All stealth was gone as the group escaped the dungeons. They couldn’t afford to waste any time slinking around the halls. Their best bet was to get back to the secret tunnels before whatever message Micos had sent out brought the entire Haven to them.

They made it up to the main floors and were headed back toward the school when Alara’s head cracked open with the harsh voice she recognized as Senye Cruz’s.

“Bruyas have infiltrated the Haven and have assisted in the escape of several prisoners. Be on the lookout for suspicious activity and report to the councilguards. These bruyas and fugitives should be viewed as extremely dangerous.”

The message repeated a second time, and when it died away, Alara felt the familiar ache following a mind-talker’s mass envia. She looked at the others, who were as shaken as she was.

The group stopped and looked at each other in silent dread and unease. It was Quenti who spoke first, eyes on Alara.

“You should leave.”

“What?” Alara said.

“Pretend you used us to get back here. You can even run to give them information—they know we’re here now, anyway.”

Alara’s thoughts spun, and she almost moved to follow the instructions. But then she looked at the wan face of the other girl, the sickly pallor of the other bruyas around her—drawn with hunger and exhaustion and grief.

“No,” she said, voice firm. “I promised to see this through. I can at least get you back to the tunnels before I leave.”

She almost believed the words.

“Are you sure?”

Alara’s mind flashed back to the dead guard in the dungeon. Could she even call this place home again after what she’d done?

“I’m sure,” she said, adopting an overly confident tone. “But first, we need to blend in. No more running.” Alara said, looking around the empty hallway.

“I don’t think five bruyas and a beaten up magite are going to blend in anywhere,” Runeo said. He waved a hand at the disheveled group.

“Do we have any rope left?”

Runeo shook his head. “I dropped it in the scuffle back in the dungeon.”

Alara looked around, noticing they still had their bags. She pulled Runeo’s magite robes from one and tossed the fresh tunic at Quenti. Without needing instruction, Quenti slipped the torn tunic over her head and put on the fresh one, not bothering with modesty.

“You three put your hands behind your backs,” Alara said, motioning to Khuna, Runeo, and Zinita. “We can at least pretend you’re already captured.”

“You don’t think a handful of magites marching around with captured bruyas are going to draw attention?” Runeo asked.

“Less attention than them running through the halls together,” Alara said. “Hopefully.”

She then grabbed Runeo by the arm, taking a little joy in squeezing his elbow harder than she needed to. He shot her a glare, but after an exhausted sigh, played the part as they continued forward.

The ruse seemed to work. Magites rushed by, looking panicked and confused, whispering to each other and exchanging shifty glances, but no one noticed the group walking calmly through the halls. Only an occasional pair of roaming eyes would fall on them, but Alara just smiled brightly and nodded at each. They were lucky to pass by no one she recognized, particularly as they made their way through the main thoroughfare of the school.

“Alara Ayar!” The voice was cold and sharp behind them.

Alara’s heart stopped, and she turned on her heels, the taste of metallic fear on her tongue. Any hope she’d held in her heart drained away.

A group of familiar magites stopped in front of them, Raquel at their lead. Behind her stood Mitteo and several others Alara only vaguely recognized.

“I heard you were running around with the bruyas, but I didn’t believe it,” Raquel said. “I mean, I wanted to, but didn’t think you’d actually turn into one of them. So, it’s true? Are you really a bruya lover now?” Her eyes lingered on Runeo, and her lips twisted into a sneer. “I guess I can see some of the appeal.”

Alara took in the girl’s black tunic and brightly woven aguayo. “I can see you’ve become a mage. Congratulations.”

Raquel smirked. “Not all of us were failures.” Her head tilted, taking in the others behind Alara with silent appraisal. “Please—please—fight back. I’ve always wanted an excuse to kick your face in.”

For a moment, the hallway was still. And then Runeo grabbed the bow from Quenti’s back, Khuna clenched a spear, and Zinita whipped out her dagger in a reverse grip.

Raquel’s smile widened in contempt. “Oh, this is perfect. I never really liked you, anyway.”

With that, the mage pulled her own bow from her back, the magites shifting into fighting stances behind her.

Before Alara could blink, the mage had already let loose an arrow directly at her heart. She could only curse internally at her slow instincts, and waited for the inevitable piercing.

But the hit never came.

Her eyes widened in surprise as Raquel and her arrow both went flying against the tunnel wall. The mage cried out as she slammed against stone and fell to the packed dirt floors.

A black-haired wind mage rounded the corner, hands raised in a fighting position. Alara flinched, but the girl’s brown eyes flickered over her before she turned on the other magites, sending a wave of air at one of them, knocking him over.

Out of the corner of her eye, Alara saw Raquel scrambling back to her feet. Not wasting a moment, she jumped forward and snatched the mage’s bow up from where it had fallen, throwing it over her shoulder and away from the dangerous foe.

But before she could make a proper move, Raquel was already lunging forward, eyes wide with anger. A small voice in Alara’s mind yelled through the fog of her racing thoughts: Raquel wasn’t fighting to disable, she was fighting to hurt her—to kill. The newly minted mage let out a feral growl from between her clenched teeth, but was on the ground in an instant, ankles caught in a tangled mess of roots that had sprung from the ground.

Alara whipped around, looking for Lili, but the tierren was farther down the hall, holding up a pale Quenti and trying to dodge attacks.

Then who…?

On the other side of the corridor stood Mitteo, both hands moving as the roots twisted around Raquel, pinning her to the ground, arms caught at her sides.

He met Alara’s wide eyes and gave a wink. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“You?”

Before she could question this new development further, a spit of fire flew at her from the side. She dodged the flame, wincing as her knees scrapped across the floor. She turned back, getting to her feet as she took stock of the group. There were still five magites from Raquel’s group left, and none looked willing to back down.

A jet of water hit Alara, cold and hard in the gut. She doubled over, sending an automatic shot of fire in the general direction of the attacker, who dodged, coming at her with a spear. She rolled to the side and adjusted her grip on her own, turning as her assailant lunged toward her, jabbing it at his side.

He side stepped her and the spear hit nothing but air as he turned on her again. Before she could gain her footing, the magite’s feet were off the ground and he was sent flying across the hall. She turned to see Runeo with his right hand up. She gave him a nod before the bruya ran off, assisting Khuna against another magite.

A cry caught Alara’s attention, and she spotted Zinita on her knees, cradling her arm as a fire magite stepped toward her, dagger raised.

Without thinking, Alara threw her hands forward, fire pulling from the torches along the hallway. The flames swirled together and met their target, hitting the magite directly. The girl’s cries were muted as she fell back, using her own powers to put them out. But it was too late. Zinita had already taken the moment to lunge forward, a spear in her good hand. She pierced the magite’s side.

The girl fell to the ground, clutching her wound. Zinita looked up, briefly meeting Alara’s eye. She didn’t smile, but the usual twinkle of hate was nowhere to be found.

Alara wished she could feel the same. “Leave her,” she said as the bruya raised her spear for the kill.

Surprisingly, Zinita merely scoffed and gave the magite an extra kick before running off to another scuffle.

“Please stay still,” Alara said to the wounded magite. “Help will be on the way. I promise.”

But the girl spit at Alara’s feet. “Burn in hell, you filthy bruya.”

With a pained expression, Alara turned back to the rest of the group and saw that there were still three magites left fighting. She couldn’t let this distract her from the mission. With a raised hand, she sent out a flame toward one of them just as Khuna threw a shot of water through the air. Steam billowed out from where they met, filling the tunnel.

Runeo blew the steam into the face of the magites, Mitteo taking the moment of distraction to send another series of roots to snatch at their legs. One of them fell and the other two darted away down the hallway, their yells echoing as they retreated.

The ally mage who had initiated the battle sent a gust of wind after them, but they turned a corner before it could hit. She let out a curse and followed after them.

Alara looked back at the group left behind. Four magites were pinned to the ground, Raquel’s protests ringing in the air.

They had cut it close, but they’d managed to at least make it through this fight without killing anyone—though Alara’s prospects for returning to the Haven seemed to dwindle with every waking moment. But she couldn’t let her thoughts linger.

“Who are you?” Runeo asked, pointing his bow at Mitteo.

Alara stepped in front of the magite. “Mitteo is someone from my class.” Someone who was apparently risking just as much as she was, though she didn’t know why.

“So, a magite,” Zinita said.

“A magite who helped us,” Alara said, still in front of Mitteo. She turned toward him, her eyes wide with questions. “But why? Why did you help us?”

Mitteo opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off.

“Enough chit-chat, kids,” the wind mage said, making her way back down the hall. “We need to get out of here. I don’t know how long we have before those magites out our positions.”

Runeo opened his mouth to speak, but she shot him a look and it closed quickly.

“We’ll do introductions later. You’ve angered the network, and getting caught is not going to make it any better.”

She turned her eyes to Raquel, who was squirming and shouting on the ground, trying without much luck to untangle herself from the roots.

“Can someone please shut her up?”

Lili stepped forward, looking less pale than she had been earlier. “Gladly.”