The residential and commercial buildings felt ominous as if shadows were lurking inside. The entire neighborhood was like a ghost town. I had thought it was because it was close to the border, so everyone had packed up and left.
The drivers and the Dominion officers were still on the radios, coordinating their moves.
The students pulled out their weapons, ready for any surprise. Even though we were first years, we were disciplined. We didn’t panic when facing a crisis, though fear permeated the air.
“Marigold, go sit in the middle of the bus, facing the aisle,” Lucian, Héctor’s man, said.
“I’ll sit with my friends in the back,” I said.
“The safest seat is in the middle,” Lucian said. “Please, Marigold. We can’t afford for you to get hurt in a collision or crossfire.”
“Everyone else’s safety is just as important,” I said. “I’m a soldier like you, like anyone else here.”
I couldn’t believe that I’d just declared myself a soldier when every fiber of my being had fought against being one before.
Lucien and Drew shared a look. Lucien thrust his chin toward Drew, and he got off his seat. I jogged toward the back seats. If he was going to try and force me to stay away from my friends, he’d get a kick in the nuts.
He might have recognized that, so he only followed me to the back.
I arched an eyebrow at him over my shoulder.
“Even the demigods have a hard time getting you to follow orders,” he said. “I wouldn’t try to stop you. I don’t want you to kick my balls black and blue. I’ll just throw myself on you as a human shield if a bomb goes off.”
“Yup, I’d have kicked your balls black and blue if you’d tried to stop me,” I said good-naturedly. “But you wouldn’t mention the word ‘balls’ in front of the death demigod, would you?” I chuckled a little, but he didn’t chuckle back. “And I don’t need you to be my human shield. Your life is just as valuable as mine.”
Then a thundering sound boomed above and all around us, and it wasn’t from Zak.
“What the fuck?”
“Bombs! They’re throwing bombs and spells at us!”
“We’re under attack!”
Increasing shouts rose inside the bus and from the background on radios.
The bus behind us flew backward, and the bus in front of us wheeled like it’d been caught in a twister before ramming into a brick building to the right.
Screams and shouts emitted from the radio.
A horde of dark mages, human soldiers, and horned demons of all shapes appeared on the rooftops of the buildings all around us, throwing spells and bombs.
But they didn’t bomb the bus I was on. They only tossed spells our way to isolate our bus from the others and trap us.
We were sitting ducks. Our bus couldn’t move forward or backward with the other two blocking both ways.
“Grab the purple-haired girl and kill the rest!” a demon ringleader, who carried two axes, howled.
I peered up at the demon through the window. Smoke swirled out of his black horns as his black eyes met mine, shining with greed and pitilessness. He grinned at me, revealing a mouthful of jagged fangs.
A chilling memory flashed back.
Fuck! He was the demon captain who had escaped from me on that Manhattan street. Now he had led Hell’s army to come after my ass. And Ares had arranged this trip and led us directly into the ambush.
There was no doubt at this point that the God of War was working with Lucifer.
My heart turned cold as if sinking into ice. My friends and the other first-years were going to perish because of me.
No! I wouldn’t allow that to happen.