Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 236

wound, and hisses softly as sensation catches up with him.

“How bad is it?” he asks.

I take a breath. I do not soften it. He deserves the truth.

“Your eye is gone,” I tell him. “And your face is practically split in half. The magic burned through clean. You’re lucky to be alive.”

He nods once, like that confirms something he already suspected. Then he shakes his head, slow and deliberate.

“No,” he says. “I mean her.”

I still. “How bad is it for her?”

He hasn’t asked about his chances. He hasn’t asked how long he’ll be down, whether the damage is permanent, or whether he’ll ever see properly again. He hasn’t even flinched at the word gone. He cares about her. The realisation settles into me with an uncomfortable weight, rearranging things I thought I understood. This isn’t guilt, or obligation, or some last-minute bid for absolution. This is concern. Cage actually cares about someone. Cage… actually cares for Allison.

I study him for a long moment before I answer. “It’s… bad,” I admit. “She’s contained for now, but she’s running on dark magic and primal

instinct. She’s not in control.”

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Thu Jan

He Cares

Me exhales through his nose, sharp and pained, then pushes himself upright before I can stop him. His legs shake immediately, and Mocef

ships free again, a dark red against skin that’s already too pale.

Two want to see her?” I ask, even as I know the answer.

Nos already on his feet, swaying, one hand braced against the wall.

“Take me to her,” he says.

Not please. Not of you think it’s safe. Just resolve, brittle and unyielding. I step in beside him, catching him before he falls, my arm steady

around his bid.

“You’re going to hate what you see,” I warn quietly,

His jaw sets. “I already do,” he says. “But I won’t leave her alone in it.”

And in that moment, I understand something terrifying, Allison didn’t save him because she couldn’t let him die. She saved him because, on some level, she knew he wouldn’t let her face this alone either.

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3/3

20:35 Thu, Jan 15

Thornhill Academy

The Price of Saving Me

Cage

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My face hurts worse than any strike my father ever laid on me. That thought comes to me first, oddly clear, cutting through the fog like a blade. I can’t see from one eye. I know that much without needing to be told. The world tilts slightly to the left, depth warped, balance unreliable. Cassian tells me the eye is gone. I take that in with a detached sort of acceptance, like it belongs to someone else. Blood trickles steadily down my chin, warm and sticky, soaking into the collar of my uniform. My head throbs so violently I can’t tell if it’s the blood loss or the empty socket that’s making my vision swim. It doesn’t matter. I have to see her. I couldn’t give a fuck if I fall over and die right here on this cold stone floor. If this is the last thing I do, then fine. Worth it. I just need to see her. I need to know she’s alive. That she’s breathing. That I didn’t imagine her scream. Cassian walks beside me, close enough that I can feel the tension rolling off him in waves. He’s steadying me, matching my pace, watching the way my steps falter. I hate that. I hate that he has to do it. We stop in front of a door, and Cassian knocks way too loudly for my liking. The sound echoes down the corridor. My head spikes with pain, and I hiss softly through my teeth, pressing a hand to my face. Blood slicks my fingers instantly. Cassian glances at me, jaw tight, but doesn’t apologise. As we wait, my mind scrambles to put together the pieces I’m missing.

I remember the war.

I remember fire in the sky. Shadows moving where they shouldn’t. The ground shaking beneath my feet.

I remember searching for her with a desperation that drowned out everything else.

I remember following the tug of the bond, faint but insistent, like a thread wrapped around my ribs and pulled tight.

I remember her scream.

That sound will never leave me.

I remember her turning into a wraith.

The same wraith that has haunted my nightmares almost every night since she arrived at the school. The same one that tore through my sleep, clawed its way into my mind, left me waking up soaked in sweat and shaking. I remember realising, with a clarity so sharp it felt like betrayal, that it was her. That the thing that tortured me, the thing that stalked the edges of my sanity, was Allison. And then-

I remember watching a warlock raise his hand.

I remember seeing the spell form.

I remember her eyes fixed on me.

And I remember moving.

That part is crystal clear. No hesitation. No fear. Just the certainty that if that magic hit her, there would be nothing left to save.

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20.30 Thu, Jan 10

The Price of Saving Me

The door opens, and Kael stands on the other side. He looks at Cassian first, quick and assessing. Then his gaze slides to me, and his

mouth twists into a scowl before he rolls his eyes,

“Oh great,” he mutters. “You’re alive,”

I don’t respond. I don’t trust my voice, and honestly, I’m focused on not collapsing in a heap at his feet. Kael steps aside to let us pass,

shaking his head.

“You look like fucking shit,” he adds.

That earns the barest huff of breath from me. It might have been a laugh in another life. We move past him. Stone walls close in around us as we descend, the steps uneven beneath my boots. My balance falters twice, and Cassian grips my arm, firm and unyielding.

“Careful,” he murmurs.

I don’t thank him. The sound reaches me before the sight does. A low, constant noise. Not quite a growl. Not quite a scream. Something layered. Something wrong. It vibrates through the stone, through my chest, through the place where the bond sits like a wound that never healed properly. My heart starts hammering as we reach the bottom of the stairs. Then I see her. And it isn’t Allison… Not completely. She’s in wraith form, shadows coiled tight around her body like living restraints. Her shape is familiar and alien all at once, elongated, sharpened, power bleeding off her in waves that make my skin prickle. Black veins trace over pale skin, pulsing faintly with magic that doesn’t belong to this world. She turns her head, and her eyes lock onto me… and everything in me freezes. There’s recognition there, but hunger too. It’s mixed with something feral and dangerous that curls my spine tight with instinctive fear. But underneath it all, buried deep, I see her. Flickers of Allison. The girl who laughed too loudly. Who burned too brightly. Who looked at me like she saw something worth saving, even when I didn’t. She takes a step forward, and only then do I really see it. The bars. The cage. A fucking cage.

The sound that tears out of me is ugly and uncontrolled, half gasp, half snarl. My hand clenches into a fist at my side, nails biting into

my palm.

“You caged her,” I rasp, disbelief and fury tangling in my chest. “You put her in a cage.”

Cassian doesn’t answer right away.

When he does, his voice is tight. “It’s not a punishment.”

I laugh. The sound scrapes my throat raw. “Looks like one.”

She presses closer to the bars now, shadows shifting, her attention fully on me. I can feel the bond pull tight, aching and insistent, like it’s trying to bridge the distance no matter the cost. The wraith tilts her head, studying me the way a predator studies prey.

“Caze,” Cassian says sharply, warning threading through the word.

I take a step forward, anyway. Every instinct I have screams at me that this is dangerous. That she could tip my soul out through the bars if she wanted to. That I am weak, half-blind, bleeding, and completely defenceless. I don’t care.

“Why the fuck is she in a cage?” I ask hoarsely, eyes never leaving her. “What have you done to her?”

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20:35

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