The shadow deepened. The corruption wrought by the ritual and its sacrifices was drilling through the layers of reality, peeling back the walls that separated plane from plane. Soon it would reach the Underworld, and the waiting demon Alastor, whose equine form grew with each passing second. Phantasia stood her ground, eyes fixed on that hulking mass of dark power as it took shape, shadow-muscles throbbing, red eyes like a distant fire shrouded by fog. Her concentration didn’t falter, even when Faye arrived in the circle next to her.

“The sacrifices we were able to save have been led to the surface and are now being attended to by SEELIE,” she explained, taking one worry off Phantasia’s shoulders, “Elsewhere the amalgam monstrosity has been neutralised by the sole surviving high priest. I suspect this individual is somehow involved in the irregularities present in this whole affair. Natalie Chiltern and Tes Anderson are presently confronting him, while Ceres Mendoza leads the remaining students in their escape. I would suggest we too leave this place as soon as possible, but I anticipate that you have developed an unforeseen strategy,”

“Yup,” replied Phantasia, still focused.

“And you do not wish to inform me of it,”

“Now you know how I feel,”

***

Theseus was thankful for the final burst of stamina that drove him through the caves. Maybe it was the fear of what could be following, or the allure of the freedom ahead, but his feet just wouldn’t stop running, no matter how much pain the rest of his body was in. Even Joel, as scrawny and pale as he was, had somehow managed to keep up the pace. Mr Haan would never have thought it possible! Or perhaps he’d been training them up for this all along. Theseus sure wouldn’t be looking at his teachers in the same way again.

Purple-haired Ceres Mendoza was leading them through an alternative route to what they’d used to enter the underground, and thankfully this one didn’t involve underground rivers or a series of time-consuming traps. It wasn’t the first time the top-grade student had shown up to save their butts either, and now the truth of the Academy and his teachers was clear, Theseus didn’t need to ask for explanations.

When they entered one of the larger caves Ceres signalled for a rest and soon the subterranean cavity was filled with the sounds of heavy breathing: finally the struggle was catching up. The moment Theseus sat down he felt his muscles tighten and winced at the pain, but he’d felt worse. For the others this was perhaps the furthest they’d ever pushed their physical stamina – with the exception of Korrigan, anyway. The permanently-cheerful blonde athlete was dancing around her fellow students making sure each and every one of them was feeling okay.

“I would ask if you’re okay but even a ditz like me can tell you can handle crazy situations like this!” she said when it was Theseus’s turn to suffer the wannabe-nurse’s diagnosis.

“Hell if I can handle this shit,” he mumbled in reply, scratching his neck as he pondered what to say next, “And, eh, thanks for helping me out back there,” he said finally, avoiding the intense stare Korrigan’s emerald-eyes, “I kinda lost control for a second. Would’ve been skewered like a kebab if you hadn’t shown up in time,”

“Silly Theseus!” she chirped, her giggling like the sound of the forest, “I’m just happy I got to help out such a masculine muscular studfest!”

Theseus blinked. “Masculine muscul—“

Before he could finish Korrigan had danced away to try and cheer up the morbid death-face of Joel, whose dark rimmed eyes showed no signs of relenting to the hyperactive crazy girl. Theseus shrugged and pulled himself up, then stretched his muscles. If there was one thing he liked about hanging around girls such as Phoenie, it was that they never gazed at him with lustful eyes. Even Amanda, his sort-of-girlfriend, never looked at him like that, like she was undressing him with her eyes and imagining all sorts of crazy stuff Theseus wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved with.

Chapter 55
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