New World

7 | Portal

Lila woke when she heard the sound of glass smashing, like all the windows in the Institute had blown. Except it wasn't the Institute, it was the Wards around it.

She jumped from her bed and pulled on a denim jacket over her leggings and t-shirt she'd fallen asleep in, pulled on a pair of Adidas trainers by her bed before she grabbed her sword off the wall and ran into the hallway.

"Livvy!" She called, running to her sister. "What's happened?"

"I think the Wards just fell," Said Livvy, waiting for Lila to catch up. "Come on, we need to find Ty."

They ran down the corridor, running into Dru who'd opened her bedroom door and was looking out.

"Stay there, Dru!" Livvy told her, "we don't know what's going on."

"I wish you'd stop telling me what to do," they heard Dru mutter. She went inside and closed her bedroom door anyway.

They burst through the front door of the Institute and found Kit and Ty already there. The centurions followed behind Livvy and Lila, so Livvy and Lila rushed over to Ty and Kit.

Lila noticed Kit held a seraph blade in his right hand, and she raised her eyebrows. As far as she knew, he'd never held one in his life.

"Sea demons," they heard Diana say.

"Ew," muttered Lila when the demons were in sight. Some looked like out-of-date jelly, some reminded her of starfish. She almost gagged just looking at them.

"By the angel," Diana said, looking over the tons of demons. "Get behind me, Centurions."

Zara shot Diana a filthy look. "We are centurions. We don't take orders from you."

"Shut up, you stupid child!" Snapped Diana coldly. "As if the Dearborns didn't cower in Zurich during the Cold War? You've never been in a real battle. Don't speak another word."

Zara reeled back. Nobody said a word.

The demons, which were squeaking or flapping across the ground, had nearly reached the porch.

Diego turned to Diana. "Orders?" He said.

"Kill them all, obviously."

And then it all broke out. There was a mess of ichor and blood, the flash of seraph blades lit and zooming by. There was the glint of Lila's sword, swinging it and hitting a demon. The ichor sprayed everywhere and Lila grimaced as it landed on her cheek and arms, and she regretted rolling her jacket sleeves up.

She hardly noticed when Kit went to go forward down the steps to help, and Livvy drew him back with a hand on his shoulder.

"No," she said, "you're not ready to fight yet."

"I'm fine!" He protested.

"Livvy," Said Ty, turning to them both quickly after he'd let a dagger fly, hitting a demon directly. "Let him—"

Lila didn't hear the rest. She heard a door slam open, but couldn't turn around to see who it was. She spun with both hands on her sword, sending three demons at once into powder. More demon ichor burned her skin and demon blood landed all over her white shirt.

There was cheering when the numbers of demons decreased rapidly. They were retreating. But why? They hadn't been winning and they hadn't been losing...

Laughter pierced the air just then. The demons froze. Lila, suddenly terrified, ran back up the porch to her siblings, careful not to stand too close so ichor would go on them.

"You okay?" Asked Livvy.

"Yeah," Lila breathed. "You?"

Livvy nodded. "Great."