Salvation : Book 3

CHAPTER 30 : Paradise Is Lost

The door was locked. I jiggled the knob for a minute before Adrian said, "Stand back." And I stepped away from it. His hands glowed, surrounded by a misty white light. The same light encased the doorknob before the door swung open. Standing on the other side with blue glowing hands was Jack.

     His eyes bulged as soon as he saw me. "Marcus?" he said dropping his hands, the blue glow flickering away.

     "Jack," I said in the second before I leapt forward wrapping my arms around his neck. He was alive. "Thank goddess we found you. Are you okay? What happened here? The council, they...they're—"

     "Dead," he supplied. "I know," he said grimly. He sighed heavily as he hugged me back, tightly. "I'm fine." His voice was low and gravelly.

     "But I'm not," came a voice from behind Jack. I looked over his shoulder. Paige was lying on the floor her hands pressed over her abdomen. Her shirt was covered with blood and I gasped as I let go of Jack. I moved over to Paige, kneeing beside her. Adrian joined me a second later. He stood next to me.

     Paige struggled into a sitting position her face was gray, her cheeks spotted with blood. Adrian's expression turned to that of concern. "What happened?" He asked.

     "Isn't it obvious," She remarked. "I was attacked. Jack healed me, so no need to worry your pretty little blonde head."

    "What attacked you?" I asked. I ready knew the answer but I needed to be sure.

   "Demons," Jack said, standing on my other side. "We don't know how they got through the barrier but it's gone now. They were hundreds of them, the council and the other witches tried to fend them off but they just kept coming and coming until everyone was..."

     "It's my fault we were even here," Paige said looking up at Jack. "I wanted to talk to my uncle and asked Jack to come along and he almost died. And my uncle he..."

      I placed my hand over her shoulder as she choked up. "Paige," I said hesitantly. "Jasper is—"

     Tears welled up in her eyes. I'd rarely ever seen Paige cry, the last time was when she told me about her brother. "He saved us," she said as she reached up to wipe away the tears. "When the demons came, we were outside the meeting room. They attacked, they were too many to fend off. They were going to kill us. My uncle used a Loka spell to draw their attention and told us to run. I was too injured to teleport away so we ran as fast as we could but my uncle... He stayed behind."

      "I'm...so sorry Paige," I said to her. She didn't look up.

      "Scarlet found us," she continued. "She'd been able to fend off the demons that had come her way. She told us to hide in Russ's office, that she was heading upstairs to the infirmary to check if anyone was still alive. Once we were here I asked Jack to go look for help."

      "He came to me," I said lowly. "But I-I don't have my powers."

     "What?" Adrian asked incredulously.

     "Scarlet and I were doing a Rubbius spell, we didn't finish," I explained.

     "That explains why she was so powerful. She took out ten demons in one blast," Jack said.

    "We have to find her," I said raising to my feet.

     "We have to get to the Capcision," Paige said. Disdaining Jack's offer to help, she pulled herself up to a standing position, using Russ's desk to hold herself up. "Everyone will be heading there. It's protocol for if there's been an attack."