Page 266 of Psycho Gods

Nothing.

Of all people, I should have known that prayer wouldn’t work—not to him. Never to him.

I slapped my palm against the now cold marble as I thought about the dates. It was around the time when the academy had a break. Lothaire would be elsewhere.

Screaming through gritted teeth, I stared up at the intricate crystal chandelier and accepted—unless a miracle happened in the next few seconds—there was no way I could retrieve timely help for Aran and Sadie.

The High Court hadn’t answered, which wasn’t a good sign. The military council tended to disappear for days while they handled “top-secret” business.

There was no one to alert.

No one to rescue Sadie and Aran.

I was the only one who knew where they were.

I activated the RJE device.

Crack.

I was lying on my back next to the table in the strategy room.

Grabbing the furniture, I hoisted myself to my feet using the table legs. I pulled open drawers and grabbed a different RJE device. I desperately searched for the weapons prohibited by the Official Peace Accords that the High Court “supposedly” kept for demonstration purposes.

Thank the sun god that weeks ago I’d paid attention to Dick’s presentation.

I’d bet he knew exactly what he was doing when he’d left them.

Finally, I opened the correct drawer. Rifling through the various canisters of chemical weapons, I sobbed with relief when I found the circular enchantment.

It pocketed the high-caliber explosive.

In a fog, I threw myself forward toward the blackboard. Slamming into furniture on one leg, I half hopped, half crawled toward my destination.

At the board, I did the only thing I could do.

Once I was satisfied with my work, I reopened the connection to Aran.

My heart rate skyrocketed.

Sadie was on her knees—hands extended forward toward the now five infected she’d enslaved with her blood—like she was physically pushing them forward.

Infected screamed as they died, and ungodly chittered as they erupted.

Sadie’s army of five wielded enchanted swords with much more dexterity than the average infected.

They cut through the crowd.

Slain bodies were strewn across the floor: pincers, hands, scarlet splatter, and vibrant green gore.

From the number of ungodly and infected corpses, they’d given up trying to wound and had resorted to killing.

Sadie had been extremely efficient.

About half the infected were slain, there were a few dozen left.

It was still too many.

Aran stood beside Sadie and killed the infected and Ungodly that got past their enslaved army.