Queen of Darkness WATTPAD VERSION [Inter-Universal Protectors: Book 3]

49

Everything was bright when Amneris opened her eyes. Too bright. She groaned, sitting upright and rubbing her head. Someone's arm was around her waist, holding her in place. It took a moment for her eyes to focus on Jay. She reached out and tugged a strand of his blonde hair. Yes, he was definitely real. A moment later she was lying down again, hands over her face.

"You good?" Jay asked.

"Feels like someone blew my head off."

"Your head was blown off."

"Oh. That explains it." She groaned again. "Owww!"

"Nephthys said something about new bullets. I took one here." He tapped a finger on his heart. "Took a while to move around again. Could still hear, though."

Nephthys. Amneris jumped to her feet. Nephthys. Nephthys. Nephthys. "She took Hathy," Amneris eventually managed to say. Her power sparked like white lightning around her. 

"Amnsy," Jay said, sounding worried. "Take a deep breath. Time has restarted again. You need to calm down before-"

"She took my fucking daughter from me and you're telling me to calm down!" 

"Yes, yes. Bad choice of words, I know." He rose his hands. "But you really do need to calm down before you-"

A mix of white and cyan exploded from Amneris' body and, for the first time in two years, she shifted. The building around them couldn't take the strain of her power. The walls cracked. The metalwork bent. The few still intact windows exploded in a shower of glass. None of the debris hit her, nor Jay. A spherical cyan shield appeared around them as the building fell. 

Standing in the ruins, Amneris huffed, her eyes glowing white, wings splayed behind her in a show of absolute rage. 

Jay, who had instinctively thrown himself over a silver wolf - she hadn't noticed it before - brushed white dust from his clothes. "Before you do that," he sighed. "Now, if you're finishing with your tantrum, could you heal this kid?"

Amneris knelt beside him, looking over the injured wolf. Yes, that was definitely Troy. She whistled at the worst part of the wound. "Yeah, I can fix it. His arm is going to be fucked up for a while."

"I'm sure he'd prefer fucked up over dying from blood loss."

"Point taken." She clicked her fingers.

Troy's eyes shot open. He jumped to his paws, running around them in a circle before shifting into his Humanoid form. He grasped his shoulder. "What was that?" His eyes darted around. "It's like someone's given me drugs. Feel like a million galaxy diamonds!"

Jay gave Amneris a sidelong glance. She shrugged. "I'm sure it's only temporary." Hopefully. 

It was strange. She felt much stronger than she ever had in this form. It was strange. A good strange. She felt supercharged. Amneris clenched her fists. White lightning danced around them. I wonder . . . 

A flap of her wings had Amneris flying over the Academy. She released a wave of power. Weapons fell from the attackers hands. Glowing white energy shot out of the ground, wrapping around them as though it were rope. It wouldn't matter how hard they struggled. So long as she willed it, they would not escape. A thought had the ropes wrapping around their necks. Amneris grinned. Oh, she liked this new power. By the time she reached the ground, all the attackers were dead.

She took in the damage around her, standing in the centre of the island beside what remained of the Towers. From what she had seen from the sky, the entire Academy would have to be rebuilt. Amneris rubbed the back of her neck. That would take a while. And a lot of the kids didn't have homes to go back to. They were year-round students . . .

She let out a frustrated cry, adding that to the list of ever-growing problems that had appeared in the last few hours. Dead students and teachers, missing students and teachers, no homes for at least some of those who had survived, not to mention all the permanent injuries. Mental and physical injuries. On top of all that, Hathor had been taken. Was this what Nephthys wanted? Disarray?

"Fuck!" 

 A hand appeared on her shoulder. "You did what you could, Helia."

Without looking at her father, Amneris said, "I know. But it wasn't enough. Who knows how many were lost."

He shook his head. "Who knows how many were saved."

This time, she did look at him.

"Nephthys outsmarted all of us. She took us all off guard. None of us were prepared for anything like this to happen. But the students and teachers were able to fend them off on their own. Without you. Without me. Without your Court. They were able to take care of themselves. Is that not the point of this place? For them to learn how to protect themselves."

"It is," she said slowly.

"Lives were lost. Irreplaceable lives. I suspect we will not know how many for some time." That hand moved from her shoulder to her flaming hair. "The question is: what are we going to do next?"

Amneris raised a finger to her lips in thought. "She attacked innocent children, stole my daughter, and had an infiltrator. Not to mention she's got a Frozen One on her side. There's no doubt they're going to be going after Xix as well," she murmured, folding her wings behind her. Amneris looked to the sky with a darkened smile. The ground around her rumbled, her power rising inside. "If Nephthys wants to play against the rules of the game, then we have to do the same."