truly kill a vampire. The Black Cross hunters were burning Evernight.
Balthazar grabbed me and towed me into the stairwell, but when he tried to pull me downstairs after him, I tugged myself free. “Bianca, we have to go!” he shouted.
“I have to get to the girls’ dorms!”
“You said you couldn’t make it! Bianca!”
I ignored him and ran up the stairs, two flights, until I ran into the guys’ dorms—the level that looked out over the roof of the main building. Already firelight was flickering down a couple of the hallways, but I didn’t look too closely. I just jumped out onto the roof.
A few other people had had the same idea—I could see students running over the many angles and gables of the enormous roof of the main building. Some were vampires, others human; Eduardo had given the order much too soon. All the people I saw were probably only trying to save themselves, and I couldn’t blame them. But I was the one who understood what was going on, and that meant it was my responsibility to reach the girls’ dorm and make sure everybody got out. I ran over the roof, up and down, slipping on the shingles but somehow remaining upright. My robe had come untied and rippled behind me; the heat of the nearby fire seemed to sear through the T-shirt and pajama bottoms I wore. A loud crackling behind me made me look back; part of the roof glowed orange with flame, then gave way with a crash of timber and soot. Sparks shot up in the air, and I started to cough, but I kept running. Faster, you’ve got to go faster!—No!