The Legend of the Eight: The Wicked (Book 2)

21: All Roads Lead to the Mortal World

TWENTY-ONE: ALL ROADS LEAD TO THE MORTAL WORLD
MARCH 28
NICOLE BRADLEY

HER TURQUOISE EYES FLUTTERED OPEN and slowly, she took in her new surroundings. She was in the Academy's Infirmary—a place familiar to her after Cupid's Comet in February. Nurse Lucia, the head of the Infirmary, admitted each of the Eight earlier that evening and had been monitoring them while they recovered from their time in the Shadow Lands.

Nicole's body ached and her muscles were limp like she'd run a marathon yesterday. Eva's spell must have faded away, leaving them faint, and Nicole everything the Darks had done to her. The Shadow Lands were not kind of the Eight and their recovery was not an easy one.

Nicole sat up in bed and rolled her shoulders, stretching her arms and legs while she did. Around her, the rest of the Eight were beginning to wake up too—even Cam who, as Nicole understood it, was now a vampire.

The lights were dimmed but not dark and for that, Nicole was grateful. The cell was dark. The darkness only broke when Bartemius sent in one of his men to steal away one of the Eight. He had them tortured. He was looking for Wil.

Then Nicole remembered.

Wil.

She was still in the Shadow Lands.

"Wil," she said, but she wasn't sure if anyone was even awake to hear her. "We have to go back. We have—" She fell asleep again before she could finish her sentence.

BY MORNING, KING AND QUEEN Diamond returned to the Infirmary to talk with the Eight. Nicole saw the bags under both Royals' eyes had darkened tremendously. They must have been up all night. King Walter had his fist wrapped tightly around something—a book he'd been reading—and once they were in the Infirmary, Nurse Lucia stepped outside and closed the doors behind her.

"Where's Wil?" Kate quickly asked her parents, pushing her messy hair to the side and rubbing her forehead. "Did Eva go back for her? She said she would."

"We're working on that," answered her mother.

"And Chloe?" asked Nicole.

King Walter cleared his throat. "We're working on that too."

"Eva?" Liam asked, rubbing the bandages on his forearms.

"Resting," answered King Walter. "Casting portals to and from the Shadow Lands took a lot out of her. We need her for another spell. A big one. The Veil has been compromised and you are no longer safe."

"She's casting another protection spell?" asked Nicole and the King shook his head.

"Not quite. There isn't enough magic in the Three Realms to cast a spell like that again. Bartemius and his men did too much damage to the Veil. There's no making the Academy safe for you."

Nicole felt her heart drop into her stomach. Like that time she broke a lamp in her parents' living room and lied about it. Her parents found out and she had to miss her best friend's eighth birthday party—it was at a bowling alley and they'd been looking forward to it for months. Nicole was devastated to have to miss it.

Now she was devastated once again. When she found out about magic, all she wanted was the Academy. She wanted the World of Magic. She wanted all of it. And then she got it. She had it. She was there and it was amazing. It was everything she thought it would be and more. And now, she could feel it slipping right through her fingers.