On the ground, a troop of the demons, mages, and humans poured out of the buildings and emerged from every corner of the streets. They closed in on us, shooting at us with guns and tossing dark spells our way. Our bulletproof warded windows wouldn’t resist such an onslaught for long.
For a few moments, all the students just stared at the demons, freezing in their seats. This was the first time they’d confronted any. The demon army wore scaled armor with lethal tails thrashing like barbwire. Their sharp claws grabbed spears and thrust them ahead in a battle mode. Their eyes glowed yellow or crimson. And they hissed with their serrated fangs dripping blood.
“Everyone before row eight, move out of the bus,” Cameron barked. “Follow Marie and me. We’ll battle the enemy’s foot soldiers. The rest of the students fight from the bus and cover us. Lucian is your leader. Marigold, you stay with them!”
Both sides of the bus opened, revealing the mounted automatic machine guns inside. Among the deafening sounds of the demon assault, the machine guns spat fire and bullets. Under the cover of the bombardment, Marie and Cameron led the soldiers and students out the front door of the bus and charged the demons.
Lightning and metal crashed against bullets and spells.
Esme led her team—a lot of the members already wounded—struggling out of the yellow bus. They opened fire and tossed their elemental powers at the demons, mages, and their human pawns.
Demons spat acid at our soldiers, and their claws and fangs met with the Dominions’ blades. Demetra and her clique fought close to the headmistress.
Our bus shot missiles into the buildings where demons and mages picked us off one by one from the rooftops. The structures toppled, sending plumes of smoke rolling into the sky. Dust and concrete rained down all around.
The demons and mages fled, but those who weren’t lucky or fast enough plunged to the ground. The falling rubble and fire swallowed what was left of them.
“Take cover!” I shouted at my friends amid the thundering sounds. “I need to help them!”
“We’re going with you!” Nat, Yelena, and my shifter friends shouted.
“You’ll stay on the bus where we can better protect you, Marigold,” Lucian roared. “My job is to keep you alive!”
“Our soldiers are being slaughtered!” I yelled back.
Just then, I felt the fabric of the air tearing apart.
A nanosecond later, a portal shimmered into existence a few yards from the bus. Deep inside the portal, lava spewed from the peak of a ring of black mountains.
A team of dark mages stood just beyond the doorway of the portal, tossing spells at our bus that pulled it toward them. Within seconds, we’d be sucked into Hell.
“Get out!” I screamed, pointing at the portal.
Everyone inside the bus widened their eyes as they followed my finger and spotted Hell’s landscape.
“Out of the bus!” Lucian shouted, too. “You go first, Marigold.”
He came to grab me. There was only one exit and he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be taken.
Drew and another Dominion soldier ceased firing the machine guns.
I threw up my hands, The Flame of Rainbows burst from me, shattering or melting all the windows that enemies’ spells and bullets had failed to crack. The shockwave of my flame surged forward, liquefying our enemies near the bus and clearing a path for us.
The pack of wolves, bears, and tigers shifted and leaped out of the windows. Jasper tore his uniform off, shifted to a black wolf, and followed suit.
The pack tore into the demons.
Circe froze.
“Jasper,” I shouted. “Catch her.”
I grabbed Circe, her eyes widening at my strength, and threw her out the window. Jasper jumped up and caught her with his claws. As soon as the wolf put the witch down, she snapped back to reality, hissed, and tossed a spell at the mage near her.
After I made sure Yelena, Nat, and the rest had all jumped out a window, I was about to dive after them.
A force grabbed me and tossed me through the open door of the bus, then Lucien dove right after me, just before the portal sucked the entire bus into it.
Lucien had telekinetic powers.