Leo is leaning against a tree. “Athena, I want to—”
“Follow your orders!” I snap. “I can’t wait for you!”
I sprint, and Jade curses as I pass her easily. The front door is closed, still intact. They didn’t come in this way. I do a quick mental inventory. The dorm wing is the easiest point of access. The windows are lower to the ground, and half of them are missing. I race around the side of the castle. There are two vampires in the trees. I fire two bolts, and then there are none.
Leaving the crossbow on the ground, I jump up and catch my own window ledge, then break my window and fling myself into my room. In the hall, I hear the furtive, creeping sounds of several attackers.
“Doug!” I shout. “Come on, this way! Hide in my room!” Sure enough, I hear footsteps running toward the sound of my voice. I slam the door. A few seconds later, it bursts open to reveal two vampires. I’m standing in the middle of the room between my bed and Artemis’s. The fan whirls in a blur overhead.
“Oh no. Two vampires. Help. Help.” I pull out a stake.
The first vampire, her bumpy, tortured face incongruous beneath perfectly coiffed blond hair, charges at me. I stomp on the floorboard beneath me. The spring-loaded board … does nothing.
I’ve faced a lot of disappointment in my life, but this is right up there with the worst of it. I stomp once more in petulant disappointment. That does the trick, though. The spring-loaded board is tripped, and she flies in almost slow motion upward toward the fan blades. With a cut-short shriek and a showering of dust, she loses her head.
“Holy hellmouths, it worked! It actually worked!” I laugh in shock, jumping up and down. “I have to tell …” Artemis. I have to tell Artemis.
The other vampire has frozen in disbelief, staring at the remains of his companion floating lazily down toward the beds.
All my giddy triumph sours. Artemis is the reason I got to test our booby traps. I pick up a heavy book and throw it at the vampire’s head. He stumbles, stunned. I kick him, and he flies directly into the large stone fireplace. The switch is hidden behind the mantel. I flip it, and he’s consumed in the jet of pressurized flame that shoots directly into him.
And look, I didn’t even catch my room on fire. That was our one concern with that method, but I figured out a way to keep it contained. Just put the vampire directly in the fireplace. “Go me,” I mutter, then step back into the dark passageways.
If the attackers are working under plans from Artemis and Honora, they’ll know about the secret passageways. I walk toward the nearest entrance. Sure enough, the closet door is ajar. I lean toward it.
The screams echo down the narrow stone passageways. Definitely several vampires’ worth of screaming.
I can’t quite imagine what the tiny purple demons are doing in there, but whatever it is, they’re good at it. No secret passageway movements for hostiles. I hope Artemis isn’t one of them. I almost call the tiny purple demons off, but I can’t afford to protect her. Creeping around secret passageways isn’t Artemis’s style. I sprint back toward the main hall to make sure my mother has it under control.
There are two vampires writhing on the floor, clawing at their now-empty eye sockets. Tsip looks up at me, beaming. “I got some eyes, Nina! And it’s my birthday!”
“Great job, I guess?” I stake the vampires, knowing even sightless vampires have enough killer instincts to be threats. My mother must still be hidden outside in the alcove, protecting the front door.
I peer out the window to see several hellhounds converging on the entrance. I open the door, grab my mother, and yank her insi
de before slamming it closed again.
“Thank you, Artemis,” she says, straightening her jacket. “Nina!” she corrects.
The fact that the first name on her tongue while being rescued was my sister’s hurts even more. I know it was a mistake. But it was a mistake born of habit. Artemis is the one she relies on when things get bad. And now Artemis is the one making things bad.
We share one silent, agonized look. We don’t have time to say anything, though. Rhys and Cillian run in from the dorm wing, Leo behind them. He looks beyond winded.
“Leo, into the tower section. Pelly’s there. Keep it safe. Sean did bad things to it for a long time, and I’m sure he’d love to take it back.”
I can see the struggle on Leo’s face. It’s killing him to have to leave this fight to us. But he nods and heads toward the kitchen, where he’ll access the door to the condemned tower section.
“Why now?” Leo asks, pausing.
“What?” I’m peering out the window. The hellhounds are circling. There’s no sign of Artemis or Honora, which is troubling.
“Why did they attack now?”
“Because I pissed them off at the convention!”
“No, he’s right,” Rhys says, reloading his crossbow. “You pissed them off a long time ago. What’s changed?”
“I don’t know! They have Artemis and Honora on their side now. They had room in their calendar for a quick castle assault. They threw a dart and it hit ‘screw over Nina’ on a board. Does it matter?”