Academy of Blood and Magic

29🖤

I gasped as I sat up ramrod straight, Isaac's words echoing in my head.

Strong hands reached out and grasped my shoulders. I struggled for a second, my half-asleep brain forgetting where I was or who I was with.

"Lyric, it's me, it's okay!" Brandon's voice reached my ears. My vision cleared and saw his concerned inches from mine, peering into mine intently. The cobwebs disappeared from mine and I remembered.

I breathed shakily and brushed my hair back from my face and looked around. Shelbee was sitting on the other side of the cave, watching us with wide eyes. My face flushed as I realized she'd been watching us the whole time and quickly looked away and gazed at Brandon.

He'd healed immensely, thank goodness, and looked a lot stronger than he had been, though there were still marks all over his skin from where his flesh had been burned that wouldn't heal. But he was alive, he was better.

He exhaled in relief and hugged me tight to his chest. "Thank God you're okay. I got scared when you passed out like that. I thought I killed you."

I hugged him back. "I'm okay."

I remembered seeing Isaac and him telling me he was trying to find me. I pulled back and said, "Isaac appeared to me in my dreams."

"Oh," he said, surprise filling his expression and I winced at the way it came out. He glanced away for a second before looking back at me. "Um, alrighty then."

"Not like that," I said hastily. "He was using Dreamscape to communicate with me. He'd saved me from the Dream Stalker when he was going to attack me and said he's been tracking him ever since. He says he's going to try to find us and he's bringing the police."

Brandon closed his eyes and leaned back against the rocks. "Thank God," he breathed.

"Isaac?" Shelbee said as she walked over to us. "As in Isaac Warren from our school?"

I nodded. "Yes."

She stood in front of us and I tensed, waiting for her to either say or do something that would lead her to get knocked out again. I moved to sit in front of Brandon, shielding him from her even though he was the last person on earth that needed protecting.

She gazed at me for a long moment before shifting her gaze to Brandon. "Did you kill Nick?"

Fury raced through me and I opened my mouth to snap at her, but he placed a hand on my shoulder and sat beside me so he was gazing up at Shelbee.

He met her eyes steadily and said, "No, I did not. I swear on my life, I did not murder him."

They stared at each other for a long moment, tension rising in the air, thick enough a knife could cut through it. I sat there stiffly, waiting to see what was going to happen.

Finally, Shelbee shifted her gaze away. "But they found your fingerprints."

"He somehow shapeshifted into me," Brandon said and Shelbee and I stared at him in surprise. "He drew some of my blood, drank it, and transformed into me. That's how he had my fingerprints all over Nick."

I swore my heart skipped a beat as he said this. It hit me how dangerous and strong this sorcerer was and that there was almost no chance of us taking him on.

"A polymorph spell," Shelbee whispered, her eyes widening and fear making them appear bright. "Only sorcerers who commit black magic do those spells."

"So that's how he's been framing you," I said and Brandon nodded. "We need to get out of here."

"How?" Shelbee asked. "When you two were. . ." Her face flushed and I felt my face grew red all over again. "I was looking around the cave. There are two entrances and they have wards that are not letting us escape. I tried taking them down but they're too strong. We can't get out."