“Then what?” Aaron barked. “You’re just giving up? Leaving her to turn into a mutant werewolf?”

“Of course she isn’t giving up,” Tobias cut in. “Josephine, do you know how the shifters were altered?”

She glanced at the shimmer of her familiar, listening. “Niavv is certain it’s neither fae magic nor druidry. Only Arcana has the power to fundamentally alter nature like this.”

Tobias nodded. “Transmutation Arcana. I can have an expert here first thing in the morning to examine Sin.”

“I need to return home,” Josephine said. “The moment you have answers, I’ll be back. Sin must be successfully exorcised before the full moon, or there will be no saving her.”

My hand tightened around Sin’s limp fingers. Silence spread between the mythics, and I voiced the question no one else was asking. “When is the full moon?”

The druidess looked up at the overcast sky, the darkness unbroken and the moon hidden.

“Friday night,” she answered grimly.

Dread pierced me. We only had three nights to find the answers that would save Sin.

Chapter Twelve

Steel-gray clouds hung ominously low as I entered the academy building with Ezra at my side. Like me, he hadn’t managed to leap out of bed at the literal crack of dawn. We’d both been slow to get dressed, though his excuse was much better than mine. Dark circles marred the skin under his eyes.

The infirmary was located in an auxiliary wing of the academy. As I rounded the final corner, I spotted Aaron, Kai, Lily, and another guy loitering in the corridor. Lily wrung her hands together, her face pale and eyes huge.

The stranger was around my age, with sandy blond hair and a nice tan. He was tall, but slim and weak-looking with Aaron and Kai next to him, an impression not helped by the two bulging satchels weighing him down. A wooden trunk sat at his feet.

As I drew closer, recognition pinged through me. That dude wasn’t a complete stranger—he was the apprentice from the apothecary, though he looked paler than I remembered.

“Brian, right?” I said. “Does this mean Kelvin Compton the Super Alchemist is Tobias’s transmutation expert?”

“Kelvin is an exceptional alchemist,” Aaron replied tersely, his arms folded and feet set as though he was about to leap into action. “He does guest lectures several times a year on different alchemy topics relevant to student training.”

I almost retorted that, according to him and his alumni buddies, Arcana mythics didn’t have “real power,” but I restrained myself. Aaron’s attention was on the infirmary door and he was the palest among us—though, for a ginger, that wasn’t saying much. His jaw flexed, his anxious concern for Sin palpable.

Since everyone was standing out here, I assumed we weren’t allowed in while Kelvin examined Sin. So we waited. For nearly ten minutes, we stood in almost complete silence. No one felt all that chatty.

The infirmary door opened. Tobias walked out, followed by a hulking, bearded Kelvin. He was carrying another satchel, which he tossed to Brian with barely a glance. His apprentice caught it awkwardly, fumbling the strap, and hooked it over his shoulder with the others.

“The shifter spirit possessing Sin has been transmutated,” Kelvin announced as though expecting a chorus of shocked gasps. “I would guess alchemically, though I can’t be certain.”

“Can you save Sin?” Lily demanded.

Kelvin glanced at the girl but spoke to Tobias. “If you’d asked me yesterday if a shifter spirit could be altered, I would’ve said no. This is—” He gave his head a sharp shake. “This is uncharted magic. To pinpoint the exact nature and method of transmutation, I need a tissue sample from an affected shifter. How quickly can you capture one?”

“Give us a couple of hours,” Aaron answered before his father could. “Does it need to be alive?”

“No.”

Aaron nodded, then jerked his head at Kai and Ezra. Without waiting for a response, he strode toward the door. Tobias called after his son, but Aaron didn’t stop, Kai and Ezra following close behind.

Scrambling into motion, I trotted down the hall and squeezed between Kai and Ezra, matching their strides. “Are we going shifter hunting?”

“Yep,” Aaron answered shortly.

“First, we’ll gear up,” Kai added. “Tori, you—”

“I’m coming!” I interrupted fiercely. “Don’t even think about—”

“I was going to say you should bring your potion arsenal.”

“Oh.” My aim still sucked, but I could hit a giant wolf. Probably. “What’s the plan?”

“Find shifters. Kill shifters.” Aaron paused at the academy doors, his eyes blazing with determination. “Sin only has two days, and we don’t know how long Compton will take to do his part. We’re getting this done fast.”

Again, he didn’t wait for a response before shoving through the doors like a steamroller. Nerves prickled through me. Aaron could be … impulsive. Kai and Ezra were the smart, cautious ones who always reined him in, but this time around, I doubted anything short of chains and padlocks would slow Aaron down.

It was raining again. The worst kind of rain—icy cold, pouring in sheets, whipped into our faces by a spiteful wind. If it’d been a few degrees colder, it would’ve been a blizzard.

Aaron had set a punishing pace through the forest, leading us past the spot where the original attack had occurred, then on to where Kai and Ezra had found Sin. The three mages were scouting the area for signs of where to go next, while I waited with my arms wrapped around myself for warmth. I couldn’t see them through the rain and shadows, but I could hear Aaron swearing in frustration, even over the drumming patter.

Tugging my beanie lower on my head, I wondered—again—how smart this was. Gathering a team of alumni to help comb the woods would’ve been a wiser move, but when Kai had pointed that out, Aaron had refused to wait. Tobias was putting together a second team, but for now … it was just us.

“Damn it!” Aaron stomped out of the dense bush, his hiking boots squelching in the mud. Sharpie’s hilt jutted over his shoulder, waiting to be drawn. “There are tracks everywhere and I can’t find a clear trail.”

“Pretty soon there won’t be any tracks,” Kai said, slipping between two tree trunks. “The rain will wash them away in another hour.”

Nerves tightened my chest. If we couldn’t find the wolves, we couldn’t save Sin.

Aaron swore again. “This is idiotic. How hard can it be to—”

“—find a handful of wolves in miles of dense forest?” Kai interrupted sarcastically. “Not difficult at all.”

A low whistle cut through the patter of rain. Aaron and Kai snapped to attention, then hurried toward the sound. I rushed after them.

Twenty yards away, Ezra crouched in the underbrush, studying the forest floor. As we approached, he rose to his feet, water running down his face from his drenched hat.

“This pushdown is recent,” he said, gesturing to a shrub. “I found tracks on the other side.”

I squinted at the bush, tilting my head one way then the other. The foliage had a crumpled look, like something had trampled it, though I would never have noticed if Ezra hadn’t pointed it out.

“Did you find anything?” he asked the other two.

“Not a damn thing, so if you can follow this trail, let’s go!” Aaron exclaimed eagerly.

Ezra nodded and shoved through the bush. We filed after him, and within a few minutes, Ezra had led us onto a game trail. He moved quickly, eyes on the ground, occasionally crouching to check the imprints in the mud. I wanted to ask where he’d learned to track animals, but no one was speaking so I held my silence.

He paused, plucking at a clump of gray fur caught on a jagged branch, then picked up the pace. As the gap between me and Aaron widened, I gritted my teeth and jogged a few steps. Six weeks of hard training had improved my fitness level but I was no match for the guys.

They were machines. Sexy, muscly machines with everlasting batteries.

The rain lashed at my leather coat. I panted, a stitch searing my ribs. Maybe I should up my endurance training. The stitch dug deeper into my side. Yep, I definitely needed to spend more time on the treadmill. Me and the treadmill, we were like best friends who sometimes hated each other.

Actually, no. We just hated each other. No friendship involved.

Ahead, the rain blurring his form, Ezra raised his closed fist—the signal to stop. I jolted to a halt, Kai right behind me. Ezra retreated, forcing Aaron back with him, then crouched in the foliage. Aaron and Kai dropped down too, and I belatedly scooched in, missing Ezra’s first few words.

“… fifty feet ahead in the trees,” he was saying in a low voice. “I can’t tell anything else from this distance. Let’s do a V ambush. Kai, Aaron, circle wide so he doesn’t hear you. When you’re in position—”

“Is it just the one?” Aaron interrupted.

“That I can detect, but that doesn’t mean—”

“We only need one shifter.” Aaron pushed to his feet. “Let’s take him down.”

“Wait—”

The pyromage strode down the game trail, heading straight for the unseen target.

Ezra swore under his breath, then pointed sharply to the right. “Move fast for the ambush, Kai. If he bolts, we’ll never catch him.”

Kai cut to the right, ghosting through the trees.

“With me, Tori,” Ezra said as he stepped into the bush.

Close on his heels, I tried to move as silently as him. Lucky for me, the drumming rain concealed whatever noise I made. He led me wide of the trail, and through the trees, I could just make out Aaron, prowling swiftly forward. Ezra cut around a cluster of saplings, then slowed, dropping into a half-crouch. I mimicked him.

Reaching over his shoulder, he pulled his pole-arm off his back. The two-foot-long rod, dark metal with silver caps, could be split into twin short swords, then reattached to form a double-ended staff. A strange pulse of anxiety ran down my spine at the sight of the weapon. This wasn’t the same one I’d used to kill a man; a demon had shattered that blade’s twin. This was Ezra’s spare.