Hooking the daggers on to the belt, I took off down the hall. When I hit the lobby, I spotted Colin standing with a group of halfs. I started to order him to keep watch over Josie, but I trusted that she’d only open the door for me. I didn’t trust that of Colin. He was a young half, susceptible to compulsions, and I had no idea what was going on out there.

Bursting out the front doors and into the cooler evening air, I made my way past the small army of Guards. They had already begun setting up a line in front of the dorm.

I stopped, grabbing the collar of one of the older Guard members. His eyes widened with surprise as I lifted him up on the tips of his toes. “Try actually defending the students this time. If this line is broken when I get back, I’m not going to be happy, and that means you’re not going to be walking for the next week or month. Feel me?”

The older man swallowed hard and nodded. Letting him go, I sure as hell hoped, for his sake, he got the message. Last time, the possessed Guards and Sentinels had gotten right into the dorm and right to Josie.

That knowledge ate at me as I forged forward. After what had happened that night, I’d told myself I wouldn’t put duty before Josie, and I was doing it again. A ball of dread settled in my stomach like lead. The nymph’s words floated through my thoughts as I cut across the quad, heading for the walls. Was I going down the same path again?

Up ahead, I could see Sentinels racing forward. Smoke billowed from the vicinity of the main wall and spilled into the courtyard. Shadows moved inside the dense smoke, and from a distance it looked like a macabre dance. In about ten seconds, I caught up to Alex and Aiden, and it was more than a little bizarre falling into step beside them. As we drew closer, the scent of burnt trees and something far more pungent filled the air.

Aiden glanced over at me. “Lose your shirt, man?”

Back in the day, that question would’ve opened the door for the perfect comeback, one that usually involved Alex. Now? I lifted my hand and flipped him off. “Anyone know what’s going—?”

A white-garbed Guard staggered out of the smoke, the front of his outfit splashed with red. His throat was torn open, revealing the pink, congealed tissue and shattered bone. The Guard went down on one knee and then crumpled.

“Daimons,” Alex said, flipping the dagger in her hand. “Or a mountain lion.”

Reaching to my side, I unhooked one of the daggers. “I’m going to go with a daimon.”

“That’s a relief.” Alex slowed her step. “Because I really don’t want to kill a kitty.”