With her father's memory failing and her mother gone, Soraya Thenayu enrolls in distant Darkwood Academy and immediately becomes enemies with the richest kid at school. Between hiding her father's gift of illegally harvested magic, befriending socia...
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Soraya knew she was running out of time. Even if she made it to where her friends were, she would have to fuse with them to keep from being possessed, giving away their identities to Mülock. If she stayed and dealt with Norma Whispers, however... She tightened her shaking fists, thinking back to her session with the therapist.
Norma threatened to hurt Rhys and Ujuu! I need to protect them!
The girl whispered an Apollryük spell and turned into a shadow. She then slid across the grass until she was next to the therapist and safely inside the perimeter of the purified land.
"Clever..." Mülock hissed from the back of her mind. "What other neat tricks can you perform, my child?"
Soraya ignored him, focusing instead on taking care of Norma. I shouldn't fuse with her in case Mülock reveals my identity.
"I absolutely would do that," the demon growled from the back of her mind.
From the ground, Soraya saw the therapist's expression change from one of impatience to disbelief.
"What do you mean there are demons here?"
Terror crept into Norma's voice as the plants warned her of the impending danger lurking nearby. "Th-that's impossible!"
Soraya, on cue, waved her shadowy figure across the woman's fingers. Ms. Whispers let out a shrill squeak at the icy touch, flinching her hands away from the grass. "Who's there?" she demanded, swiveling her head around with wide, frightened eyes.
Maybe I can scare her away... Soraya would have smiled if her mouth was still attached. She reached for Ms. Whisper's shadow in her two-dimensional form, lifting it in the air.
"Oh my Gods!" Norma screamed as her body was thrust above the ground, suspended on arms she couldn't see. She thrashed and flailed around like a fish out of water, clawing with desperation at the surrounding foliage in an attempt to bring herself back down to the earth below.
She weighs next to nothing when I'm like this.
Soraya chucked the woman with all her might, sending Ms. Whispers flying. The woman landed on her back a few feet away, the wind knocked completely from her lungs.
And don't come back! Soraya would have yelled if she could speak.
"Fascinating..." Mülock observed. "Within such a short amount of time, you've learned how to control so many demonic spells."
Norma Whispers shuddered, choking while fighting to gulp down air. A twinge of guilt tugged at Soraya's chest when she heard the woman struggle to breathe.
"It's such a shame I have to kill you..." Mülock's voices interrupted her thoughts.
The therapist rolled herself onto her knees, stood up on wobbly legs, and staggered away as fast as she could, sputtering and coughing as she did. Only when Soraya was sure Norma was gone did she rise from the ground, transforming back into her normal self.
