So I slung shadows at them as well. A few flinched from the darkness streaking through the air, but when it snapped into place, they realized what I was doing.
"Hunt!" Jack cawed again. "Hunt, Hunt, Hunt, Hunt!" And then he turned hard, heading into the trees just as the first rush of cold air washed over us all.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
RAIN
I'd been told the stories in my classes, but I'd never had this sort of view of the Hunt coming in before. Usually I was running for shelter myself, not staring at the clouds as they rolled, shifting into horses carrying riders.
The sky darkened, but there were still too many people out here.
"Pull back!" Ms. Rhodes ordered. I looked back to see her in her fulleltamarmor.
"No," I yelled. "We have to hold them off."
"And we will while retreating," she said. "We can't risk the royalty, Rain."
"She's right," Keir said. "Hawke, get them inside."
"I," Torian growled, "am not on his list."
"Nor me," Hawke said, "but Aspen is!"
Wilder grabbed her hand. "So we run, Asp. We run like fuck."
"I'm not leaving Rain!" Aspen yelled, jerking her arm away.
I spun, catching her face between both of my hands. "I love you, Aspen Fox. I love you so much, but I will never speak to you again if he gets his hands on you. Do you understand that? Right now, I need you and Wilder to get thefuckout of sight, and to make sure all these parents and family members know to lockthe doors." She shook her head, trying to refuse, but I kept going. "You have to protect them, Aspen. Hawthorne and Valentina are here. You and Wilder are the only ones strong enough to handle this. Gate these people back to the school if you fucking have to, but get everyone inside!"
Torian didn't even bother looking away from the clouds. "Go, Asp. We got this."
Which was when Wilder grabbed her hand and pulled. Aspen only resisted for a second longer, but then she ran with all she had. Keir moved to my side, settling his weapons into place so he'd be ready. Torian took the other. Beside him, Hawke flexed, pushing out his wings.
"And now we guard their retreat," he said.
We backed up, but we weren't alone. Ms. Rhodes fell in beside Keir. Bracken moved to flank Hawke. I saw Rose from the front office, and Tag, plus others whose names I didn't know, as well as all the sentinels. Jack had given all of us enough time to get our armor and weapons, but the colors of this motley defense? Black was all over. I saw some silver, plenty of brass, and a few sets of iridescenteltam.
"They're going to come across the student seating," Ms. Rhodes warned. "The cluster of so many fae in one place will pull them to the ground, but all we have to do is hold them off long enough for the fae to get inside." And she looked over. "Do you hear me, court? Youwillgo inside."
"Only after you do, General," Torian drawled lazily. "Some of us are safe from him, so you let us hold him off."
"You're still my responsibility!" she snapped.
And Torian's head whipped over. "I'm also your prince!Iam the royal in charge here right now, and you will obey me, soldier!"
"Heard," Ms. Rhodes grumbled, making no effort to hide how pissed she was about it.
But Hawke chuckled. "For once, let us do what we're good at."
And that was when the rain hit. Like a typical summer storm, lighting flashed in the distance, sending the rumble of thunder across the school grounds. The whole time, we continued to press back, refusing to turn away from the danger we knew was coming.
Then Torian laughed. "They're almost in."
I looked over quickly, wondering how he knew that. Torian simply pointed at his head. One small gesture, but I realized sending Aspen and Wilder back had been about even more than merely keeping her safe. Yes, I was sure that had been his first concern, but saving others in the process had certainly helped convince his sister.
"Then we need to be moving back a lot faster," I said. "We're far enough out the Hunt can cut us - "
I didn't even get to finish before the first horse began to descend from the sky. Wrapped in rain, their grey color was so hard to see. The clouds were thick enough to dim the sun, and all around us, the world was moving enough to prevent these ghastly things from drawing the eye.
