I looked at all of them, relieved that they were here and looked more or less healthy. “How did you get out of the gym?”
“Dr. Green,” Ben said. “Don’t fuck with him. Ever.”
“I’ve never seen someone take out a malacoda before,” Luka said. “I didn’t think it could be done.”
“So much drool,” Zach said.
“So, so much drool,” Matt echoed.
I couldn’t help but grin at them. They were here and they were alive. Somehow, we’d managed to survive all of it.
“Alright, where is she?”
I looked up in time to see Officer M step right into a bloody pile of Leanna. His upper lip curled in disgust and he stepped over the remains and dragged his foot over the floor to clean his shoe. Then his eyes caught mine and he grinned, showing those yellow teeth.
“I knew I’d catch you eventually. That time bubble wasn’t going to last forever,” he said. “I had to wait outside until it broke, but I knew I’d find you here.”
I lifted my eyebrows and stared at him, waiting for the rest of the situation to come to him.
As if on queue, he looked away from me and took in the rest of the room. “What the hell happened in here?”
“You wanted your time magic user?” Dr. Green asked. “You stepped in her.”
Officer M slowly turned around and looked at the remains of Leanna. There was enough of her face left to identify her as the thief that was supposed to be dead.
“She was a lousy thief,” Professor Halifax said.
“And here’s your prize,” Dr. Green said, dragging Professor Halifax over to Officer M. “She opened a portal to the fae realm.”
“With help,” Professor Halifax said, turning to look at me.
“With coercion,” Dr. Green said.
Several security guards ran into the room and congregated around Officer M. He passed Professor Halifax off to them. “Take her in for processing. She’s never going to see daylight again.”
The security officers left the room, Professor Halifax in tow. Officer M looked at me. “You should consider a job in law enforcement. You might not be as bad as I thought you were.”
“Thanks,” I said, forcing a smile on my face. If I ever saw him again, it would be too soon.
Officer M walked out of the room leaving me with my mates and Dr. Green.
“You five need to get cleaned up,” he said. “Even if the change of dates for the trials was a set up by Professor Halifax, you still passed the trials.”
“I was yanked out before I did anything,” I said.
“And you’re the one who ended up killing that thing,” Luka said.
Dr. Green cocked an eyebrow. “Are you five telling me you want to take the trials again?”
“No,” we all said in unison.
“Then it sounds like we have a celebration to throw.”
Dr. Green stepped over Leanna’s remains as if he’d walked over a hundred dead bodies. Maybe he had.
Now that it was over, my body felt too heavy. The idea of walking back to my room was almost too much. But I was in desperate need of a shower and I didn’t want to wait around to see if dead fae turned into angry ghosts.
Ben stood and I looked up at him. I knew I should get up, but I was so tired. He leaned over and scooped me up, throwing me over his shoulder. I squealed in surprised delight.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” he said.
“There’s probably nobody in the locker room,” Luka said.
“I think we all need a shower,” Matt said.